Your DAC deserves the bits you paid for.
KraiAudio takes exclusive control of your output device, follows each track's own sample rate, and gets out of the way. Core Audio's mixer never touches the signal.
Then US$29 launch price US$39 · perpetual licence · 3 Macs
macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon. No payment details to try it.
Bit-perfect, and honest about it
Most players claim bit-perfect. KraiAudio shows you, per track, what the DAC is actually receiving — and says so plainly when it cannot get there.
- Hog mode: the device is yours alone while a track plays, so the system mixer is out of the path. Other apps go quiet — that is the trade, and it is a switch you control.
- The engine sets the device's nominal rate per track, and restores it when you quit.
- A bit-perfect badge that reads real device state rather than intent.
- Verified on real hardware — Topping DX5 II and Sound Blaster G8 — not only in a test harness.
Everything else a listening session needs
A real library
Albums, artists, genres, favourites, playlists and smart playlists over a SQLite library, with search everywhere and tag editing built in. Multichannel releases stay their own album instead of merging with the stereo one.
Headphone correction
Bring a correction from autoeq.app — search your headphones there, export it, import it here — then pull the curve around by hand on a live graph and save it.
Headphone simulator
Give it a measurement of your headphones and one of another pair, and it fits the difference — roughly what the other pair would sound like on your system.
Formats
FLAC, WAV, DSF, DFF, ALAC and AAC, MP3, Ogg and Opus. ReplayGain tags are read and applied, so albums do not jump in volume.
Gapless and crossfade
Live albums and DJ mixes play through without a hole between tracks, or with a crossfade if you prefer one.
Offline after activation
The player never phones home. Activate once, then it works with the network unplugged, forever.
Try it first, then one price
Fourteen days, every feature, no payment details. The reason the trial exists: this player lives or dies on how it behaves with your DAC, and no compatibility table settles that as well as an evening of listening.
- Perpetual licence for KraiAudio for Mac v1 — not a rental.
- Activate on up to 3 of your own Macs.
- Reinstalling macOS does not cost an activation: the machine code follows the hardware.
- 14-day refund on top of the trial, no questions asked.
- Paid through Lemon Squeezy, which handles VAT and sales tax for your country.
Questions worth answering honestly
- How does activation work?
- After paying you get an order key by email. The player shows a code for your Mac; you trade the two on the activation page for a licence key and paste it in. After that the player is fully offline.
- I bought a new Mac.
- Activate again with the same order key — you have 3 activations. Reinstalling macOS does not use one up, because the code comes from the hardware rather than the install. Run out for a legitimate reason and I will add more; just email me.
- Does it work with my DAC?
- Probably, and the trial is how you find out for certain. It has been tested against a small number of real DACs, not hundreds — if yours misbehaves, tell me what it is and I will try to fix it.
- Why does everything else go silent while it plays?
- Only if you turn on bit-perfect mode, which takes exclusive control of the device. That is what keeps the system mixer out of the signal. Turn it off and the Mac behaves normally.
- Is it the same as the Windows version?
- Same idea, separate code, so the details differ: this one reads more formats, the Windows player has a larger parametric EQ and native DSD over ASIO. Both have the trial, and a licence covers one of them.
- Will version 2 be a paid upgrade?
- Undecided, and I would rather say that than promise free upgrades forever and walk it back. What is settled: your v1 licence keeps working.