Computer Audio Players

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

  1. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Switched from Foobar to MusicBee a couple of years ago and haven't looked back. It's so much easier to set up and customize, has been perfectly stable, and the forums are a great resource for help when needed.

    Aesthetics and simplicity are important to me. JRiver never did that for me, but MB pulls it off...and for free? Not even close.
     
  2. mk801

    mk801 Almost "Made"

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    A musicplayer that's centered around a library is kind of an overkill for your use case. Sounds like winamp with WASAPI plugins would be more up your alley. After a long hibernation, they released a new version a few years back. I don't know the state of winamp these days.
     
  3. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    I used Winamp more than a decade ago, then they changed something and my purchased license did not work.

    And I have no clue what you are talking about when you say wasapi plugins, I thought wasapi is a type of driver like ASIO???

    I use asio with Jriver which I have found to me more transparent with my dac than wasapi. And I use ReapEQ which is a VST plugin. Kinda confusing with all the plugin terminology.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2023
  4. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    I never wanted a music management system, being content with a basic directory/file hierarchic organisation of my modest music collection. Nor did I want a magazine-like player that was more like a browser than a player --- although I do like having lyrics available.

    Essential simplicity was, for me, fulfilled by Foobar. Linux had DeadBeef to offer.

    For Linux Audio, I used JACK. First, because I had a Firewire interface, and only JACK would play with that. Second, because, at least after the development of KXStudio and its easy-to-use JACK utilities, JACK allowed me to easily wire in plugins such as EQ. Without KXstudio I might have abandonded Linux audio as in my early days with it and firewire, it was a huge headache.

    Strawberry does have a music management facility. But it also plays better with JACK or other studio-related tools. I don't do any recording; in-the-player EQ is probably sufficient; I have a USB interface. But it has become a habit, and I like the look the thing. The only thing I have ever done with pulse-audio is to disable it.


    abandonded --- my New Word of the Day. I like it too much to correct it :)
     
  5. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    agree with @mk801 - I found musicbee to be the most stable of the players I've used thru the years. I used to run it both at home (local network accessing a synology nas) and at work (accessing my home nas remotely). But will admit that I've been using roon at home for the last few years and at work I now use a Pi2aes with moode
     
  6. tatsugiri

    tatsugiri Acquaintance

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    Using wasapi exclusive fixed the issue I'm about to describe and sounds the same as ASIO anyways, but I had this obnoxious thing happen with musicbee where it would list my xmos drivers as the device, and then only send audio to the xmos u8 device by bed and not the xu208 one by my desk. What's really bizarre is that it didn't act this way for weeks, and I had been happily using the player in ASIO mode, but then its behavior just changed one day for reasons unknown.
     
  7. JayNYC

    JayNYC Friend

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  8. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Any Windows users running Audirvana? I used it years ago on Mac and liked it. thinking of switching from JRiver.
    How is the VST integration?

    Thoughts as to sound quality?
     
  9. J Seymour

    J Seymour Acquaintance

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    I switched to Audirvana Studio (Windows 11) two years ago. It was an improvement over MusicBee with Fidelizer and Process Lasso. With AS no need to use the extra utilities. #1 sound improvement: more detail without losing any musicality. I experimented with some VST3 plugins for EQ. They all worked without problems. I choose to go with no EQ, but not due to the plugin integration.

    Originally, I was just looking for support for my local library, but with AS there was a 30 day trial for Qobuz. Fantastic integration with my local and streaming.

    I did try Neil Young's PC based player, based on JRiver. I didn't think it was as good as MusicBee and it was more of a resource load.

    Audirvana has a trial period. Go for it. Odds are you will like it.
     
  10. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    @J Seymour Thanks for the impression.

    Do you or anyone else out there have any idea if Audirvana Origin (the version sans streaming and subscription pricing) sounds the same with local files?
     
  11. 5bs5vuiz4

    5bs5vuiz4 New

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    LMS on an Ubuntu server with piCorePlayer on a Holo RED as an end point. Sounds fantastic. Only issue is the difficult choice between i²s and USB.... can't decide which I think sounds better. Both are very good, but different.
     

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