[stereoguy]

Using Dell desktop windows 7. Interested in this topic since I'm getting a little more into this lately, but I'm not real advanced on my computer knowledge. I have a sony walkman so what about Sony Media GO as playback software? One thing I like about media go is the way all the album covers in the library are displayed. And it does FLAC too. Now when you say itunes is crap are you talking about only the playback? If I import a cd at AAC 320 would'nt the actual encoding of a cd be the same regardless of whether it's itunes, media go or whatever?
That said, as I do more computer music listening, I notice some distortion on either program (itunes or media Go) which seems to get worse depending on the compression of the imported cd. Basically what I hear is lots of distortion on a compressed cd, but still a little on a cd with low to moderate compression. Maybe this is also a product of the stock sound card, I'll have to do some experimenting. Maybe I'll try a "USB DAC". I do have Foobar which I got a long time ago just to play certain download files without converting, but I've never used it for importing my cd library.  Now I think I'll do a comparison with Foobar and  Media GO by importing the same cd to each and see if I hear a difference. I'm an old school 2 channel guy and mainly when I do serious listening it is on a turntable, a cd or sacd player. Certainly seems less complex anyway.

 

[stereoguy]

Well I got a chance to try this, I compared Foobar with Sony Media GO. Media Go has something called "gain setting", and it sounds much better if you turn down that gain setting and get your volume mainly from the amp. With the media Go gain turned down I noticed no significant difference between them when I played some Flac files using headphones and amp. One thing is for sure, media Go is much easier to use, with better GUI and overall screen appearance. Foobar is not very intuitive and seems for someone who is more computer/tech savvy than I am. I don't know if Media go's bits are perfect or not, but if they are'nt I didnt hear the imperfection. Obviously the test was not "blind" and I don't have the gear to "level match" headphones or even how you would do that. I tried to get the volume as subjectively even as I could.
 

 

[sterling1]

I now have a new Toshiba laptop running Windows 8. I also now have the latest version of iTunes running. These are two things which have changed my perspective on it all since my last post. I now perceive iTunes to sound as good as any of the other media players I've auditioned. My original interest in foobar stemmed from the necessity for a media player which could play HDtracks flac downloads. Using DBpoweramp those downloads were then converted to ALAC to get them into my iTunes library. Since HDtracks is now delivering hi rez in ALAC I no longer need foobar. At any  rate, for grins and giggles, I downloaded the free trial version of J River Media Center, and sent all of my iTunes files to it. Comparing it to iTunes by critically listening to my favorite music I could not say that one player sounded better to me than the other, thus, I removed J River from my computer, so as not to have any possible conflict with iTunes. Nevertheless, I think J River's menu is pretty neat, allowing for so many user adjustments; and, if I were into interaction, I  think tweeking it would be fun. I do not however have the time to tweek much of anything these days,  so iTunes   will continue to be my media player. It seems pretty close to the notion of straight wire with gain. One thing for sure though, J River has, it appears, made a longed for tweeking with digital almost as much fun as when we all had fun setting up out turntables.

 

[stereoguy]

Thanks for chiming in....I have'nt used any computer playback software on my stereo system yet, only a modest desktop arrangement for headphone listening and loading up the Walkman. I was curious about the different programs and found this thread. I guess the idea here is that digital computer music has a signal path within the player, and like with analog, some prefer the most direct path. Btw I still have fun setting up my turntables and playing my records once in awhile, I suppose that will never change.
 

 

[JIGF]

Well, I my macbook died and now have to redirect my music library to a cheaper option, a PC.
 
I wonder if there is anything as good as BitPerfect working alongside iTunes for Windows 7

 

[rexirius]

Quote:

Well, I my macbook died and now have to redirect my music library to a cheaper option, a PC.
 
I wonder if there is anything as good as BitPerfect working alongside iTunes for Windows 7

 
IMHO Foobar2000 in Wasapi-driven mode is the easiest to set up, as well as the most capable, bit-perfect music player in the Windows 7 environment. Others may have their favorites.

 

[jackwess]

Quote:

Well, I my macbook died and now have to redirect my music library to a cheaper option, a PC.
 
I wonder if there is anything as good as BitPerfect working alongside iTunes for Windows 7

 
Besides foobar, Jriver. 

 

[JIGF]

Thanks guys!

After a lot of research, I am sure Jriver or foobar will do the trick.

 

[Kalakaka]

Desktop:  iTunes
Laptop:  Winamp Pro
 
I'm sure there is better software but for right now, I'm satisfied.