Which player for flac

rtate · « **on:** 3 May 2009, 07:38 pm »

I just started to rip my cd collection to my HD.
I will be listening via my SB3 as well as my PC
When I want to listen on my pc what is the best player to use??

mcgsxr · « **Reply #1 on:** 3 May 2009, 09:50 pm »

Best might be a tough one, there are several free ones.

Softsqueeze is one, mimics the SB3 you own, for use on the PC itself.

I use Monkeymedia, it plays FLAC just fine on the PC for me.

As for setting up EAC - http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=30959

ted_b · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 May 2009, 12:00 am »

For my pc listening I use Foobar. I love its' sonics. I made it look like iTunes, sort of. The Foobar GUI is ugly and simple in its stock form, but a few changes and voila.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=65689.msg602465#msg602465 (link to my post that has the iTunes-like instructions for Foobar GUI.)

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 May 2009, 12:33 am »

I'll ditto those three recommendations.

- SoftSqueeze is nice since you've already got it installed (with SqueezeCenter), same format, brand, "feel".

- MediaMonkey is cool. I use it a lot. Not just a good player, but also works great for burning FLAC tunes into a format I can use in the car. It's one of the few pieces of software I've seen that "knows" FLAC AND can burn CDs.

- Foobar is good. I didn't have it very long as I already had like five different ways to play tunes. In the end I chose MediaMonkey.

Have fun on your journey. aa

Bob

NewBuyer · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 May 2009, 01:54 am »

Perhaps consider Logitech's new beta SqueezePlay application (replaces SoftSqueeze).

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 May 2009, 01:59 am »

The version I had of "SP" was the single most horrible UI I've ever used. if memory serves, it was a beta test. Haven't checked back since then, but WOW....it was baaaad.
Correct me if I'm wrong. maybe there's some screen shots out there. But I (obviously) wasn't impressed a few months ago.

ymmv, of course.

Bob

hoxuanduc · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 May 2009, 02:16 am »

Depends on configuration, for generic USB connection, I think you're limited to 48KHz...

For WinXP, Foobar + Secret Rabbit Code resampled to 48KHz + Asio4All & setup to bypass Kmixer is very good...

For Vista, XXHighend is even better, even though the UI is not very good.

Duc

rtate · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 May 2009, 11:20 am »

I have started with softsqueeze it seems pretty good so far, just listening through my sound card and PC speakers.
I will be using a usb dac to an intergrated amp shortly so I would like to get the best sonic setup I can....

Duc , the Foobar setup you suggested sounds like it would be great although maybe a little advanced for me at this stage....

MerlinWerks · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 May 2009, 07:48 pm »

I've been very satisfied with J. River's Media Center for the last 10 years, they also offer a free "audio only" version Media Jukebox...

musicman06 · « **Reply #9 on:** 5 May 2009, 05:08 am »

Media Jukebox
Foobar
MediaMonkey

MM has the best GUI of the three but the worst sound quality... though there isn't much difference. If you like to play around Foobar is a good choice. Best compromise is Media Jukebox. I've been using MJ12, still use MM on occasion, Foobar rarely because the stock interface is crap and I haven't "fixed it up".

mcgsxr · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 May 2009, 02:10 pm »

I made my recommendation for Mediamonkey based solely on the ability to do several things right - be free, be able to convert FLAC to MP3 for mobile toys, and the ability to burn discs - all in one package.

I cannot comment on sound quality, because the only speakers attached to my PC are cheesy Dell 2.1 - so it all sounds cheddar!

That is why I use the Bolder SB3 elsewhere, and leave the PC listening to my kids, who could care less about quality at this point, and are more enthused about the visualizations of Mediamonkey!

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #11 on:** 5 May 2009, 03:00 pm »

Ditto all that for me too. Well said Mark.

Bob

devereld · « **Reply #12 on:** 5 May 2009, 04:03 pm »

I'm surprised no one has mentioned VLC. It's cross platform, open source and plays any audio or video content.

BobC · « **Reply #13 on:** 5 May 2009, 05:49 pm »

dbpoweramp?

doctorcilantro · « **Reply #14 on:** 5 May 2009, 06:42 pm »

Quote from: devereld on 5 May 2009, 04:03 pm

I'm surprised no one has mentioned VLC. It's cross platform, open source and plays any audio or video content.

FYI, doesn't play .ape which is technically a better compression format than .flac.

DC

JRace · « **Reply #15 on:** 5 May 2009, 07:06 pm »

Quote from: doctorcilantro on 5 May 2009, 06:42 pm

Quote from: devereld on 5 May 2009, 04:03 pm
I'm surprised no one has mentioned VLC. It's cross platform, open source and plays any audio or video content.

FYI, doesn't play .ape which is technically a better compression format than .flac.

DC

Curious, what makes one lossless format technically better than another?

doctorcilantro · « **Reply #16 on:** 5 May 2009, 07:09 pm »

Compression algorithm; usability is another discussion. Flac is supported now on both Mac and PC.

.Ape is only supported (on portables) by the Cowon players, and not all of their models IIRC. Flac is supported by more than one portable.

Back when .flac firsat came out the gui wasn't have as nice as Monkey's Audio (.ape) and .ape has a built-in checksum so you can runa Verify all files via the gui or command line.

DC

devereld · « **Reply #17 on:** 5 May 2009, 07:49 pm »

Hmmm. I'm pretty certain I have used VLC to play .ape files.

This chart of supported formats would seem to confirm -
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html

doctorcilantro · « **Reply #18 on:** 5 May 2009, 07:51 pm »

Cool, must be somewhat new, or time is just flying on this end.

thanks
DC

ted_b · « **Reply #19 on:** 5 May 2009, 08:22 pm »

Quote from: rtate on 4 May 2009, 11:20 am

I have started with softsqueeze it seems pretty good so far, just listening through my sound card and PC speakers.
I will be using a usb dac to an intergrated amp shortly so I would like to get the best sonic setup I can....

Duc , the Foobar setup you suggested sounds like it would be great although maybe a little advanced for me at this stage....

Rtate, What USB Dac? The asynchronous ones (Gordon's implementations in his own Wavelength DACs, and his code in the new Ayre DAC; Steve's Overdrive DAC) can go 24/96 or higher. The standard USB Dacs are stuck at 16/48. Will this be used for serious hi-fi or do you use the SB3 for that? The reason I ask is because these players out there all have different sonics. Some (no offense to devereld, but VLC,) are not great sounding at all IMHO. And certainly different players have different interfaces, with album art, etc. If you are wanting serious main-system sonics then make sure you use one that allows for ASIO, Kernel Streaming or some other way to get around Window's sound issues (kmixer, etc.). That's why I love Foobar (especially older 0.8.3 or the newest 9.x) cuz it has good compatibility with ASIO or WASAPI (Vista) drivers, and can change resolutions automatically. And it's bit perfect output, if that theoretical issue is on your radar.