The Mac streaming audio recorder also has an Auto-filter to remove ads in the recording and music tag editor to allow users to manually add and edit music tags like title, song name, artist, etc. What's more, Leawo Music Recorder supports to export audio in the output format of WAV, MP3 and M4A. To stream from an Apple computer such as a Mac or MacBook, read on. Setup Requirements. In order to access your music, you’ll need to establish a connection to the iTunes collection on your Apple computer using the “Server” button on the MusicCast Controller app, as shown in the illustration on the right. This will allow you to access any.
If you own a Mac, you already have a high-resolution media file server at your disposal, with very little tweaking required to pass high-quality audio to your audio gear. I recently decided to set up my Mac in this way, to deliver hi-res throughout the signal chain--from my music library, to the player, to the DAC, to my preamp, amp, and loudspeakers (or preamp to headphones). Here is how I did it.
Building Your Hi-Res Music Library
The process starts with ripping or downloading music files directly to either your Mac's internal hard drive or an external drive, or designating a cloud site for your file storage (more on this in a minute). I store my music library on a 3TB Seagate external drive. Many people prefer to use an external drive because loading up your main hard drive with music files can potentially slow your computer's overall performance, especially when you get to the end of your drive's storage limits.
Opinions will vary on what constitutes hi-res audio, but I set my sights on resolutions equal to or better than 24-bit/96-kHz. We all know that your system is only as good as its weakest link, so I started with either 24/192 or 24/96 FLAC files. Hi-res files may be offered in the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) or AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) format, as well as DSD (Direct Stream Digital) and MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). DSD is the Philips/Sony system used to create the SACD (Super Audio Compact Disk) format, while MQA is a very clever codec that compresses the relatively little energy in the higher frequency bands to make the files smaller while retaining a hi-res result (it's also a good format for streaming services). To get the highest quality, you will want to avoid lossy formats like MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3), AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), and OGG (Ogg Vorbis, the name Ogg derives from the jargon word ogging) that sacrifice audio quality for file size. This was important when storage was expensive, but now storage is plentiful and cheap.
Hi-res music files are available for download from a number of websites, including: HDTracks.com,
primephonic, HiRes Download, iTrax.com, B&W's Society of Sound, Acoustic Sounds, Chandos, and�Blue Coast Records. If you're looking for suggestions on high-quality audio recordings, check out the reviews on our sister site, AudiophileReview.com. Here are a few great-sounding albums (all available as hi-res downloads) that I'd put on my list of desert island discs:
Santana: Abraxas
Mozart: Great Mass in C minor
Thelonious Monk Orchestra: At Town Hall
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
Bob Marley: Legend (you are on a desert island, after all)
Steely Dan: Aja
Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Cloud Backup
About a year ago, I grew concerned that my entire life's savings of music--some of which is irreplaceable original music from the various bands I've been in--was all in one place, so I looked to the cloud for a backup/disaster recovery solution. My current total storage need is approximately 2.4 TB. Apple's iCloud offers five gigabytes of free storage, which isn't nearly enough for my music files, so I opted for the 2TB plan that costs $20 per month. I had to leave some of my more esoteric albums off the iCloud drive to fit under the 2TB size limit.
Another cloud option is Google Drive, which offers 15 GB for free or one terabyte for $9.99/month; then it jumps to 10 TB for $99.99 monthly. Microsoft looks at storage a bit differently, tying its One Drive storage to the MS Office suite. When you purchase MS Office 365, you get 1 TB of storage. All your Excel spreadsheets, Word docs, and PowerPoint presentations are automatically stored there and are available for collaboration between users. There isn't anything preventing you from storing your music library there, but access is via Microsoft's Groove Music Pass, which is $9.99 per month in addition to the $99 annual cost of MS Office 365.
Amazon's Drive allows you to upload up to 250 songs for free. Subscribe to Amazon Prime ($99 annually) and get 5 GB of storage; for another $59.99 per year, you get unlimited storage. I currently use Apple's iCloud because I've been deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem from the first-generation iPod, but Amazon's value proposition is compelling. I am strongly considering making the switch. (If anyone out there has made the switch, I'd love to hear about your experience in the Comments section.)
Playback Software
Once you have begun to build your hi-res audio library, how do you play the files in a way that maintains their high bit and sample rate? I chose to download the VLC media player to my Mac (it's free) because it's capable of 24/96 and 24/192 native hi-res output. The VLC player can be downloaded here.
Music Streaming For Car
As an alternative to VLC, you might consider the VOX Music player, which is also free and can be downloaded here.
Why not just use iTunes? The iTunes Store only sells music in the compressed AAC format, and the iTunes player doesn't support the most widely sold lossless format: FLAC. Some hi-res file formats like AIFF may be played by iTunes but will not be at their native hi-res rates. Beware: If you convert a 24/96 FLAC file to ALAC, for example, you will not get the original file's full resolution.
Connections
There are three ways to get hi-res audio out of your Mac: 1) through an optical Toslink cable connected to the headphone output; 2) through a USB cable; and 3) through a standard stereo eighth-inch mini-jack connected to the headphone out--which will use the Mac's excellent internal DAC that supports up to 24-bit/192-kHz.
I suppose you could also count Bluetooth as the fourth way, but I'm not convinced that, even with A2DP negotiating between the transmitter and receiver the best CODEC available, you aren't losing audible quality in the wireless transmission.
Any of the above three connections ensures output of your audio files at the full resolution. Options one and two are still in the digital domain, so you will need to convert the signal to analog before sending it along its path that ultimately leads to your analog ears. The HTR archive is full of reviews that will steer you to a great digital-to-analog converter (DAC) at any price point. Just remember to make certain that the DAC supports the highest quality files in your catalog.
The next component in line is either your preamp or integrated amp. My setup includes a tube preamp that has both a headphone output and individual right and left line-level RCA outputs, which then feed either my tube or solid-state amplifier (I have one of each). Either amp then leads to my loudspeakers. If I'm listening through headphones, they are fed directly from my preamp.
My Results
I am enjoying incredible results using my Mac as a hi-res server. When comparing hi-res FLAC files via VLC to music coming from my iTunes library at 16/44.1, the difference is truly amazing in terms of imaging, dynamic range, extended high and low frequencies, clear and detailed mids, and the all-important warmth, air, and intimacy. When listening to the same song, switching only the file resolution, the iTunes files sounded flat and one-dimensional. Don't believe me? I recently read an excellent open-access paper on our ability to hear differences with high-resolution audio that can be found here.
You Can Take It With You
Want to enjoy your higher-quality audio on the go? That's become a lot easier, too--thank to players like Astell & Kern's AK240, Sony's NW-ZX2, Onkyo's DP-X1, Questyle's QP1R, and HiFiMAN's HM802s and HM901s. Do these players offer an improvement over a basic standard-res player? Yes, but remember that your environment and choice of headphones will impact your ability to hear all the differences.
Final Thoughts
Of course, there are a lot of excellent hi-res digital audio players on the market that would make a great addition to your gear rack, if you prefer a dedicated component. But if you're looking for high quality on a budget and you already own a Mac, then why not work with what you already have right in front of you? My results were outstanding.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the importance of how the music came to exist in the first place. The composition, the quality of the musicianship, the groove (or the tempo in classical pieces), the production, the mix, and the mastering process ... all of these have great impact and ultimately contribute to what resonates with you. I've heard amazing music that was recorded in the 50s and really poor-sounding music that was recorded mere months ago ... so technology is one thing, passion another.
Additional Resources
� Chasing the Holy Grail of Audio at HomeTheaterReview.com.
� Examining My Love/Hate Relationship with Video Discs at HomeTheaterReview.com.
� What's the Ideal Speaker Driver Configuration? at HometheaterReview.com.
If you like listening to streaming music or audio, then you might have wondered if it is possible to have a copy of it or record it for future playback anytime, even offline. If you don’t want to miss a certain program or song, but there is something that you need to do, you may record it so you can still listen to it at any time. Here is a selection of best streaming audio recorders that can record audio from the main streaming music service to create audio files in various audio formats.
1. Sidify Music Converter
Sidify Music Converter includes two powerful streaming audio recorders or converters for converting Spotify Music and Apple Music tracks with lossless quality for Mac & Windows users. The reason why Sidify Music Converter made first place in our top 5 is the fact that it has the simplest navigation by far, when compared with other pieces of software in its price and feature range. Besides, users have reported it to be very easy to set up and customize as well.
#1: The one is Sidify Music Converter for Spotify, which is called one of the best Spotify audio downloders. With it's crisp and clear interface, you can handle this music converter in seconds. Spotify uses can convert or download any Spotify song or playlist to other popular audio formats with the best audio quality. Moreover, It is able to convert Spotify audio files at 5X faster conversion speed while keeping original ID3 tags after conversion.
Pros:
- Reliable and accurate recording of Spotify music as MP3, AAC, FLAC or WAV;
- Extremely easy to install; user-friendly interface;
- It is quick and works flawlessly;
- Tags songs with Title, Artist, Album, Genre - Automatically;
- Useful feature to remove ads from your recording sessions;
- 1-click to burn Spotify music to CD;
- Keep constantly update for compatibility with the latest versioin of Spotify.
Free Trial Version:
Pros:
- Download songs from Apple Music and iTunes M4P files to MP3, AAC, FLAC or WAV;
- Save iTunes M4A, M4B & Audible AA, AAX audiobooks as local files;
- Support batch conversion; User-friendly Interface;
- Fast conversion speed. Keep ID3 tags, all metadata;
- Fully support the latest version of iTunes and Mac/ Windows OS.
2. Audials Tunebite Premium 2018
Audials Tunebite Platinum 2018 is a handy multimedia application for recording, downloading and converting audios and videos. It includes Streaming, Universal converter and Media center. With Audials Tunebite Platinum, you can record the protected music streams of all music services and also the audio streams of websites. It can copy DVDs and it sorts all of your music for you into a convenient and sortable library. Although it doesn't top our list, Audials is intriguing audio converter software.
Moreover, if you are a fan of audiobooks, Audials Tunebite offers an audiobook mode that allows you convert audiobook to .mp3 files at double speed easily.
Pros:
- Record everything from the Internet- audios and videos;
- Compatibility with many files format and fast conversion speed;
- Convert media files to more than 80 formats;
- Organize and manage your media collection easily.
Cons:
- The GUI needs to be improved, too much is put into a small area;
- Only four languages are supported;
- Only have Windows and iOS version, without Mac version.
3. Wondershare Streaming Audio Recorder
Wondershare Streaming Audio Recorder is software that can detect and automatically download any audio source that’s playing on your computer. It can retrieve details such as artist, album and genre and then embed it into the music file. With Wondershare audio recorder, you can capture and download audio from over 500 popular radios and music streaming sites including Spotify, iTunes radio, BBC radio and much more.
Pros:
- Reliable and accurate recording of streaming audio;
- Supports keeping ID3 tags;
- Available in Mac and Windows version;
- Integrated ringtone maker that creates .M4r (iPhone) and MP3 ringtones.
Cons:
- Limited output formats;
- Cannot work on all sources;
- Mac version can't support Mac OS X 10.11 and 10.12 at present.
4. Apowersoft Streaming Audio Recorder
Apowersoft Streaming Audio Recorder is a nice tool to record streaming audio from music sites, video platforms, radio stations or capture sound from audio chats. It can also deliver output files in a few formats like AAC, MP3. This tool not only functions being an good audio recorder, but also offers the purpose of free audio editing tool, CD burner/ripper and audio converter. It even has its own built-in radio with over 35 different genres to choose from when using its streaming music recorder functions, so you can build your own music library fast.
Pros:
- Support a variety of audio file formats such as WAV, OGG, AAC, MP3, FLAC etc.
- Embedded player included.
- Keep ID3 tags.
- Provide a free trial version to convert 3 mins of each track.
Cons:
- It restricts its users to have 128 kbps recordings, which is on the low end of acceptable audio quality
- Don't support batch conversion: download 1 track each time.
5. Audacity
Free Music For Mac
Audacity is a free, open source, cross-platform digital audio editor for recording and editing sounds. You are allowed to rip Spotify songs in formats like MP3, WAV, AAC etc. There is a large array of digital effects and plug-ins. But Audacity does not support 64-bit VST audio effect plug-ins and only MIDI files can be displayed. There are also file formats limitations, for instance, Audacity can't natively import or export WMA, AAC, ACS or other proprietary file formats requiring FFmpeg library. In addition, the quality of the sound recorded with Audacity is high but it also depends on your microphone specifications and that of your sound card.
Pros:
- It's a freeware;
- It is a full-featured audio recording and editing software;
- Available for Windows, macOS, Linux and other operating systems.
Cons:
- Audacity can't support importing or exporting WMA, AAC, ACS, etc;
- Multi-track functionality is limited and could be improved;
- Some operations aren't very intuitive.
Conslusion
Sidify Apple Music Converter is specially desinged to convert Apple Music tracks. It can download songs from Apple Music songs, iTunes M4P music and Audible audiobooks and convert these tracks to MP3, AAC, FLAC or WAV at super fast speed with lossless quality. Following shows the main screenshots of Sidify Apple Music Converter for Windows and for Mac.
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Netflix Video Downloader is a professional tool for downloading Netflix movies and TV shows to your local computer, keeping audio tracks and subtitles. If you are looking for a simple and efficient way to save Netflix videos as MP4 files, it's the perfect solution recommended for you.