Your music.
Unchanged.
Svarga is a bit-perfect audio player for macOS. It shows you exactly what happens to your music between the file and your DAC — and changes nothing along the way.
Most audio software adds something — a mixer, a resampler, a subscription. Svarga is built to add nothing. It acquires exclusive access to your audio hardware, bypasses the macOS system mixer, and delivers your files in integer format, bit for bit.
Then it tells you, plainly, whether it worked.
See the signal path
Every track, Svarga displays exactly what happened between your file and your DAC — verified, not assumed.
If something along the way resamples, dithers, or converts your audio, the badge changes too — and tells you what changed. Svarga never hides a conversion.
Built around the signal, not the interface
Six things Svarga does well, and nothing it does that you didn't ask for.
Exclusive hardware access
Svarga takes exclusive control of your audio device (hog mode) and bypasses the system mixer entirely. Your FLAC, ALAC, or WAV file reaches your DAC without macOS touching a single bit.
DSD64 to DSD512
DSD64 through DSD512 playback for DSF and DFF files, delivered via DoP (DSD over PCM) to DoP-capable DACs — or clean PCM fallback where it is not supported. Svarga tells you which path is active.
Local files, properly organized
Your library lives on your Mac, iCloud Drive, or NAS — not in someone else's cloud. Svarga is iCloud-native for libraries that roam across your Macs, with artist photos, album bios, and smart playlists without a streaming account required.
Mood-driven sessions from your own library
Mixtapes builds listening sessions from the music you already own, using tags, BPM, and library context to create something cohesive without pulling mystery tracks from the cloud.
Correction when you want it, honesty when you use it
Parametric EQ, crossfeed, ReplayGain, room correction, and headphone tuning are built in. When DSP is active, Svarga shows it in Signal Path instead of pretending nothing changed.
Curated lossless streams
A curated catalogue of lossless radio. When something you like plays, Svarga shows you where to buy it — HDtracks, Bandcamp, ProStudioMasters, or iTunes.
Supported formats
What Svarga plays, and how it plays it.
Know the chain before you click buy
Svarga is happiest with a wired DAC, a local library, and a listener who wants to verify the path instead of trusting marketing copy.
Compatible hardware
See what kinds of DACs, outputs, libraries, and network paths fit Svarga best, plus where the caveats start.
Is Svarga for you?
See who Svarga is built for, who should probably look elsewhere, and where it fits in the wider audio-software landscape.
Troubleshooting guide
Use the manual's quick checks for no sound, sample-rate mismatch, DSD mode confusion, flaky discovery, and NAS scanning issues.
One price. No subscription.
Built for listeners who want a serious local player without committing to a server ecosystem or another monthly bill.
- Yours forever — no monthly fees, no locked features
- Updates included — bug fixes and new features at no extra cost
- Your music stays yours — iCloud, NAS, or local drive. No Svarga account required.
Not sure if Svarga is the right kind of player? Read the fit guide.
Frequently asked questions
Svarga is a macOS music player for people who still care where the bits go. No subscription, no library server, no mystery cloud box between your files and your DAC.
What is Svarga?
Svarga is a macOS-only audiophile music player built for local libraries, iCloud Drive, NAS storage, internet radio, and direct USB DAC playback. Its core promise is simple: play your own music beautifully, quickly, and honestly.
It is designed for listeners who want a modern library experience without renting access to their own collection.
Who is Svarga for?
Svarga is for Mac users with serious music libraries: FLAC albums, ripped CDs, hi-res PCM, DSD files, folders on external drives, SMB/AFP NAS shares, iCloud Drive libraries, and a real DAC on the desk.
If your ideal player is "local-first, bit-perfect when possible, not a subscription, not a server appliance," Svarga is for you.
How much does Svarga cost?
Svarga is planned as a $49 one-time purchase. No subscription. Ever.
Which Macs are supported?
Svarga targets macOS 13.0 or later. Apple Silicon is the recommended hardware path for the first release.
The first release is a direct download for macOS, because Svarga's bit-perfect path depends on low-level CoreAudio access that does not map neatly to a fully sandboxed App Store build.
Why is Svarga direct-download first?
Bit-perfect playback on macOS requires CoreAudio HAL features such as hog mode and integer-mode style output. Those features do not fit cleanly inside the standard App Store sandbox model.
The direct-download build is designed for the serious local-output path first. If an App Store build arrives later, it may have a different audio-permission profile.
What does "bit-perfect" mean in Svarga?
In Svarga, bit-perfect is not a mood. It is a verified state.
Svarga only treats playback as Pure Signal Path when the live output path satisfies the important gates at the same time: local wired output, hog/exclusive ownership, integer-capable hardware path, matched sample rate, lossless source, and no active DSP in the signal chain.
If the path is not pure, Svarga says so.
What is hog mode?
Hog mode is CoreAudio exclusive access. When Svarga owns a DAC in hog mode, other apps are prevented from mixing audio into that output path.
That matters because system mixing, sample-rate conversion, software volume, alerts, and other app audio are exactly the kind of little gremlins audiophiles spend years trying to keep away from a DAC.
Does Svarga automatically switch sample rates?
Yes. For local wired playback, Svarga configures the selected output device to match the source rate whenever the hardware supports it.
For example, a 44.1 kHz album plays at 44.1 kHz, a 96 kHz file at 96 kHz, and DSD over DoP uses the correct 176.4 / 352.8 / 705.6 / 1411.2 kHz carrier family when the DAC supports it.
Which audio formats are supported?
For local library playback, Svarga v1 supports:
- FLAC
- ALAC / M4A
- WAV
- AIFF / AIF / AIFC
- AAC
- MP3
- DSF
- DFF
Svarga also supports internet radio streams including FLAC/Icecast, Ogg Opus radio streams, and common MP3/AAC radio streams.
Local OGG/Opus, WavPack, and Monkey's Audio/APE are deferred from v1.
Does Svarga play DSD?
Yes. Svarga supports DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, and DSD512 files through DSF and DFF. For v1, the user-facing DSD modes are:
- Auto
- DoP, meaning DSD over PCM
- PCM Conversion
Native raw DSD is not exposed as a v1 playback choice because ordinary class-compliant macOS USB audio does not provide a universal public native-DSD transport for regular apps. DoP is the correct macOS path for most native-DSD-capable USB DACs.
What is DoP?
DoP means DSD over PCM. The DSD data is not converted to music-shaped PCM; it is wrapped inside a PCM-looking carrier with special marker bytes so a compatible DAC recognizes it as DSD.
Your Mac sees a high-rate PCM stream. Your DAC, if it supports DoP, sees DSD.
Why doesn't Svarga advertise Native DSD?
Because "Native DSD" on macOS is not a universal app-level feature for class-compliant USB DACs.
Some ecosystems can do native raw DSD with vendor drivers, ASIO on Windows, ALSA paths on Linux, or specialized network audio transports. Svarga v1 does not pretend that standard macOS CoreAudio magically becomes that.
For v1, Svarga is honest: use DoP for a DSD-capable USB DAC, or PCM Conversion when DoP is unavailable or unwanted.
What happens if my DAC does not support DoP?
In Auto mode, Svarga can fall back to PCM Conversion. That converts the DSD stream to high-rate PCM for broad compatibility.
If you explicitly choose DoP and the DAC cannot validate a DoP path, Svarga fails visibly rather than secretly converting to PCM. That distinction matters.
Does DSP work with DSD?
For DoP playback, DSP is bypassed. It has to be. EQ, crossfeed, ReplayGain, software volume, or any mixer processing would damage the DoP marker stream before it reaches the DAC.
For PCM Conversion, the audio has already been converted to PCM, so normal PCM-style processing is possible.
What DSP features are included?
Svarga includes a serious DSP section:
- Parametric EQ
- Crossfeed for headphones
- Global preamp
- Room correction import from REW text exports
- Headphone correction profiles from built-in AutoEQ / oratory1990-style data
- Import of AutoEQ ParametricEQ.txt
- ReplayGain scanning and playback normalization
- BPM scanning for library and Mixtapes features
DSP is always disclosed in the signal path. If DSP is active, Svarga does not claim Pure Signal Path.
Can Svarga do room correction?
Yes. Svarga can import Room EQ Wizard filter exports and apply room-correction filters through its DSP engine.
Room correction is powerful, but it is not bit-perfect. It is a deliberate transformation. Svarga treats it as DSP and reports it accordingly.
Can Svarga correct headphones?
Yes. Svarga includes built-in headphone correction profiles and can import AutoEQ-style ParametricEQ.txt files.
That lets you apply headphone-specific parametric EQ while keeping the correction visible and reversible.
Does Svarga support ReplayGain?
Yes. Svarga can read and apply ReplayGain-style loudness values and can scan tracks, albums, or the full library using an EBU R128-style measurement path.
ReplayGain is useful for listening comfort, but it changes gain, so it is not part of a strict bit-perfect path.
Does Svarga detect BPM?
Yes. Svarga can scan the current track, current album, or full library for BPM. BPM values are stored in the library and used by Mixtapes and smart listening features.
How does the library work?
Svarga builds a local index of your music. You can browse by Home, Albums, Artists, Songs, Genres, Recently Added, Folders, Queue, playlists, Radio, Mixtapes, and DSP/EQ.
The library is local-first. Your files remain where they are: on your Mac, external drive, iCloud Drive, or NAS.
Can I use folders instead of a strict album library?
Yes. Svarga includes a Folders view. It groups tracks by their parent folder and can treat a folder like an implicit playlist.
This is useful for downloads, DJ folders, bootlegs, live recordings, and the kind of music that refuses to behave like a clean streaming-service catalog.
Can Svarga read music from a NAS?
Yes. Svarga supports SMB and AFP library sources. You can add a network share, store credentials in macOS Keychain, test the connection, scan the source, and merge its tracks into the library.
Svarga is designed to be NAS-aware without requiring you to run a separate music server.
Does Svarga support iCloud Drive?
Yes. Svarga supports iCloud Drive as a first-class library source and is designed to feel iCloud-native when your collection lives there.
It checks file availability, downloads cloud files as needed before playback or scanning, and lets your library live in iCloud without pretending every file is already on local disk.
Does Svarga support Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or pCloud?
Svarga has cloud-source scaffolding for Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and pCloud, but public v1 cloud OAuth testing depends on provider app registration.
In plain English: local folders, external drives, iCloud Drive, SMB, and AFP are the practical v1 source paths. Broader cloud-drive login support is planned.
Does Svarga support playlists?
Yes. Svarga supports playlists, custom playlist artwork, sorting, queueing, ordered or shuffled playback, export to M3U8, and import from M3U/M3U8 when referenced tracks already exist in the library.
It also includes Smart Mix for generating local-library mixes from rules.
What are Mixtapes?
Mixtapes are mood-based local-library sessions. Svarga uses tags, BPM, artist information, and library context to build listening sessions from your own files.
It is not "AI radio from nowhere." It is your collection, reorganized into a vibe.
Does Svarga have internet radio?
Yes. Svarga includes radio playback with support for FLAC/Icecast, Ogg Opus radio streams, MP3/AAC streams, favorites, a curated Lossless Radio catalogue, and station suggestions.
Radio metadata is parsed when available, including now-playing information from compatible streams.
Can Svarga play to Sonos or DLNA speakers?
Yes. Svarga includes DLNA / UPnP output support and has been verified with Sonos-class renderers.
Important distinction: network output is transport-tested, not treated as local bit-perfect USB DAC output. Svarga reports those paths separately.
Can Svarga play DSD to Sonos or DLNA?
For v1, Svarga blocks unsafe DSD handoff to unverified DLNA renderers.
Sonos is not a DSD renderer. Raw DSF/DFF and DoP should not be sent to unverified network devices. Use local USB DAC + DoP for DSD, or use PCM Conversion when a non-DSD output path is required.
Does Svarga support Chromecast?
Yes. Svarga includes Chromecast / Google Cast discovery and output support for compatible devices on the same network.
As with DLNA, Chromecast is a network output path and should be treated separately from local USB DAC bit-perfect verification.
Can I use Bluetooth, AirPlay, or virtual devices?
You can use normal macOS output devices, but Svarga's strict bit-perfect claim applies only to local wired, non-virtual outputs where CoreAudio HAL can verify the path.
Bluetooth, AirPlay, DLNA, Chromecast, HDMI displays, and virtual devices may be useful, but they are not the same thing as a verified local USB DAC path.
Does Svarga rip CDs?
Yes. Svarga includes a CD ripping workflow with secure or burst modes, library import, and AccurateRip-aware verification and reporting.
Recent work has gone deeper on rip confidence too: secure-read diagnostics, better AccurateRip behavior, and optional ReplayGain tag writing for FLAC rips. Svarga's goal is to show the difference between fast, verified, unverified, and database-missing results instead of flattening them into one generic "success" state.
Does Svarga fetch metadata?
Yes. Svarga can enrich albums and artists using sources such as iTunes Search, Discogs, MusicBrainz, TheAudioDB, and Last.fm-related data where configured.
Album and artist information is cached in the library so Svarga does not repeatedly search the web every time you open the same album.
Does Svarga scrobble to Last.fm?
Yes. Svarga includes Last.fm browser sign-in, now-playing updates, scrobbling, loved tracks, and enrichment when credentials are configured.
Svarga stores returned session data in macOS Keychain. It does not need your Last.fm password for browser authorization.
Is Svarga private?
Svarga is local-first. Your library index lives on your Mac. Credentials are stored in macOS Keychain. Metadata lookups only happen for features that need them. Last.fm scrobbling is opt-in.
There is no subscription account required to play your own files.
Does Svarga use analytics?
Svarga is designed with no analytics unless a user explicitly opts into something in the future.
The app does not need to watch you listen in order to play your music.
How is Svarga different from Roon?
Roon is a powerful server-based music ecosystem. Svarga is intentionally smaller and more direct: a Mac app for your own library, local/NAS/iCloud sources, radio, and DAC output without a subscription or separate server requirement.
Different philosophy. Fewer moving parts.
How is Svarga different from Apple Music?
Apple Music is a streaming service and general-purpose player. Svarga is a local-library audiophile player.
Svarga is built around explicit output-device control, signal-path disclosure, NAS/iCloud libraries, DSD handling, radio, ReplayGain, DSP tools, and a "tell me what is actually happening" attitude.
Can Svarga replace my current player today?
If your main use is local FLAC/ALAC/WAV/AIFF/DSD playback, radio, playlists, NAS/iCloud library access, and USB DAC output on macOS, that is exactly the target.
If your main use is streaming-service catalog access, mobile sync, or multi-room server playback, those are either future work or intentionally outside the v1 center of gravity.
What should I test first after installing?
Start with a simple local FLAC or ALAC album through your USB DAC. Open Signal Path and confirm the sample rate, output device, DSP status, and Pure Path result.
Then test a hi-res file, a DSD file in Auto or DoP mode if your DAC supports it, a radio station, and any NAS/iCloud source you plan to rely on.
Small controlled tests beat heroic chaos. Your DAC will thank you.