Which play(foobar2000, WinAmp,...etc) are you using now? And why?
Dec 8, 2003 at 11:03 PM Post #31 of 80
Winamp 2.91. Fast, simple, I have onboard sound so super tweako quality is not that important
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Dec 11, 2003 at 7:33 PM Post #32 of 80
[Winamp 2.81 mostly because of the functionality... Though I may switch to foobar if a couple plug-ins come out. But I just live winamp's interface!]

*EDIT*
I've seen the light. Foobar sounds insane, looks insane, IS insane....
 
Dec 13, 2003 at 5:09 AM Post #33 of 80
Interesting how many people prefer Foobar 2k. Or Winamp.

Foobar, according to this thread, works better for gaming soundcards with resampling. Well, the resampling algorithm must be better than the on-chip resampler for Audigy. And the MP3-s basically sound the same with any source.

But what about good quality CD-s with sound card which does not do resampling? I think DSP, crossfeed and resampling itself make things much worse. In my setup, Foobar (waveOut) sounds the best at 44100. CD-s while playing through Winamp sound ... well, like MP3-s.

It's not the easy task to do resampling (or crossfeed) in a real time without any loss, as errors will add distortions and extra noise to the output.

While playing CD-s, all of the players just have to deliver the data to sound card. So where the difference in sound come from?
I found the WMP sound (7.x or 9.0) far better than thouse of foobar. More detailed, with better soundstage, warm, clear.

Drivers? Is it on a driver level to decide, which sampling frequency to use (sound card vs mother board, for example)?

Does anyone else prefer the WMP sound? Hey did you ever compare them?
 
Dec 13, 2003 at 1:07 PM Post #34 of 80
I used WMP for a long time, but got tired of how slow it was getting as I kept increasing the number of files in my ``Media Library.'' So, I deleted my 3800+ wma files and have been re-encoding everything as MPC files using EAC. Once I figured out how to customize Foobar2000, I've fallen in love with it's database and playlist.

As for the the WMP's sound verse Foobar's sound, I liked the WMP sound before I upgraded to an external DAC. Now that I'm using an external DAC, I like the sound of Foobar more. Although, part of that could be that MPCs sound better than MP3s at higher bitrates.
 
Dec 13, 2003 at 2:53 PM Post #36 of 80
AsuAmo,

There is quite a difference in the sound coming out of WMP and Foobar. The sound coming out of Foobar is the same as you would get coming out of a stand-alone CD/DVD player (I can't ABX the difference when using the same DAC). On the other hand, WMP sounds like I took a step back from the sound stage and gives me a little more of a speaker feel from my cans. Clearly, there is some sort of DSP going on in the background of WMP (sort of reminds me of turning on TruSurround on my DVD player).

I personally don't have anything against WMP or Microsoft in general. I just found WMP too slow when it came to maneuvering through 30+gigs of WMA files (which I ripped from my extensive CD collection). By the way, thinking of ripping from a CD, EAC and Musepack really are the only way to go.
 
Dec 13, 2003 at 2:54 PM Post #37 of 80
Quote:

Originally posted by Douglas256
I used WMP for a long time, but got tired of how slow it was getting as I kept increasing the number of files in my ``Media Library.'' So, I deleted my 3800+ wma files and have been re-encoding everything as MPC files using EAC. Once I figured out how to customize Foobar2000, I've fallen in love with it's database and playlist.

As for the the WMP's sound verse Foobar's sound, I liked the WMP sound before I upgraded to an external DAC. Now that I'm using an external DAC, I like the sound of Foobar more. Although, part of that could be that MPCs sound better than MP3s at higher bitrates.


Plus it's always nice that foobar2000 doesn't tell Microsoft what music you are listening to.

smily_headphones1.gif


I have become totally hooked on fb2k, it has great features and is being actively developed.

On a silly note I use DirectSound2 (On the crappy soundcard on my latop Kernel Streaming doesn't sound much different). It hs that neat fade out when you pause or stop
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Dec 13, 2003 at 11:03 PM Post #38 of 80
Quote:

Clearly, there is some sort of DSP going on in the background of WMP (sort of reminds me of turning on TruSurround on my DVD player).


And SRS WOW enabled on WMP resembles pretty much the 24 bit Winamp plugin.
wink.gif


Looks like I've got a problem here. Some players just don't work, the others give the muddy sound and finally WMP has the DSP on background. There is something to think about. And to test.
 
Dec 14, 2003 at 1:08 AM Post #39 of 80
Well, if things are sounding muddy, I doubt it is your player. My guess, is that your sound card just doesn't have the power to drive your HD600. I'd suggest getting a good off-board DAC and a proper headphone amplifier. If you can't afford both right now, I'd start by getting a Benchmark DAC1, which is an excellent DAC and a pretty decent headphone amplifier.

I was a died in the wool opponent of computer based audio until I got a good external DAC. Now that I've level matched my DVD player and the DAC to a 1/10 dB, I would be shocked if someone could ABX the difference between my computer playing MPC through Foobar2000 and my DVD player. (If you are in Colorado, you are more then welcome to visit me and see if you can tell a difference.)
 
Dec 14, 2003 at 1:44 AM Post #40 of 80
Quote:

Originally posted by Douglas256
Well, if things are sounding muddy, I doubt it is your player. My guess, is that your sound card just doesn't have the power to drive your HD600. I'd suggest getting a good off-board DAC and a proper headphone amplifier. If you can't afford both right now, I'd start by getting a Benchmark DAC1, which is an excellent DAC and a pretty decent headphone amplifier.


Ahem... *cough* TryAmpingTheSoundCardBeforeYouSpendBig$$OnAnExtern alDAC *cough*
redface.gif
 
Dec 14, 2003 at 2:11 AM Post #41 of 80
I am in Toronto. It's difficult to believe that opamps can't drive 300 Om load. The output voltage at +4dB is enough as well. I normally listen at volume 18 - 30%. Anyway, I am planning to build DIY solid state amp. But I still suspect the driver problems.
 
Dec 14, 2003 at 3:01 AM Post #42 of 80
I don't have anything against opamps (there are opamps in every piece of audio equipment I own), the problem is that the opamps in (consumer) sound card just aren't up to snuff.

Quiet amazingly, a high quality headphone amplifier still make quite an improvement when using a sound card. When I used my HeadRoom Cosmic on the output of my various sound cards, the base tightened up and the sound stage opened up considerably. That said, it took an external DAC to raise it to the next level. I'm sure you could get similar results using a good professional sound card.
 
Dec 14, 2003 at 2:15 PM Post #44 of 80
The major issue so far:

Whether the WMP has background DSP when
- graphic equalizer - disabled (not default)
- SRS WOW effect - disabled?

If that's the case, I will try to find the right player for my setup. In this business everything matters (mother board for example or directX installed etc.).
 
Dec 15, 2003 at 5:13 PM Post #45 of 80
Just installed Foobar2000, nicer in many ways that WinAMP 2.91 was. I like many of the dynamic changes you can make with it.

Overall, it seems great.

And only uses 2MB versus WinAMP 2.91 17MB for the same playlist.

I can't say that I notice too much of a difference with the Crossfeed plug-in though. Listening to mostly ambient music on my work system:

Sennheiser HD497's
PPA headphone amp (maxed)
M-Audio Sonica USB

I like active development as well fewer AOL icons cluttering up my system.
 
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