Better Sound for Mac Users- Pure Music Player
Mar 26, 2011 at 1:14 AM Post #106 of 150
Yeah, i reckon cynics that believe in the "it's in the digital realm so it doesn't/shouldn't make a difference" camp should just download Pure Music Player and give it a go for themselves. I mean, it really is one of those things that can be so easily A/Bed.
 
It comes with a 15 day try-for-free programme as well so if you really feel it doesn't make a difference at the end of the day, just remove it and call it a day. You've nothing to lose since you didn't need to purchase a $129 piece of software to improve your listening experience. If you can tell a difference like so many other of us do, buy the software and support it's development, and be happy that you've found a quick easy fix for a greater listening experience.
 
That's what i call a win-win.
 
Mar 26, 2011 at 8:44 PM Post #107 of 150


Quote:
Welcome to computer audio!
 
I use an M2Tech and have no problems. It drives a 18' cable just phone.  The M2Tech has been very stable, but I wonder how it will support the next OS, etc.  It's also small and elegant.  LeePerry pointed out a device that looks interesting as it does not seem to require a custom driver, though it is limited to 96K instead of 192.  My understanding is any USB device running 192 needs a custom driver, but having said that, someone will doubtless prove me wrong.  
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Musical-Fidelity-M1DAC-M1HPA-and-V-Link-Async-USB-Converter-Review
 


wink.gif
  uh, you're wrong!  Kingrex USB device runs natively at 192 on the mac.  cheers 
bigsmile_face.gif

 
 
Mar 26, 2011 at 11:59 PM Post #108 of 150
It would appear to be so!  
 
Interesting product.  If my HiFace ever croaks, I'll probably pick one up.  Thanks for pointing it out.  I'm glad someone has figured out how to make that work...
 
 
Dan Clark Audio Make every day a fun day filled with music and friendship! Stay updated on Dan Clark Audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
@funCANS MrSpeakers https://danclarkaudio.com info@danclarkaudio.com
Mar 27, 2011 at 10:51 AM Post #109 of 150
What I need is a good usb to spdif converter to my DAC. So, MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard downloading using iTunes, enhanced and upgraded by Pure Music. Now to get the music to my USB-less DAC. I am currently using toslink mini and it sounds pretty darn good. I really lucked out in finding Pure Music so soon in my "rookie season". It makes a huge difference to me.
Edit: LOL. Now I find out about Weiss ans firewire to add to the mix!
 
 
Apr 10, 2011 at 9:07 PM Post #110 of 150
while in hot pursuit of the ultimate listening experience, a new number of players came out as "alternatives"
to the itunes player.  Speaking only from the experience of my 15 day trial and subsequent purchase of Pure Music, I can honestly say there is no noticeable and measurable improvement of my playback experience after betting $129 clams and spending two months tweaking the Pure Music player through my favorite cans.
 
Pure Music turned out to be full of annoying little issues:  Audible clicks and digital skips while in playback.
Several and continuing sudden quits.  Although the instructions clearly indicate potential conflicts with playback and websurfing simultaneously, this became an omnipresent inconvenience on a day to day basis.
PureMusic has a very fun and tweakable interface with a cool feature for hog mode playback.  If this ultimately yielded a noticeable playback improvement in any sense of the audible spectrum, I would cheering on.  I will post detailed info on my listening tests on following messages.
 
$129 clams later I'm eating the same clam chowder I got from a can ten years ago.
The new iTunes (10.2.1) still rules the pack at a fraction of the cost.
 
 
Apr 10, 2011 at 11:29 PM Post #111 of 150


Quote:
while in hot pursuit of the ultimate listening experience, a new number of players came out as "alternatives"
to the itunes player.  Speaking only from the experience of my 15 day trial and subsequent purchase of Pure Music, I can honestly say there is no noticeable and measurable improvement of my playback experience after betting $129 clams and spending two months tweaking the Pure Music player through my favorite cans.
 
Pure Music turned out to be full of annoying little issues:  Audible clicks and digital skips while in playback.
Several and continuing sudden quits.  Although the instructions clearly indicate potential conflicts with playback and websurfing simultaneously, this became an omnipresent inconvenience on a day to day basis.
PureMusic has a very fun and tweakable interface with a cool feature for hog mode playback.  If this ultimately yielded a noticeable playback improvement in any sense of the audible spectrum, I would cheering on.  I will post detailed info on my listening tests on following messages.
 
$129 clams later I'm eating the same clam chowder I got from a can ten years ago.
The new iTunes (10.2.1) still rules the pack at a fraction of the cost.
 


I've been using Pure Music Player for close to 2 months as well and i can definitely hear a difference in sound quality and did purchase the software after listening for just 15minutes.
 
I don't experience any pops, crackles, clicks or skips using it all this time during websurfing. I've tried it both with the DACport as well as the HRT Streamer Pro.
 
Apr 11, 2011 at 1:22 AM Post #112 of 150
I dont agree at all with your appraisal of Pure Music. I am getting zero dropouts (even when web surfing) and the best sound I have had from a computer. I am surprised that you purchased Pure Music after noticing no noticeable improvement.
 
I just wish I could get as good a quality off PC. Foobar isnt nearly as good as Puremusic in my opinion.
 
I personally find Itunes unlistenable sound quality wise.
 
and no I don't resell Pure Music.
 
Regards
 
Macrog
 
Quote:
while in hot pursuit of the ultimate listening experience, a new number of players came out as "alternatives"
to the itunes player.  Speaking only from the experience of my 15 day trial and subsequent purchase of Pure Music, I can honestly say there is no noticeable and measurable improvement of my playback experience after betting $129 clams and spending two months tweaking the Pure Music player through my favorite cans.
 
Pure Music turned out to be full of annoying little issues:  Audible clicks and digital skips while in playback.
Several and continuing sudden quits.  Although the instructions clearly indicate potential conflicts with playback and websurfing simultaneously, this became an omnipresent inconvenience on a day to day basis.
PureMusic has a very fun and tweakable interface with a cool feature for hog mode playback.  If this ultimately yielded a noticeable playback improvement in any sense of the audible spectrum, I would cheering on.  I will post detailed info on my listening tests on following messages.
 
$129 clams later I'm eating the same clam chowder I got from a can ten years ago.
The new iTunes (10.2.1) still rules the pack at a fraction of the cost.
 



 
 
 
Apr 11, 2011 at 3:57 AM Post #113 of 150
I recently noticed that Pure Music saves your place in iTunes regarding song/playlist selection when you quit and restart it, iTunes can't do that alone so that's kind of cool.
 
 
Apr 11, 2011 at 10:26 PM Post #114 of 150


Quote:
while in hot pursuit of the ultimate listening experience, a new number of players came out as "alternatives"
to the itunes player.  Speaking only from the experience of my 15 day trial and subsequent purchase of Pure Music, I can honestly say there is no noticeable and measurable improvement of my playback experience after betting $129 clams and spending two months tweaking the Pure Music player through my favorite cans.
 
Pure Music turned out to be full of annoying little issues:  Audible clicks and digital skips while in playback.
Several and continuing sudden quits.  Although the instructions clearly indicate potential conflicts with playback and websurfing simultaneously, this became an omnipresent inconvenience on a day to day basis.
PureMusic has a very fun and tweakable interface with a cool feature for hog mode playback.  If this ultimately yielded a noticeable playback improvement in any sense of the audible spectrum, I would cheering on.  I will post detailed info on my listening tests on following messages.
 
$129 clams later I'm eating the same clam chowder I got from a can ten years ago.
The new iTunes (10.2.1) still rules the pack at a fraction of the cost.
 
I somewhat agree with you. And I can't stand the horrible Pure Music banner. I switched to Decibel 8 for only $33. And it is backed by Gordon Rankin and Charlie Hansen. I want these guys in my corner!
 



 
 
Apr 12, 2011 at 2:38 PM Post #115 of 150
Was the last post written with invisible ink, or was the included post SO interesting it had to be repeated? Just saying....
 
Dan Clark Audio Make every day a fun day filled with music and friendship! Stay updated on Dan Clark Audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
@funCANS MrSpeakers https://danclarkaudio.com info@danclarkaudio.com
Apr 26, 2011 at 8:40 AM Post #116 of 150
I've got a couple of days left in my Pure Music 15 day trial, and I'm on the fence.  
 
On the plus side, there definitely is a difference in the sound, largely because of the memory play feature, I think.  (I use a Mac Mini with a solid state internal drive and 8 GB of RAM.  My iTunes library sits on an external FW800 drive.)
 
I have also downloaded the Voxengo Marvel GEQ.  This is a free graphic EQ plugin that works great with Pure Music.  It allows me to save different EQ curves for different headphone/amp combinations.  It seems like a much better quality EQ than the built in iTunes EQ (which doesn't work anyway with Pure Music).
 
And, I like the switchable sample rate (I have mostly ripped CD tracks (AIFF) but also some HDTracks 24/96 stuff).
 
On the downside, a couple of small picky things:  I do hear an occasional click/pop when initially starting a listening session, and sometimes when switching to a different album.  Also, I control everything from an iPad.  I use the Remote app, and a VNC viewer, since my Mac Mini has no monitor.  When music is playing, the time counter on the iPad only updates every other second.  Silly, I know, but I notice it.
 
When using iTunes alone with the iPad and Remote app, everything is perfectly smooth, and there is instant switching of songs with not even a second of delay.  The audio is 99% as good, and there are far fewer settings to deal with.  Without Pure Music in the chain, I have my Audio/Midi settings permanently at 24/96.  My Mac Mini's optical out goes to a Meier StageDAC, and then on to my amps and headphones.
 
So, as I said, I'm on the fence as far as purchasing Pure Music--there is a slight audible difference, but I'm not sure it's a $129.00 difference.  
 
 
May 8, 2011 at 6:11 AM Post #117 of 150
Thanks for your post.
You find  iTunes unlistenable by itself?   And Pure Music alleviates that difference after $129  bucks?
One man's honey is another man's dirt.
If you could point out where that quantum leap in quality sound takes place, I'll buy you a beer.
I really want to know what those substantial, quantifiable differences in sound are in Pure Music and why I simply cannot hear them?
iTunes by itself, going through a Nuforce Dac, a Grace m903, or Audio Gd Fun, is just beautiful.  I simply wanted icing on my cake
for $129.  All I got was a  slight difference in the sound, for which I have no coherent description.  I also got clicks, irregularities in the track navigation,
and a clumsy play button that cannot toggle.
I'm still looking for that 24/96 player which will refill my brain with faith.
 
May 8, 2011 at 8:57 PM Post #118 of 150
Thanks for your post.
You find  iTunes unlistenable by itself?   And Pure Music alleviates that difference after $129  bucks?
One man's honey is another man's dirt.
If you could point out where that quantum leap in quality sound takes place, I'll buy you a beer.
I really want to know what those substantial, quantifiable differences in sound are in Pure Music and why I simply cannot hear them?
iTunes by itself, going through a Nuforce Dac, a Grace m903, or Audio Gd Fun, is just beautiful.  I simply wanted icing on my cake
for $129.  All I got was a  slight difference in the sound, for which I have no coherent description.  I also got clicks, irregularities in the track navigation,
and a clumsy play button that cannot toggle.
I'm still looking for that 24/96 player which will refill my brain with faith.


If you read the thread you will find out what the quantifiable differences are, though i doubt too many here would say iTunes is dirt vs simply not as good to many ears.

Whether or not you do or don't hear or don't care is beyond anyone else's control. :wink:
 
Dan Clark Audio Make every day a fun day filled with music and friendship! Stay updated on Dan Clark Audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
@funCANS MrSpeakers https://danclarkaudio.com info@danclarkaudio.com
Jun 2, 2011 at 10:25 PM Post #119 of 150
Pure Music introduced version 1.8a today.  It is a major advancement in listening for those who have high resolution systems.  The whole sound signature of this player is different ( and better in my opinion) than the previous version 1.74.  In addition some lucky folks will be able to use integer mode which sounds very nice indeed.  
 
My Macbook will not work with this mode though and many usb dacs will not either.  But when you use hog mode alone and experiment with the upsampling I think you will agree it is a fine player.  Just be sure to heed the advice in the documentation about tweaking your system, it does help.
 
And even though I have not tried it yet it has a feature where you can use pure music to play back other sources like Pandora and Rhapsody.
 
I tried Audirvana and that is also a great program yet I prefer the low frequency detail and ambiance ques I get with PM.  I also feel that PM is just a tad smoother in the highs.
 
And for those who think bits are bits and any players that can process them bit perfectly all sound the same can move along, this thread is not for you.
 
Jun 4, 2011 at 3:59 PM Post #120 of 150
Here is something I've noticed with Pure Music that I'd like to change/avoid... When playing back in iTunes random shuffle mode while I am working in another application the Pure Music and iTunes window will pop on top of whatever I am working on when a new song is loaded and starts playing.  Just a slight inconvenience that I'd like to avoid if there is a setting I can change?
 
Thanks!
 
 

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