[Covenant]

So I've been using Foobar since forever, configured with ASIO4ALL to bypass Kmixer. But it seems that as my digital music collection has grown, Foobar has become less and less stable. Now it very frequently freezes when moving between tracks, to the point where I've started looking for alternatives.

I downloaded Winamp, got the ASIO output plugin for it, and started using that. I quickly noticed a big shortcoming - Winamp using ASIO doesn't have gapless playback. It audibly skips between tracks, even with the maximum buffer size set in ASIO. Even setting latency compensation doesn't fix this.

So, what alternatives are there? Any other media players that have both a way to bypass Kmixer and support gapless playback?

 

[UNHchabo]

I noticed this problem using ASIO4ALL as well; I think it's a problem using that program, not Foobar or Winamp.

Try using the Kernel Streamer or WASAPI plugins for Foobar instead, depending on whether you're using XP or Vista/Win7.

 

[Covenant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UNHchabo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I noticed this problem using ASIO4ALL as well; I think it's a problem using that program, not Foobar or Winamp. Try using the Kernel Streamer or WASAPI plugins for Foobar instead, depending on whether you're using XP or Vista/Win7.

With Foobar, gapless via ASIO works fine. With Winamp, it doesn't. I have to assume this has something to do with the asio_out plugins they're using.

I tried Kernel Streaming plugins for both, but they don't seem to work with my current setup (I'm using a usb to spdif converter, in order to feed a DAC that doesn't have usb input). I'm also using Windows XP, so unfortunately WASAPI isn't an option

 

[MrGreen]

Mediamonkey, Songbird.
I've not experienced stability problems with foobar unless I dicked up some coding.

 

[DaveBSC]

Give XMPlay a try. It supports WASAPI and ASIO as well, if I remember correctly. It's a completely portable app and very solid.

 

[Covenant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrGreen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mediamonkey, Songbird. I've not experienced stability problems with foobar unless I dicked up some coding.

I haven't manually edited any of the Foobar source files or anything. But what will happen is, when double-clicking on a track to play it, Foobar will (about 1/10th of the time) freeze, displaying "opening..." in the bottom left hand corner, and sit there like that for a good 5 minutes before the song actually starts to play.

Edit: Wow, Songbird is awesome. I can't find any ASIO output plugins for it though?

 

[HyperDuel]

Time to time when playing a song via Foobar it freeze up my computer complete. It always been like that with different versions of Foobar.

 

[Covenant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HyperDuel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Time to time when playing a song via Foobar it freeze up my computer complete. It always been like that with different versions of Foobar.

Yeah, I tried updating Foobar as well, to no avail.

Although, there are features in Songbird that make me think I should just screw trying to get ASIO working properly again. Auto-lyrics displayed in a sidebar, and being able to track concerts in my area based on the artists in my media library? Awesome

 

[Ham Sandwich]

With gapless playback as a requirement that narrows down the field considerably. Very few media players actually do proper gapless playback. Many claim to, but few actually accomplish it.

In my experience only Foobar, J River Media Jukebox, and J River Media Center do gapless to my satisfaction.

Programs like MediaMonkey claim to do gapless but don't to my satisfaction. MediaMonkey is based around the WinAmp engine so is stuck with many of the limitations of WinAmp. And WinAmp does not do gapless properly to my satisfaction. Same story with many of the other media players that claim gapless. iTunes can do gapless but it sucks in other ways that make it a non-contender.

J River Media Jukebox is the free version. It is based on an older version of J River Media Center and is stripped down to do audio only. Jukebox can do ASIO for bit-perfect playback. Jukebox doesn't support WASAPI. Media Center supports both ASIO and WASAPI, but not kernel streaming for bit-perfect playback modes. They don't have gapless playback enabled by default. It can be enabled in the playback options and options for gapless playback are flexible to support various needs and preferences.

J River Media Center isn't free, but I find it well worth the cost. It has some features not found in the Jukebox version. Things like VST plugin support (so you can add parametric EQ and other effects), headphone crossfeed, and many other things. Both Jukebox and Media Center are fantastic at allowing you to organize your files and music the way you want to. One limitation of Jukebox and Media Center is that they do not do ALAC very well. You can get them to play ALAC but they don't understand the tagging so its practical use is quite limited. Its best to avoid ALAC.

 

[Armaegis]

I'll give another vote for J. River; it's a fantastic program.