An introduction to computer audio
XBMC
XBMC is an open source player with stunning graphics.
XBMC started as a media center for the Xbox but today it is available for Linux, OSX, Windows, Apple TV, iOS, Android and Raspberry Pi
From August 2014 on, it is called KODI.
While XBMC functions very well as a standard media player application for your computer, it has been designed to be the perfect companion for your HTPC.
Supporting an almost endless range of remote controls, and combined with its beautiful interface and powerful skinning engine, XBMC feels very natural to use from the couch and is the ideal solution for your home theater.
XBMC
Indeed, this interface works best on a TV.

You can choose the audio output device.
WASAPI in excusive mode is supported.

You can browse your collection by folder

Took a while before I found out that it won't create a library by default.
After building the library, you can browse by a very limited set of tags.
The composer tag is not supported.
Supported audio codecs:
- CDDA (Audio-CD) playback
- WAV/WAVE (WAVEform) and PCM audio format
- AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) audio
- MPEG layer I, II, and III (inluding MP2 and MP3) audio
- OGG (Ogg Vorbis audio codec)
- WMA - Windows Media Audio v1 and v2 (WMA1 / WMA2 / DivX Audio v1/v2)
- WMA - Windows Media Audio 9 (WMA9)
- WMA Pro Audio Codec (Windows Media Audio 9 Professional)
- RealNetworks RealAudio codecs: 1.0 (14.4), 2.0 (28.8), SIPRO, COOK, COOKER, DNET and ATRAC3
- AC3 2.0 or 5.1 and Dolby Digital EX 6.1 or 7.1 audio in video (AC3 digital cable S/PDIF pass-through)
- Dolby Digital AC3 and AC3-WAV/AC3-CDDA 2.0 and 5.1 audio in video software decoded to stereo analog-out
- Dolby Digital Plus (a.k.a. E-AC3), and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio software decoder
- Dolby Digital Plus (a.k.a. E-AC3), and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio in Blu-ray rips via digital cable S/PDIF pass-through
- DTS (Digital Theater System) 5.1 and DTS-ES 6.1 audio in DVD-Video (DTS digital cable S/PDIF pass-through)
- DTS (DTS and DTS-WAV/DTS-CDDA) audio in DVD-Video (software decoded)
- AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) profiles: Main, LC, HE, LTP, LD, ER, and aacPlus v1/v2 (AAC+ SBR/PS) audio
- M4A and MP4 (MPEG-4 Audio) (including Nero Digital MP4)
- PureVoice (QCELP) audio decoder
- AVS (Audio Video Standard) audio codec
- FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio
- WavPack lossless audio
- MPC (Musepack, a.k.a. Mpeg+) lossless audio
- APE (Monkey's Audio) lossless audio
- SHN (Shorten) lossless audio
- ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) lossless audio
- MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) / Packed PCM (PPCM) audio decoder
- AMV audio decoder
- Sonic audio decoder
- AIFF/AIFF-C audio dcoder
- Macromedia ADPCM decoder
- Creative ADPCM audio decoder (16 bits as well as 8 bits schemes)
- Nellymoser ASAO decoder
- True Audio (TTA) decoder
- TrueSpeech audio decoder
- Intel Music decoder
- QDM2 audio decoder
- Delphine Software .cin audio decoder
- 8SVX audio decoder
- MIDI music using Timidity
- Tracker Mod's audio, see list below:
- Adlib (AdLib and Sound Blaster OPL2/OPL3 and Dual OPL2/OPL3) FM audio
- SID (Commodore 64 tunes) audio
- YM (ATARI ST) audio
- NSF (Nintendo NES Sound Format) audio
- SPC (SPC700) audio
- GYM (SEGA Genesis) audio
- ADX/AST/ADP/DSP/YMF/HPS CRI MiddleWare and Gamecube ADPCM) audio
- MOD/AMF/669/DMF/DSM/FAR/GDM/IMF/IT/M15/MED/OKT/S3M/STM/SFX/ULT/UNI/XM
- vgmstream playback of 51 more streamed audio formats used in video games:
- aax, asd, asr, ass, bgw, bh2pcm, capdsp, ccc, dcs, de2, emff, fag, gbts, gca, gsb, idsp, idvi, isd, joe, kraw, mihb, msvp, mwv, omu, p2bt, pdt, rnd, rwar, rwav, sap, seg, smp, spd, spsd, spw, ss7, ssm, thp, vgs, vs, waa, wac, wad, wam, xa2, xmu, xsf, xvas, ydsp, ymf, zwdsp
A complete list of all formats (audio, video, pictures) supported can be found here.