I myself have always used Foobar, ever since Winamp was discontinued. By the time I was using Winamp I didn't really care about sound fidelity and bit-perfect sound, though - never heard of Bughead Emperor before.
Can anyone outline the main differences and advantages of BHE over Foobar ( if any )? I assume there are some, since a lot of people are discussing it around here.
I myself have always used Foobar, ever since Winamp was discontinued. By the time I was using Winamp I didn't really care about sound fidelity and bit-perfect sound, though - never heard of Bughead Emperor before.
Can anyone outline the main differences and advantages of BHE over Foobar ( if any )? I assume there are some, since a lot of people are discussing it around here.
I checked it out online - the website of the dev is very weird, English mixed with Japanese and all that.
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This is the website of the player: http://oryaaaaa.world.coocan.jp/bughead/
For some weird reason, the application requires that you have a CPU that supports AVX 2.0 instructions, which I don't have ( running a Core i5-2500K here, never had issues with anything so far ).
Anyone have a clue what the latest version that does not require AVX 2 is? A download for it would be greatly appreciated, since I'd like to try this out myself.
download here: http://oryaaaaa.world.coocan.jp/bughead/ my understanding is that it's for windows and requires a pretty powerful pc -- a good i7 processor.
have google translate into english (only parts are translated and its still not easy) -- the download links are in the section below the pic that has "8 msec" and "4096 samples", right after the paragraphs starting with "support audio files" and "BASS audio library"
http://www.sonicstudio.com/amarra/amarra.php
Amerra 3.0 or above is pretty unbeatable in the Mac, with Foobar2000 being great on the PC.
Bit perfect or Wasapi is needed to get Foobar2000 complete. I remember having weird timing issues till I added Wasapi to Foobar2000.
Also every computer seems to sound different with some sounding a little better, who knows maybe placebo. I still think CDs with a transport sound best.
Tried a bunch but Foobar2000 is the best for me. Not sure if played on default it's much different than the others, but with a lot of custumization options (wich made my own) et cetera, it's just a very good player.
But it will be a large matter of taste I think.
A google for Bughead Emperor is recommended. It will lead to several threads on different forums where it is discussed. Be prepared to read quite a bit.
There are many releases and different versions may suit you better
I am limited to 7.27. My Pentium g4400 @ 3.3 ghzdoes not have AVX instructions which are required in the later releases. I started with 8 gb ddr4. I am using WIN10
What does it do? heh heh, I confess, I'm not sure. The developer has stated that the rewrite function reduces EMI of the bits, which I suppose could be a natural result of his rewrite function and the subsequent processing by the cpu/ram/drive.
How does it sound? Crisp, clear and fluid, non fatiguing. For instance, bass is clearly heard wherever it appears in the soundstage, left speaker, right speaker, centered, etc. It is much more distinct and crisp
Percussion benefits similiarly. Vocals are centered better. More detail across the board with less harshness. I upgraded to 16 gb ram which gives me countless more settings, something for an idle afternoon on the weekend.
Worth the try out imho. It's free, donationware thru an Amazon.jp gift card. Read the threads enough to get it running. You don't have to tweak it, once you have it running, to hear the results
Do you have any ideas on why I wasn't able to get Bug Head Emperor / Infinity Blade to sound different no matter which DSP settings I activated? Perhaps I need to experiment with output modes? (DSP works fine in foobar2000 with ASIO.)
Do you have any ideas on why I wasn't able to get Bug Head Emperor / Infinity Blade to sound different no matter which DSP settings I activated? Perhaps I need to experiment with output modes? (DSP works fine in foobar2000 with ASIO.)
Don't know how you set it up or what you were listening to. I use the default settings as it opens up, no upsampling usually. ASIO driver in play. 16/44.1 flac,ape or wav. I am not sure what the different DSP modes are or if they are comparable to what you would see in Foobar. Sift thru the jplay forum. There are so many settings I have just not tried.
You have to remember this was in 2010 and I was slowly moving over to computer audio from a stand alone player.
I can't explain the sound but no change in buffer fixed it. Again all this stuff is at times at the fringe of our perception and could have had been an issue with the single DAC I was using. I was using a Nuforce Icon.
I noticed a funny lag with both my Mac and PC at the time, though getting more into computer audio I finally went to WASAPI and it was instantly noticeable that things were cleared up. I have since moved on to another DAC, but still am very sure different computers sound different.
Pretty happy right now listening to FLAC files. Listening to the OST of The Force a Awakens (Star Wars). Everything sounds pretty natural and I love it when I can hear low bass artifacts from the orchestra. In live recording at times it even sounds like a truck may be driving by outside, haha.
Our issues about jitter, while maybe proved are not existing, still seem to color my perception as CDs with a transport still sound slightly smoother. But it's really hard to just listen to CDs all the time. I have come down to believe it's a lot to do with the mastering too. Much of the time the HD tracks are just louder, but when you equal the volume they sound exactly the same as the 16-44.1 editions, other times I seem to hear more "air" which is not on my original CD.
It may have been already done, but? A fun test would be to have folks at a meet listen to measurable jitter, or "lag" and see how they would describe the feeling. Just set up three listening stations with exactly the same gear but slightly different sources. Have one great and the other two perpetually "messed-up" and see how people describe it.
We have talked before how with Foobar2000 all the add-one we use end up bit perfect. Still it's interesting how maybe some folks would not go the extra step to learn about AISO changes or Wasapi? Crazy too how bad stuff like Winamp now sounds?
When you said lag, did you mean stuttering? Like the music frequently stops and starts again instead of playing continuously?
This is something many have experienced under certain conditions. I posted before about having stuttering with various players. In my case, programming foobar2000 to load tracks into memory before starting playback fixed it, for the most part. When that doesn't work, I can load tracks into virtual RAM drives. This is necessary on my computer with DSD256 files. Even with the DSD files stored in virtual RAM drives, it still stutters if I do other things on the computer. I have to sit there and only listen to music with those, whereas with PCM files, I can do anything else I want nearly all the time.
Seems like both of you can benefit from Fidelizer. I use that on my music only PC and liked it so much I paid for it and use the purist version. For a PC that will be used for different purposes, there are several levels of enhancements that you could choose from to keep needed functionality. The free version resets to no changes on reboot. The paid version can be reset among the different levels, or have all changes removed upon uninstallation.
Another alternative is a raspberry pi with either a digi+pro hat or wait for wait for a similiar but possibly better hat from PI 2 Design. These would stream from a network, wifi or ethernet. At around 100 bucks, a little more if you upgrade power supplies, you may be impressed..I am waiting for the new hat from PI 2 Design and I will compare against my Bughead, Win10 and the chain in my sig.
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