Is there such a thing as an audiophile music player for windows?
Jan 17, 2020 at 9:44 AM Post #76 of 138
I'm having a very good time with Audirvana. I play both local files and Tidal streams.

Pros:
  • Sleek, easy-to-use interface.
  • Enables you to segregate your local library from Tidal.
  • Can measure and display both DR and EBU dynamic range for all your local tracks.
  • Exclusive mode via WASAPI or ASIO with support for VST3 plugins for EQ or whatever other signal processing you may want.

Cons:

  • Can't create playlists from your files and Tidal simultaneously; it's either/or.
  • Can be laggy with Tidal, especially if it doesn't like a plugin you're using with it.
  • Doesn't display lyrics for songs (though you can easily google those.)
  • No networking capabilities (if you need them.)

I'm also running Roon's 14-day trial right now, but I'll probably stick with Audirvana afterward. I have no need for Roon's networking capabilities, which I reckon are a big selling point. I like that it displays lyrics, but it doesn't display DR which is similarly important to me (and only displays EBU dynamic range for the whole album; Audirvana gives a track-by-track breakdown.) Granted, I can use the MAAT DR Meter to get DR values, but so can I google lyrics so let's call it a draw there. Roon is snappier with Tidal and allows for mixed playlists (local library + Tidal), but it doesn't let me segregate my library from Tidal (I can get Tidal only, but I can't get my library only.) I also dislike how it lists artists based on albums I favorited on Tidal; it should be based on my library plus artists I favorited on Tidal, not individual albums.

Bottom line, for what it costs, I expected Roon to blow my mind and it didn't—probably also because I have no use for one of its main features (networking.)
 
Jan 17, 2020 at 1:33 PM Post #77 of 138
In another thread, someone mentioned https://winyl-player.github.io/
I had to check it out. It's lacking a detailed way to display metadata in the now playing list. I didn't find a way to get it to write play counts to the files, but it does keep track of them. That's a plus. The smart playlists are promising.
It is very simple indeed.
Maybe if my programming skills weren't focused in Java, I would take the time to add the features I want to it. But if I get to that level of C++ or C# or whatever it is, I might as well just add those features to Foobar instead.
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 12:45 AM Post #78 of 138
In another thread, someone mentioned https://winyl-player.github.io/ and said it is audibly better than Foobar. IDK about that, but it's another free option.

It is me who said that.

Identical to winyl are hqplayer and xmplay, but winyl to me is intuitive, free (HQplayer isn't) and easy to use, so I chose that. I think most people will prefer xmplay for its interface with higher functionality.

There is this tool called minorityclean, which makes the sound even better but I don't have a way to measure it.

Thanks and Regards,
Manuel Jenkin.
 
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Jan 24, 2020 at 4:32 AM Post #79 of 138
The XMPlay ASIO-plugin sounds very good, that in itself is a big pro. ASIO haven't had much love in mediaplayers. Musicbee also uses Bass-library, but it's a rather bloated player, too much for my taste. AIMPP is probably a good option, but slightly bloated and has a buzy interface. Potplayer with WASAPI sounds very good, has a pretty good interface and is a universal mediaplayer which is awesome. No ASIO though.

The one unique feature with Foobar2000 is the adjustable buffer size, makes read quality from optical drives irrelevant.
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 5:08 AM Post #80 of 138
The XMPlay ASIO-plugin sounds very good, that in itself is a big pro. ASIO haven't had much love in mediaplayers. Musicbee also uses Bass-library, but it's a rather bloated player, too much for my taste. AIMPP is probably a good option, but slightly bloated and has a buzy interface. Potplayer with WASAPI sounds very good, has a pretty good interface and is a universal mediaplayer which is awesome. No ASIO though.

The one unique feature with Foobar2000 is the adjustable buffer size, makes read quality from optical drives irrelevant.

Thank you for the suggestion on PotPlayer. I just gave it a try and like it's UI a lot. Need to tweak sound a bit (default has normalizers and enhancers applied). Is there any loop function in PotPlayer, like the one in VLC. I'm mentioning this one : https://www.vlchelp.com/how-to-loop-video-audio-continuously-vlc-media-player/ . I practice dance from videos, and this loop feature is quite useful for me.

Regarding MusicBee, it is the only Bass-library based player I've tried that didn't sound identical to winyl in my testing. It sounded audibly worse. No clue why, I tried changing a few settings and nothing changed and I didn't try tinkering much: might have to do with settings.

Yeah the buffer size control in foobar is really nice when streaming audio (I used a plugin that streams you-tube videos). Didn't realize the optical drive read use case.
 
Jan 24, 2020 at 5:24 AM Post #81 of 138
I have no idea about the loop function, you have to find out.

When I need loops I use DAW software like Cubase, Cakewalk, Reaper etc of course totally over the top for basic playback

edit. It seems I have boiled down my current favorite media players

Streaming:
Tidal
Spotify

Music files:
Xmplay
Potplayer
Foobar2000

Multimedia:
Potplayer
MPC-BE
VLC

I use K-Lite Mega to be sure I have all codecs for practically all type of files.

And naturally Youtube in any browser may be used for possibly the most media hours. For movies I usually don't need a PC as the various streaming apps like Netflix/HBO/Rakuten etc in my TV covers all the time for watching TV/Movies I have.
 
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Jan 26, 2020 at 5:42 AM Post #82 of 138
I enjoy strawberry music player it has some Qobuz and Tidal support, Does bit perfect and if you host your own Subsonic and it is free and constantly being updated.
This player sound amazing I just hear it today !!! sound much better than audirvana or foobar2000 on windows, add to that qouboz and tidal !! just wow
 
Jan 26, 2020 at 6:19 AM Post #83 of 138
This player sound amazing I just hear it today !!! sound much better than audirvana or foobar2000 on windows, add to that qouboz and tidal !! just wow

Interesting, will test as soon as I'm home. It's a fork of Clementine which for very long was my goto player on Linux thanks to its great organizing of the library.
 
Jan 26, 2020 at 10:09 AM Post #84 of 138
So, I've tested Strawberry Music Player. It looks exactly like Clementine did, awesome for maintaining the collection. Tidal works painless, there's no flag for which files are Master files but at least it indicates FLAC is Streaming.

Sadly, they have removed the WASAPI plugin from the Windows build because of instability issues. Now there's no obvious way to play bit perfect.

WASAPI has been replaced with Direct Sound which at least in Windows 10 1909 can be used as WASAPI if one goes to "Sound" in the new Windows "All Settings" applet and at the bottom of the page choose "App Volume And Device Preferences". In there you can choose output per app, which should be WASAPI if you choose your exact soundcard/DAC instead of default. You can do the same with Spotify or other apps lacking WASAPI. I'm not 100% how well it works, but it should work according to the Spotify support pages(that's why the hidden exclusive mode triggered by a flag was removed from later Spotify builds).

How does it sound? Can't say it's better or worse than any other top music player so far, but it sounds very good and unobstrusive. It has a warm sound, sort of tube like, no apparent distorsions or edges. The soundstage is calm and exact. Sound very good really.

Strawberry.png


Strawberry.png
 
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Jan 26, 2020 at 10:39 AM Post #85 of 138
How dows it sound? Can't say it's better or worse than any other top music player so far, but it sounds very good and unobstrusive. It has a warm sound, sort of tube like, no apparent distorsions or edges. The soundstage is calm and exact. Sound very good really.

Oh exactly how I hear it, and your description is exact ! For my system actually it is truly balanced and warm while extending more in both treble and bass more than foorbar2000, audrivana and hqplayer. I am glade you hear the same things !! It is amazing how they get the sound so right omg !! I like how you can download all album information / search function and the custom view type of albums using right click, also you get lyrics just too much for free app...O.O I could not but to donate few dollars to the owner ...
 
Jan 26, 2020 at 11:05 AM Post #86 of 138
So, had to test 24/192 from Tidal. Supertramp Crime Of The Century 24/192 remaster. Using Direct Sound it couldn't play it,obviously Windows is still inside doing things. But when I use the "Wrapper Audio Sink" 24/192 plays just fine. Sounds pretty great to my ears, so possibly there's no resampling going on.

Yeah, the handclaps at the end of Bloody Well Right sounds like real handclaps recorded like yesterday and not 45 years ago :)

Strawberry.png
 
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Jan 26, 2020 at 11:58 AM Post #87 of 138
After some listening I've found that the greatest treat of Strawberry is it doesn't sound brittle, even on recordings known to sound brittle. Maybe not the last word in ultra resolution, even if I do hear reverb tails and such as I should. But, the property of sounding coherent, with body and warmth is worth a lot.

Strawberry is a player that is great for music, no more, no less. Thanks for mentioning it in the thread!
 
Jan 26, 2020 at 12:24 PM Post #88 of 138
I fount about it in linux forum today and when test it it just sounded very right and better that foorbar2000 hq player or audirvana which cost a lot of money kinda crazy bcz original player only came to life recently with this fork
 
Jan 31, 2020 at 8:54 PM Post #90 of 138
I use ONKYO R695 connected via HDMI to my Nvidia 2080ti using Dolby ATMOS with Monoprice Immersive Satellite Speakers in the front and Polk T15s in the back. ONKYO sub and center channel

I'm temped to buy Audirvana, Flac and MP4s sound great on it and the best "audiophile" music player i've heard right now and nearly tried them all.

$75 is a lot considering its not packed with features. Anything else worth looking at before I press the buy button? lol
 

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