Try Amarra. It plays FLAC files natively. I haven't compared it to foobar, but I have compared it to songbird. I'm not sure if songbird and foobar use the same audio device drivers, but Amarra uses it's own device driver. It's expensive, but you can try a demo version and see how you like it. I haven't tried it via an external DAC, but with headphones going straight into my macbook pro, Amarra sounds better. It's more analog, more round, less edgy sounding, more dynamic, more detailed. My ears are particularly sensitive to digital sound. I don't have a golden ear, and I am not an audiophile, but I can't stand bright processed sound. I'm one of those few people that can hear the different in bit-rates.
With Fleetwood Mac's Dreams as my demo, from the DVD-A version (24/96), I hear immediate differences. Amarra's bass notes from the bass guitar and the drums are more rounded and deeper. Vocals are more airy. I can hear Nicks' voice reflecting off a wall on the left side of the soundstage creating some nice reverb. tThe sound is more focused instead of smeared across the soundstage. Harmonies are more distinct sounding allowing me to pick out individual voices better. With songbird, I hear a smeared vocal harmony, reverb washing murkily and unfocused, bright brittle cymbals and hi-hats, weaker bass, less dynamics. With Amarra, I can tell where each voice is coming from and hear it distinctly. The splash from cymbals and tick of the high-hat sound less bright and more round again. It sounds like I am there. This is something you hear from the moment the track starts. Amarra sounds WAY better than songbird.
As a second demo, I used Creedence's track "Ramble Tamble" sourced from 180g vinyl and recorded at 24/96. This song has a more live sound to it than Dreams. But again, the sound is more natural and dynamic. Songbird is like listening to digital music. With Amarra, you get that weird feeling when you open your eyes because you're hearing actual instruments and music, but your eyes see nothing there. It's that eerie feeling I get only with really good quality sources. I never would have thought the source program could make much of a different, but listening this way, it's a huge difference. Through an external DAC? I don't know. I just started playing with it today. But the results should be the same one would think. Unless my macbook's DAC just does better with Amarra's input?
