Mac OS X Music Players - alternatives to iTunes - Page 121

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

J. River for MAC is really buggy right now.  They still have lots of work to do to get it stable.

Yes, you are right. Indeed, i think its worth to count on this player !  Download location: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=78427.0 , direct link to the .dmg file: http://files.jriver.com/mediacenter/channels/v18/latest/MediaCenter180139.dmg

I have tested only with few songs but it doesn't sound bad at all!

Man, I installed a trial version of Audirvana Plus on my rMBP last weekend.  I tried it for 3 hours, and then plopped down $74USD to buy the license.  I've very impressed...

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Man, I installed a trial version of Audirvana Plus on my rMBP last weekend.  I tried it for 3 hours, and then plopped down $74USD to buy the license.  I've very impressed...

For me, it took a few revisions and special requests for additional 15 day trials. But last autumn, I knew it was the one!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silent One 

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Man, I installed a trial version of Audirvana Plus on my rMBP last weekend.  I tried it for 3 hours, and then plopped down $74USD to buy the license.  I've very impressed...

For me, it took a few revisions and special requests for additional 15 day trials. But last autumn, I knew it was the one!

I like Audirvana Plus's overall package. No need to worry about a silly user interface (Amarra), nor a confusing multi-component purchase (Fidelia). I've been extremely satisfied with Aduirvana Plus as a whole. The only thing that bugs me is how slow it takes to load a song from a CD; but that's a minor complaint and it's faster to just rip the CD and listen to it through Audirvana Plus.

I am completely blown away with J River for Mac. I had burnt my CD to Hard drive in WAV and no other program was able to organise the music as JRiver imported all the files correctly and found Album art work for all the titles. Just amazed. Previous to this I was using the Audirvana Plus trial and found that to be a very nice software but again it was missing the Album artwork and I does not have the full browsable experience like JRiver. Frankly I was regretting burning my CD's to WAV and was thinking of going back to ITunes and AppleLossless. I cannot wait for this software to get out if beta so I can buy it. The best alternative to iTunes for all us audio geeks.

hi, sorry, i haven't read the 121 pages....so please excuse if same question was asked 10 times....:

does Audivarna plus integrated playing with airport express? 

Thanks very much!

best

EDIT:

i downloaded the trial version, and i have to say, it's a catastrophy!! As soon as i want to integrate it to ITunes it messes everything up. volume doesn't works anymore, neither on or the other, it freezes all the time....NOTHING works....

i guess i asked a pretty useless question.... :)

sorry.....retreating in shame.....

anyway, thanks for you fast answer Currawong! 

cheers

I have following setups with Audirvana Plus (latest version 1.4.6) running in Mac OS 10.8.3 on last generation of iMac (2.8 GHz Core i7, 256 GB SSD, 16 GB DDR3):

Airport Extreme as main WiFi base station in living room (802.11n / 5 GHz only with 2.4 GHz radio band avoided).

Airport Express (latest generation) > Toslink optical cable > Sonos Playbar in bedroom.

(Airport Express is used to extend WiFi network only for 802.11 / 5 GHz)

In Audirvana Plus Preferences window under Audio System menu, change Preferred Audio Device to AirPlay.

In Audio MIDI Setup utility under AirPlay menu, set Source option to name of the Airport Express base station.

Played music in Audirvana Plus as normal and sound appeared at Sonos Playbar without problem (no dropout or distortion at all). It sounds quite good when compared with same music played through Sonos system.

Note you do not need any service from iTunes in order to use Audirvana Plus, thus it is better to import all existing playlists from iTunes into Audirvana Plus and run it in standalone mode. The biggest reason I use Audirvana Plus as default player is to get rid of god damned iTunes 11.0.2 completely (I am still looking for alternative way to sync media files between my iMac and iPhone/iPad). So forget about integration with iTunes, as Currawong has pointed out, Audirvana Plus can bypass iTunes completely (even the lower Core Audio layer built into Mac OS X) thus don't expect volume control to work in iTunes as usual.

I suppose it's a matter of personal preference when using Airplay devices.

Audirvana Plus runs great on my main rig. I mostly use the iTunes integration rather than Audirvana playlists. I stream to an AirPort Express when I want background music throughout the house on more than one system. I don't use Audirvana to stream because it does not allow multiple output devices like iTunes allows.

I agree with Currawong that there won't be any real sonic benefit from running Audirvana to an Express, even though littletree76 makes a good point that Audirvana will stream to an Express without using iTunes if that's what 'whoever' was looking for

Quote:

Originally Posted by littletree76 

I have following setups with Audirvana Plus (latest version 1.4.6) running in Mac OS 10.8.3 on last generation of iMac (2.8 GHz Core i7, 256 GB SSD, 16 GB DDR3):

 

Airport Extreme as main WiFi base station in living room (802.11n / 5 GHz only with 2.4 GHz radio band avoided).

Airport Express (latest generation) > Toslink optical cable > Sonos Playbar in bedroom.

(Airport Express is used to extend WiFi network only for 802.11 / 5 GHz)

 

In Audirvana Plus Preferences window under Audio System menu, change Preferred Audio Device to AirPlay.

In Audio MIDI Setup utility under AirPlay menu, set Source option to name of the Airport Express base station.

 

Played music in Audirvana Plus as normal and sound appeared at Sonos Playbar without problem (no dropout or distortion at all). It sounds quite good when compared with same music played through Sonos system.

 

Note you do not need any service from iTunes in order to use Audirvana Plus, thus it is better to import all existing playlists from iTunes into Audirvana Plus and run it in standalone mode. The biggest reason I use Audirvana Plus as default player is to get rid of god damned iTunes 11.0.2 completely (I am still looking for alternative way to sync media files between my iMac and iPhone/iPad). So forget about integration with iTunes, as Currawong has pointed out, Audirvana Plus can bypass iTunes completely (even the lower Core Audio layer built into Mac OS X) thus don't expect volume control to work in iTunes as usual.

Thanks very much for your effort. Apparently i can't change the prefered source option to express....don't know why. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtinto 

I suppose it's a matter of personal preference when using Airplay devices.

 

Audirvana Plus runs great on my main rig. I mostly use the iTunes integration rather than Audirvana playlists. I stream to an AirPort Express when I want background music throughout the house on more than one system. I don't use Audirvana to stream because it does not allow multiple output devices like iTunes allows.

 

I agree with Currawong that there won't be any real sonic benefit from running Audirvana to an Express, even though littletree76 makes a good point that Audirvana will stream to an Express without using iTunes if that's what 'whoever' was looking for

thx! 

What is the best media monkey alternative for Mac? I'm looking for something to easily edit album arts and tags and also organize all my albums

Note when posting in this forum, please be awared of what functions can be performed by iTunes:

1. Decoding/playing of media files in various digital formats (MP3, AAC etc) -- Audirvana Plus, Fidelia, Pure Music.

2. Management/organisation of media files -- J. River.

3. Ripping of audio media -- X Lossles Decoder.

4. Syncing of mobile devices -- iSync utility which has been removed from Mac OS X.

5. Purchase of media files in online stores -- Google Play Store, Amazon Store.

6. Tag editing on media files -- (fill in this blank).

iTunes tries to be all-in-one application which has been developed into bloatware and good for nothing (good in all trades and master of none). I am most interested in first function and the rest are secondary. Thus please specify your objective as far as iTunes alternatives are concerned. So far I have yet to know an application can provide all these functionalities with good result. I am prepared to have few good/different applications handle different functions instead of just one good for nothing bloatware application.

In your opinion littletree ...

I still use iTunes

try XLD for your #6 "metadata tagging"

Woah, I just realised today that Audirvana Plus is $79 USD now. I was fortunate enough to buy it when it was still $50. :o