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Hi KVR,I'd like to announce Spectro for DJs, a native macOS application for detecting fake lossless audio files — MP3-encoded audio repackaged in WAV or AIFF containers.
The problem it solves
A significant portion of audio distributed through record pools, digital stores, and sample marketplaces arrives mislabeled. Files with .wav or .aiff extensions that contain lossy-encoded audio are indistinguishable by filename or metadata — but the spectral frequency cutoff gives them away. A genuine lossless recording has energy up to 22kHz (Nyquist at 44.1kHz). An upconverted MP3 has a flat, artificially round cutoff at 16kHz, 19kHz, or 19.5kHz that no natural recording produces.
How detection works
Spectro runs an FFT analysis on each file and classifies the result based on the cutoff shape and position. Three verdicts: Lossless, Lossy, or Fake Lossless. The detection works regardless of container format — WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3.
Key features
- Batch analysis — drag an entire folder, get verdicts in seconds
- Finder integration — right-click any audio file for an instant verdict
- Quick Look plugin — press Space in Finder to see the full spectrogram
- Automatic file tagging in macOS
- 100% offline — no audio data transmitted
- Apple Silicon + Intel, macOS 12+
The closest reference point is Spek, which has been unmaintained since 2013. Spek requires manual spectrogram reading with no batch support and no automatic verdict. Spectro is purpose-built for systematic library verification.
Pricing:
$39 USD, one-time purchase. No subscription. Developer ID signed and notarized.
Free trial:
Scan 100 tracks for free
https://getspectro.app
(https://getspectro.app)
Here a discount code: 20SPECTRO
Happy to discuss the spectral analysis approach or answer any technical questions.