Hi-Res · Local-first · No streaming

Your music, played correctly.

Nyquist is a native, file-first music player for audiophiles who keep large libraries on SSDs, external drives, and NAS shares — with gapless playback, bit-perfect output to your DAC, and honest insight into every file's signal path.

Download on the App Store Explore features
  • Bit-perfect intent
  • True gapless
  • Built for 50,000+ tracks
Nyquist on macOS showing an album track list of FLAC files with the live signal-path inspector reporting bit-perfect output to a USB DAC.
Plays your library natively
  • FLAC
  • ALAC
  • MP3
  • AIFF
  • WAV
  • AAC
  • DSD & SACD ISO — planned

Built for people who care about the samples.

No recommendations, no cloud accounts, no social feed — just your music, reproduced accurately and navigated instantly.

  • Bit-perfect intent

    On macOS, Nyquist matches your DAC's hardware sample rate to each file and waits for the clock to re-lock, so CoreAudio performs no resampling. No forced cross-family conversions, ever.

  • True gapless playback

    Sample-accurate transitions between same-format tracks, so albums, live sets, and classical recordings flow without a single gap.

  • Built for huge libraries

    Folder-first browsing that behaves like a high-performance file browser, not a slow database. Lazy, async discovery means no full-library scan before you press play — even across 50,000+ tracks.

  • NAS-aware

    Add SMB shares through the Files app. Remote tracks start instantly while a background copy makes seeks immediate, and the next track is prefetched for seamless rotation.

  • Exclusive mode & routing

    Optionally take exclusive (hog) ownership of your DAC on macOS, and pick the exact CoreAudio output device — your choice is remembered across launches.

  • Deep transparency

    Inspect format, sample rate, bit depth, channels, and codec — plus a live signal-path view showing source rate, output rate, and bit-perfect / resampling / exclusive status.

A desktop-class player, screenshot by screenshot.

Real captures from Nyquist on macOS — folder browsing, album views, the live signal path, and the now-playing inspector.

  • Nyquist Files tab showing a folder list of artists with a Date Modified column and the output-device and signal-path inspector on the right.
    Folder-first browsing Navigate huge local and NAS libraries like a high-performance file browser.
  • Nyquist Browse tab showing an album track list with format and quality columns alongside the signal-path inspector.
    Rich album views Per-track format, quality, and duration at a glance, with customizable columns.
  • Nyquist output-device pane showing an iFi USB DAC with bit-perfect status met, exclusive mode on, and a 44.1 kHz signal path.
    Bit-perfect signal path Sample-rate matching, exclusive mode, and a live DAC status you can verify.
  • Nyquist now-playing inspector showing cover art and full metadata including title, artist, album, genre, label, and codec details.
    Now-playing inspector Cover art plus complete metadata and file details for the current track.

The signal path, honestly

See exactly how your music reaches your ears.

Every play surfaces the live playback chain. Before building its audio graph, Nyquist sets the output device's nominal rate to match the file — or a clean same-family multiple — and waits for the DAC clock to re-lock, so nothing is resampled behind your back.

  • Green — bit-perfect (source rate equals output rate)
  • Yellow — resampling in effect
  • Lock — exclusive (hog) mode active

Disk-streamed frame-by-frame, never decoded whole into RAM — so even 24/192 material stays light on resources.

One universal app. Mac, iPhone & iPad.

A single purchase covers every device, with a native experience tuned to each.

  • macOS

    Per-app CoreAudio output selection, exclusive mode, and a desktop-class file browser with a full metadata inspector. Requires macOS 14.6 or later.

  • iPhone & iPad

    Push-based folder navigation with a pinned mini player that expands to a full now-playing screen. Route to AirPlay, Bluetooth, or wired output. Requires iOS / iPadOS 17.6 or later.

  • Liquid Glass UI

    A floating, translucent transport bar on macOS 26 / iOS 26, with a graceful material fallback on earlier OS versions.

Private by design

No accounts. No tracking. No cloud.

Nyquist collects no data and makes no network calls other than reading the NAS or file shares you explicitly add. The app is sandboxed and only ever touches folders you grant via the system file picker.

Frequently asked questions

Is Nyquist a streaming service?

No. Nyquist plays the music files you already own from local drives, external SSDs, and NAS shares. There are no subscriptions, accounts, or streaming catalogs.

Which audio formats does it support?

FLAC, ALAC, MP3, AIFF, WAV, and AAC today. The playback engine is format-agnostic, with DSD and SACD ISO planned.

What does "bit-perfect" actually mean here?

On macOS, Nyquist matches your DAC's hardware sample rate to each file (44.1 → 88.2/176.4, 48 → 96/192) and waits for the clock to re-lock so CoreAudio performs no resampling. It never forces cross-family conversions; if no native match exists, it leaves the device untouched rather than degrade the signal.

Does Nyquist collect any data?

No. There are no analytics SDKs, no accounts, and no tracking — only direct access to the NAS or file shares you add yourself.

What do I need to run it?

An Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 14.6+, or an iPhone / iPad running iOS / iPadOS 17.6+. A USB DAC is recommended on macOS to get the most from bit-perfect output, but isn't required.

Hear your library the way it was recorded.

Download Nyquist and play your music correctly — gapless, bit-perfect, and instantly browsable.

Download on the App Store