Premium Music Player
Fidelia is a high-definition audio player for sophisticated music lovers. With support for all contemporary audio file formats and an elegant interface that focuses exclusively on music, it gives users the power and the freedom to organize, customize and savor their digital music collection at the highest possible fidelity in any circumstance. If you've invested in premium audio hardware, you should have the best audio software.
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Just as an HD television enables viewers to enjoy high-definition video, Fidelia provides a gateway to high-definition audio by supporting a wide range of high-quality formats - including FLAC, which iTunes does not support. As artists in every genre increasingly turn to high-quality formats, Fidelia gives discerning listeners a way to hear their music as it was meant to be heard.
Elegant Design
Fidelia's stylish interface reflects users' pure passion for music, paying tribute to the iconic stereo systems of decades past while offering sleek, intuitive controls that Mac owners demand. A classically styled volume dial is augmented by Mute and Dim functions.
A crisp, eye-pleasing display shows individual track details, stereo levels and audio waveforms.
Four discreet sizing options allow you to lovingly ogle Fidelia in a full-screen format or tuck it snugly into the corner of your desktop and leave the fun to your ears.
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Customized Listening
Effects
With Fidelia, savvy music lovers have the ability to further personalize audio playback by installing third-party Audio Unit plug-ins. For example, Fidelia reaches beyond the narrow parameters of typical built-in equalization controls, allowing users to install higher-quality EQ and other effects plug-ins to suit any taste or listening environment.
Sync with iTunes Library
Enjoy seamless and continuously updated access to your iTunes library, including user-generated playlists. If and whenever you like, decide for yourself which portions of your iTunes collection to reformat or reorganize in Fidelia.
Create Playlists
Craft your own personalized playlists in seconds. Simple click-and-drag controls allow you to draw from your complete Fidelia library to build lists of any size or style, mixing and matching file formats at will.
Multiple Formats, Maximum Control
Heavily compressed audio files aren't for everybody. That's why Fidelia gives discriminating listeners robust control over how their songs are captured and stored. Tracks can be imported in AIFF, WAV, CAF, AAC, Apple Lossless, Ogg Vorbis or FLAC formats. You can also convert existing files to any of the above.
Fidelia Remote
Fidelia for iOS turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a full-featured remote control the Fidelia music player. When your iOS device is connected to the same wireless network as a Mac running Fidelia, use it to browse your Fidelia
music library and playlists, adjust playback volume and navigate between or within tracks. Enjoy remote control access from across the room, between floors or as far away as your wireless network signal will allow.
Features:
- - Crisp, elegant user interface
- - Artist and track title display
- - Track position slider
- - Play, Skip Forward and Skip Backward
- - Sort library by Artist, Album, Songs, and Playlists
- - Volume Up/Down
- - Dim (lower volume)
- - Mute (zero volume)
How It Works
Audiofile Engineering's Fidelia Audio System optimizes the modern listening experience by realizing the full potential of quality audio hardware. No matter what type of sounds are in play, Fidelia incorporates iZotope's industry-best sample rate conversion to achieve optimum sonic fidelity. Dedicated audiophiles can also select real-time audio dithering via iZotope's MBIT+ technology.
What is sample rate conversion?
For an analogy, think of high-definition video, which can display more detailed information by way of higher resolution. Likewise, higher sample rates can represent a wider range of sonic frequencies than lower ones, delivering a truer and more complete listening experience.
If the sample rate of a song file is significantly higher or lower than an audio playback system can handle, the sample rate must be converted. When an audio player reduces the sample rate of a file, it's important to remove frequencies that can't be represented at the lower rate. If they aren't removed, such incompatible frequencies can lead to distortion or noise that compromises the original sound.
That's where iZotope's 64-bit SRC comes in. All audio files played back in Fidelia benefit from iZotope's precise, leading-edge sample rate conversion. For a more thorough description of this technology, we invite you to visit the iZotope website.
What is dither?
Another attribute of audio files is bit depth. While most artists and engineers record music at a depth of 24 bits or higher, the conversion to CD (which is limited to 16 bits) makes it necessary to reduce bit depth. Sound quality is inevitably compromised in this process as it introduces a layer of noise known as quantization distortion. The same holds true when you play a 24-bit audio file using a 16-bit DAC, for example. Dither is essentially a method for controlling this kind of distortion and redirecting it into less audible ranges.
The easiest way to understand dither is to see it. Visit the iZotope website for a nicely illustrated primer.
When creating Fidelia, Audiofile Engineering specifically chose to incorporate iZotope's MBIT+ dither technology because it was designed with music listening in mind. Its development was based on actual music, not an assortment of test tones, bleeps and buzzes. The result is an application that was built from top to bottom with music lovers in mind.
Fidelia Advanced
Fidelia Advanced enables three additional features created with devoted audiophiles in mind:
Exclusive Access
Fidelia Advanced enables Fidelia to take exclusive control of your computer's audio system (informally referred to as "Hog mode") which makes Fidelia the sole source of audio playback.
Memory Playback
Fidelia Advanced enables Fidelia to load and keep files in physical memory for playback.
Advanced iZotope 64-bit SRC™ &: MBIT+™ Dither Options
Customize the output sample rate conversion (SRC) and dither using iZotope's advanced options:
iZotope Resampler - Adjust filter steepness, cutoff scaling and preringing. For a detailed explanation of these advanced options, please read this knowledge book article on iZotope 64-bit SRC™.
iZotope MBIT+ Dither - Choose the shape, amount and bits. Toggle auto blanking, minimize peaks and silence harmonics. For detailed information on iZotope MBIT+™ Dither, please download iZotope's comprehensive dithering guide.
Purchasing Fidelia Advanced
Fidelia Advanced requires a license key which is available in the "Add-ons" tab in our Online Store. NOTE: Fidelia Advanced requires purchase of the basic Fidelia License key.
The Mac App Store version of Fidelia does now offer Fidelia Advanced via in-app purchase. However, please be aware that in-app purchase for the Mac App Store is supported ONLY in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion). If you have Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard), you will not be able to purchase Fidelia Advanced or future in-app purchases.
FHX™ Headphone Processor
FHX was designed to address a number of the issues often associated with listening to music on headphones. The design, by mastering engineer Devin Kerr, is a result of extensive research and listening tests. By incorporating several broad spatial characteristics of an ideal loudspeaker playback setup, FHX creates a more spacious, natural soundstage over headphones—enabling an exceptional listening experience that will truly inspire and engage. With user controls that are simple and effective, the algorithm can be fine tuned to your personal music library, listening preferences, and hardware. (Check out FHX in Fidelia's preferences.)
What’s Wrong With Headphones?
In theory: nothing; in the real world: a lot. The main “problem” with headphones is that most music is created (recorded, mixed, mastered) on speakers, with tools that were primarily designed for loudspeaker playback. Hence, a type of auditory translation error occurs when music is instead played back on headphones.
Music produced on loudspeakers often sounds overly “wide” when listened to on headphones, as if there were a section missing in the center of the stereo image. Headphones also offer poor externalization; that is, mono sounds typically appear to originate from inside the listener’s head as opposed to externally. These headphone-related phenomena and several other common ones (inconsistent or exaggerated frequency response, physical size constraints, etc.), make headphones more prone to be unnatural sounding or fatiguing, particularly when listened to for long periods of time.
Crossfeed
The biggest difference between headphone and loudspeaker listening is crossfeed. In the case of stereo loudspeaker listening, a sound fed from the right loudspeaker not only reaches the right ear of the listener, but a portion of the sound also reaches the left, far ear as well.
The inverse is true of the left loudspeaker: sounds emitted reach the left ear first, while a portion also reaches the right ear. Thus, sounds presented over loudspeakers are partly crossfed to each opposing ear of the listener.
Comparing to a headphone environment: sounds fed from the left channel of a pair of headphones only reach the left ear, and likewise, sounds fed from the right channel only reach the right ear. The subjective effects of these differences between headphone and loudspeaker listening are extremely significant.
Equalization
FHX utilizes a unique, dynamic-range optimized equalization section to maintain the highest possible digital resolution at any setting. So you’ll never need to worry about digital clipping, distortion, or loss of headroom when using FHX.
Monitoring
The FHX monitoring section offers several key monitoring facilities that are typically reserved for high-end monitor controllers or mastering consoles.
Mono enables a user to monitor the mono summation of the left and right channels. This control is post “Solo” and “Phase” processing. Phase allows inversion of the right channel polarity. Swap Channels swaps the left and right channels such that left becomes right, and right becomes left. Solo provides “soloing” functionality for the left and right channels.
Purchasing FHX
FHX requires a license key which is available in the "Add-ons" tab in our Online Store. NOTE: FHX requires purchase of the basic Fidelia License key.
The Mac App Store version of Fidelia offers FHX via in-app purchase. Please be aware that in-app purchase for the Mac App Store is supported ONLY in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion). If you have Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard), you will not be able to purchase Fidelia Advanced or future in-app purchases.
Hi-Fi Resources
Stores
Need FLACs or other high resolution audio files? Below is a list of music sites that sell high fidelity digital downloads.
- Boomkat
- Bleep
- Bandcamp
- Channel Classics
- Linn Records
- Verve Master Edition
- Acousence
- Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound
- Cedille
- Downloads NOW!
- iBasso
- iTrax
- HDtracks
- Naimlable
- Deutsche Grammophon
- Sloan Music
- Beatport
- Trackitdown
DACs
The following companies make some very high quality digital to analog converters (DACs), also check out the Computer Audiophile listing of high quality DACs.
- Antelope Audio
- Apogee Duet 2
- Audio by Van Alstine
- Audio GD
- Audiolab M-DAC
- Benchmark Media
- Beresford Media and Electronics
- Bryston
- Burson Audio
- Calyx Audio
- Cambridge Audio
- CEntrance
- Eastern Electric Minimax Tube DAC
- Empirical Audio
- Exposure Electronics
- Fiio E7
- Fostex
- Fururtech
- Grace Design
- Grant Fidelity
- GTE GmbH
- HiFi Gear
- High Resolution Technologies
- M2Tech
- Metric Halo
- NAD
- Metrum Acoustics
- Musical Fidelity
- Mytek Digital
- North Star Design
- Nuforce
- Peachtree Audio
- Project Audio
- PS Audio
- Rega Research
- Wavelength Audio
- Weiss High End
- Wyred 4 Sound
If you know of a store or a DAC company not represented here, or to have your company added to this list, please contact us at support.
Support Where And When You Need It
Our Vision
Audiofile Engineering began in a recording studio, not in a corporate boardroom in an office building. As musicians and engineers who have invested blood, sweat, and tears into the world of creative audio software, we are too often surprised by an ugly truth: end-user support is seriously lacking.
From day one at Audiofile Engineering we have devoted ourselves to keeping in touch with our user base. We believe that the center of our business, and even the process of creating our software, rests within each and every one of our customers. And if you run into trouble, we want to be there to help.
Not Your Parents' Help Menu
Actual, honest-to-goodness, end-user tech support is built-in to every one of our apps. Look in each application's menu for Support and check it out.
Learn more by watching our tutorial Screencasts, check for an update of the software, read Release Notes and new features, manage your License keys, or communicate with a real, living, human being on our Support staff.
The Help Desk tab is where you can let us know when you believe you've found a bug, or when you have a great idea for a future feature, and even review all past communications with the Support Team. No more digging through emails, or following links in your web browser. We've put the most important bits right at your fingertips.
We're All In This Together
We work hard to provide unparalleled technical support, and strive to keep improving our development workflow and quality control to prevent issues from happening in the first place. We utilize modern and effective tools that allow us to support you in the best way possible, no matter where in the world you are.
For example, we keep track of every feature request submitted by users. When we see one particular feature pile up, it gets added to our public Roadmap. At that point, you can vote on each feature and help us rank which ones should take priority. (This system really works - we've just added an Leq meter to Spectre due to popular demand.)
So tell us when you need help, let us know when things aren't working the way you expect and especially when they seem unclear. Send us your most desired feature requests, and share stories about how you are using and enjoying the software we've created. This feedback will give us what we need to continue to build and refine the most useful and enjoyable applications you've ever used. We aren't perfect, but we wont give up trying to be!
When in doubt, just email us directly at support@audiofile-engineering.com.