What is the best music player (software)?

[Ahriakin]

Another JRiver vote here. I've been using Mediamonkey for the last few years, Foober2K before that - all very competent players. I only really looked at JRiver when deciding on DSD capable players but what I have seen of both it's current capabilities, excellent plugin quality (and native VST hosting !)  and the forward thinking attitude and responsiveness of the Devs sold me on it.

 

[Anarion]

I mostly use Foobar but I really like WMP too, I love the UI. WMA lossless is my format of choice (great compatibility with WP8 and of course native support in Windows, no issues with Foobar either). MP3tag handles my metadata needs.

 

[drumiha]

Don't kill me 

 but my vote goes to Jplay ; it tooked my system to another level.. it's free to try, decide for yourself. 

 

[TheGame]

Hi fellow Head-fi'ers! I just purchased JRiver to upgrade from iTunes but I haven't really used it yet. It seems a bit overwhelming at first (I haven't really dived into all of it's features).
 
My Primary cans are Sennheiser HD 650's and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on good settings in JRiver for those cans. Since JRiver doesn't have a manual (well at least I couldn't find one) only wiki documents I am at a lost at what settings I should use with HD 650's. Anyone have any advice on what would be the best settings in JRiver for the HD650's? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Thank you all for any expert advice you can give!

 

[Sherwood]

Your DAC matters far more than your headphones for JRiver settings.  Optimal settings for your DAC will be optimal for every headphone.
 
If you're interested in EQing your JRiver setup to match your headphones, that's a different conversation, and there's an awesome thread on Head-Fi on how to do just that.

 

[OneSec]

Foobar here, but I do agree its not an out of box product, and painful learning curve. Also features and settings are move to different places between different version upgrades, and making half of those "guides" out there obsolete. Even the Foobar support site is showing version 0.9 print screens ><.
 
I am curious however, how would JRiver sound, against a Foobar that has been properly configured, on the same box.

 

[Ari33]

 
I am curious however, how would JRiver sound, against a Foobar that has been properly configured, on the same box.

 
I have both and have compared back to back. I always try to avoid any software EQ or DSP of any sort and use the hardware tone controls on my Pioneer stereo seperates amp for that.
 
Equipment- Creative Audigy 2ZS, 3.5mm jack-RCA's to Pioneer Amp and unknown, Sony bookshelf sized (twin driver + bass reflex port) speakers.
 
I have only spent a little time setting them both up correctly with the necessary basics and my findings are..
 
Jriver-19 is more punchy, sharper, much harder hitting... wider soundstage, seperation and with perhaps a slightly treble heavy 'sheen', it's better suited to dance, R&B and electronic music. The layout is excellent and it imported all my music automatically. It has a comprehensive list of 'ready out the box' features and explains all the main features/settings well. It also provides pop up boxes informing you of reasons for conflicts, reason why a track wouldn't play etc which is very helpful for relative beginners like myself.
 
Foobar is far simpler and with next to no bells or whistles as a vanilla download without the plug-ins, it's smoother sounding, probably with a flatter EQ out the box and better suited to vocals - ballads, rock, love songs etc.  I can see exactly why it would have a painful learning curve but I like it also and I'm going to keep it for when listening to the above music genres.
 
You should try the trial version of Jriver19, it would be interesting to hear what you think of it and if your findings are similar..

 

[mindflayz]

Musicbee is my fav.

 

[Terja]

  Hi fellow Head-fi'ers! I just purchased JRiver to upgrade from iTunes but I haven't really used it yet. It seems a bit overwhelming at first (I haven't really dived into all of it's features).
 
My Primary cans are Sennheiser HD 650's and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on good settings in JRiver for those cans. Since JRiver doesn't have a manual (well at least I couldn't find one) only wiki documents I am at a lost at what settings I should use with HD 650's. Anyone have any advice on what would be the best settings in JRiver for the HD650's? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Thank you all for any expert advice you can give!

 
 

  Your DAC matters far more than your headphones for JRiver settings.  Optimal settings for your DAC will be optimal for every headphone.
 
If you're interested in EQing your JRiver setup to match your headphones, that's a different conversation, and there's an awesome thread on Head-Fi on how to do just that.

+ 1 on this.
 
I'm using JRiver 18 with HD650 (sometimes). I never thought of trying to match the headphone to the player so take this with a pause but I'll tell how I've set it up for what I consider outstanding playback.
 
Player --> Playback Options --> Audio --> Output mode: ASIO // DSP & output format --> Output @ 96,000 Hz (matches my DAC capability).
 
JRiver outputs at 32bit so my output according to the JRiver output icon [ ||| ] is 96Hz 32bit 2ch using ASIO.
 
After that it's really about your amp. I drive my HD650s using a vintage Onkyo receiver that has a fabulous headphone out synergy with the HD650s.
 
P.S. Coming from iTunes like you, most of my files are Apple Lossless and JRiver handles them beautifully. Have you  tried Theater View while playing Audio -- you'll love it. Good luck.

 

[Technex]

MusicBee - I love it, after trying many players I could not get on with any of them until I found this wonderful gem.
 
Many themes... Great sound... Customizable as you want - although I love it in the standard format.
 
It's amazing - for me at least! WASAPI and AISO if you wish... And Android remote support which is just awesome .

 

[Thunderbolt]

Ive always been a winamp user, but would like to try something new with wasapi exclusive mode. the thing is I want a really compact player like winamp. something that just covers a small part of the screen and has a simple playlist with just interpret - title & time and nothing like a windows which covers my entire screen, has a library with fancy pictures to show off etc. just something with a very basic GUI. which other player comes closest to this?

 

[tattoou2]

I'll have to give another vote for MediaMonkey.  

 

[Muinarc]

Ive always been a winamp user, but would like to try something new with wasapi exclusive mode. the thing is I want a really compact player like winamp. something that just covers a small part of the screen and has a simple playlist with just interpret - title & time and nothing like a windows which covers my entire screen, has a library with fancy pictures to show off etc. just something with a very basic GUI. which other player comes closest to this?

 


Probably Foobar2000. Media Monkey has a "micro player" which is in between full window and minimized to tray if that's something you like, but Windows Media Player can also do this.

 

[Thunderbolt]

foobar is also this big window.

 

[Schonen]

Musicbee+foobar2k
 
For video I like Daum Potplayer
 
Weird name but very good.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PotPlayer