Decibel Music Player for Mac OS X (was AyreWave) - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamoneagain 

The Amarra mini version for $295 can do native FLAC playback.  For any FLAC files I've used, I converted them all to ALAC using MAX.
 

ALAC.  Ouch.
 

Well I still think its incredibly pricey to play FLAC files but I admit, I have not heard Amarra.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trogdor 

ALAC.  Ouch.
 

Well I still think its incredibly pricey to play FLAC files but I admit, I have not heard Amarra.

How is ALAC a problem?  It's lossless, works great on a Mac and other Mac products.  Don't really see what the issue is.  I see some claiming sound differences between lossless files and I don't really buy it but I guess if there's differences between bit-perfect players, anything is possible.  
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamoneagain 

 

How is ALAC a problem?  It's lossless, works great on a Mac and other Mac products.  Don't really see what the issue is.  I see some claiming sound differences between lossless files and I don't really buy it but I guess if there's differences between bit-perfect players, anything is possible.  
 

Because you serve only one master - Apple (btw I am a Mac person, a senior engineer, and I work on a MBP).

There is no difference between FLAC and ALAC in terms of sonic quality (lossless codecs) except that with FLAC I KNOW I have the tools to move between different formats. 

ALAC, not so much.  To this day I am surprised people choose ALAC (its is equivalent to choosing WMV from an intellectual property standpoint).

Alright we are digressing....

I used Ayrewave and the first thing I notice is that it copies songs into memory.   This is not realistic for desktop use.  My collection is over 100GB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trogdor 

 

Because you serve only one master - Apple (btw I am a Mac person, a senior engineer, and I work on a MBP).

 

There is no difference between FLAC and ALAC in terms of sonic quality (lossless codecs) except that with FLAC I KNOW I have the tools to move between different formats. 

 

ALAC, not so much.  To this day I am surprised people choose ALAC (its is equivalent to choosing WMV from an intellectual property standpoint).

 

Alright we are digressing....

 

I used Ayrewave and the first thing I notice is that it copies songs into memory.   This is not realistic for desktop use.  My collection is over 100GB.

I guess I can see your point on ALAC but I can easily convert to another format with no loss to data if I ever need to.  For now, I'm just using iTunes and the iPhone, so ALAC works best.

After going back and forth some more with Amarra and Ayrewave, if I set Midi at 24bit, I now prefer Amarra.  It's seems just a bit cleaner sound and it's just easier to use.  Amarra at 16bit causes fatigue on certain songs.

I thought Ayrewave only loads each song into memory (if you have it selected in preferences) when you start it.  Didn't think it would try to load all songs up.  Doesn't make sense since it would quickly eat up all your memory.  Amarra is also coming out with a load into memory option in next update.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamoneagain 

I guess I can see your point on ALAC but I can easily convert to another format with no loss to data if I ever need to.  For now, I'm just using iTunes and the iPhone, so ALAC works best.

 

After going back and forth some more with Amarra and Ayrewave, if I set Midi at 24bit, I now prefer Amarra.  It's seems just a bit cleaner sound and it's just easier to use.  Amarra at 16bit causes fatigue on certain songs.

 

I thought Ayrewave only loads each song into memory (if you have it selected in preferences) when you start it.  Didn't think it would try to load all songs up.  Doesn't make sense since it would quickly eat up all your memory.  Amarra is also coming out with a load into memory option in next update.

I had thought too but I see user memory shoot down by gigs when I select all of my songs.  Perhaps this is a bug?  Let me see if there is some kind of pilot error on my part - I just can't imagine the author of this program really loads all songs added to the playlist window into memory!

EDIT:  Looks like it was a memory leak of some sort and b2 fixes it but adds more bugs.  When I add all my tracks, it screws reading the tags after adding a bunch.  What's interesting is if I add the sub-directory separately, it adds it correctly but if I add everything all at once, that sub-directory and FLAC files rae displayed incorrectly in the playlist window.

I'm using Beta 6, loading files into memory, playback with lossless files. Huge step up from iTunes. This is without a DAC, just listening to the headphone output on my macbook.

I also tested this very nice player... When used on high resolution system in Hog Mode, slaving the output audio devices (i. e. DACs) and reading data into RAM, it really improves the sound ! I'm not sure to understand why, but neither the Amarra nor the Pure Music are so amazing... And presently, the AyreWave is... totally free !

Any track sounds better, even the lossless compressed Mac audio. With a blind test and a good audio system, you are (almost) always able to recognise the player... On very complex indirect details for live recordings, like applause, public reactions and some tiny instruments, the sound is really in another league !...

I just downloaded this app, and so far, so good. I'm using it in an attempt to remove some noise and popping that I hear every now and then while listening to USB audio. We'll see if it's able to cure what ails me.

Looks like they changed their name to Decibel now...just loaded it on my mbp. Nice little player, very simple to use. I think I might even prefer it over using Foobar/wasapi. Takes the edginess out, very clean sound. 

I use it with an Off Ramp 3 usb converter & Chord dac. Very nice sounding player.

Not sure what I think of Decibel just yet. It's no longer free which is fine. Its available thru the Mac App Store for $33. Right now I'm using a 24hr free trial but havent had much time to listen. My first impression is wider sound stage and more defined instrument seperation than itunes.

"However I'm not sure someone with a significantly less resolving rig than might would notice much"

Would you consider a 2010 iMac,Firestone DAC and AudioEngine A5 a good enough source. All lossless files of course.

Their forum is a little locked down, so they haven't approved my post yet...

I noticed while trying to listen to everything in my collection that it didn't recognize the ReplayGain info on my MP3 files.  Yes, the vast majority of my audio files are in FLAC, but I still have some MP3s left over from the old days, or stuff that people have given me (including the musicians and producers themselves).  I listen in Shuffle mode most of the time, and it's a bit alarming when I go from a ReplayGained FLAC to a SUPER LOUD MP3 FILE THAT DEAFENS YOU WITH IT"S CRAPPY SOUND. :P

I'm quite pleased that Decibel handles my 24/192 files so well, so I might just wind up buying it.  It's a shame that I'll still need to use Foobar2000 in a Windows VM to do all of my file management, since NOTHING is comparable on any system, but that's OK.  For playback, Decibel is great (when it doesn't crash, which it does fairly often, but I'm sure they'll iron that out).  Sound is the best I've heard from a laptop, though, pumping optical SPDIF into my iBasso D1.

Hi-I've just gotten a Mac, and also recently developed a passion for live FLAC downloads. I was managing on my aging Windows computer, with tagging, organizing, etc, with a number of programs (Foobar for playback for the most part, but have a number of alternatives both for listening and tagging). I purchased Decibel, also downloaded Max, Tag, VLC, and Vuze, and, while I can play files without problems, I don't seem to be able to organize/tag them in any meaningful way. I also don't see some of the options some have mentioned in Decibel (Hog mode, high resolution files, others), and can't seem to find any help or support site or forum to help figure this out. Any suggestions? Thanks

I actually still use Foobar2000 for managing my files.  I have a Windows XP VMWare image that I use for those few apps that are just better on Windows.  Don't bother using it for playback, though, since the sound is pretty lousy through the VM.  But for file management, nothing comes close to Foobar.