[*Scotty*]

For those of you using jRiver 19, you will want to upgrade to jRiver 20. They have finally made a large improvement in sound quality over previous versions.
 In my system it sounds superior to foobar, ulilith, XBMC/kodi and PlayPcmWin(64bit). It is also cleaner sounding than MQN.
I have playback from memory box checked.
Scotty
No affiliation with jRiver!

[Hugh]

Scotty,

Is that for PC or Mac?

Thanks,

[Big Red Machine]

Good to know Scotty, on my list of to do's for weeks now.

[*Scotty*]

Hugh, I have it on a HAL Systems MS/2 Music PC running WIN8 I know they have version for MAC but the last time I heard a comparison I think it was jRiver 19 against Pure Music early this summer and jRiver 19 LOST. A shoot out between a PC/WIN 8 running jRiver 20 against a MAC might generate a different outcome.
I don't know if there have been any changes to the code since then.
Scotty 

[Phil A]

I put it (version 20) on my HAL MS-2 and have listened a drop but have not as yet compared it to the previous version.

[woodsyi]

I guess I should do that.  I am still on 18.

[dburna]

For those of you using jRiver 19, you will want to upgrade to jRiver 20. They have finally made a large improvement in sound quality over previous versions.

Been meaning to do this for a while now.  How long has JRiver 20 been out?

-dB (not paying more $ to upgrade my buggy version of Pure Music)

[*Scotty*]

woodsyi, you are in for a shocking improvement.
Scotty

[*Scotty*]

dburna, I think it has been out about a month.
Scotty

[randytsuch]

Interesting news
I've been playing with different software, jplay, foobar, ulilth and MQN. 

Jriver wasn't on my radar but I'll try their eval version and see how it compares now.

Randy

[AKLegal]

The guys at J River have touted MC20 as a new feature release as opposed to a improved audio release.  Is there something specific about your setup to where it would utilize a new or improved feature to get better results?  I only ask because the current consensus is that 19 and 20 with similar settings sound the same.

[*Scotty*]

No experience with jplay, ulilith was my go to player, foobar sounded comparable to jRiver, basically a non-starter against XBMC and ulilith.
foobar and jriver 19 were boring,uninvolving and ultimately kinda grungy and with poor transparency.
jRiver 20 is exactly the opposite in character. WooHoo.
I suppose ones opinion of the sonic differences heard between jRiver19 and jRiver20 will be influenced by the PC configuration,operating system, WIN 7 or WIN 8/8.1 and the DAC used. At the end of the day what you hear is going to be determined by your system's resolution ceiling.
Historically jRiver has never touted improved music playback quality as a goal of their development team. 
Nothing special was done in Settings between jRiver 19 and 20 other than being sure to use WASAPI and always enabling playback from memory in both players .
Scotty

[stereocilia]

I just wish the upgrade process were more seamless. It would be great if 19 gave the option to pay for the upgrade, migrate all the settings and libraries, and uninstall the old version. Maybe I'm doing this the hard way, but I manually moved all the libraries.  Also, I'm running it on 2 PCs in the same Homegroup, so I guess I need to enter the registration code on the second PC? I requested an emailed new registration code several minutes ago...no email yet.

[Phil A]

I just wish the upgrade process were more seamless. It would be great if 19 gave the option to pay for the upgrade, migrate all the settings and libraries, and uninstall the old version. Maybe I'm doing this the hard way, but I manually moved all the libraries.  Also, I'm running it on 2 PCs in the same Homegroup, so I guess I need to enter the registration code on the second PC? I requested an emailed new registration code several minutes ago...no email yet.

I have not looked at my settings (since everything worked) but don't recall doing a thing to move libraries. I have JRiver on my HAL MS-2 and my computer and have upgraded both.  I took versions 18 and 19 and just stuck them in a folder 'Old JRiver.' I downloaded the key after I got the email.  I just went into my email for both the MS-2 and PC.

[*Scotty*]

Phil, did you perceive the change to jRiver20 as an audible improvement in sound or did you feel that 19 and 20 sound more less the same?
Scotty

[Phil A]

Phil, did you perceive the change to jRiver20 as an audible improvement in sound or did you feel that 19 and 20 sound more less the same?
Scotty

I've just listened to it (JRiver 20) for about 4-5 hours at this point.  It is not that long since I re-set up the system in FL (after the move) and the main system was disconnected from the beginning of last November until the middle of July (was awaiting my Odyssey rack).  So I probably only had about the same amount of time listening to JRiver 19 in the current room as I've listened to 20 and did not listen to tons of the same stuff.  I had someone over and we spent almost 3 hours of listening about a week or so ago, which is most of the JRiver 20 listening I've done and I let them sit where I normally would.  I'll need to re-check the settings and do a few songs at some point.

[stereocilia]

I have not looked at my settings (since everything worked) but don't recall doing a thing to move libraries. I have JRiver on my HAL MS-2 and my computer and have upgraded both.  I took versions 18 and 19 and just stuck them in a folder 'Old JRiver.' I downloaded the key after I got the email.  I just went into my email for both the MS-2 and PC.

I wonder if it has to do with my paying the upgrade price with paypal? The only email I can find is the old one from 19. So, one pc has a registered copy, and the other has a trial copy.  I didn't get an email from jriver, but of course I got one from PayPal. (I checked the junk folder, too). I guess I have 29 days to resolve it.

Anyway, as for the sound, maybe it's all in my head but it I could swear it sounds slightly better--like there is a lower noise floor and better contrast.

[Jon L]

No experience with jplay

foobar and jriver 19 were boring,uninvolving and ultimately kinda grungy and with poor transparency.

I strongly recommend the combination of Foobar 0.8.3 and Jplay.  Foobar 0.8.3. has always been the best sounding Foobar version IME, much better than even the latest Foobar.  Jplay with Foobar 0.8.3 is something to behold 

[Phil A]

I wonder if it has to do with my paying the upgrade price with paypal? The only email I can find is the old one from 19. So, one pc has a registered copy, and the other has a trial copy.  I didn't get an email from jriver, but of course I got one from PayPal. (I checked the junk folder, too). I guess I have 29 days to resolve it.

Anyway, as for the sound, maybe it's all in my head but it I could swear it sounds slightly better--like there is a lower noise floor and better contrast.

You sure it did not go into a spam folder?  I may have paid by PayPal as well (don't recall).  I'm sure I paid that way at least for 18, 19 or 20.  As soon as I got the email I downloaded the key on the PC and then went on the music server and did the same so I would not forget.

[DTB300]

Nothing special was done in Settings between jRiver 19 and 20 other than being sure to use WASAPI and always enabling playback from memory in both players .

Maybe JR did an improvement in the WASAPI support code for the difference you heard.

Did you do any testing for ASIO or other drivers to see if the improvement was just with one interface and not with JR itself?