foobar2000 vs kodi for lossless audio
foobar2000 has been the default recommendation for lossless audio playback for years especially on windows, and for stereo FLAC files on a desktop DAC it’s still perfectly good. But if you’ve been extracting Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA, or high-resolution multichannel audio from Blu-ray, SACD, or MKV files, foobar2000 has a fundamental limitation that most guides skip over and is the main reason I don’t use it..
foobar2000 cannot bitstream Dolby Atmos over HDMI. There is no plugin for it, no workaround, and no active development to add it. If you play TrueHD Atmos files in foobar2000, it silently strips the Atmos object metadata and your AVR receives plain multichannel PCM. Your overhead speakers won’t engage. Your AVR display will show PCM, not Atmos.
For anyone who went through the effort of extracting lossless audio from their disc collection, that’s usually a dealbreaker. It is for me. This post explains exactly where foobar falls short, what Kodi does differently, and why Kodi is the better choice for a hi-res audio streaming setups.
What foobar2000 Actually Does with Your Hi-Res Files
foobar2000 is built around a decode-to-PCM architecture. Every audio format it receives FLAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, M4A — gets decoded internally to PCM before it’s sent to your output device. For a stereo FLAC file going to a USB DAC, that’s fine. PCM is what a DAC expects and nothing is lost.
The problem comes with Atmos and DTS-HD MA. These formats aren’t just audio they contain spatial metadata that tells your AVR how to route sound to specific speakers, including overheads. When foobar2000 decodes them to PCM, that metadata layer is destroyed. It’s not passed along in a different form. It’s simply gone. Your AVR has no way to reconstruct it from the PCM signal it receives.
The same applies to DTS-HD MA. foobar decodes it and sends multichannel PCM the DTS codec information, channel object data, and any DTS:X metadata don’t make it through. The result, you don’t get the mix as intended.
For stereo and standard multichannel FLAC this genuinely doesn’t matter, foobar handles those well. But if your collection includes Atmos or DTS-HD MA material extracted with Lossless Extract, you’ll miss the immersion.
What Kodi Does Differently
Kodi was designed from the ground up to handle HDMI passthrough. Instead of decoding audio internally, it sends the encoded bitstream directly to your AVR over HDMI intact — TrueHD, Atmos metadata and all. Your AVR receives exactly what was on the disc and handles decoding itself. This is why your AVR lights up “Dolby Atmos” when playing through Kodi and shows “PCM” when playing the same file through foobar2000.
Beyond passthrough, Kodi also functions as a full music library — it reads embedded tags, displays album art, handles CUE sheets, and lets you browse by artist and album exactly the way you’d expect. With your files stored on a NAS or shared folder, the whole library is accessible from your couch on a Shield Pro or any other Kodi device connected to your system. Also Kodi has a much better interface when using a remote control.
The practical difference for a hi-res setup:
| Format | foobar2000 | Kodi |
|---|---|---|
| Stereo FLAC | Full quality, no issues | Full quality, no issues |
| Multichannel FLAC | Full quality, no issues | Full quality, no issues |
| TrueHD (no Atmos) | Decoded to PCM — audio intact | Bitstreamed — AVR decodes natively |
| Dolby Atmos (TrueHD) | Atmos metadata lost — PCM only | Full Atmos passthrough — overheads work |
| DTS-HD MA | Decoded to PCM — codec lost | Bitstreamed — AVR decodes natively |
| DSD (SACD rips) | With plugin — native DSD or PCM | Converts to PCM |
| CUE sheet support | Yes | Yes |
| Music library with album art | Yes | Yes |
| Gapless playback | Yes | Yes (M4A single file preferred) |
The One Area Where foobar Still Wins
DSD. If you’ve ripped SACDs to .dsf or .dff files and you have a DSD-capable DAC, foobar2000 with the Super Audio CD Decoder component can output native DSD directly to the DAC — bypassing PCM conversion entirely. Kodi converts DSD to PCM on the way out, which is fine for most setups but isn’t true native DSD playback.
If you’re a dedicated SACD listener with a DSD DAC, foobar2000 remains the better tool for that specific use case. For everything else — Atmos, DTS-HD MA, TrueHD, and standard FLAC through an AVR — Kodi is the stronger choice.
Setting Up Kodi for Your Extracted Library
If you’re ready to switch or add Kodi to your setup, the process is straightforward. The most popular hardware choice in the audiophile community remains the — it handles full TrueHD Atmos bitstream passthrough and runs Kodi smoothly. A Windows PC or NUC connected via HDMI to your AVR is the second best option. Raspberry Pi 4/5 running LibreELEC also works for standard formats, though it can struggle with large Atmos files.
For a detailed walkthrough of Kodi configuration, passthrough settings, and AVR setup, see our Kodi Dolby Atmos setup guide — it covers everything from the correct output settings to sharing your library over a local network from Mac or PC.
The Workflow
The cleanest setup for a hi-res library looks like this: use Lossless Extract to extract your Blu-ray, SACD, MKV, or DVD-Audio discs to FLAC or M4A with correct tags and artwork, store the files on a NAS or shared drive, and point Kodi at that library. Kodi reads the tags, displays everything correctly, and bitstreams Atmos, DTS-HD MA, Flac to your AVR exactly as intended. The full chain from disc to speakers is lossless, with nothing stripped or resampled along the way.
foobar2000 is a great player with a ton of options. For stereo listening on a desktop DAC or for DSD playback it’s still worth having. But for a home theater setup built around hi-res multichannel audio, Kodi is the player that actually delivers what the formats promise.