[Questor]

Hi, been experimenting a little on this but want to get some more feedback. There are a variety of media players out there but for audiophiles, what do you use? Here's a list of some I can think of off-hand. please add on for what you feel sounds the best, or add on methods for which you can make the specific software sound its best.

1. itunes with windows audio or direct sound
2. itunes with amarra (mac users only)
3. foobar with wasapi (vista) or asio4all (XP)
4. media monkey
5. songbird
6. winamp
7. cplay
8. xxhighend
9. J. River media center

personally, i was looking to go for a network music player like a squeezebox transporter as itunes changed its sound over different versions.. then i realised even those are not immune to sound changes due to firmware updates.

[Seanyzf]

iTune sucks.. resource hog. i prefer those gd and light weight media player such as foobar or winamp.

[weib]

foobar2000

[wwenze]

Ohhhh...... touchy topic.

[Questor]

weib, please also state the driver used.

seanyzf, any other reason to state it is bad other than resource? This discussion is only on how good is the audio output.

Anyway if none of you know what is Amarra.. can read up here. Controversial US$1k add-on to itunes (mac only) that improves sound quality. It's been receiving decent reviews so far though.
amarraaudio.com

[wwenze]

Originally Posted by Questor

weib, please also state the driver used.

seanyzf, any other reason to state it is bad other than resource? This discussion is only on how good is the audio output.

Anyway if none of you know what is Amarra.. can read up here. Controversial US$1k add-on to itunes (mac only) that improves sound quality. It's been receiving decent reviews so far though.
amarraaudio.com

Price effect... when you paid $1k for something, naturally it will sound good, though good may be subjective. Ever seen a bad review on 6suns?

Furthermore, the price barrier + Mac reduces the number of people that uses it... so hard to get a believable review.

Actually ar... in order to take advantage of a $1k software, one'd need to have a super system like yours first (else spend $1k elsewhere!), but if that's the case, might as well invest in a standalone player... since the sound will still be affected by drivers and cards anyway.

You still onto the idea of standalone music player?

[wwenze]

Just a thought... if I use Linux, would my sound change as I use different drivers and cards?

[fengshenwee]

Foobar with ASIO4ALL

[Questor]

Originally Posted by wwenze

Actually ar... in order to take advantage of a $1k software, one'd need to have a super system like yours first (else spend $1k elsewhere!), but if that's the case, might as well invest in a standalone player... since the sound will still be affected by drivers and cards anyway.

You still onto the idea of standalone music player?

thanks for the compliment but still my system quite far to go before being 'super', just that the speakers are pretty decent. anyway, the problem about standalone players is the cost. for instance a slimdevices transporter costs U$2k, and a olive opus is about S$3.8k (although now clearing stock at closer to S$2k). I think the benefit of an additional $3k to my system will be better used to buy a better dac like the weiss.

Leaving this side alone till I settle issues with my power amp first.

As for the linux question, really not sure. but i know someone who did that - install linux and using some variant of squeeze center to playback. no screen required and u just access the controls via web interface. In theory the simpler the OS, the better the sound should be.. same concept as cplay.

[proyb2]

Originally Posted by wwenze

Just a thought... if I use Linux, would my sound change as I use different drivers and cards?

Most driver used AC97, suck with muddy sounds unless you have an official driver supported, like MAudio 2496 professional studio soundcard supported linux, and nope I have not tested on Linux as I have no time.

[wwenze]

Originally Posted by proyb2

Most driver used AC97, suck with muddy sounds unless you have an official driver supported, like MAudio 2496 professional studio soundcard supported linux, and nope I have not tested on Linux as I have no time.

AC'97 is a standard + interface that has already been replaced with Intel HD Audio. In other words AC'97 is a type of on-board sound card hardware that doesn't exist on most soundcards so wat talking?

[proyb2]

VLC has improve its sounds quality that I never heard those details on other player. No tweak need except that you need the right soundcard, there are many professional soundcard, try to find one that will not add colours to the audio, flat or complete flat signal will result in delivery pure quality but it will just sounds more beautiful than any side effect. MAudio Audiophile 192 is the highest sample rates and the best sounds card you can get but is way expensive than 2496 card. They both deliver perfect listening for symphony and piano with great dynamic ranges.

[proyb2]

Originally Posted by wwenze

AC'97 is a standard + interface that has already been replaced with Intel HD Audio. In other words AC'97 is a type of on-board sound card hardware that doesn't exist on most soundcards so wat talking?

in ALSA's Linux driver, they all use AC97 interface, so almost you hear will be the same, did you hear any sound like distortion when you up the volume at the highest level you can take? It has not been correctly engineering its signal to the correct frequency

I read the sourcecode before.

[DragonFire]

Originally Posted by proyb2

No tweak need except that you need the right soundcard, there are many professional soundcard, try to find one that will not add colours to the audio, flat or complete flat signal will result in delivery pure quality but it will just sounds more beautiful than any side effect. MAudio Audiophile 192 is the highest sample rates and the best sounds card you can get but is way expensive than 2496 card. They both deliver perfect listening for symphony and piano with great dynamic ranges.

I wonder how an RME HDSPe AIO mastering card will perform against an MAudio.



Looks like a nice card to put into a dedicated audio server. Price is a little murderous, but insignificant compared to most high end audio gear.

DF

[Questor]

Hmm no idea about soundcards.. except quite a few audiophile friends have recommended lynx. i think it has an ability to let u hook up another external master clock to the soundcard, and has aes/ebu output.

most of us are using usb.. more extreme ones use usb converters such as the empirical off-ramp 3 to feed into a conventional dac.
Off Ramp Converter > Products : Empirical Audio