Best AAC Player in 2021

Unlike MP3, AAC as an audio format is less known to most people. This is because MP4 is still considered the de facto standard of digital audio compression as it’s better in transfer and playback. As the successor of the MP3 format, AAC achieves a better sound quality than MP3, yet has more problems in playback, especially on Android phones. If you want to know more about how AAC works and the best AAC player to use in 2021, just read on.

Part 1: About AAC Files
Part 2: Best AAC Player in 2021
Part 3: Why AAC Perform Poorly on Android Phones?
Part 4: AAC isn't Perfect

 

Part 1: About AAC Files

AAC, also known as Advanced Audio Coding, is an audio coding standard based on lossy digital audio compression. It is designed to be an ideal substitute for MP3, with better sound quality at the same bit rate. Defined as MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding file, AAC has improved performance such as higher coding efficiency for signals, a simpler filter band, and better handling of frequencies above 16 kHz. Simply put, AAC is an advanced version of MP3, which has better sound quality yet takes up the same disk space.

Developed by multiple companies like AT&T Bell Labs and Dolby, AAC is the default and standard audio format adopted by Apple devices, Nintendo, Playstation, as well as media platforms like YouTube. It is also supported on Wii, Android, Nokia, and Blackberry, though AAC doesn’t seem to perform well with Android phones. iTunes is where you can find the AAC is widely adopted, yet the format is not used and saved as much as M4A.

 

Part 2: Best AAC Player in 2021

Even though AAC is not adopted widely as MP3, AAC is a more attractive format when it comes to distributing, especially for streaming content. To open and listen to AAC files always requires a good media player which has been implemented with the AAC codecs. If you want to get a decent media player for your AAC, here’s a list of the best AAC players in 2021 you should check out.

 

1. Leawo Blu-ray Player

Leawo Blu-ray Player – the most professional media playback solution in the world, most importantly, it’s FREE! Leawo Blu-ray Player is the best AAC player so you can get the best sound quality out of it. With Leawo Blu-ray Player, you can not only play Blu-ray disc, DVD, HD video(4K), audio, etc. but also BDAV movie folder and Blu-ray ISO image files. For more information on supported formats, you can check out the product page to learn more. The player is extremely easy to use with a clear and user-friendly design. Simply launch Leawo Blu-ray Player, click the green "Open File" button to browse and add a file, then you are good to go. Leawo’s core technology provides you with a premium media experience in both music listening and video watching. Leawo Blu-ray Player is the ultimate media playback solution that is beyond your expectation.

 

2. Apple iTunes

Given AAC is the standard format for Apple devices, then iTunes should be the most convenient AAC player at hand for Apple users. Apple has been long celebrating a rich experience of innovation and excellence in sound for computing, especially when it comes to the standardization of AAC on iTunes, with the collaborative research with Dolby and Fraunhofer. iTunes is not only a media player but also a media library that allows you to purchase, play, download, and organize digital multimedia on personal computers. With iTunes, you can easily have the superior audio quality of AAC for Apple’s industry-leading AAC encoder, which can bring you a listening experience that rivals CD audio output.

 

3. Nullsoft Winamp

Nullsoft Winamp is a powerful AAC player if you want to get a media player for Windows operating systems. Nullsoft Winamp supports a lot of multimedia formats that can surely meet all of your needs and expectations. Besides, similar to iTunes, Nullsoft Winamp is a media library that can help you manage multimedia content. The media player is designed with diversity in mind, so you can customize the interface based on your preference. Surprisingly, Nullsoft Winamp also allows you to use plug-ins such as tempo and pitch control, providing more possibility in exploring music listening. This is a full-featured media playback solution that can bring you more fun in enjoying multimedia.

4. Audials One

Audials One is a powerful media player. The media player is not well known to the public but it is truly a useful AAC media player. Audials One is multifunctional as it’s not only a media playback solution but also a streaming recording software. With Audials One, you can record, download, and find music, movies, podcasts as well as convert these media to the formats you prefer. You can download the videos from many video sharing and hosting sites such as YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, etc. When it comes to music listening, Audials One can bring you the best music experience for its advanced codec technology. The media player is also useful when you want to convert multimedia into different formats.

 

Part 3: Why AAC Perform Poorly on Android Phones?

While most people prefer AAC as the better format for music listening, it doesn’t perform well on Android phones based on the tests, even though they are equipped with the best AAC player. Simply put, Android doesn’t handle AAC well, and it’s much worse than Apple’s iPhone. This has much to do with Android’s encoding and the algorithms in dealing with AAC, especially in Bluetooth space. The way Android handles encoding is linked to the connection quality like Bluetooth code, and the phone’s Energy Aware Scheduling (EAS). EAS is an algorithm that governs the balance between CPU clock speeds and energy efficiency. When the Bluetooth encoding with AAC is assigned as a priority, the battery saver function would naturally affect your AAC output quality.

Besides that, AAC is also a codec that requires heavy processing when compared to SBC or aptx, the two popular Bluetooth codec. This is because AAC adopts psychoacoustic modeling to transmit data, hence Android will prioritize energy efficiency over performance, which eventually enables AAC Bluetooth to encode to a lower bit rate and quality. Huawei P20 Pro, which excels in power optimization, produces a worse AAC output quality than its peers like Galaxy Note 8 based on a lab test. When it comes to the test of the noise floor, AAC performs poorly on Android phones when Galaxy Note 8 reaches an impressive background noise of -110dB around 1kHz tone, a long way from CD quality, which is 96dB. With this fact, the AAC file is ruined because of the noise that has to crank your tunes.

 

Part 4: AAC isn't Perfect

As much as AAC is considered the ideal substitute for MP3, it’s not perfect. The output quality is nothing close to CD audio, with most Android phones. As mentioned earlier, AAC produces noises that can potentially ruin your tunes when playing on Android. Additionally, it seems the frequency responses are far from satisfactory, too. Plus the algorithms Android deals with AAC, making the format perform poorly across most Android phones. AAC is not perfect for someone who would prioritize audio quality over everything.

The lab test of the Huawei P20 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, and iPhone 8 shows that the frequency responses of AAC never reach high enough to match CD quality, LDAC, or standard Bluetooth SBC in any case. The reasonable frequency of human hearing is somewhere between 10kHz to 20kHz depending on age. While the iPhone 8 hit 18.9kHZ, Huawei P20 reaches 14.2kHZ, which is relatively low in the frequency range of human hearing; Galaxy Note 8 is at 17kHZ which is slightly worse than iPhone. What’s more, with the average latency staying at 369ms, AAC is the worst and most unreliable format across Android phones when the normal latency ranges from 45ms-90ms.

While AAC doesn’t seem to be a good choice on Android devices, there are ways to fix it. One is to avoid using it on Android phones, especially with the Apple AirPods. Or try to convert AAC to a more adaptable format to match your Android phone. In this case, you can always try Leawo Video Converter to convert your AAC file to any format you prefer. This is a powerful, all -all-inclusive software to satisfy all your needs in media editing.

With Leawo Video Converter, you can download, convert, copy music and video, burn videos and images to DVD/Blu-ray, make video and audio editing with fast speed. If you want to convert your video file to other formats, adjust the video and parameters, edit videos, trim or crop to make the file smaller without losing video quality, Leawo Video Converter is your best choice. On top of that, it’s so powerful that it can help you make your side-by-side 3D movies at home! If you have been using Android phones and struggling with the performance of AAC with your phone, try Leawo Video Converter and convert your AAC file to a better-performed format, so you can get the most out of the music listening.

Chang