[freakydrew]

I ripped my entire cd collection onto my pc, memory is not a concern, but what is the best way to listen on my headphones? itunes? media player? windows media center?
or is there another program available that would ensure I am hearing the truest representation of the cd itself?
thanks!

 

[myhandtel]

I use wavelab for critical and foobar for user friendly

 

[Acix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by myhandtel /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use wavelab for critical and foobar for user friendly

X1 for the wavelab...I use media player, just to check how bad it can go.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Find a media player that can play bit-perfect (kernel streaming, ASIO, or WASAPI) and also can do proper gapless playback. Your choices are Foobar2000, J. River Media Center, or J. River Media Jukebox. Most other media players (at least the ones I have tried) fail at proper gapless playback which makes recreating the experience of a CD problematic.

 

[fordgtlover]

I like Foobar2000.

 

[krmathis]

+1 on Foobar2000.
Great sound quality using kernel streaming or ASIO, extensible and user friendly.

 

[b_jay_k]

my vote goes to Foobar2000 with ASIO.
coming from winamp it's also nice to be able to customise the gui.

 

[freakydrew]

foobar it is thanks!

 

[freakydrew]

Quote:

Originally Posted by b_jay_k /img/forum/go_quote.gif my vote goes to Foobar2000 with ASIO. coming from winamp it's also nice to be able to customise the gui.

I downloaded Foobar2000 and it sure don't look like your pic?

 

[b_jay_k]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freakydrew /img/forum/go_quote.gif I downloaded Foobar2000 and it sure don't look like your pic?

it took me quite a few tries before i got the hang of customising foo_ui_columns (among other components). this is just an example of what you can do if you take the time to get to know the functionality of foobar.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freakydrew /img/forum/go_quote.gif I downloaded Foobar2000 and it sure don't look like your pic?

Which is one reason why I use J. River Media Center as my primary player and music organizer. The default views (with minor customization) in J. River generally suit me. Foobar2000 requires too much "geek" to customize.

But it all boils down to personal preference. Both Foobar and J. River do the end job well. It depends on which one suits you better.

 

[haloxt]

x2 for wavelab

done a lot of ASIO comparisons and wavelab is the best but not convenient lol. Pm me or try to decipher http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/des...ml#post5477711 if you want to use ASIO which results in better sound quality even with onboard soundcard. I recommend MediaMonkey ASIO because it sounds fuller but takes more processing power, then secondly foobar 0.8.3 and 0.51.7 ASIO build is detailed but leaner sounding. I haven't tried winamp yet though because I feel like boycotting it (I haven't really worked out why), but it should sound very similar to mediamonkey since mediamonkey has to use winamp's otachan ASIO, the only difference should be in which program has more jitter.

 

[freakydrew]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif x2 for wavelab done a lot of ASIO comparisons and wavelab is the best but not convenient lol. Pm me or try to decipher http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/des...ml#post5477711 if you want to use ASIO which results in better sound quality even with onboard soundcard. I recommend MediaMonkey ASIO because it sounds fuller but takes more processing power, then secondly foobar 0.8.3 and 0.51.7 ASIO build is detailed but leaner sounding. I haven't tried winamp yet though because I feel like boycotting it (I haven't really worked out why), but it should sound very similar to mediamonkey since mediamonkey has to use winamp's otachan ASIO, the only difference should be in which program has more jitter.

I will try the media monkey, or learn to become more of a geek!
thanks

 

[Sherwood]

Really, the key here is ASIO. If your soundcard doesn't support it natively, you'll need ASIO4ALL to enable it. The thing that makes all these others players sound better is that they can utilize ASIO (or WASAPI, or Kernel Streaming, but I prefer ASIO).

Just playing files straight through Media Monkey or Foobar as it is configured out of the box will result in little to no additional sound quality. Some geek is required in all cases.

 

[freakydrew]

I downloaded Media Monkey, tried to add my library to it (was an auto-thing for first time), it keeps getting hung up at song #722 out of almost 3000....bit of an issue.

How can I tell if sound card supports ASIO?