Audiofile Engineering Fidelia 2.7.1 for Mac
Audiofile Engineering Fidelia 2.7.1 for Mac
Fidelia is an audiophile music player for Mac. It plays music exactly as it was recorded: without compression, quality loss, or compromise. Version 2.0: completely redesigned, with a built-in studio-grade DSP engine.
Fidelia 2.0 includes three DSP processors, which sound engineers pay hundreds of dollars for as separate plugins. They are built into our player completely free.
HeadSpace is frequency-dependent processing for headphones. Listening to music with headphones is unnatural for the ear. In real life, the left ear should hear the right speaker, and vice versa, but with headphones, this doesn’t happen. HeadSpace corrects this with frequency-dependent crossfeed, modeled on the acoustics of the human head: bass is 90% transmitted, midrange 50%, and high frequencies 15%. The result is a soundstage reminiscent of speakers in a room, rather than two speakers pressed against your ears.
Pro Dither is psychoacoustic noise shaping. When changing the audio bit depth, dithering determines whether the noise floor disappears or becomes audible. Fidelia uses 9th-order psychoacoustic noise shaping, tuned to ISO 226 equal-loudness curves the same approach used in dithering processors licensed for Pro Tools and Logic. The noise level drops below the audible threshold. This is professional mastering-grade dithering built right into the player.
Reference sample rate conversion. If your media library is recorded at 96 kHz and your DAC operates at 48 kHz, resampling quality is crucial. Fidelia uses linear-phase and minimum-phase resampling engines the same ones used in Reaper, Audacity, and professional mastering studios. Fidelia includes both algorithms, five ready-to-use quality presets, and fine-tuning options.
Bit-Perfect and Exclusive Modes. In Bit-Perfect mode, the original bits are transmitted directly to the DAC, without any processing or conversion. Exclusive Mode completely disables the audio output for Fidelia’s needs, bypassing the macOS system mixer. Just like a desktop audiophile player.
3 Audio Unit plugin slots. Load any Audio Unit plugins installed on your Mac into one of the three effects slots. Equalizers, reverbs, compressors, spatial processors you name it. Enable, disable, and open the plugin graphical interface without leaving Fidelia. Preset states are saved between sessions. No other standalone player can do this.
Designed for large media libraries, version 2.0 adds a batch search for album art. Select untagged tracks, choose “Find Artwork Online,” and Fidelia will find, download, and embed art for the entire list. Or, if you prefer, simply drag and drop images to the “Now Playing” panel to apply cover art to the entire album in one go. For a huge collection of rips, this saves tens of hours of routine work.
What else does version 2.0 have in store:
• Gapless playback has been completely redesigned – no delays or clicks at track joints.
• Multi-channel routing (up to 48 channels) for working with professional audio interfaces.
• Convert formats to AIFF, WAV, FLAC, Apple Lossless, AAC, CAF.
• Import DSD (DSF to Apple Lossless 24-bit/176.4 kHz) and Monkey’s Audio (APE to Apple Lossless) – your entire media library in one place.
• Synchronization with the media library of the Music app (Music.app).
• 5 player sizes, including mini player.
• Fully customizable hotkey combinations.
• Sticking of player and media library windows – the collection window is docked with the main window and follows it.
Supported formats:
• Lossless: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Apple Lossless (ALAC), CAF.
• DSD: DSF (imported and converted to Apple Lossless 24-bit/176.4 kHz).
• Lossy: MP3, AAC, OGG Vorbis, Opus.
• Also supported: AC3, Sound Designer II, AU/SND, Wave64.
APE files are converted to Apple Lossless upon import, preserving the original sample rate and bit depth. DSD (DSF) files are converted to Apple Lossless 24-bit/176.4 kHz upon import a high-quality, lossless audiophile conversion
Fidelia 2.7.1: A Purist’s Music Player for Mac
Fidelia, developed by Audiofile Engineering, is a dedicated audiophile music player built exclusively for macOS. Its philosophy is simple: play music exactly as it was recorded, with no compression, no coloration, and no compromise on sound quality.
What’s New in Version 2.x
Fidelia 2 represents a ground-up rebuild of the app, rewritten in Swift with a new C++ audio engine and no legacy dependencies. This overhaul brought several professional-grade features directly into the core app at no extra cost:
- HeadSpace a frequency-dependent headphone crossfeed processor modeled on real head acoustics (bass crosses at 90%, mids at 50%, highs at 15%), designed to make headphone listening feel more like sitting in front of speakers.
- Pro Dither – psychoacoustic noise shaping for cleaner bit-depth conversions.
- Reference Sample Rate Conversion dual-engine resampling (linear-phase and minimum-phase) with five quality presets, comparable to tools used in professional mastering suites.
- Bit-Perfect & Exclusive Mode – sends source bits directly to your DAC, bypassing the macOS mixer entirely for a clean signal path.
- Three Audio Unit Plugin Slots – lets you load any installed AU plugin (EQ, reverb, compression, spatial processors) directly into the playback chain, with settings that persist across sessions.
Library and Format Support
Fidelia supports a wide range of formats including FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, DSD, and APE, and can sync with libraries kept in Apple’s Music app. Its “Album Wall” view offers a clean, cover-art-driven browsing experience, alongside a detailed list view showing format, sample rate, and bit depth for each track.
Companion App
Fidelia Remote, a free iOS/iPadOS companion app, lets users control playback from across the room over the local network no account or cloud connection required.
Availability
Fidelia is distributed through the Mac App Store with a 14-day free trial followed by a one-time purchase (roughly $69.99). It requires macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later and runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
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