Which FLAC player should you use on Linux?

The real problem: PipeWire and PulseAudio

On a recent distribution, sound goes through PipeWire (or PulseAudio on older ones). This sound server mixes every application at a common sample rate, often 48 kHz. A 44.1 kHz or 96 kHz FLAC is therefore resampled before it reaches the sound card.

For everyday listening, most people can’t hear it. But if you’ve invested in a DAC and hi-res files, you might as well have the signal reach it intact. Two options: tune PipeWire, or use a player that talks to the hardware directly through ALSA.

What to look for in a FLAC player

• The library: indexing your folders, cover art, browsing by album, artist and genre.
• Direct output to the DAC: by opening the sound card through ALSA (hw: device), the player avoids the sound server’s mixing and resampling.
• DSD over DoP, if you have DSF or DFF files and a compatible DAC.
• A way to check what reaches the DAC: format sent, sample rate, any conversion.

RustMusic is built around these points: a cover-based interface, direct output to the DAC enabled in one setting, native DSD over DoP, and an audio chain that shows the format actually sent.

RustMusic’s exclusive output on Linux

RustMusic’s exclusive output releases the selected card from the sound server and opens it directly through ALSA (hw: device). Bit-perfect PCM requires a lossless source, a sample rate and channel count the DAC accepts without conversion, volume at 100% and ReplayGain disabled. Check the “Bit-perfect” badge and audio chain: “Exclusive” alone does not guarantee an unchanged signal, and a rejected format can lead to conversion or a return to shared mode.

1. 1

   Install RustMusic

   .deb packages (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint), .rpm (Fedora, openSUSE) or an AppImage for every distribution. A compatibility build exists for older distributions (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12).

2. 2

   Pick your DAC

   In Settings → Audio, select your USB DAC or sound card.

3. 3

   Turn on exclusive output

   The DAC is then reserved for RustMusic. For DSD files, also enable native DSD (DoP).

Alternative: let PipeWire follow the file’s sample rate

If you’d rather stay in shared mode, PipeWire can switch sample rates per stream instead of converting everything to 48 kHz. Create ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/rates.conf with this content, then restart PipeWire:

context.properties = {
    default.clock.allowed-rates = [ 44100 48000 88200 96000 176400 192000 ]
}

PipeWire changes the graph sample rate when devices are idle. allowed-rates enables additional rates, but does not guarantee bit-perfect playback by itself: also check volume, processing and the format actually sent to the DAC.