When comparing aqualung vs Amarok, the Slant community recommends Amarok for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for UNIX-like systems?” Amarok is ranked 23rd while aqualung is ranked 35th. The most important reason people chose Amarok is:
Amarok contains the following features: Built-in equilizer Built-in lookup of songs and artists (Amarok will display Wikipedia articles or lyrics of songs that it can find.) Ability to add online playlists or streams, which is great for online radios such as soma or di.fm. Supported by Cinnamon Desktop media widget. Built-in iPod and iPhone support. Built-in MTP and USB support. Built-in music services for Ampache, gpodder.net, Jamendo, Last.fm, Magnatune, Amazine Music, MP3tunes, and podcasts. Amarok can configure, add, and import scripts.
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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 Loaded with features
Amarok contains the following features:
Built-in equilizer
Built-in lookup of songs and artists (Amarok will display Wikipedia articles or lyrics of songs that it can find.)
Ability to add online playlists or streams, which is great for online radios such as soma or di.fm.
Supported by Cinnamon Desktop media widget.
Built-in iPod and iPhone support.
Built-in MTP and USB support.
Built-in music services for Ampache, gpodder.net, Jamendo, Last.fm, Magnatune, Amazine Music, MP3tunes, and podcasts.
Amarok can configure, add, and import scripts.
Pro Original design
The design of Amarok does not resemble most other music players. It's definitely in a class of its own.
Pro Global keys to move from one song to another, rewind X seconds, advance X seconds, etc
The ability to assign global keys to move from one song to another, rewind X seconds, advance X seconds, etc. Other players do not have that feature.
Pro Search in the playlist while seeing other songs
You can search for songs in the playlist... without adding a filter that prevents you from seeing the other songs. That way you can find e.g. the song that has been played before House of the Rising Sun. Using other players you can not search for songs in the playlist without hiding the songs that are not looked for.
Cons
Con UI is not the most intuitive
While the design of the UI is different to most other music players, the way it actually functions can feel foreign to many and result in a lot of confusion.
Con Resource hog...
Con No seamless transition between tracks when they're on different files.
Con Doesn't feel very responsive
This is particularly the case with the play/pause button: it feels like there's a delay from when the button is pressed to when the music actually starts/stops.