Thanks a lot for your answers (bulmanxxi, mrspeakers, turimbar, etc). I think most peolple are on the same page. In my case, money can be spent on many other areas of the system before software... Actually it woukd be nice to spend that ammount in music
I'm a relative newb to high-fidelity computer-sourced audio. Out of curiosity, I downloaded Decibel and could most definitely hear a difference over itunes through my uDAC, little dot mkIII and senn HD600's. The sound is a bit crisper, with a bit more low-end punch and definitely more forward vocals. I guess my question is...why.
Why does 64 bit floating point precision matter in a player? What are these apps doing that itunes is not?
I have gone A-B on a bunch of different tracks and heard differences each time so I know it's not my imagination. I am interested in learning why I'm hearing what I'm hearing.
many thanks!
david r.
PS. my material is 320kb AAC's ripped from standard CD's.
I just tried Fidelia again and compared against Amarra Mini. Amarra still won. It's just has something to do with the texture of the bass and the layering. I feel the music more with Amarra. It's the same issue I have with Pure Music. When I switch to Decibel, I get the same feeling I do with Amarra. I guess these players do PRAT (pace, rhythm, attack, & timing) better. Some players are better at dynamics, soundstage, or clarity.
I was ready to buy Fidelia if it sounded the same. Somehow this weird looping bug on Amarra is getting worse to the point I'm ready to stop using it. Might have to stick with Decibel until it's fixed. It's just the last 10 seconds of the track start to loop when cache mode is on. Don't have this problem in any other player.
Edit: Oh, I didn't have Decibel in memory mode or exclusive access. Now it sounds just as good as Amarra without the bugs.
has anyone tried "Hear" software audio EQ for the Mac? It's a system wide EQ app that works in the background and has many tweaks like up to 96 band EQ, 3D effects, Limiter, Fidelity changes, and a whole lot of other things. It goes fairly deep in sound in how you'd like to change your sound. I just got it and the settings are a bit overwhelming. I just wanted to know if any of you Mac users have tried this EQing method.
has anyone tried "Hear" software audio EQ for the Mac? It's a system wide EQ app that works in the background and has many tweaks like up to 96 band EQ, 3D effects, Limiter, Fidelity changes, and a whole lot of other things. It goes fairly deep in sound in how you'd like to change your sound. I just got it and the settings are a bit overwhelming. I just wanted to know if any of you Mac users have tried this EQing method.
Great thread, however, I think I may just stick with iTunes, just out of convenience, because the increased sound quality with Vox and Decibel is only marginally and not with every MP3 or AIFF file.
Vox sounds indentical to Decibel when under Preferences > Audio > Built-in Output is selected and not System default (it then sounds indentical to iTunes}
True with some music, Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks for instance, the bass is mellower and slightly more textured, not as hard hitting as with iTunes.
With some Classical CD's like Handel's Theodora (Christie) however I cannot hear any differences.
The lack of playlists and sort functionality with Vox and Decibel decides me to stick with iTunes.
For Decibel, you can download the script from their page and then still use iTunes sort of as a front-end. Highlight the tracks in iTunes and then use the script "Play with Decibel" and it starts right up in the player. I have it sitting to the right of iTunes. You can also drop and drag tracks into Decibel. I didn't like Fidelia because I couldn't just take tracks from iTunes but instead were supposed to used their limited browser. Amarra and Pure Music try for seamless integration where you can just use iTunes as you always have and the output goes through their player. Amarra still has some work to get this to happen flawlessly. Seems their latest update is delayed but they promise good things. Kind of wish they'd just fix what's wrong before adding new stuff that will probably have bugs.
I ended up paying for Fidelia and selling Amarra Mini. The only thing Fidelia needs for me is to recognise the folders I have in my playlists, and for me to get the remote app for my iPhone for when I use it in my speaker rig.
A couple of thoughts:
The "audiophile" apps are best for people whom, such as myself, appreciate quality jazz, classical and other acoustic music and have a good DAC for playback. Compressed pop isn't going to benefit much and I wouldn't bother with mp3s.
I have a theory that different DACs will be affected differently by the improvements, especially if up-sampling is switched on.
I am considering both fidelia and pure music. I really like the way pure music integrates directly into itunes as far as using itunes for music management. While itunes may not be perfect for music management (ok, isn't perfect), it is very familiar. If any fidelia users out there would care to comment briefly on how well fidelia accesses the itunes library, I'd appreciate it. I know I can, and I will download the test drive of each. I only ask, as my listening time is always short, quickly interrupted, and occasionally spaced far apart (those of you with kids understand). A 15 day license might easily get me only 2 or 3 sessions with each. I'm just hoping to benefit from the experience of the lucky souls who can bury themselves in a nice long listening session regularly, and have given these a proper test drive. Thank you!
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