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Add to SafariWhen comparing aqualung vs MPV, the Slant community recommends MPV for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for UNIX-like systems?” MPV is ranked 20th while aqualung is ranked 35th. The most important reason people chose MPV is:
When used with youtube-dl.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Gapless playback
Aqualung offers continuous, gap-free playback of consecutive tracks. Your ears get exactly what's in the files – no silence inserted in-between.
Pro LADSPA plugin support
You can use any suitable LADSPA plugin to enhance the music you are listening to. There are many different plugins out there, including equalizers, spatial enhancers, tube pre-amp simulators, etc.
Pro JACK Audio Server support
Pro Multiple skin support
There's support for multiple skins in aqualung; changing them is possible at any time.
Pro Integrates with streaming services
When used with youtube-dl.
Pro Needs no additional codecs
Everything MPV needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
Pro Minimal interface
Click to open files and get Video with sound (and passthrough of codecs like DTS etc) for a perfect cinema experience. Works okay for many files.
Default window is not much more than a title bar - and if you drag/resize the window it resizes the video and leaves no empty areas. There is no visible control or display unless you use mouse/keyboard over the window.
This is the best player to use unless you're going for a media center (then use MPV based Plex Media Player to display and play the Plex Server library).
Pro Up to date
Always up to date, rapid development.
Pro Extremely responsive
Pro Caches livestreams
Intelligently caches livestreams and enables jumping within the cached stream.
Pro Fast
Cons
Con Minimal theme support
Con Lack of a typical GUI can be jarring to some
The minimal interface comes at the cost of beginner-friendliness. You need to know keyboard shortcuts by heart, settings are set in text files, right-clicking won't bring up a menu, etc.
