[Y2HBK]

Amarra outputs 24/96, rescan the audio devices off edit on the Mac.

Im not sure I fully understand what you mean. I set the built-in output to 96/24 in audio devices, but when i try to play a file through Amarra it switches everything back to 44. Im guessing this means that no realtime conversion happens.

Do you mean I would need to do something like upsample the tracks offline and then replay it?

 

[RUMAY408]

Quote:

Im not sure I fully understand what you mean. I set the built-in output to 96/24 in audio devices, but when i try to play a file through Amarra it switches everything back to 44. Im guessing this means that no realtime conversion happens.

Do you mean I would need to do something like upsample the tracks offline and then replay it?

You shouldn't have to resample, check the device preference manually.  I will say this my Dragonfly DAC is seamless with Amarra.  My new Meier DAC is requiring an initial manual setting with Amarra. I'm finding that manual change just a bit annoying.

 

[snowshoe]

I paid $50 USD for Audirvana Plus and I would say it's worth the money. The current price of $74 USD is steeper, but if you plan to use Mac OS for a while, I think the investment is worthwhile.


Also, one of the comments in the Mac OS X Music Players Wiki suggested JRiver Media Center. Does anyone have experience with the paid version ($44.98 USD)? I downloaded and tried the beta a few months ago but it didn't support proper Asian Unicode fonts, just like Foobar in OS X through Wine.

I was looking and looking at Audirvana + when it was $50 and was probably testing out another player when they raised their prices. I ended up paying the $74. Once you add in everything you need to bring it up to the same level as A+, Fidelia is about the same price and A+ is better IMHO!

I am probably the one who mentioned JRiver. I brought it up for completeness, not to express approval. The app needs to be completely rewritten to fit into the Mac environment. I'd imagine that's why it doesn't support Asian Unicode fonts. I considered buying it when it was like $20, thinking that once it gets better I will have gotten a bargain. However, it seemed that the developers were not interested in writing it as a proper mac app. Instead, they're approaching it like a port - that was my impression. I didn't buy and thus far I don't regret it at all!

 

[dgilz]

I was looking and looking at Audirvana + when it was $50 and was probably testing out another player when they raised their prices. I ended up paying the $74. Once you add in everything you need to bring it up to the same level as A+, Fidelia is about the same price and A+ is better IMHO!

I am probably the one who mentioned JRiver. I brought it up for completeness, not to express approval. The app needs to be completely rewritten to fit into the Mac environment. I'd imagine that's why it doesn't support Asian Unicode fonts. I considered buying it when it was like $20, thinking that once it gets better I will have gotten a bargain. However, it seemed that the developers were not interested in writing it as a proper mac app. Instead, they're approaching it like a port - that was my impression. I didn't buy and thus far I don't regret it at all!

About Fidelia, if you add up its price 19.99$ plus the advanced features at 49$ plus the remote at 9.99$ you get the same service for the same price as Audirvana and with the same features don't get fooled by the marketing subtleties

 

[reiserFS]

It would be nice if Fidelia wouldn't crash every once and then while adding songs and thus killing your database. Audirvana 1.4.6 is still the best sound wise.

 

[littletree76]

Note the latest version of Audirvana Plus is 1.5.4 and it has been updated to allow audio plugins conform to AudioUnits format. So features and prices between latest Audirvana Plus and Fidelia in advanced mode are close. Main difference between the two players is Audirvana Plus does not rely on Apple's Core Audio module for audio processing at all, thus there is definitely difference in sound quality. In fact Audirvana Plus has been developed from scratch with its own audio decoding algorithm and architecture with no regard to what has been done in Core Audio module.
 
As mentioned in my previous post long ago, please keep in mind functionalities/objectives of different software in assessing these software. JRiver Media Centre is just like iTunes, its main purpose is for managing and playing media files to suit general usage. I am only interested in software player with the best playback/decoding quality (to be used with audiophile grade equipments as digital transport) even though it might have very poor media management and user interface (such as pathetic playlist of Audirvana Plus). So please avoid comparing apple with orange and causing confusion.
 
To developer of Audirvana Plus, please fix the playlist (particularly the miniature font) as soon as possible. It is about time you ditch skeuomorphic in user interface design just like what Apple has done lately, the main user interface does not have to look like real/physical player in Mac OS X desktop.

 

[miceblue]

Has anyone tried SoX before? I didn't read through the documentation very much but I'm curious to know how it processes the audio. It is a Terminal-based program, which I'm not too familiar with. It can keep track of how many times the audio file clips, which is pretty unique from my experience.

 

[jackwess]

I came across SoX when i was at sourceforge, downloaded it but never had the chance to play with it. It have good ratings. 

 

[rosgr63]

Quote:

It would be nice if Fidelia wouldn't crash every once and then while adding songs and thus killing your database. Audirvana 1.4.6 is still the best sound wise.

 
I find the latest Fidelia release very evil.
It takes ages to load I am not happy with it.

 

[mgunin]

I also chose Audirvana after careful evaluation (just bought a license) and also recommend to try [size=12.727272033691406px]a headphone crossfeed Audio Unit. ToneBooster IsoOne, for example, seems to work well for me.[/size]
 
[size=12.727272033691406px]I still prefer a more warm and smooth sound of Amarra, but Audirvana is more flexible and convenient (in my opinion) and supports more audio formats.[/size]

 

[Slaphead]

I find the latest Fidelia release very evil.
It takes ages to load I am not happy with it.

If you're referring to v 1.3.1 then I don't have the slow loading problem. However there is a problem when using the iZotope sampler in that when you use it at a higher bit resolution and sample rate than your source material then there is quite a bit of clicking/buzzing/distortion, especially on louder sections of the music. Using the Apple high quality sampler resolves the problem, but the reason for fidelia in the first place is the iZotope sampler, which admittedly can still be used at source resolution and sample rate

I sent off a bug report about a month ago and got a response that the problem could be duplicated and that it had been passed on to the head of software engineering, but nothing since. I would imagine that they're going to release a fix for that and other bugs at the same time.

To be honest I find these alternative "HiFi" players a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. Yes there are some sound quality gains to be had, but this is offset by clunky interfaces and general buggyness. iTunes may well be bloatware, but with regards to music playback and especially library organisation it does pretty good.

 

[Solitary1]

Quote:

I also chose Audirvana after careful evaluation (just bought a license) and also recommend to try [size=12.727272033691406px]a headphone crossfeed Audio Unit. ToneBooster IsoOne, for example, seems to work well for me.[/size]
 

Just bought a few days ago. LOVE IT! A must-have for headphone addicts.

 

[desertblues]

I recently purchased Pure Music after a 2 week demo and love that I can now download and store flac files directly in itunes & play them mixed with alac (or any others). The native sampling mode is glitch free and works perfectly with my Woo Audio WA7's Dac which accepts files up to 32 bit. I find this player to be a serious upgrade to itunes soundwise and well worth the cost with nothing else to buy or add (this one would seem to be a no-brainer if you are into sound shaping with all the eq & plug-in capabilities). The demo version is free and has all the features.

 

[Grev]

Using Clementine and Songbird, am I missing out?

 

[dgilz]

Using Clementine and Songbird, am I missing out?

The best music player is the one you like