# Showboard

> A native macOS music player for live music collectors. Six sources. Bit-perfect playback. $39.99 one-time.

Showboard is a macOS desktop application that unifies six music sources into one library: local files, nugs.net, TIDAL, Qobuz, Archive.org, and Phish.in. It is built for people who collect live concert recordings and want one app to search, browse, and play everything.

## What makes it different

- **Six sources, one search**: Local files, nugs.net, TIDAL, Qobuz, Archive.org, and Phish.in all appear in a single library. Search once, find everything.
- **One show, every source**: Pick any show and a unified source picker shows every available recording of it (the SBD, the AUDs, the matrix) with provenance as the hero. Choose which recording to play.
- **Fresh Tapes**: A cross-source feed of recently-added live recordings from nugs.net, Archive.org, and Phish.in. The reason to open the app every morning during tour.
- **Browse by taper (the Taper Section)**: Browse live recordings by the person who rolled tape. A taper's whole catalog across your library and Archive.org in chronological order, with a Source Mix breakdown, Top Rated ranked across their whole catalog, personalized "tapers you'll love" from what you play, "nights you were there" from your Concert Diary, and Follow. Lineage credited as written, never fabricated. Drawn from the etree taper community on Archive.org plus your own files (official soundboards and studio streaming do not credit a recordist). No other Mac player browses by taper.
- **Your library follows you across your Macs**: iCloud sync of favorites, Concert Diary / My Shows, playlists, ratings, and play history. Now Playing Handoff resumes a paused show on another Mac. No device limit. One purchase works on every Mac you own.
- **Play it anywhere**: AirPlay output and whole-home BluOS streaming.
- **Live music intelligence**: Set breaks (Set I, Set II, Encore), source type badges (SBD, AUD, Matrix), taper notes, jam chart annotations, live show detection from folder names, and venue browsing.
- **Concert diary**: Log shows you've attended. Showboard automatically finds every recording of that show across all six sources, with automatic Phish.in matching. Rate them, add notes, browse a year-grouped ticket-stub timeline.
- **Audiophile playback**: CoreAudio HAL exclusive mode for bit-perfect output. Automatic sample rate switching. Gapless playback. 10-band parametric EQ. DSD support (DSD64 via DoP).
- **Song Versions**: See every version of a song across all sources. Compare the Red Rocks SBD with the MSG audience tape.
- **Venue Explorer**: Browse by venue. See every show at Red Rocks, The Gorge, MSG across every source.
- **One-time purchase**: $39.99. No subscription. 14-day free trial. Every future update included.

## Who it's for

Live music collectors who go to shows and collect recordings. People who use Phish.in, Archive.org's Live Music Archive, nugs.net, and have folders of FLACs from years of trading. Audiophiles who want bit-perfect playback without the complexity of Roon.

## Technical details

- Native macOS app built with Swift and SwiftUI, runs natively with no separate server (unlike Roon, which needs Roon Server)
- Current version: 1.6 ("Tapers"): browse live recordings by the person who rolled tape, redesigned Home with cross-source Continue Listening and Most Played, a new full-screen "Tape" player with sets and segues on the timeline, a unified Loved area with iCloud favorites sync, provenance surfaced on show detail, as-you-type search, and "also available on" cross-source discovery
- Version 1.5 ("Dark Glass Studio") added the visual redesign, Fresh Tapes, and the one-show-every-source picker
- Version 1.4 added iCloud sync across your Macs, Now Playing Handoff between Macs, whole-home BluOS output, and AirPlay output
- Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
- Apple Silicon and Intel supported
- Not on the App Store (exclusive audio mode requires CoreAudio access that Apple's sandbox blocks)
- Notarized by Apple, auto-updates via Sparkle
- Formats: FLAC (up to 384kHz/32-bit), DSD (DSD64 via DoP), ALAC, WAV, AIFF, WavPack, MP3, AAC, OGG

## Pricing

$39.99 one-time purchase. 14-day free trial, no credit card required. 30-day money-back guarantee.

## Competitors

- **Roon**: $14.99/mo, $149.88/yr ($12.49/mo billed annually), or $829.99 lifetime. About $750 over five years on the annual plan; on the monthly plan, five years exceeds Roon's own lifetime price. Roon needs Roon Server running; it ships a native Mac app and, as of March 2026, natively integrates nugs.net.
- **Audirvana**: Audirvana Studio is subscription-only at $7.99/mo or $79.99/yr (about $400 over five years). The one-time Origin license is $149.99 and does not include streaming.
- **Apple Music / Spotify**: about $11/mo, subscription, no live-recording management.
- **nugs.net**: a source Showboard integrates, not a competitor.

Showboard is $39.99 one-time, no subscription, no device limit. It is the only player that unifies six sources with live-show management, a concert diary, set-based playback, source-type badges (SBD/AUD/Matrix), taper notes, one-show-every-source provenance, Fresh Tapes cross-source discovery, iCloud sync across your Macs, and Archive.org + Phish.in integration.

## Links

- Website: https://showboard.app
- Download: https://showboard.app/download
- Live Music Features: https://showboard.app/features/live-music
- Browse Live Recordings by Taper: https://showboard.app/features/tapers
- Six Sources: https://showboard.app/features/sources
- Audiophile Playback: https://showboard.app/features/audiophile
- Concert Diary: https://showboard.app/features/concert-diary
- Blog: https://showboard.app/blog
- Why I Built Showboard: https://showboard.app/blog/why-i-built-showboard
- How to Organize Live Recordings: https://showboard.app/blog/organize-live-recordings
- SBD vs AUD vs Matrix Guide: https://showboard.app/blog/sbd-vs-aud-vs-matrix
- Best Music Player for Live Recordings on Mac: https://showboard.app/blog/best-music-player-live-recordings-mac
- How to Play Archive.org Recordings in High Quality: https://showboard.app/blog/play-archive-org-high-quality
- Find New Live Recordings: https://showboard.app/blog/find-new-live-recordings
- Release Notes: https://showboard.app/releases
- Press Kit: https://showboard.app/press
- Support & FAQ: https://showboard.app/support
- Privacy: https://showboard.app/privacy
- Terms: https://showboard.app/terms