I'm the developer of BitMuse, a native macOS music player. It's been out since March and I work on it on my own, so I'd rather introduce it here and take questions than write an announcement.
What it is
A player for music you own — files on a local drive or a mounted NAS share. It indexes them where they are and doesn't copy, move or re-encode anything.
Two things it tries to do at once, which most players split between them:
Send the bits to the DAC untouched. The engine talks to Core Audio directly: exclusive (hog) mode, integer output where the device accepts it, automatic sample-rate switching to match the file. A Signal Path window shows the whole route — file, decoder, any processing, output device, with the formats and rates at each step — and its bit-perfect indicator follows what is actually happening. Turn on an EQ and it stops claiming bit-perfect, and says which stage broke it. FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, APE, WavPack, CAF, DSF, DFF, MP3, AAC, Opus, Ogg Vorbis, and CUE sheets. DSD64 to DSD512, converted to PCM by default, with DoP on DACs that take it.
And actually manage the library. Tag editor with batch editing, artwork from MusicBrainz and the Cover Art Archive, synchronised lyrics from LRCLIB, duplicate detection by acoustic fingerprint, browsing by artist, album, genre, composer or your own folder tree, filters that combine format, sample rate, bit depth and year.
The parts I'd most like feedback on
NAS scanning. This is where most of my summer went, and it's the part I can't fully test — every setup is different. If you keep a large library on a share, I'd like to know what breaks: the first scan, detecting files you've added, or reconnecting after the share drops.
The automatic mixes. On-device analysis estimates tempo, key, energy and mood, and builds similarity from the audio itself, which feeds daily mixes and a track radio. Nothing is uploaded. It works well on some collections and produces nonsense on others, and I'd rather hear about the second kind.
There's also
Twenty DSP effects, off by default — a 31-band graphic EQ, parametric EQ, 8,666 AutoEQ headphone profiles covering 6,033 models, convolution for your own room correction, crossfeed, and the usual utilities. Chains save per output device. A browser remote for a phone on the same network. Last.fm scrobbling. A file analyser that reports effective bit depth, noise floor and DR, and will tell you when a 24-bit file holds 16 bits of real signal.
What it doesn't do, and won't: streaming services, multi-room zones, MQA.
Practicalities
Apple Silicon, macOS 15 or newer. $99.95 once — no subscription — for up to three Macs and every 1.x update. 30-day trial with no account and no card: https://bitmuse.app
It's not in the Mac App Store; it's a direct download from my own site, notarised by Apple, and it updates itself.
Happy to answer anything here — the output path and the scanner are the parts I know best.
What it is
A player for music you own — files on a local drive or a mounted NAS share. It indexes them where they are and doesn't copy, move or re-encode anything.
Two things it tries to do at once, which most players split between them:
Send the bits to the DAC untouched. The engine talks to Core Audio directly: exclusive (hog) mode, integer output where the device accepts it, automatic sample-rate switching to match the file. A Signal Path window shows the whole route — file, decoder, any processing, output device, with the formats and rates at each step — and its bit-perfect indicator follows what is actually happening. Turn on an EQ and it stops claiming bit-perfect, and says which stage broke it. FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, APE, WavPack, CAF, DSF, DFF, MP3, AAC, Opus, Ogg Vorbis, and CUE sheets. DSD64 to DSD512, converted to PCM by default, with DoP on DACs that take it.
And actually manage the library. Tag editor with batch editing, artwork from MusicBrainz and the Cover Art Archive, synchronised lyrics from LRCLIB, duplicate detection by acoustic fingerprint, browsing by artist, album, genre, composer or your own folder tree, filters that combine format, sample rate, bit depth and year.
The parts I'd most like feedback on
NAS scanning. This is where most of my summer went, and it's the part I can't fully test — every setup is different. If you keep a large library on a share, I'd like to know what breaks: the first scan, detecting files you've added, or reconnecting after the share drops.
The automatic mixes. On-device analysis estimates tempo, key, energy and mood, and builds similarity from the audio itself, which feeds daily mixes and a track radio. Nothing is uploaded. It works well on some collections and produces nonsense on others, and I'd rather hear about the second kind.
There's also
Twenty DSP effects, off by default — a 31-band graphic EQ, parametric EQ, 8,666 AutoEQ headphone profiles covering 6,033 models, convolution for your own room correction, crossfeed, and the usual utilities. Chains save per output device. A browser remote for a phone on the same network. Last.fm scrobbling. A file analyser that reports effective bit depth, noise floor and DR, and will tell you when a 24-bit file holds 16 bits of real signal.
What it doesn't do, and won't: streaming services, multi-room zones, MQA.
Practicalities
Apple Silicon, macOS 15 or newer. $99.95 once — no subscription — for up to three Macs and every 1.x update. 30-day trial with no account and no card: https://bitmuse.app
It's not in the Mac App Store; it's a direct download from my own site, notarised by Apple, and it updates itself.
Happy to answer anything here — the output path and the scanner are the parts I know best.
