AIMP vs Guayadeque
When comparing AIMP vs Guayadeque, the Slant community recommends Guayadeque for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for UNIX-like systems?” Guayadeque is ranked 17th while AIMP is ranked 21st. The most important reason people chose Guayadeque is:
Most other players start rather slowly. This one is written in C++, and the end result is excellent speed.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Multiple audio codec compatible
AIMP supports a huge list of audio formats and several playlist types.
Pro Useful audio library
AIMP can play, manage, and filter music stored in the whole computer or specified folders. It is able to read metadata from music files' tags and perform real-time searching out of it.
Pro Internal updater
AIMP updates using its built-in updater, so you don't have to visit AIMP's website and download the whole installer every time a new version is available.
Pro Lightweight skinning
Even with lots of skinning options, AIMP is lightweight and works on the smallest computer.
Pro 18 band equalizer + 22 presets + preamp
AIMP has an 18 band equalizer (which is manually customizable), plus 22 presets by default [user can add his/her custom presets]. It also includes a +15/-15 dB preamplification.
Pro Multiple other features
AIMP has many more features including: dither, anticlipping, customizable hotkeys/shortcuts, customizable player's user agent string, access to Favorites audio files and playlists, rating for tracks, tracklist export, optional temporary information bar with track info every time a track begins, volume normalization, ReplayGain support, volume fading between tracks, and more.
Pro Mini Player support
AIMP can be maximized, restored, sent to the tray, or switched to Mini Player for your convenience.
Pro Among the best audio quality for Windows audio players
AIMP uses the BASS library, which provides one of the best audio quality of all currently available music players for Windows.
Pro Multiple playlist management
AIMP can manage multiple playlists by a tab system, similar to web browsers.
Pro Tag Editor + Audio Converter can carry out a multitude of tasks
AIMP has two tools for further music management.
Tag Editor lets you add album art to audio files, fix metadata to individual files or to all files included in a folder, rename filenames, complete tags from filenames and viceversa, and more.
Audio Converter lets you convert an audio file into another format (for instance, from FLAC to M4A). You can choose quality parameters, renaming of files, and output paths for converted files. Audio conversion supports multiple core encoding, so if your CPU has four cores, you can convert audio using 1, 2, 3, or 4 cores.
Pro Supports audiophile-level playback quality
Other music players usually require separate plugins for this, but AIMP comes by default with the modern WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API) audio output support thus providing purest sound output unadultered by the Windows mixer (in WASAPI Exclusive mode) out of the box.
Pro Delete files from player
Simple and good working ability to delete files right away from the player.
Pro Multiple languages available
AIMP is available in 36 languages, including: Russian, English, Arabic, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Argentina), Spanish (Spain), French, German, Italian, Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), and more.
Pro Built-in scheduler
AIMP has a scheduler which lets you stop playback, close the program, or turn off your computer at a specified time/period.
Pro Waveform seekbar
AIMP's seekbar features a waveform display of the entire audio file for easier navigation within the sound file. For example you can easily see where are the silences which is especially useful for podcasts and talked content.
Pro Icon sets available for download
The user can download icon sets for different audio formats.
Pro Allows for radio capture
AIMP can grab internet radios' audios and save them to drive, in real-time. You can save the streaming in its original format, or choose the codec manually [AAC, OGG Vorbis, OPUS, etc] and its bit rate. You can even save its CUE log and split files, if desired.
Pro DSP manager allows for sound effects
AIMP has a digital sound processor manager which lets you apply sound effects to the output audio in real-time. These effects include: echo, reverberation, Flanger, Chorus, bass, enhancer, speed, tempo, and pitch. It also has a voice remover feature for stereo audio files.
Pro Support for several WinAmp's plugins
AIMP supports several plugins originally designed for WinAmp. However, it also supports new plugins designed for AIMP itself. From visual plugins to extra codec support, YouTube playlists playback, Soundcloud playback, or spectrum analysing, these are a selection of supported plugins.
Pro Easy to use
Handsome design
Pro Starts fast
Most other players start rather slowly. This one is written in C++, and the end result is excellent speed.
Pro Doesn't use much memory
Once installed, Guyadeque only uses about 15 MBs.
Pro Well-implemented auto playlist
After music has finished playing, Guadayeque will play a similar type of music.
Pro Handles large music databases very well
Pro Lots of niceties / options / integration
Last.fm shows your profile in the software and also displays info about the artist.
Lyrics are downloaded automatically when you want to see them.
Cross-fading between songs keeps music constantly coming, which is very important when using music to block out ambient sounds.
VU (volume unit) Meters give you something to look at while the music is playing.
Pro Smart play
It automatically make a playlist song-by-song you hear from your music file. It finds similar songs. So, as you listen to a song an endless playlist with similar songs is about to happen..
Pro Clean appearance
Guayadeque has a clean yet customizable appearance.
Cons
Con Not open source
AIMP is not libre / open source software, so development is closed and lead by the AIMP staff only.
Con Buggy, bloated and obfuscated options
Seems to hang when adding a large number of files.
Con Cluttered and confusing interface
The interface is very busy and not intuitive so it can take awhile to become familiar with it. The skins don't conform to specific design standards so they often have different behaviors. You can read more about it here.
Con AIMP "Help" only in Russian and English
AIMP's "Help" included in the software itself is only available in Russian and English.
Con Russian content
Supporting this is also supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Con BEWARE FRAUD, MALWARE, TROJAN, BACKDOOR
Download only from the actual aimp site
Con Development seems to stall since 2016
Con Sidebar lists multiple artists as one artist
A song with multiple artists labeled like "Artist 1; Artist 2; Artist 3" will not be displayed under all three artists, but rather under an artist labeled as "Artist 1; Artist 2; Artist 3." This makes actions as simple as queuing up an album with multiple artists a huge pain.
Con Songs with differing artists in an album are displayed as separate albums
Suppose Album 1 by Album Artist A has a lot of songs by Artist A, with one song that features Artist B. Album 1 will get fractured across different artists in the sidebar.
Con Interface is too busy
There's a lot shown on each of Guayeque's screens, and the more important buttons (play/pause and skip buttons) are small and hidden in the top left corner. Most users use music players in the background, meaning they will be switching back and forth with whatever else they're doing. As such, having larger buttons in a more prime location would be preferable.
Con Sometimes freezes and crashes
This can happen if you change some settings i.e. add or remove tabs etc.
