[AppleheadMay]

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Hello Everyone. I just joined after reading a LOT of this thread!
I didn't know software like Fidelia existed until this past Monday. I downloaded it and immediately my jaw dropped. Most of my library is 320kbp/s and I'm using Grado SR 80's. I had just (kinda) finished my 8,000 track library after working on it for 3 years. Then I had to go and find this! I bought the full version yesterday. There is a lot I don't like but It sounds SO much better what could I do? 
I just submitted a req. for 'Playcount' updating and Fidelia crashed LOL! Only the 2nd time in 5 days.
 
I would like to see some kind of instructions as to what each setting does, dithering, etc.
 
Hope I didn't hi-jack the thread too much.
 
Thanks to the Thread starter too.
 
 
Dana
 

Welcome to Head-Fi!  
I find Fidelia to be the player that gives the most sound quality improvement, or at least have a sound that I like.
I've been talking back and forth with their support team and they seem to keep count of feature requests to implement in later release. For instance they are considering further developing the headphones extension, full iTunes style sorting and network playback. I told them they need to update their feature requests tab in preferences though.
Same on the description of the settings, I'd like to know more about them too.
 

 

[moses195]

Thanks for the welcome and the info AppleheadMay, I appreciate it. Spent 5 hours last nite with Fidelia and headphones! It's like having a brand new library isn't it. Everything sounds so good. Just the Album art pictures makes me feel more at home.
 
Dana

 

[AppleheadMay]

Yep, sounds pretty good and even their new headphone mode is something I enjoy.
It's only in the beta version though, I don't know which version you are using?
If you want to use the beta version you will have to ask support for the three beta codes.
 
One thing that puzzles me, you have all MP3 and AAC? Why not uncompressed AIFF or ALAC?
You'll get more extra SQ out of that than out of any of these players IMO.

 

[moses195]

Quote:

Yep, sounds pretty good and even their new headphone mode is something I enjoy.
It's only in the beta version though, I don't know which version you are using?
If you want to use the beta version you will have to ask support for the three beta codes.
 
One thing that puzzles me, you have all MP3 and AAC? Why not uncompressed AIFF or ALAC?
You'll get more extra SQ out of that than out of any of these players IMO.

I'm using 1.2.0b2. I tried the headphone module too. Sounds different but then theres MORE settings to tweak!
 
I've literally re-built my library 15 times in the last ten years. 10 in the last 2 years. I started from DAT copies of vinyl and cassette recordings at 128 kbp/s lol. As I learned about higher qualities I had to re-build each time. Then, 3 years ago I discovered Grado headphones and my library sounded bad again. So I upgraded to 256/320. That sounded better than I had by far. Then Fidelia made it sound even better. I have been trying to get all my music to sound good without changing settings for every album, etc. Not easy when I have stuff from 1962-2011. I'm a big fan of very little EQ at the 125 and 8k levels. I have most of my library sounding good with headphones with only about 3 EQ settings. I like to put it on shuffle and sit back and enjoy without a lot of tweaking. But inevitably I find myself tweaking the EQ.
 
Dana
 
My ex-wife took all 700 CD's with her so I can't acquire them to rip in FLAC, etc. And I'm not going to re-buy 700 CD's lol!
 

 

[AppleheadMay]

 
 
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My ex-wife took all 700 CD's with her so I can't acquire them to rip in FLAC, etc. And I'm not going to re-buy 700 CD's lol!

Take the ex back in for a few months 'till you re-ripped them?  

 

[moses195]

Quote:

 
 
Take the ex back in for a few months 'till you re-ripped them?  

 LOL!
 

 

[darcyb62]

I really like Fidelia but it would be nnice to see a bit more integration with the iTunes engine as opposed to just being able to link to the iTunes playlist.
 
I find myself being drawn back to iTunes with the SRS iWOW plugin.  I found that once I stepped away from some of the default settings and did a bit of tweaking with the SRS settings I can get a sound that I find to easily be as good as what I was hearing in Fidelia with a couple of plugins.
 
Has anybody else tried the SRS plugin and what are your thoughts on it?
 
Darcy

 

[MatsudaMan]

Anyone compare some of the expensive players like Fidelia, Amarra, and Pure Music to something more reasonable like Bitperfect (4.99 in appstore).  

 

[darcyb62]

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Anyone compare some of the expensive players like Fidelia, Amarra, and Pure Music to something more reasonable like Bitperfect (4.99 in appstore).  

I tried Bitperfect (actually bought it) but prefer the sound of Fidelia and iTunes with the iWOW plugin.  I haven't tried Amarra but have tried Pure Music and Audirvana. I did like Audirvana but it's lack of plugin support was a no go for me. If (when) Audirvana supported plugins I might give it another try.   

 

[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

I really like Fidelia but it would be nnice to see a bit more integration with the iTunes engine as opposed to just being able to link to the iTunes playlist.
 
I find myself being drawn back to iTunes with the SRS iWOW plugin.  I found that once I stepped away from some of the default settings and did a bit of tweaking with the SRS settings I can get a sound that I find to easily be as good as what I was hearing in Fidelia with a couple of plugins.
 
Has anybody else tried the SRS plugin and what are your thoughts on it?
 
Darcy

No, had never heard of it. Or I might have very long ago, hasn't this been bundled with the Soundblaster 16 or 64 cards as a Windows version back then?
It seems more like it adds effects to the sound though, which is opposite to what most of these players are trying to do.
Wouldn't mind to see some other people's thought on it though.
 

 

[rosgr63]

Has the problem with Fidelia not recognizing VST plugins have been solved?

 

[liamstrain]

In a manner of speaking. The Beta and upcoming new version, no longer support VST. Audio units only - which is a bit unfortunate since it looks like Apple will not be continuing to develop/support the Audio Unit protocol very long either. 

 

[rosgr63]

Fidelia does not recognize some of the AU's either.
 
Mind there is a work around for Fidelia to work with both VST's and AU's using Audio Hijack.

 

[MatsudaMan]

any difference in sound between the 20 dollar fidelia and the "advanced" 70 dollar version?  I don't want to spend more than I have to you know...in this economy and all.  

 

[liamstrain]

Quote:

Fidelia does not recognize some of the AU's either.
 
Mind there is a work around for Fidelia to work with both VST's and AU's using Audio Hijack.

 
The beta only recognizes 64-bit AUs
 
Audio Hijack pro also has limited VST support. Some work fine, but the vast majority of advanced VSTs are not supported. But AHP does let you use 32 bit Audio Units if you need to, which is nice. 
 
 


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any difference in sound between the 20 dollar fidelia and the "advanced" 70 dollar version?  I don't want to spend more than I have to you know...in this economy and all.  

Pure sound output? no. It does have some other features and additional options, but as far as I know, the quality of the output is not affected.