Alternatives to HQPlayer
Play audio with configurable digital filtering and resampling. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
HQPlayer
Play audio with configurable digital filtering and resampling.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as HQPlayer.
foobar2000
A light, deeply configurable audio player for people who care about their local music library.
foobar2000 is free but closed source, runs on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS with no Linux build, and adds DSP effects through third-party components instead of built-in advanced filtering.
Strawberry Music Player
A Clementine fork aimed at collectors, with proper support for high-resolution files and CD ripping.
Strawberry is a free, open-source GPL-3.0 player for Windows, macOS and Linux that plays FLAC, DSF and DSD, but it lacks HQPlayer's configurable filtering and resampling.
MusicBee
A Windows music manager for people with a large local library and opinions about tags.
MusicBee is a free Windows-only library manager with gapless WASAPI and ASIO output, trading HQPlayer's advanced PCM and DSD processing for bulk tagging and device syncing.
DeaDBeeF
A light, plugin-driven music player for Linux, Windows and macOS that stays out of the way.
DeaDBeeF is a free, open-source Zlib player for Linux, Windows and macOS with very low resource use and plugin-based DSP, without HQPlayer's demanding filter options.
AIMP
A long-running Windows music player with an 18-band equaliser, internet radio and a built-in converter.
AIMP is a free, closed-source player for Windows and Android with an 18-band equaliser and DSP effects, and has no macOS or Linux build.
Also worth comparing
These listings name HQPlayer as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Saracon
Professional DSD to PCM sample-rate conversion software for studio use.
HQPlayer converts between PCM and DSD during playback with configurable filters and resampling, and also runs on Linux, rather than batch-converting files for studio delivery.
Super Audio CD Decoder
A foobar2000 input plugin that plays Super Audio CD ISO images and DSD audio files.
HQPlayer is a paid, standalone player for Windows, macOS and Linux with advanced PCM and DSD processing, replacing the foobar2000 plugin setup entirely.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Volumio
A music player operating system that turns a Raspberry Pi or PC into a network audio streamer.
Equalizer APO
A system-wide parametric and graphic equaliser for Windows that hooks into the audio stack itself.
Dirac Live
Room correction software that measures and optimizes speaker and headphone response.
Acourate
High-end convolution-based room correction toolkit with linear-phase filters.
