[vulc4n]

I've been hoping something like this was possible all along... Well. it is! Thanks to Multi-Plugin you can use iTunes and still have the excelent sound quality of foobar! You can get the latest version here: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=29035

Its easy to do also, just instal foobar, configure as needed, install multi-plugin and then enable "foobar 2000 passthrough" in the multi-plugin settings (within iTunes prefrences)

This is great news for me, as I love the iTunes interface but hate the skipping/clicking that occurs when I'm doing other high priority tasks. In addition, this allows me to use all the fade in/out settings available in foobar's directsound 2 plugin.

If you are a itunes user, this is something you must try!

EDIT: Note, you should have crossfade turned on and set to 0 in iTunes if you want gapless playback (or atleast like what sounds like gapless to me).

 

[keiron99]

Can you please explain more before I start messing about with my PC? I'm an Itunes user but can't quite understand what this is. I did try Foobar a few times, but thought it wasn't user friendly (to someone like me who's not PC savvy) and, through my Stax phones, sounded no different from Itunes or any other replay software. What are the advantages? And does it allow you to replay Apple Lossless files? Thanks.

 

[Elephas]

Multi-Plugin is an add-on, or plug-in, to iTunes that enables additional functionality. One feature is changing the interface to look like the MacOS version of iTunes and changing the fonts.

The foobar pass-through feature makes iTunes use the foobar engine to playback your music instead of QuickTime. Since iTunes does not support ASIO or kernal streaming and foobar does, this enables iTunes to use foobar's ASIO or kernal streaming outputs. This may significantly improve sound quality, depending on your sound card and setup. Foobar also has additional features such as crossfader, equalizer, resampler, etc. that may be useful.

foobar 0.8.3 does not support ALAC, so you won't be able to play Apple Lossless files on iTunes with the foobar pass-through activated. The next version of foobar, 0.9, is supposed to support ALAC.

Using the AirPort Express and an external DAC, I've found that sound quality is as good as foobar ASIO > E-MU 1212m optical out > DAC.

I haven't experienced any skipping/clicking yet while using iTunes > AirPort Express.

 

[keiron99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas The foobar pass-through feature makes iTunes use the foobar engine to playback your music instead of QuickTime. Since iTunes does not support ASIO or kernal streaming and foobar does, this enables iTunes to use foobar's ASIO or kernal streaming outputs. This may significantly improve sound quality, depending on your sound card and setup.

Why would that improve the sound quality over regular Itunes? I have an optical out to a DAC then into either Rotel pre/pro and Dynaudio speakers or Stax energiser and Stax Lambda Sig Pros, but detect absolutely no difference between any playback software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas Using the AirPort Express and an external DAC, I've found that sound quality is as good as foobar ASIO > E-MU 1212m optical out > DAC.

Isn't Airport Express just a wireless connection system? How do you connect your PC to your DAC wirelessly?

Thanks

 

[Elephas]

On my system running WinXP Pro, I've compared the following setups:

1. ALAC > iTunes > E-MU 1212m analog > Amp > Headphones
2. WAV/FLAC > foobar ASIO > E-MU 1212m analog > Amp > Headphones
3. ALAC > iTunes > E-MU 1212m toslink > DAC > Amp > Headphones
4. WAV/FLAC > foobar ASIO > E-MU 1212m optical > DAC > Amp > Headphones
5. ALAC > iTunes > AirPort Express > mini-toslink cable > DAC > Amp > Headphones
6. WAV > iTunes w/foobar pass-thru > E-MU 1212m optical > DAC > Amp > Headphones

1 and 2 sound worst to me. They sound less detailed and somewhat muddy compared to the others. 2 seems slightly better than 1 but the differences are not that obvious to me. I think my DACs have better sound quality than the E-MU 1212m's analog outputs.

4 sounds better than 3. Through the 1212m's optical out, ASIO output sounds better than WAVE when using an external DAC. I think the external DAC makes the difference between ASIO and WAVE clearer.

5 and 6 sound very similar to 4. Sometimes I think I can hear some differences but they are very slight and could be imagination or wishful thinking.

I use multiple PCs to stream music wirelessly from iTunes to the AirPort Express. I plan to add another AirPort Express > DAC > Amp rig so I can listen to my headphones at two locations. A dedicated music server would allow any networked PC to act as the control center for your music library.

Please note that this is my experience with my system. Your results may vary.

 

[MrJoshua]

Thanks for the link!

I'm now using it, and I somehow think the sound is a bit more airy using the Foobar engine.

 

[keiron99]

I've just downloaded it, and iTunes now looks different (poorer quality text) and some menu items are missing, but what's it supposed to do? Are there any instructions? Or is this strictly for the geeks amongst us

 

[philodox]

Very cool... with this I could possibly fool my Wife into using foobar!

And I must admit iTunes does have the edge over foobar in terms of user interface.

 

[DLP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by keiron99 Isn't Airport Express just a wireless connection system? How do you connect your PC to your DAC wirelessly? Thanks

The output on the Airport Express can either be analog via the plug the size of what most headphones come with (I'm completely blanking out on the size), or digital optical connection.

 

[vulc4n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by keiron99 I've just downloaded it, and iTunes now looks different (poorer quality text) and some menu items are missing, but what's it supposed to do? Are there any instructions? Or is this strictly for the geeks amongst us

You can change back to the default interface in the multi-plugin settings.

 

[Jahn]

Rats! I have too many tunes on iTunes that aren't foobar friendly to do this - ALAC, AAC, VBR AAC, etc.

 

[vulc4n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Rats! I have too many tunes on iTunes that aren't foobar friendly to do this - ALAC, AAC, VBR AAC, etc.

AAC should not be a problem. ALAC support in foobar is still limited at best, but it does exsist. If you are feeling adventurous, you could grab the foobar beta and the (buggy) alac decoder.

I started ripping with apple lossless, but soon switched over to Lame MP3 with the quality set at V2. Its totaly transparent to me and the space savings are huge. You could also create mp3s from the lossless files and archive the lossless files.

Oddly, I'm still having the ocasional click/pop even with a 4 second buffer set in foobar. It only happens when I'm doing encoding with lame and ripping wih EAC. Theres no way my system should be having any issues (X2 3800, 1GB ram). It is much better than the constant clicking/skipping I was experiencing before while ripping/encoding.

 

[Trogdor]

WOW this rocks, thanks so much for the tip!

Trogdor

EDIT: This sort of rocks. I just found that iTunes doesn't play FLAC natively (sometimes I just don't get Apple).

 

[philodox]

oops... misread that post.

 

[johnas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trogdor EDIT: This sort of rocks. I just found that iTunes doesn't play FLAC natively (sometimes I just don't get Apple).

My thoughts exactly. I installed it because I thought it would add FLAC support.