| Version | 20131102 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | TMKK |
| Release date | Nov 2, 2013 |
| Date added | Nov 2, 2013 |
| Os requirements | Mac OS X 10.4 PPC, Mac OS X 10.5 PPC, Macintosh, Mac OS X 10.3.9, Mac OS X 10.4 Intel, Mac OS X 10.6 Intel, Mac OS X 10.3, Mac OS X 10.8, Mac OS X 10.7, Mac OS X 10.5 Intel |
| Requirements | None |
| Total downloads | 102,046 |
| Downloads per week | 7 |
| Price | Free |
Description
X Lossless Decoder(XLD) is a tool for Mac OS X that is able to decode/convert/play various 'lossless' audio files. The supported audio files can be split into some tracks with cue sheet when decoding. It works on Mac OS X 10.3 and later.
XLD supports the following formats:
(Ogg) FLAC (.flac/.ogg) Monkey's Audio (.ape) Wavpack (.wv) TTA (.tta) Apple Lossless (.m4a) [10.4 and later] AIFF, WAV, etc
Other formats supported by Libsndfile are also decodable. XLD uses not decoder frontend but library to decode, so no intermediate files are generated. All of the supported formats can be directly split with the cue sheet. XLD also supports so-called 'embedded' or 'internal' cue sheet.
Currently you can choose output format from WAVE,AIFF and Raw PCM. In addition, you can choose Ogg Vorbis (aoTuV), MPEG-4 AAC (QuickTime/CoreAudio), MP3 (LAME), Apple Lossless, FLAC and HE-AAC (aacPlus v1/v2) in the GUI version.
Review
X Lossless Decoder for Mac plays and converts from and to a wide variety of music file formats. The program is fast and features an intuitive interface suitable for audiophiles and users comfortable working with audio files.
Installation of X Lossless Decoder for Mac was nonexistent, with the mounted DMG containing the application, a README file, and a clickable icon to launch a command line interface. The README file gave a limited and brief overview of tasks the application could perform. Launching the application opens only a preferences panel, which we used to configure our output audio type and folder location for converted files. Strangely, the default output audio was the antiquated AIFF, presumably for alphabetical reasons. We switched it to MP3 at a high quality 320KPBS bit rate. We had a folder of music compressed in lossless FLAC format, which we tried to listen to with the included audio player. While the audio player had standard Play/Stop/Next Track/Previous Track controls, only one track at a time could be opened, rendering some buttons useless. We could load the whole folder into the conversion tool by dragging and dropping it onto the program's icon. During testing, the program showed impressive performance, converting an entire album to MP3 format in under a minute.
X Lossless Decoder for Mac performs its main function quickly and is suitable for audio and music enthusiasts who understand various audio codecs and don't need instruction on how to deal with them.