[Audio-Me]

I found that Winamp had the best functionality, but I like the Fraunhofer decoder better. I've recently tried the Izotope oZone plug in for Winamp, and it's the only reason I even use Winamp. The special equalizer gives me full tweakability of all my mp3s and wavs. This is great for when wanting that "live" feeling in the music. Gives slight warmt gain too with the tube emulator.
http://www.izotope.com/products/ozone/ozonewinamp.html

Mainly, I use Fraunhofer WPlay3 version 2.3. It's the best sounding one I've used. And has lowest cpu use, which lets me multitask. =) (have tried all kinds of others, like kjofol and sonique)
http://www.iis.fhg.de/amm/download/index.html

For managing the files (playlist, id3 tags, etc.), I use Fliptech SufflePlay version 2.71 which also works as a front end for any mp3player.
http://www.pinoyware.com/shuffleplay/index.shtml

I used to use the very early model Nad mp3 player, the updated engine has a fatal flaw, it has a built in harsh highpass filter that ruins the sound. It doesn't support VBR either (doesn't concern me, but ticks off many others)

Incase any of you are wondering what I use for extraction and encoding, I use WinDAC version 1.53 and Lame 389.
http://www.windac.de/
http://www.mp3dev.org/mp3/

The command line I use for lame is this:
lame.exe -b320 -q0 -k -ms input.wav output.mp3

I use Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro to normalize the wav @ 98% before I encode.
http://www.syntrillium.com/cep/

 

[Audio-Me]

Oh come on, don't tell me everyone uses Music Match Jukebox or Real Player! Windows Media Player is good, but taxes cpu too much.

 

[Audio-Me]

News:
I use Exact Audio Copy for the ripping/normalize/encoding now.
http://www.syntrillium.com/cep/

I found this to be much more convenient. It has a built in normalizer that you can run off system memory instead of hard drive which = faster process, and it's a front end for lame, I just add %s %d to the "additional command lines" option.

Also a plus, deletes the wav file for you afterwards so you don't have to do it yourself. =)

One more thing...
Adding -S to the command line speeds encoding up a little bit. =)

 

[pigmode]

There you go. Take the time to configure the EAC options properly. and look into using RazorLame for batch encoding. Check out the alt presets--its already optimized for great sound..

 

[Audio-Me]

Yea, the other method was a pain in the ass, and using CEP took forever. So I said **** it, I'm gonna see if WinDACs normalizer works just as good, and it did, so hrm, this thing doesn't run scripts too well, so then I found EAC... =)

Come on guys, share with us what software you use to playback mp3s (and create them). I won't make fun if you use shoddy software.

I advise anyone looking for the best sounding mp3 player, WPlay3 is it. It's one of the oldest players out there, but keep in mind, Franhofer's the one that pushed this format, they know their crap. It's VERY simple which satisfys the minimalist side of me.

 

[coolvij]

I've pretty much stopped using MP3s......CDs are just fine for me

I used MMJB.

For burning today, I use EAC and then Adaptec software (i kno, i kno, I should get Nero or something better.....but Adaptec works for me

).

 

[meithkiller]

To rip CD's to wav files and convert to mp3 files, I usually use Audiograbber with the Lame encoder. Editing is done using Cool Edit, and playback is typically done with Winamp. Lately though, I have been getting away from mp3 use (except for an occasional download or two) and stick to regular old CD/CDR or MD/MDLP.

-Keith

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

Originally posted by coolvij I've pretty much stopped using MP3s......CDs are just fine for me I used MMJB. For burning today, I use EAC and then Adaptec software (i kno, i kno, I should get Nero or something better.....but Adaptec works for me ).

Same here actually. Since I reformatted, I never bothered to encode a big selection. I started to with MPC and Oog but it's just not a priority. These Sirocco Crossfires are going to waste.

 

[Audio-Me]

Give WPlay3 a try (assuming your sound card is decent enough to be able to output such changes in sound enough for you to notice). =) You will either love it, or won't be able to tell the difference and stick to winamp due to superior functionality...

Also try the oZone plug in for winamp, it will give you a neat effect. Good experimentation.

 

[Pepsione1]

I use Ultra Player sometimes and I recall that it was said to be the best mp3 decoder back about 1 years ago. There was a website dedicated on mp3 decoders and it found Ultra Player to be pretty good. It has been discussed on 3dsoundsurge's forum before.

I can't really tell you if Ultra Player is really any better then other players out there and I really haven't try to compare the two myself. But it would be interesting to see the results if anyone is willing to compare them. Also they were saying that the newer versions of winamp has worse decoding capability then its older versions. I wasn't all that supprised though because nowadays everything must be made in such a way that quality will be the first thing to be sacrificed over anything else.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I use PowerDVD 4 to play mp3's and CD's. It upsamples 44 to 48, therefore avoiding the flawed upsampling of my Sound Blaster Live. The software upsampling of PowerDVD is very good.