[Charles Calkins]

Has anybody given this a try?
 If so what do you think about it? Are there better programs?

                                                  Cheers
                                                   Charlie

[eclein]

I use JRiver along with a bunch of folks here, I love it but I'm only a few months into using it so hopefully others will chime in also. I did the demo then bought it, it has wassapi and it sounds excellent!!!!!

[Charles Calkins]

What is wassapi?

                                Cheers
                                Charlie.

[srb]

What is wassapi?

wassapi ..... wasssssup?
 
WASAPI = Windows Audio Session Application Programming Interface
 
Available within Windows Vista or Windows 7, it communicates directly with an audio device, bypassing the Windows Mixer (like ASIO) and takes advantage of a new internal audio stack specifically written for those Windows versions.
 
Although Windows Vista/7 users can also use ASIO or Kernel Streaming, it seems like the majority prefer WASAPI, although it can have problems with some computer configurations.  But if it works, IMO it is the way to go.
 
Steve

[eclein]

I had just bought another piece of software Charles when Steve told me about WASAPI and I downloaded the demo, got it working and heard the difference which was like night and day, as you spend more time with the software you'll find all kinds of other great things it does too....worth every penny as far as I'm concerned.

[srb]

If I had a Mac I would probably be looking into Pure Music.  But for the Windows platform, J. River Media Center does an admirable job and is reasonably priced at $50 compared to other audiophile players at $129 and UP.
 
I like the iTunes interface (although some don't) but everything gets resampled through the Windows mixer.  If iTunes added the ability to use ASIO or WASAPI in exclusive mode I would probably stick with it, but since they are focused more on mass market (and iTunes is free) than premium audiophile quality, I don't see that happening.
 
Also iTunes has an annoying habit of adding some static after playing for awhile.  A restart of iTunes fixes that (or in my case since I use AirPlay/Airport Express, deselecting and reselecting My Computer in the Multiple Speakers window) but that shouldn't happen.
 
To keep the convenience of AirPlay, I also use Airfoil, an auxiliary program ($25) that lets you stream music from J.River or most other applications (except Windows Media Center) to AirPlay devices.
 
Steve

[Charles Calkins]

Steve:
  All my music is in itunes. Can I transfer that to a laptop and run jriver media? If so will this Wasapi be running with jriver? Or is it a waste of my time doing this because itunes is itunes and it can't be improved on no matter what program.

                                                    Cheers
                                                   Charlie

[krikor]

I've been running the demo version of JRiver for the past couple weeks and I like it a lot, especially the media server capabilities. Have it on a PC server in the basement and on a netbook in my audio room, then simply pointed the netbook to the server to stream FLAC files via Ethernet and output to my USB DAC (Wyred4Sound DAC2). Control is through a simple web interface on an iPad (or any web device) or the free Gizmo android app on my phone (works great).

It's an older netbook so I'm only running XP, but I've got Kernel Streaming to work with the DAC2 and tested that it is sending the correct data to the DAC (downloaded a bunch of different formats up to 192khz and all display/play properly on my DAC.

Sound is great with JRiver and today I just went through the system optimization suggested by Tascam, but I haven't had a chance to do any real comparisons just yet.   I had been running a Squeezebox SB3, but just picked up a Touch and did a bunch of software tweaks to it as well as running a linear power supply.

I'll probably purchase JRiver regardless, but it will be interesting to see how it measures up with the Squeezebox approach.

[srb]

All my music is in itunes. Can I transfer that to a laptop and run jriver media? If so will this Wasapi be running with jriver? Or is it a waste of my time doing this because itunes is itunes and it can't be improved on no matter what program.

I still use iTunes to import and organize my files and to synch my iPod.  In J.River, you can set "watched" folder locations (Tools > Options > Library & Folders > Auto-Import > Configure auto-import).  This is normally filled by default with paths to all media on the computer.  I remove all of those and add my iTunes folder location.
 
You can use J. River to import CDs, and if so, you would want to set the General File import folder location to same as the watched library location if you want to keep all the files off of the same root folder.  But if you use J.River to import files, they won't show up in iTunes, as it does not automatically "watch" folders.
 
The sound driver that J.River uses is selected in Tools > Options > Audio > Output mode, and it is here that you can select the WASAPI mode.
 
What file types are you using in ITunes?  WAV files do not store album information or cover artwork in the file, so those files will be seen in J.River (and other players) as the songname only, without artist, album or artwork under Unassigned.  For that reason, I have converted my library to AIFF files.  J.River can also read and play Apple Lossless files.
 
Although iTunes does not have to store artwork in the iTunes database for AIFF or Apple Lossless, it still does so if the artwork was obtained through online database lookup as opposed to copying or dragging artwork into the iTunes artwork window.  So when I am ripping CDs to AIFF in iTunes and it gets the artwork automatically, I then copy and re-paste the artwork in the artwork window so that it will be stored within the song file itself, rather than the iTunes database.  You can also download artwork within J.River for missing covers, but I haven't tried that.
 
So yes, you can copy the entire iTunes folder to your laptop, and then in J.River set that library folder location and the general file location if using J.River to rip CDs.
 
Steve

[Charles Calkins]

Steve:
 I checked my itunes import settings and apple lossless is the one that I'm using now. Should I switch to AIFF? 

                                                       Cheers
                                                       Charlie


                                                 

[srb]

I checked my itunes import settings and apple lossless is the one that I'm using now. Should I switch to AIFF?

No, Apple Lossless works fine.  Some people have a preference for one file type over another, even uncompressed WAV over AIFF or vice-versa, but compressed lossless ALAC or FLAC are also bit-perfect upon playback.  I was just checking to see if you were using WAV, which would not contain album and artist metadata tags.
 
Steve
 

[Charles Calkins]

Steve:

 Thank you very,very much for all this info. Without your help I probably would be frustrated!!!
 All this techno PC stuff is way above my head. I try to stay away from it because I've tried to do things on my PC and have gotten it so screwed up that I've had to call my computer whiz Bud to bail me out.


                                                     Cheers
                                                     Charkie

[Mike B.]

I am using Windows XP and I can only get sound out using direct and wave direct. When I try kernel streaming there is no sound. I am guessing there are other things that need to be switched?

[krikor]

I am using Windows XP and I can only get sound out using direct and wave direct. When I try kernel streaming there is no sound. I am guessing there are other things that need to be switched?

Wyred4Sound's FAQ for setting up JRiver with their DAC2 doesn't recommend kernel streaming with XP, but for some reason I've got it to work on my system with not problems (yet). When I emailed them, they said that kernel streaming typically results in skips and clicks on XP, but that if it is working OK for me then continue using.  I do have my system streamlined down a bit for use as an audio source (used the Tascam guidelines), so perhaps something in there is helping things out?

FYI - I'm running an ASUS eeePC 1000HE with 1GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive.

[Mike B.]

I am going to play around with it again today. There are other things in the audio section that might need to be changed to activate kernel steaming.

[pjchappy]

I just want to say I love J. River, for many reasons.  Here are my top two reasons: 

1. Gizmo - Turns my Droid X into a remote for J. River.  The interface uses J. River's theater view (similar to iTunes) so I can easily scroll through songs/artists.  Gizmo also streams all my music on my PC (and it can stream videos in certain formats and pictures) to my phone.  Anywhere I have an Internet connection, I can do this (both remote control and streaming).  Very, very cool feature(s)!

2. WASAPI - Quite an improvement in sound over other output formats! 


Paul

[nwboater]

I've been using JRMC for several years and LOVE IT! I have been primarily using it for audio as I believe it to be the highest fidelity player out there for Windows and they are continually improving things. I also like that I don't have to use a separate ripping program - their secure ripper does an outstanding job. They also have extensive control for Bass Management, PEQs and can use VSTs as plugins. We only use a small portion of it's organizing ability which is massive.

JRMC also handles video, photos and TV. This may be OT here but with many recent improvements the video is supposed to be outstanding. TV is probably their weakest area. With the demise of SageTV many users are hoping that JRiver will take up the slack so that we can have one excellent player for all media

Their documentation is lacking and there is a bit of a learning curve, but the Forum is incredible. I have had a lot of help there and have been able to offer a bit on occasion. A friendly bunch of bright people! Its also been neat to watch several features develop online with the interaction of JRiver, outside developers and users.

Re the cost. The initial fee is quite reasonable I feel. If you renew with the new major version approximately once a year it's very inexpensive to always have the latest. And there are lots of ongoing improvements. In our case we have all media on a WHS machine with several clients. The cost per client becomes very small since only one license is required for the server and many clients.

Did I mention I LOVE JR Media Center? I do! Try it, you may also learn to love it!

Cheers,
Rod