AyreWave audio player for OS X

The author of the ever-dependable Play audio player (Stephen Booth) has this launched the first public beta of a more audiophile-focussed software player for OS X.

For audiophile users desiring more control over their audio, AyreWave can take exclusive control of the output device (using hog mode) and send audio in the device’s native format. Additionally, AyreWave can automatically adjust the output device’s sample rate to that of the playing track, preventing audio quality degradation associated with software sample rate conversion.

AyreWave supports all popular lossless and lossy audio formats including FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, WavPack, Apple Lossless, AAC, MP3, WAVE and AIFF.

For lossless formats such as FLAC and WAVE, and for Ogg Vorbis and specially tagged MP3 files, AyreWave supports gapless playback with seamless transitions between tracks.

AyreWave processes all audio using 64-bit floating-point precision, providing the highest possible playback quality for files sampled at all bit depths.

Finally, AyreWave can load and play files entirely in memory, eliminating audio glitching associated with disk access.
It’s a FREE download from here: http://sbooth.org/AyreWave/