Computer Audio Players

Discussion in 'Computer Audiophile: Software, Configs, Tools' started by JoshMorr, Oct 4, 2015.

  1. starence

    starence Facebook Friend

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    I like it. Clean and simple, good sound quality too.

    *edit* Now that I've had a little more time with it, Resonic doesn't sound right somehow. The search for a good music player that doesn't require a lot of customization and tweaking continues...
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2016
  2. Madaboutaudio

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    @starence,
    Same as you, I feel foobar sounds better than resonic@wasapi
    they have a paid version which has ASIO support.

    foobar2000 v1.3.13 beta 2 is worth a try, personally I find it to sound very slightly better than the stable release.
     
  3. IndySpeed

    IndySpeed Friend

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    If you are running linux, I can highly recommend DeaDBeeF. It's pretty easy to setup to talk directly to the ALSA drivers, so a lot less audio processing. For an Android phone, I have had good success with Vanilla Music from the google play store.
     
  4. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    Foobar 1.3.12 - Bright sounding
    Foobar 1.3.13 - Boosted, dull sound, lacks clarity
    Foobar 1.3.13 Beta 1 and Beta 2 - Better than the final version at least
    Foobar 1.3.11 - Best version yet
    JRMC - Bit processed sound. Cleaner and smoother than Foobar. Bouncy bass, center image not precise at all, flatter dynamics than foobar, good for listening at louder volumes due to smoothed over sound.
     
  5. Madaboutaudio

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    Now there's a Foobar 1.3.14 Beta 1..

    It seems like foobar has seen quite active development in recent times.

    Also I find that you can further improve foobar's sound quality(no more dropouts on extremely heavy system activity or NAS based audio files) by enabling full file buffering memory playback:

    File > Preferences > Advanced > Playback> Full file buffering up to (kb):

    Just enter some ridiculous large number like 99999999999

    downside is the initial delay before music starts to play.
     
  6. Madaboutaudio

    Madaboutaudio Friend

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  7. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    how noob am I playing my music from spotify ?
     
  8. shipsupt

    shipsupt Admin

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    I use Spotify all the time at work and when filling the house with some music at home. A time and place for many applications...
     
  9. ShankNinja

    ShankNinja New

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    I don't think anyone mentioned MonkeyMote for foobar2000 so I thought I'd bring it up. The app is a dollar or two on iOS for the ad-free version, with a free foobar plugin, that works rather well. It has it's kinks and I've since just bought a mini bluetooth keypad with a Play/Pause, Prev/Forward, and set hotkeys to it to do anything I need to do from my bed or chair. If I have to physically get up to use the computer (changing albums mostly), I can just use MonkeyMote instead.
     
  10. Scubadude

    Scubadude Almost "Made"

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    Been running JRiver MC19 for a while and really love the flexibility, functionality, robustness and snappy user interface even across networks.

    Also been exposed to Roon ... wow! I may just be Rooned for life!

    But in the short term I'm going retro and setting up a dedicated (old) laptop to run LMS on Linux. Bought two lightly used Squeezeboxes and hope this new arrangement will free me from my computer and let me enjoy my collection throughout the house. I understand Squeezebox makes good Roon endpoints, so that is probably the next logical step.

    Anyone here still run LMS?
     
  11. Renekton

    Renekton Acquaintance

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    It's true. I just updated my foobar to 1.3.14 and I'm surprised to say that after an hour of back and forth with wasapi working on both players the difference is clear. It's about 1%. Trust me, I'm high. This Abhishek Chowdhary fellow described it very well! Jriver: Processed, smoother. Different dynamics. Boomy bass. I agree with these at least. I would add that it's warmer and gooey-er. In contrast, foobar is fast, sharp and analytical with tighter bass and better bass pitch definition kind of fast.

    We are still talking about just a 1% difference... But a stark one, two completely different houses of sound. Both are good! Only preference, mood and planet positioning can determine which is "better". But IMO foobar is blacker AND sharper and faster and more natural.

    I'm sure it's not placebo, I know when to trust myself.

    5yr old custom built gaming > wyrd > modi 1 > magni 1 > HD598.

    SO PLEASE try this for yourselves if you can. I'm pretty sure all my settings are the same between the two players - no resampling, no dither, nothing. Both 250ms buffer wasapi event.

    PS: I didn't post this a week back and left it as draft since it's a bit handwavy, but since then I've compared some more and my opinion has not changed, and that's saying a lot, I'm quite bipolar when it comes to audio preferences. I want to consolidate the handwaving to this: Jriver is warmer. I prefer foobar.
     
  12. The Alchemist

    The Alchemist MOT: Schiit - Here to help!

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    Jriver is warmer? Can you explain please? I have been using JRiver since MC18, now on MC22. I have also tried other players (Foobar (also a great player) but I cannot see how you think JRiver is "Warmer". Can you explain please?
     
  13. Renekton

    Renekton Acquaintance

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    It's subtle and hard to put my finger on, it's just different. Let me think, what can I say for certain... It's not a frequency response thing. Dynamics are different, that's for sure. Foobar is more focused in the bass, making it slam harder, yet drier, if that makes sence - bass is sterile and analytical. Stops on a dime. In contrast Jriver's bass is a bit flabby, which could be a good thing as it could be percieved as a more vibrant, expansive bass. But also a grainy, dirtier one. Sadly that's all I can think of, if I keep going I'll just be spamming random words and that's not useful. I hope I could at least slightly guide you all to what to listen for when comparing, so try it for yourselves, good luck, have fun!
     
  14. The Alchemist

    The Alchemist MOT: Schiit - Here to help!

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    well my motto has always been -whatever sounds best to the listener -music and sound is subjective. A lot of members here love Foobar and prefer it as their main Computer Audio player. When you tired JRiver, did you read their Wiki on how to set it up properly. At first, there are so many options so it can be confusing as to what correct settings are best for you. Did you use any EQ or any of the long list of enhancements? Did you change any of the output or do any upmixing etc?

    If you want to, read this link:

    https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Setup

    Like I said, that is just a small part of the JRiver Wiki - there is a lot of information on JRiver, how to set it up properly and get the best possible sound from it.
     
  15. SSL

    SSL Friend

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    No thank you? Like, I care about audio quality, but I'd rather just assume that something that is supposed to be bit perfect, is.
     
  16. Renekton

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    EDIT: Maybe I was wrong, if a difference exists between Jriver in foobar both using wasapi event 250ms, I could not pick it out consistently in a blind test, my ears (or gear :p) aren't good enough. Details in my further post on the next page.
    Original post:
    That's fine, it's better to enjoy the music than to stress over the 1%, so ok, let me correct myself: Don't try it out, unless you find it amusing to compare small differences. But DO NOT assume that there is no difference, because there is. Have you been to the USB nervosa thread? Bits are bits, but physics are physics so some random electrical stuff makes usb sound worse. And guess what, it's actually a significant difference there, even MY MOM could tell a cd player sounds better than PC usb feeding the same setup (speakers). And yes, players make even less sense to be different, but they are. Again, it's not important, but seeing people dislike Abhishek Chowdhary's post pissed me off, it's ignorant. That's why I said people should try it - because I saw people dismissing it just based on their beliefs on how the world SHOULD work. Right???
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2017
  17. SSL

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    I choose to assume that bit perfect software output using the same audio API is bit perfect because I would rather devote effort to serious improvements, like getting USB out of the chain, upgrading DAC or amp, or even moving away from PC audio altogether. I do not have time to download, install, and run comparisons of every audio player. That sounds incredibly tedious, if nothing else.

    It's this kind of navel gazing that I don't like about the hobby, and the reason that I disliked the post above.

    In any case; if you DO care about the "sound" of bit perfect audio playback using the same low-level API, you're using the wrong players. I think it's pretty clear, from reading the JRiver wiki for instance, that the "sound" of the player is not something the developers of Foobar or JRiver are concerned with. So whichever version "sounds best" will be random. Better to spend time with players that claim to improve sound quality, like xxHighEnd.
     
  18. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    Well, never say never, but the odds are much higher that any number of other factors is really at play...like the air temperature dropping, or you dinner digesting, or your sinus pressure changing. Although we're not all about the measurements here, I'd certainly want to see some measurement before I go wandering off into that wilderness.
     
  19. Abhishek Chowdhary

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    I've been using foobar exclusively for years. Recently when I upgraded to .12, I felt something was not right. That is what compelled me to check for differences. I threw in JMRC because it's popular. I tried few other players as well but finding a golden player is just waste of time. Better stick with what you have been using already and invest time/energy in upgrading h/w components.
     
  20. Renekton

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    My bad, guys, I got carried away: I hyped myself up because it was so fun for me to learn to hear the difference and it just felt so important to me that I tried to force it down people's throats. I stand by my descriptions of what I hear, but I was wrong to expect you all to care about it. I don't want to hype people up on rabbit holes, so fine, don't play with different players too much. BTW thanks, SSL, for reminding me about other players, I feel kinda dumb now after I got so heated up about the only two players I've listened to critically. I'll make sure to try more players before my next subjective impressions. Told you guys I was bipolar...

    GoodEnoughGear, you're questioning my credibility? That's fair, this is the subjective objectivist forum and I'm a rando, I need to provide objective evidence. How about this: when my mom has time in the following days we can do a blind test where she uses a random number generator to select player 1 or 2 and I have to blind guess which is which. I'm so confident about it that I think with the right test track I will pick each player out every time. We can even film it if any of you won't believe me otherwise. My goal is to prove that the problem of different players sounding significantly different exists and the adventurous audiophool might have fun in comparing different players and even exercise their analytical listening. Is this what tube rolling feels like? Comparing small differences and trying to decide which is "better" by ear? Getting all obsessed and anxious? Fk me, I do that sometimes, sorry all.

    Guys, I love this forum, it has brought me tons of valuable info, It's my dream that I can add value of my own by posting my experience. One of the reasons I got so hyped up about preaching my subjective opinion on foobar vs Jriver is that I'm 100% sure about this one. I have refrained and held back from posting many of my random audio finding, but I have simply tested this one long enough (hours over days) to know what I'm talking about. I mean come on, this forum is full of subjective reviews, as long as the listening test is done critically by a skilled listener over a few hours or days it's basically going to be valuable data and all it takes then is to find a way to express the subjective findings in words. That is sometimes hard. Also, apparently, I need to earn trust and credibility by first proving my ideas. In this case a blind test is all I can think of.

    So please, everyone, give me criticism and continue to point out parts of my posts you don't agree with, I'm trying to find a way to be valuable to the forum and to fit in.

    Thanks to all of you for talking to me! Blind test pending, stay tuned. Cheers.
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2017

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