I have run into the same issue, where I want the convenience of the native audio element but have business requirements where I don't want to show the new Chrome download button.
I made a hacky solution where I position a masking div over the download button to hide it, if I detect Chrome 55 or above.
<div id="player">
<audio src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Fur_Elise.ogg" controls></audio>
<div id="mask"></div>
</div>
<style media="screen">
#player {
position: relative;
width: 300px;
}
#mask {
display: none;
background-color: #F3F5F6;
position: absolute;
width: 34px;
top: 0;
right: 0;
bottom: 0;
z-index: 10
}
</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) {
var match = navigator.userAgent.match(/Chrome\/(\d+)/);
if (match && parseInt(match[1]) >= 55) {
document.getElementById('mask').style.display = 'block';
}
});
</script>
https://jsfiddle.net/keeth/bqdc4uL7/6/