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Comparison

feature overview

Feature RoarAudio [0] PulseAudio [1] EsounD [2] aRts [3] NAS [4] OpenBSD sndio [5] YIFF Sound System [6] OSS [7] ALSA [8] RSound [9] RPlay [10]
General
Multiple streams per client Yes ? No aRtsd segfaults ? No Yes(?) No Server/Client architecture No Yes(?)
Metadata Yes (artist, title) No title No No No title ? No ?
Background Streams Yes No No Yes No No Yes No No No ?
Network
Network transparent Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No bad security No No Yes Yes
InterConnect Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Audio & Signal processing
Software mixer Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes No ?
Filter Yes modules only Yes ? No No No No ? No ?
High compression codecs Yes No No No No No No Never implemented No No Using helpers
Multi channel up to 64 up to 32 mono/stereo mono/stereo up to 32 up to 16 mono/stereo Yes Yes >256 Yes?
Bits Per Sample 8, 16, 24, 32 (8, 16, (24, 32)) (8, 16) (8, 16) 8, 16 8, 16, 32 (8, 16) 8, 16, 24, 32 (8), 16, 24, 32 8, 16 8, 16
Non Audio
MIDI Yes No No ? No Yes using ALSA Yes Yes No ?
Light Control Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Raw data passthru Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Feature RoarAudio [0] PulseAudio [1] EsounD [2] aRts [3] NAS [4] OpenBSD sndio [5] YIFF Sound System [6] OSS [7] ALSA [8] RSound [9] RPlay [10]

Overview of provided interfaces

Supported Interfaces RoarAudio [0] PulseAudio [1] EsounD [2] aRts [3] NAS [4] OpenBSD sndio [5] YIFF Sound System [6] OSS [7] ALSA [8] RSound [9] RPlay [10]
RoarAudio Yes No No No No No No No No No No
PulseAudio Simple, Parts of main API, tools Yes No No No No No No No No No
EsounD Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
aRts artsc, tools No No Yes No No No No No No No
NAS tools No No No Yes No No No No No No
OpenBSD sndio Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No
YIFF Sound System Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No
OSS Yes Yes Yes Yes using audiooss No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
ALSA beta plugin plugin No No No No No No Yes No ?
RSound Yes No No No No No No No No Yes No
RPlay Yes No No No No No No No No No Yes
Supported Interfaces RoarAudio [0] PulseAudio [1] EsounD [2] aRts [3] NAS [4] OpenBSD sndio [5] YIFF Sound System [6] OSS [7] ALSA [8] RSound [9] RPlay [10]

Information sources

[ 0] = Me, the developer
[ 1] = Official PulseAudio Homepage (mainly FAQ + Docs)
[ 2] = EsounD source code
[ 3] = aRts manpages, --help, a bit of code reading
[ 4] = NAS manpages, --help, a bit of code reading
[ 5] = sio_open() manpage
[ 6] = YIFF Sound System source code
[ 7] = Official OSS Homepage
[ 8] = ALSA tools manpages
[ 9] = Devel, source code
[10] = source code
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