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No — Bareplay plays your local and network files just fine on the device's own output. But it's built around sending audio to an external USB DAC bit-perfect, and that's the way it's meant to be used.

No — Bareplay plays stereo (2-channel) and mono only. It's built for a two-channel USB DAC, so multichannel files (5.1 surround, quad, multichannel SACD rips) aren't played: tapping one shows a short "mono and stereo only" message instead of half-playing it. Multichannel isn't planned.

Bareplay itself never alters your samples — no resampling, volume, EQ or mixing. PCM (WAV/FLAC/ALAC/AIFF) and DSD-over-DoP play untouched. The one change the app can make is DSD→PCM conversion for DACs that can't accept native DSD. By default (Auto mode) this happens automatically only when the DoP rate won't lock — always disclosed (a gold ⟳ and a DSD → PCM line), never silent. See the DSD mode question below to make it strict or always-on.

There's a second case, but it's iOS, not the app: if the hardware can't lock a file's native sample rate, iOS resamples to a rate it can. Bareplay never adds that conversion itself — it discloses it with the ⚠ RESAMPLED BY iOS badge so you always know.

DST is the lossless compression found on some DSD and SACD rips. Bareplay can decode it, but the feature is experimental and off by default: DST is hard to test and verify — a subtly wrong decode comes out as noise rather than failing gracefully — and it hasn't been confirmed on real hardware. You can turn it on in Settings; otherwise DST files are skipped with a note. If you try it and run into problems, please get in touch.

Three modes in Settings, with Auto the default — and the right choice for most:

Auto — plays DSD bit-perfect over DoP when your DAC locks the carrier rate, and only if it can't, falls back to converting to PCM. Always plays, always badged. Play as DoP — strict: refuses rather than convert if the carrier won't lock (resampling DoP would be noise, not graceful degradation). Decode to PCM — always converts, for DACs that don't do DoP at all.

So the PCM conversion isn't something you switch on; in the default Auto mode it happens by itself only when DoP isn't possible — and you can opt out of it with Play as DoP if you'd rather it refuse.

They only matter when DSD is converted to PCM — the fallback for DACs that can't do DoP. The filter sets how the DSD is decimated down to PCM: linear-phase (default) (sharp, symmetric ringing), minimum-phase (no pre-ringing), or apodizing (gentle roll-off, minimal ringing). Linear-phase is the default because it's the most neutral — flat magnitude, no phase shift — and at these high conversion rates its pre-ringing sits in the inaudible ultrasonic range. The others are there if you prefer their trade-offs. Pick one in Settings; it takes effect on the next track. For native DSD over DoP and for PCM files, filters don't apply — nothing is being converted.

It only matters when DSD is converted to PCM (the fallback for DACs that can't do DoP). Bareplay decodes DSD to PCM at the file's native rate ÷ 32 — DSD64→88.2, DSD128→176.4, DSD256→352.8 kHz. If your DAC can't lock that rate, iOS resamples the result (the ⚠ RESAMPLED BY iOS badge) — a second, uncontrolled conversion. Set Max PCM rate to the highest rate your DAC actually locks and the decode is capped there instead, so it lands on a rate the DAC holds and locks cleanly (⟳ DSD→PCM LOCKED) — a single, controlled conversion. Example: a DAC that tops out at 192 kHz locks 176.4 but not 352.8, so set 176.4 kHz and DSD256 decodes to 176.4 and locks, instead of decoding to 352.8 and being resampled.

The default is No limit (decode at DSD÷32), which is right for DACs that lock the high rates. If you don't know your DAC's ceiling, the rate probe (Settings → Probe output sample rates) shows exactly which rates lock. It's a one-time manual setting on purpose — deliberately simpler than having the app auto-detect and track every DAC.

No, by design — a software volume would alter the samples. Bareplay outputs every file at its full digital level (0 dBFS) and leaves volume to your DAC or amplifier. Turn your amp down before you press play. Full-scale output can be extremely loud and may damage your hearing or your equipment — use it at your own risk.

From anything that appears in the iOS Files app — a NAS over SMB, WebDAV, Dropbox, iCloud Drive or files stored locally. You add sources as folders; Bareplay browses them live, with no library to build. This is deliberate: Bareplay contains no networking code and keeps no credentials — you set up the connection once in Files, and the app just reads through it.

Network and cloud files are read ahead into a buffer so playback rides out brief stalls. Two settings under Settings → Streaming control it. Streaming buffer is how far ahead a track is buffered while it plays — the cushion against network hiccups. Start pre-buffer is how much is filled before a track starts playing: a lower value (the default is 0.4 seconds) starts almost instantly and stays responsive, while a higher one waits a little longer before the first sound but rides out a slow first read from a cold or distant source. Local files start instantly either way.

Not sure what to choose? Settings → Source speed has a Test source speed button that reads a file from each source and reports its throughput and first-byte latency, then suggests a streaming buffer and start pre-buffer to match — a fast local NAS suggests the smallest values, a slower or more distant source larger ones. It's only a suggestion; you set the final values yourself.

The truth about each track, read on two simple axes. The label names the locked state: PCM LOCKED or DSD LOCKED when the DAC is locked to the file's native rate, DSD→PCM LOCKED when a DSD file was decoded to PCM that then locked, or RESAMPLED BY iOS (⚠ — iOS had to resample; it still plays, you're just told). The symbol is whether anything left the clean bit-perfect path: ✓ means untouched, ⟳ means a disclosed DSD→PCM conversion, and ⚠ means iOS resampled. So a DSD file your DAC can't take over DoP — decoded to PCM that then locks — reads ⟳ DSD→PCM LOCKED with a DSD64 → PCM … line: the PCM is locked, and the gold ⟳ plus the label tell you it was converted. Never left guessing.

Not from software alone — and no iOS app can. iOS doesn't expose what the DAC physically receives, so the in-app badge only confirms the sample rate locked. To prove the rest, Bareplay includes built-in Test Signals: play a reference signal, record it off the DAC on a computer, then bring the recording back and check it on-device under Settings → Analyze a recording. See the next question for which signal to use.

Bareplay generates reference signals on the fly (a built-in source in the picker). They're grouped the same way as in the app:

Demo — just checking the chain works. Tape click PCM and Tape click DSD are soft, warm ticks generated live at any rate (PCM from 44.1 kHz up, or DSD64–DSD256). Play one to hear that playback works and watch the status badge as the rate locks (or falls back). Not a bit-perfect check; nothing to capture.

Measurement — speaker/room calibration. Pink noise is a signal you play back and measure acoustically with a mic or SPL meter. It isn't a bit-perfect check and doesn't go through the analyzer.

Analysis — transparency (analog capture). Record the DAC's analog output. Use Tone 997 Hz (level & distortion), Near-Nyquist (catches resampling), or Multitone (intermodulation & frequency response) — the everyday proof that the output is transparent.

Analysis — bit-exact (clock-locked digital capture). With an S/PDIF tap, use PRNG sequence or Walking-bit for a true sample-for-sample byte compare.

For these signals, capture the output and check it under Settings → Analyze a recording. Each carries a self-describing header with a random per-run ID, so the app identifies it straight from the recording (nothing to note down) and a match can't be a coincidence. For the bit-exact pair (PRNG sequence and Walking-bit), set your recorder to lock its clock to the incoming S/PDIF — otherwise the two clocks drift and the sample-for-sample compare won't line up.

They're generated on the fly. Nothing is bundled or stored: every signal is computed by code the moment you play it — sample by sample, at whatever rate you pick — so they add almost nothing to the app's size and each one exists at every supported rate. The Tape click DSD goes a step further and is modulated into a true 1-bit DSD stream live as it plays.

No. It's a folder player by design. Play a single track or a whole folder as a queue. Nothing to index, nothing to sync.