A new music player app: “Tonal, the music player designed for audiophile”
Currently only for macOS
Torben
PS: As I not using macOS I don’t any experience with the player
Tonal collects music into .tonal audio files — a lightweight lossless container that repacks PCM or DSD data of a complete disc in standardized FLAC or WavPack encoding.
So they’re duplicating all music data?
From what I saw on the manufacturer’s website, this is a player made especially against those from the “bits are bits” camp. It seems to be a bit-perfect player, but it has better sound quality than other bit-perfect players. 
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It seems to me the emphasis is on “zero settings”, i.e. something like “yeah, your player is bit perfect, but only if you get your settings right, which is rocket science”. It’s a dubious claim, and not a very strong differentiator in my view.
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Free up to 20 discs.
Unlimited discs USD 99.99
And you have a new file format. Maybe it is bit perfecter.
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Author here.
Since Tonal is mentioned here (and several times before in this forum), it’s my duty to clarify something said about Tonal that is simply not true. I will be as concise as possible. I hope this is allowed.
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Tonal offers a metadata editing experience with classical music in mind. You can describe a rather complex album accurately and with ease. Albums are presented in a way that pays homage to the tradition of physical albums — with a tracklist that reveals the composer/work/act/movement structure and a standalone area rendering artists with recording information. Example here. Tonal’s UI is also optimized for classical music.
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Tonal uses the AccurateRip database to verify Red Book discs and the CUETools database to repair (possible) ripping errors, both automatically. You are unlikely to hear clicks/pops caused by ripping errors using Tonal. It is the first and only macOS app with CUETools error correction built-in (although not in the traditional form).
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Tonal performs a lossless pre-processing into its managed .tonal files and adopts an always-bit-accurate strategy. Such decisions greatly simplify its core and enable a configuration-free playback experience which I encourage you to try yourself. By the way, I am always in the “bits are bits” camp.
Those problems that Tonal targets only trouble some; the solutions Tonal proposed are not perfect but genuinely original. Tonal is definitely not a solution for an issue that has many solutions already. It is designed for those who meticulously care about metadata and the simplicity of management.
More introductions can be found here. For support, please use the “About Tonal” command menu or via the email listed on the website.
Cheers,
Baoshan
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