Foobar 2000 question - Page 2

Foobar2000 is my favourite player.

Yeah...I have Foobar downloaded now...still having issues getting it set up. I can get it to play stuff....barely. I don't know. I have never been very good with computers and software. I guess I need to work with it some more and see what happens. In the mean time I am using Winamp...it's just so super easy to use. As far as I can tell, really it is doing what I want it to...play music. I use EAC to rip and tag so I just need a player. Not sure how much the perfect gapless is going to concern me...I don't think right now I have much that really requires it. I am curious about WASAPI and whether it is something I need and if it will make much if any difference. I don't think Winamp has that option or at least that I can figure out, yet.

Most of the common issues came up in this thread, bear in mind we were talking about an older version back then but it might get you started and there are plenty of screengrabs to give you some ideas of what you can do without having to deal with skin downloads etc.

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/494205/new-to-foobar2000-need-help

There's no shame in deciding it's not for you though, if winamp does everything you want it to do then why change.

Been playing around with it some toady. I pretty much got to where the screen shots were in the link above. That is generally how I have my Winamp setup as well. It's nice a simple and uncluttered which I like. I usually don't have the player up when I am listening to music or I have my eyes closed so I don't need the fancy skins. The thing I am most interested is trying WASAPI. I downloaded the plugin and it gave me several options to choose from...not sure which to select.

Also...for output format...should I leave it at 16bit or bump it up to 24 or 32 bit?

Here are a couple screen shots...one with the WASAPI options...the other is just how I have things looking at the moment.

There you go AAH, very nice....

Playing around with it is the best way to go, to get used to it.  I can't really tell from your screenshot, but WASAPI can be used with any output device- DAC, onboard etc.  Just set it to your DAC (should say name) if you are using one.

In reference to the 16, 24, 32 bit setting there, I always leave it at 16.  I have switched around and with that particular setting, I don't hear any difference myself.  I have many different files/albums (16/44.1, 24/96, 24/192, 16/48, 24/48, 32/192) and that particular setting stays at 16-bit.

If you have different types of files/albums you can try the SoX resampler (component) for some of those.  It has great settings that you set it up once and that's it.  Some folks use SoX to re/upsample some of their 16/44.1 music with great results and do notice a difference.  I personally only use it for all my other non- 16/44.1 files.   Example- If I'm using a DAC that only handles 44.1/48 and want to listen to some 24/96 files, I don't have to set anything else, the files just play non-stop no matter what the settings are.

That's what I am confused about. I do have a DAC but it is not listed by name as one of the output options. Currently I am just using the Burr Brown option. I have no idea what that means but it works. I am just not sure it is the proper setting for me to get whatever benefit I am supposed to get from using WASAPI. I'll keep playing with it though. There is one setup that I really like that is in the thread linked to by Marcus that I want to try to emulate. I just need to play a little more. 

Ok...my DAC...a Keces DA-151, uses a Burr Brown DAC chip so I guess that is the correct setting.

That is correct.  I should have advised, my bad.  Burr Brown or usb DAC or TE7022 (Tenor chip).  If you only have one connected then it would be burr brown because that would rule out onboard in this instance.

As far as a bitrate goes, it should be on the highest settings your dac will support via usb, an error will probably appear if you set it too high but i'm not familiar with your dac so have a read through it's manual/specs.

@jakebake: http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapi , add it to the components folder then restart foobar and it'll appear as an option in you preferences menu under, playback/output, if not then there's an external problem. Also if you go to view/layout/quick setup and select one of the options starting with album list + properties etc. then two boxes at the bottom of the album list will enable you to search through the library. If that doesn't work then i've forgotten about a component i've added over the years and i'll look it up. 

As for playlists, you edit those within foobar from the tunes in your library, foobar will remember any new playlist you add for next time but i haven't found a way to add files to a playlist that aren't in the library.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeatFan12 

 

       Quote:

Originally Posted by ArmAndHammer 

But is there any advantage to using Foobar over Winamp as the player? 

It all comes down to personal preference and what you want your player to accomplish for your tasks.  I used Winamp for years, but once I started tweaking Foobar and adding components, configs and getting used to it years back, I have never looked back.  I have a lot of gapless albums (Mixed House, Trance, Live CDs etc.) that require perfect gapless playback once ripped.  Foobar does it flawlessly.  IIRC, Winamp only does it using DS (Direct Sound).  Any other output, it would give a small break (gap) between the tracks.  That is just one main reason I switched years ago.  Many tools to play with and organized, once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun.

 

In reference to WAVs.  They don't retain metadata (tags).  There is a way to retain the metadata if you use cues and a couple of programs.  I archive my CDs in this fashion as a single WAV file w/ cue for easy CD burning.  I also split the tracks (FLAC) for use with my Foobar library.  Whenever I want to listen to a quick album, I just click the single WAV cue and voila, I have tags to boot.

 

 

Here is an album I was just archiving.  Complete album, single file with cue (WAV) & album art.

 

 

 

 

There is actually no reason to rip like that, if setup correctly EAC will rip to FLAC and make an accompanying cue file that when used by a program to burn, will convert everything back bit perfect to wav and then burn it.

http://blowfish.be/eac

this is a wonderful resource for EAC setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexcs 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeatFan12 

 Quote:

Originally Posted by ArmAndHammer 

But is there any advantage to using Foobar over Winamp as the player? 

It all comes down to personal preference and what you want your player to accomplish for your tasks.  I used Winamp for years, but once I started tweaking Foobar and adding components, configs and getting used to it years back, I have never looked back.  I have a lot of gapless albums (Mixed House, Trance, Live CDs etc.) that require perfect gapless playback once ripped.  Foobar does it flawlessly.  IIRC, Winamp only does it using DS (Direct Sound).  Any other output, it would give a small break (gap) between the tracks.  That is just one main reason I switched years ago.  Many tools to play with and organized, once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun.

 

In reference to WAVs.  They don't retain metadata (tags).  There is a way to retain the metadata if you use cues and a couple of programs.  I archive my CDs in this fashion as a single WAV file w/ cue for easy CD burning.  I also split the tracks (FLAC) for use with my Foobar library.  Whenever I want to listen to a quick album, I just click the single WAV cue and voila, I have tags to boot.

 

 

Here is an album I was just archiving.  Complete album, single file with cue (WAV) & album art.

 

 

 

 

There is actually no reason to rip like that, if setup correctly EAC will rip to FLAC and make an accompanying cue file that when used by a program to burn, will convert everything back bit perfect to wav and then burn it.

 

http://blowfish.be/eac

 

this is a wonderful resource for EAC setup.

 

 

You are correct alex, but the point I was trying to make was in reference to wavs not retaining metadata (highlited in red), but with a couple of programs it could be possible.  I use EAC in combination with two other programs for different applications after I rip (Medieval Cue Splitter & CueTools).  In reference to burning, I like ImgBrn (burns everything), but I'm also an old school Nero user (Nero 8).  The non-compliant wavs (cues) from EAC would not play nice with it so a while back I discovered these two programs and use them in combination for different tasks.

Here is my previous screenshot that I mainly use to rip with EAC.  After I have the fresh rip, I can use it in many different ways.

Sorry for the confusion, I should have been clearer, but really did not want to go totally OT....

I used to just rip to wav, burn cd and delete wav.  But as my collection grew and HD prices are very low, I started archiving.  To me, having a complete wav rip comes in handy for other purposes.  With CueTools, in a matter of seconds, I can convert to ALAC to use with my Touch with all tags retained and a cue that I can use as well to listen on PC---

Enough OT from me...lol.......But I love computer audio and get a bit carried away.....

Me either...I have to do the same thing...lol

Also...is there a way to get a soft start/stop similar to Winamp for Foobar? I am starting to like Foobar2000 but I really miss the soft start/stop that Winamp has. Not sure it would be a deal breaker but if I can get it that would just be icing on the cake.

You mean fading audio in and out on seek etc.? That's a DirectSound feature.