[mrspeakers]

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So we're left with just assuming? That's not very satisfying.

Search for my explanation of oversampling and anti-aliasing/interpolation.  I don't want to write it up a 3rd time...  If you still have questions, fire away.

 

[turimbar1]

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Audrivana has integer mode now. I preferred Decibel easily before, but with the integer mode Audirvana sounds really good. Don't think it's as stable though.

 see this is what Ive been trying to tell ppl, you have to turn the settings to MAX in order to get amazing. the others are really good, but the ease of use, the sound quality, and hog mode all make audirvana my current fave.
 
the fact that when you open a folder you get ALL the music in that folder AND the folders that are in that folder, so you can load your ENTIRE itunes library in one click. makes it easier than Decibel where you have to pick every song one by one, or do a SHIFT + right click to select and add all. yes ive tried using the script, I have not found it useful, my itunes library does not have all of my best quality music in it (itunes cant support 24/192, or even normal flac without tricking it) 
 
But i go to vox in a pinch, hog mode can be annoying when you want to listen to other apps, but useful if you dont

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Search for my explanation of oversampling and anti-aliasing/interpolation.  I don't want to write it up a 3rd time...  If you still have questions, fire away.

that wouldnt account for people like myself who are using redbook rips without any upsampling...yet still hearing differences 

 

[cukis350]

How does one enable "hog mode" for Fedelia on MacBookpro?

 

[Bones13]

I just learned that Fidelia has attached a price to Fidelia (base version) of 19.99.  You have to also purchase the "advanced" add on for another 49.99 to enable Hog mode.  Total is ~$70 for both parts, about half of Pure Music, and a whole lot less than Amarra.
 
Funny that a year ago or so Amarra was loved, but considered too expensive.  2 great competitors are out now, and competition does great things for features, and price.
 
I have been using Pure Music for about 6 months, and love the sound in hog mode.  Fidelia came close without hog mode, and seems to be less affected by other things I do on my computer.  Not sure if Hog Mode in Fedelia will come away clean as well.  It at least has a dedicated iPhone remote program, even is cost another $10.

 

[bulmanxxi]

Cukis350, for Hog Mode you need to have Fidelia Advanced and then enable Exclussive Access from Advanced preferences.

 

[Rdr. Seraphim]

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The only players that I have used are VOX (the latest, and is one of my favorites due to being able to play FLAC), iTunes (great for media management), and twice Pure Music. iTunes was quickly put on the back burner since I download a lot of FLAC media (from all the typical Hi-Rez sites). VOX is just the simplest thing to use and is able to manage my folder based music library (plays all the music in the same folder). Thankfully, Pure Music also supports native FLAC (introduced in v1.7), and uses iTunes for music management and cataloguing. The combination provides a very pleasant graphical interface, along with native FLAC support. 
 
[size=medium][size=medium]I also like that when used with FLAC files, Pure Music is basically a memory type player allocating as many tracks as can be fit into available memory. I currently only have 2GB memory on my older iMAC, so it's almost one track at a time, but reliable and predicable. [/size][/size]
 
[size=medium][size=medium]My first experience with Pure Music was its pre-FLAC days, and while it was OK, it wasn't the most reliable player out there. So, VOX became my favorite lossless player. The simplicity, flexibility, small footprint, and feature set (cross feed was a nice touch) really lent itself to a nice user experience. And I felt it sounded better than iTunes. [/size][/size]
 
[size=medium][size=medium]Some time ago I moved to the Wyred 4 Sound DAC. This thread piqued my interest and I decided to give Pure Music another try. It immediately recognized my DAC. Nice. It definitely plays native FLAC media at the appropriate bit depth and sampling. Another nice. It uses iTunes for cataloguing. Pretty pictures. And to my pleasant surprise, it definitely provides a bump in sound quality over VOX. It's also a better value, at least compared to Amara. [/size][/size]
 
[size=medium][size=medium]I don’t have a clue why any of these players would provide improved SQ, but PM definitely sounds better than VOX, at least in my kit. I have several more days before the trial period runs dry, but I’m already getting my CC ready. So far, PM is definitely more stable than it was, and I assume it will only improve when I upgrade to a new Intel MAC and add a bunch of memory.  That it runs on my limping G5 is pretty remarkable. [/size][/size]
 
[size=medium][size=medium]BTW, in memory play mode (FLAC), CPU utilization is anywhere between 1% and 30%, depending on how much I move my mouse around! That's pretty reasonable! [/size][/size]
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[drandall]

Since reading this article, i have done some back-to-back comparisons between itunes, decibel, and fidelia using the same tracks (44.1khz CD rips, 320kbps AAC) and switching between them in 3-5 second intervals. Listening through a uDAC feeding a tube-rolled little dot mkIII and senn HD600's, I have a hard time nailing down any hard differences.
 
Maybe I have a tin ear or my system can't resolve the differences, but in my case there simply weren't any substantial improvements. Of the three, Decibel seems to differ the most from itunes and seems to have a bit more sparkle on the high end, and a bit more authority on the low end with more forward mids...but with eyes shut, I have to A/B repeatedly to draw that conclusion and even then, i'm not sure i'm right. This also extends to using hog mode.
 
i would love to think that a simple change of software could yield a tangible sonic improvement, but i'm still waiting for the magic. perhaps at my modest level of investment, such determinations are impossible to make. i've even done some encoding tests with apple lossless and AAC's encoded not in itunes but through XLD and pitted them against each other to see if differences in encoding could reveal more dramatic differences in playback. Aside from the fact that lossless sounds a smidge better than 320kbps AAC's, i still got nothing.
 
deep shame. : (

 

[CHansen]

Quote:

Since reading this article, i have done some back-to-back comparisons between itunes, decibel, and fidelia using the same tracks (44.1khz CD rips, 320kbps AAC) and switching between them in 3-5 second intervals. Listening through a uDAC feeding a tube-rolled little dot mkIII and senn HD600's, I have a hard time nailing down any hard differences.

 
You are severely handicapping yourself by using AAC files. All of these players are designed for better sonic performance than iTunes. Using AAC files for comparison is like trying to compare racing tires on a Fiat 600. It just ain't gonna make much difference.
 
The second problem is your protocol. Three seconds??? DON'T BELIEVE ALL THAT BALONEY THAT HUMANS HAVE A SHORT AURAL MEMORY!! When your mother calls on the telephone, do you have a hard time recognizing her voice? Of course not! Why? Because you heard it every day of your life for at least twenty years.
 
So pick three of your favorite songs that you have been listening to a lot lately. Then listen to ALL three, ALL the way through. Then switch to a different player and repeat. The order doesn't matter. Don't try to focus in on little details and remember what the treble sounds like or the bass sounds like. Just listen to the music and notice how it makes you feel. Are you into it or is your mind wandering and you are thinking about bills you have to pay? You will hear differences. Anybody can, as long as they are familiar with the music. Your system makes almost no difference.
 
Have fun!

 

[kwkarth]

One thing that has hardly been mentioned here is what settings were used when listening to each of these players.  The variables are myriad and could easily account for the "differences" people hear between one player and another.  So does anyone have a consistent baseline of setting they use for evaluating each player?  We need to compare apples to apples.
 

 

 

 
And then there's the program material...

 

[Rdr. Seraphim]

Agreed. It's difficult to get apples to apples comparisons with some of these. For example, PM defaults to memory playback for FLAC in the current release. 
 
VOX settings should be set to "Synchronize sample rate with application;" the output should be set to whatever the playback device is, in my case Wyred 4 Sound 24/192. I've been using FLAC media, the playback device syncing with the sample rate, anything between 44.1 and 192 via USB. 

 

[middachten]

Quote:

Search for my explanation of oversampling and anti-aliasing/interpolation.  I don't want to write it up a 3rd time...  If you still have questions, fire away.

Based on the difference I noted between 'exclusive mode' and normal operation I think there is also a system resource/interpolation issue going on here. I always thought that AU provided a bit perfect path from software to audio card. Apparently it doesn't do that as long as 'exclusive mode' or 'hog mode' is not selected.
I havn't been able to check, but if I can find the time I will do a 'loop test' with a pre-defined signal to check which software is actually bit-perfect (in non-upsampling modus that is).

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Based on the difference I noted between 'exclusive mode' and normal operation I think there is also a system resource/interpolation issue going on here. I always thought that AU provided a bit perfect path from software to audio card. Apparently it doesn't do that as long as 'exclusive mode' or 'hog mode' is not selected.
I havn't been able to check, but if I can find the time I will do a 'loop test' with a pre-defined signal to check which software is actually bit-perfect (in non-upsampling modus that is).

i did several tests about a year ago, using DTS encoded WAV files through iTunes, and as long as the volume in iTunes was set to the max, running optical out of my macbook into my reciever the DTS stream was picked up and decoded. As soon as i lowered the volume in iTunes though the dts stream went away, or if any other program made noise it went away. so even iTunes is bit perfect. though i havent tried it with decibel at all...but if they are all bit perfect i still dont understand how they can sound different, though i dont doubt my ears
 
 
Edit: just checked again, in both iTunes and decibel, and using the DTS encoded WAV file, both are bit perfect, and in decibel that was with HOG mode on or off, both were bit perfect

 

[middachten]

Quote:

One thing that has hardly been mentioned here is what settings were used when listening to each of these players.  The variables are myriad and could easily account for the "differences" people hear between one player and another.  So does anyone have a consistent baseline of setting they use for evaluating each player?  We need to compare apples to apples.
 
And then there's the program material...

I think I've been pretty clear on my test parameters:

1. As a starting point I've used the sample rate/bit depth of the track. For Vox I used exactly the settings that you show, except for the prescan MPEG (since I used FLAC). Perhaps the only item of interest that I didn't mention was that I used 'none' as the option for noise shaping in the Fidelia settings.
2. When I deviated from that I described it (e.g. Fidelia in up-sampling modus)
3. I mentioned the tracks I used. (BTW: some excellent recordings!)

 
If you wan't more detailed info on the settings I used I will be please to share them.
I might learn something here that will improve my next review.
 
 
 
 

 

[middachten]

Quote:

i did several tests about a year ago, using DTS encoded WAV files through iTunes, and as long as the volume in iTunes was set to the max, running optical out of my macbook into my reciever the DTS stream was picked up and decoded. As soon as i lowered the volume in iTunes though the dts stream went away, or if any other program made noise it went away. so even iTunes is bit perfect. though i havent tried it with decibel at all...but if they are all bit perfect i still dont understand how they can sound different, though i dont doubt my ears
 
 
Edit: just checked again, in both iTunes and decibel, and using the DTS encoded WAV file, both are bit perfect, and in decibel that was with HOG mode on or off, both were bit perfect

 
Interesting!
I'm not familiar with DTS encoded WAV files. Are you sure there is no error correction mechanism, interpolation or other signal re-construction going on?
I was planning to do a 'file compare' test with Wavelab. But I'm currently traveling and don't have the Synchrosoft key with me