Poll: Mac Music Player

rooze · « **Reply #40 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 12:52 am »

Tried JRiver and it's too complicated for my feeble brain. Any small improvement over iTunes isn't worth the hassle to me. Plus, it crashed waaaay too often on my Macbook Pro running 10.6.8

I then tried Pure Music and couldn't get it to playback through Airport Express. There were a few people having similar problems on various forums and solutions were sparse and over-technical.

I rip via MAX on to a NAS and playback with iTunes via AP Express optical into my upsampling DAC and it sounds great with minimal hassle. Also, just got an iPhone yesterday and lovin' the 'Remote' APP for controlling the whole shebang from the fat 'n lazy chair.

Whoopeedo

jazzyguytheone · « **Reply #41 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 01:05 am »

I have JRiver's Media 19 on my iMacs with Snow leopard and they don't crash but in the beginning before I paid for them they froze at times.I couldn't play any thing and I had to force quit the app. But after I paid it is running smoothly.I like the way it plays my music. I just object to the way they do not allow the same privileges that Windows users have. (Images and Movies)

rooze · « **Reply #42 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 01:01 pm »

When I played with JR they'd just released a new Mac version and other folks were reporting it was buggy and unstable. That issue may well have been fixed by now.
I really didn't notice any significant difference with iTunes, JR and PM. I'm sure the differences are there if one tries hard enough to find them, and has a resolving enough rig. I was pleased not to have that problem to contend with and pleased to have the simplicity and reliability of iTunes without sacrificing SQ.

The biggest differences I heard were when playing via the Macbook connected direct to the processor via optical, versus wireless streaming through Airport Express. To my surprise, AE sounded better than the direct connection. Going direct resulted in a more harsh and 'digital' sound whereas the restricted 16/48 from AE seemed to remove that digital glare. So it's win-win for me.

Crimson · « **Reply #43 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 01:05 pm »

jazzyguytheone · « **Reply #44 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 08:57 pm »

Quote from: rooze on 29 Apr 2014, 01:01 pm

When I played with JR they'd just released a new Mac version and other folks were reporting it was buggy and unstable. That issue may well have been fixed by now.
I really didn't notice any significant difference with iTunes, JR and PM. I'm sure the differences are there if one tries hard enough to find them, and has a resolving enough rig. I was pleased not to have that problem to contend with and pleased to have the simplicity and reliability of iTunes without sacrificing SQ.

The biggest differences I heard were when playing via the Macbook connected direct to the processor via optical, versus wireless streaming through Airport Express. To my surprise, AE sounded better than the direct connection. Going direct resulted in a more harsh and 'digital' sound whereas the restricted 16/48 from AE seemed to remove that digital glare. So it's win-win for me.

Pardon my ignorance.What is AE,SQ,PM??

srb · « **Reply #45 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 09:07 pm »

Quote from: jazzyguytheone on 29 Apr 2014, 08:57 pm

What is AE,SQ,PM??

AE = Airport Express (Apple Router/iTunes streamer hardware)
SQ = Sound Quality
PM = Pure Music (add-on playback engine software for iTunes)

DYKT? (Don't you know that?)

Steve

jazzyguytheone · « **Reply #46 on:** 29 Apr 2014, 09:22 pm »

Hi Steve, What can I say??? I don't know everything. I'm lucky I get up in the morning!

xit · « **Reply #47 on:** 20 Oct 2014, 11:19 pm »

hi

i've tested pure music, audirvana, amarra and aimp (pc) both have a clean an precise sound
but amarra has something more analogic like, the sound got more width and depth also
the multiple tasks the software can do are great, cache memory playback, eq, and digital room correction

i've recently tried and loved Dirac digital room corection and was delighted to see
that it's incuded in amarra symphony ! ... (but only in stereo version it seems)
personnaly i prefer playing flac converted in aiff than flac direcly in amarra
mostly of my music collection is in flac but aiff sounds better to my ears

i believe with a few setting and optimisations in the software
(this site explains a lot about this http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/)
and a few hardware upgrades
(USB3/SATA SDD + a 500 $ DAC)
and a mac could become a true audiophile device ...

bixby · « **Reply #48 on:** 23 Jan 2015, 07:03 pm »

Funny how a dead last player gets my vote. Yup, Decibel. Was using A+ v 1.5.x but Decibel was a little more natural on acoustic instruments. Less soundstage width but better hall ambience, detail retrieval without being steely or edgy (I'm looking at you J River,

)

Over the years had Pure Music, itunes, of course, bit perfect, and Audirvana. All had some sort of sonic signature that seemed more overt than decibel.

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #49 on:** 23 Jan 2015, 07:57 pm »

Another Decibel user here. Natural sounding is indeed a good way to describe it. I'll go further, and say accurate. Haven't noticed the narrow soundstage, yes to the ambience and lack of metalic/jag.

May sound silly, but, one of my tests is how well the tape hiss is reproduced. Decibel tape hiss sounds right.

Latest version has an EQ included.

jazzyguytheone · « **Reply #50 on:** 23 Jan 2015, 07:59 pm »

Decibel gets my vote.I am a loyalist and Decibel has been good to me.

brother love · « **Reply #51 on:** 25 Mar 2015, 07:38 pm »

+4 for Decibel.

I selected Decibel over Audirvana when first auditioned back in the Snow Leopard days, but may try out Audirvana Plus. I’m running latest version of Decibel v1.3.2 with OS-X Yosemite. I like the equalizer in this latest iteration, but miss integer mode no longer being available.

Also … since recently switching to Yosemite & downloading latest drivers for J Kenny M2 Tech Hiface USB/SPDIF convertor coupled with latest Decibel version, I can’t get hog mode to work (“obtain exclusive rights” box is checked in preferences, & it did work before with Snow Leopard). Anyone else having this problem? Still sounds really good tho' ...

abernardi · « **Reply #52 on:** 26 Mar 2015, 06:57 am »

Jeez, I'm going to have to try Decibel again after reading all these posts. I'd been a regular Audirvana plus 1.5 for quite some time. I recently upgraded to Audirvana plus 2.0.9 and there is a significant improvement. It's slightly leaner in the bass, but the sound is more organic and balanced and I can ease into the music better. I also tried J River MC20 on my Mac and was startled by the difference. It was even leaner in the bass, the imaging was more spot on, I could pick out instrument position much easier, it was more 3 dimensional, there was more air around each of the instruments and I heard more decay, it was an airier presentation. My first impression was that it was indeed better than Audirvana. But after listening for a while I started to get the feeling that maybe all these differences were due to a slight exaggeration in the high end, a little like the unsharpen filter in photoshop. There was something not quite right. I ended up going back to Audirvana 2 and am very happy. However, I am now seriously looking at a high end streamer instead, I'm hearing some very good things about several products.

baco99 · « **Reply #53 on:** 3 Jun 2016, 01:50 pm »

Hey All -

This was exactly the discussion I was looking for. I'm an iTunes and AppleMusic user, but I want to dabble in higher-resolution files. I've ripper a few CDs using the Apple Lossless Codec. I don't hear a real difference between that and a standard AAC file.

I have so many questions. Need to research some more, but my primary question is:
Is there a Mac music interface that will send higher than AAC resolution files via AirPlay?

bixby · « **Reply #54 on:** 3 Jun 2016, 06:19 pm »

Quote from: abernardi on 26 Mar 2015, 06:57 am

Jeez, I'm going to have to try Decibel again after reading all these posts. I'd been a regular Audirvana plus 1.5 for quite some time. I recently upgraded to Audirvana plus 2.0.9 and there is a significant improvement. It's slightly leaner in the bass, but the sound is more organic and balanced and I can ease into the music better. I also tried J River MC20 on my Mac and was startled by the difference. It was even leaner in the bass, the imaging was more spot on, I could pick out instrument position much easier, it was more 3 dimensional, there was more air around each of the instruments and I heard more decay, it was an airier presentation. My first impression was that it was indeed better than Audirvana. But after listening for a while I started to get the feeling that maybe all these differences were due to a slight exaggeration in the high end, a little like the unsharpen filter in photoshop. There was something not quite right. I ended up going back to Audirvana 2 and am very happy. However, I am now seriously looking at a high end streamer instead, I'm hearing some very good things about several products.

I get that metallic kind of edge with Jriver as well. But I did try A+ 2.?? and man is that good. Beats Decibel for transparency and detail without being too harsh. I liked it best with the X-Sabre in Integer Mode with Mode 2. Mode 1 was a bit too stark. And the neat thing is the audio units plugin feature works great. Ran Tokyo Dawn Labs EQ beautifully.

May have to buy it if I decide to stick with the Mac platform. I will be trying Daphile OS on a PC soon to see how easy it might be and if it sounds a bit better as everyone claims.

ccklone · « **Reply #55 on:** 3 Jun 2016, 07:55 pm »

Hey Now,

Just an update. Went from using Fidelia, to Audivarna v2.? to JRMC v19 . . . now using Roon + HQPlayer with Tidal integration and it is the best computer audio I have heard in my system. Recently I went to a poor man's music renderer using a Raspberry Pi2 and Volumio, then upgraded that to less of a poor man's music renderer using an Intel NUC with an AudioLinux OS and HQPlayers NAA, boy this thing sounds amazing, upsampling all my files to DSD256.

Relegated the RPi2 to the bedroom with an HQPlayer NAA image and am streaming up to DSD128 via Powerline Ethernet. Works and sounds real good with an iPad control point. Roon + HQPlayer is just terrific, quite happy right now.

--
Finest kind,
Chris

JLM · « **Reply #56 on:** 3 Jun 2016, 10:08 pm »

Tried Amarra at a friend's suggestion when it went on sale (April 15th). Not much improvement over iTunes IME, but the newest iTunes/El Capitan has messed it up completely.

Regardless, no software is good if it doesn't run.

gregfisk · « **Reply #57 on:** 17 Jun 2016, 12:09 am »

I've been using Audivarna + and have been really happy with it. I haven't tried the others so can't compare except to iTunes and there is a big difference in that regard.

srlaudio · « **Reply #58 on:** 26 Jun 2016, 12:53 am »

Hey guys,

I recently updated my Mac, and as a long term Fidelia user, tried to port it over with no luck, so I tried HQ player from Signalyst, and man, I can tell you it is the best, most engaging sound off of my music library EVER. It is set to output 96/24 through optical interface to a 96/24 converter, and the difference with the other players is simply amazing. The user interface is pretty crude, but you can integrate Roon for the best of everything. I highly recommend you try HQ player's 30 day evaluation. You will not regret it!

davidavdavid · « **Reply #59 on:** 15 Aug 2016, 03:26 pm »

It's been a while. I have tested and used all of the players listed and just for good measure I went back and downloaded Signalyst's HQPlayer and its interface along with most if not all of the others served to reinforce my observations and concerns with the Mac Music player software.

Apart for Audirvana + 1.5x all other software reminds you that you are indeed using a computer as a music server/repository. The user experience and interface for all apart from Audrivana + 1.5x is just ghastly. Moreover, for those of us with music libraries counted in TBs and not GBs the library feature becomes more and more cumbersome, especially when new music is added and the library needs to be re-indexed.

Software like Signalyst's HQPlayer sounds decent and affords users the opportunity to do some really fancy upsampling, but after a while you just want to listen, search, select and enjoy your music following the path of least resistance.

As for my favorite Audrivana +, I maintained a long series of communications with Daniel about 2.x and his move away from the look and feel of 1.5x and I totally understand why he went down that route and applaud him for all the work and features he put into the new version. I just feel more comfortable with 1.5x and what it has to offer and more importantly for me....NOT offer.

PS, for those of you who look to slay the Metadata dragon as I do, i can heartily recommend Metadatics: http://www.markvapps.com/metadatics

Poll

Which one do you prefer and why?

Poll: Mac Music Player