[Ham Sandwich]

If your project got you to listen to Dark Side of the Moon for the first time, I would consider the project a success.  

 
All of the Pink Floyd albums got remastered in 2011 and got released as a box set of all albums (the Discovery Box) and as individual albums.  If you're going to give Dark Side of the Moon, or any other Pink Floyd, a serious listen I'd suggest the 2011 versions.  The 2011 versions are very good, and have very good sound quality.  They aren't your typical modern loud and compressed remaster that sounds bad.
 
I mentioned Dark Side of the Moon because it's one of the more well known albums that has gapless tracks, and where the gapless transitions enhance the overall album.  There are other albums that are also gapless.  Live albums are often gapless with audience segues between tracks or sometimes songs that go from one to another without any break.  Some electronic music, some progressive rock.  Classical albums can also have gapless tracks.  It's a necessary feature to get right to be able to fully enjoy some music without being distracted by "broken" playback.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

If your project got you to listen to Dark Side of the Moon for the first time, I would consider the project a success.  

 
All of the Pink Floyd albums got remastered in 2011 and got released as a box set of all albums (the Discovery Box) and as individual albums.  If you're going to give Dark Side of the Moon, or any other Pink Floyd, a serious listen I'd suggest the 2011 versions.  The 2011 versions are very good, and have very good sound quality.  They aren't your typical modern loud and compressed remaster that sounds bad.
 
I mentioned Dark Side of the Moon because it's one of the more well known albums that has gapless tracks, and where the gapless transitions enhance the overall album.  There are other albums that are also gapless.  Live albums are often gapless with audience segues between tracks or sometimes songs that go from one to another without any break.  Some electronic music, some progressive rock.  Classical albums can also have gapless tracks.  It's a necessary feature to get right to be able to fully enjoy some music without being distracted by "broken" playback.

 
I wasn't aware of a 2011 remastering process done to Pink Floyd's discography. The originals are already very well mastered, so I'm curious about the new editions.

 

[bsneed]

Heya guys,
 
I finally got most things put back together.   Here's the latest build: http://d.pr/f/3EUm
 
It now supports various additional file formats (.flac, .mod, .ogg, etc) as well as gapless playback.  I've got to rewrite how it plays from external USB devices still, but otherwise, its on-par with the last one plus the changes above.  I still need to add a way to get those new file formats into the music selection screen, but that should happen shortly.
 
At any rate, thanks for looking.  Please leave feedback if you have any, even its just "this sucks!" or "awesome!" etc.  There doesn't seem to be alot of interest from Mac users here best I can tell, so I may just seek feedback elsewhere and just post new builds as milestones are hit.

 

[40Hz]

A few thoughts for you. First - nice work, and good on you for putting the effort in. Secondly, sound-wise I think it is pretty decent; certainly a significant improvement on iTunes and Enqueue (the latter sounds 'thick' and slightly dull to my ears). I am using Fidelia currently - not being prepared to drop Amarra money - and so that is my reference. That remains my go to, being a clear, crisp presentation, but Stereotype is a nice contrast - slightly warmer and meatier presentation (again, to my ears). I am using a v-link192 to an EE minimax dac if that makes any difference to the feedback.

In terms of constructive suggestions - I think the GUI is where a bit of work awaits you. I load tracks / albums to Fidelia from my Music folder (not from iTunes), as I don't use playlists at all. I have come to the Mac platform from a PC using foobar, and boy do I miss the interface... Anyway, it would be nice to be able to:

- modify / expand the size of the player 'window';
- choose to order available tracks by date of modification / date added (ie, recency)
- see, and expand / collapse album folders
- see bit rate / sample rate (does the player 'see' different sample rates? that is, if I have a 24/96 track in the midst of 16/44 tracks, does it adjust to take advantage of that?)

I'm also not sure what the volume knob (?) is intended to do, as it is a touch tricky to change and nothing seems to happen when I do get it to move. Anyway, before that starts to sound negative - it isn't intended to - I'd better put the top on the feedback sandwich. So, again, nice work; keep it up!

I will stay tuned for the next build.

 

[bsneed]

Thanks so much for the feedback!  See comments below...
 
 
 

A few thoughts for you. First - nice work, and good on you for putting the effort in. 

 Secondly, sound-wise I think it is pretty decent; certainly a significant improvement on iTunes and Enqueue (the latter sounds 'thick' and slightly dull to my ears). I am using Fidelia currently - not being prepared to drop Amarra money - and so that is my reference. That remains my go to, being a clear, crisp presentation, but Stereotype is a nice contrast - slightly warmer and meatier presentation (again, to my ears). I am using a v-link192 to an EE minimax dac if that makes any difference to the feedback.

 
Interesting re the difference in Sound.  I haven't noticed that.  Many of the other players I can hear some distinctions between them, but Fidelia sounds identical to me using a Benchmark HDR.  Granted, I don't have any of its bells or whistles turned on.  It'd be interesting to hear what your settings are for that.  I'd also be interested if you could hear a difference between the first version I posted (link in 1st post) and the second, as I swapped the audio playback engine between those.
 
 
 

In terms of constructive suggestions - I think the GUI is where a bit of work awaits you. I load tracks / albums to Fidelia from my Music folder (not from iTunes), as I don't use playlists at all. I have come to the Mac platform from a PC using foobar, and boy do I miss the interface... Anyway, it would be nice to be able to:

 
I concur re the GUI being where the work lies.  I'm really not happy with the playlist/music selection stuff at all.
 
 
 

- modify / expand the size of the player 'window';
- choose to order available tracks by date of modification / date added (ie, recency)
- see, and expand / collapse album folders

 
These were in my mental to-do list already.  I'm having a hard time reconciling keeping it small and out of the way w/ making this part usable.  I think I'm just going to have to break the music selection stuff out into its own window.
 
 
 

- see bit rate / sample rate (does the player 'see' different sample rates? that is, if I have a 24/96 track in the midst of 16/44 tracks, does it adjust to take advantage of that?)

 
Ok, I'll make sure the sample rates and other pertinent info makes it in there.  As for what happens when it sees those files, it resamples everything to the sample rate of the output.  So, on my Benchmark for instance, its set to 96k/24bit, so a 44k/16bit track will get resampled to match.  It wouldn't be too hard to add an option to match the file.  I think that's what you're asking for, right?
 
 
 

I'm also not sure what the volume knob (?) is intended to do, as it is a touch tricky to change and nothing seems to happen when I do get it to move. Anyway, before that starts to sound negative - it isn't intended to - I'd better put the top on the feedback sandwich. So, again, nice work; keep it up!

 
You're the second person to mention this.  The up/down drag motion adjusts the volume up/down.  My intent was to make it work like a dial, where you would drag it in a circle, though I haven't gotten around to writing the gesture handling for that yet.  Its supposed to control the master volume.  I just went and checked based on your feedback, and I must've forgotten to hook it back up after changing audio engines <doh!>.  I usually keep it at max and control it via the knob on my dac.  I'll get this fixed asap.
 
Hey, thanks a ton for all the feedback and the kind words!  I'm glad its moving in the right direction, even if there's still alot to do.
 
 
Brandon

 

[bsneed]

http://d.pr/i/rUlG
 
What do you think about an interface like that?  Imagine it slides out to the side and has your various libraries (iTunes, directories, spotify, etc) in there.

 

[40Hz]

Thanks so much for the feedback!  See comments below...




Interesting re the difference in Sound.  I haven't noticed that.  Many of the other players I can hear some distinctions between them, but Fidelia sounds identical to me using a Benchmark HDR.  Granted, I don't have any of its bells or whistles turned on.  It'd be interesting to hear what your settings are for that.  I'd also be interested if you could hear a difference between the first version I posted (link in 1st post) and the second, as I swapped the audio playback engine between those.

I do have Fidelia Advanced, but in all honesty haven't gotten around to using exclusive / hog mode. Likewise, I found this thread after you posted the most recent build, so only have that to go on. In terms of differences (perceived or otherwise) vis-a-vis Fidelia, I do not find them to be pronounced but they are sufficiently 'there' for me to identify them without navel-gazing. Let me repeat, too, that I do not find the characteristics I noted to be at all a turn-off.



These were in my mental to-do list already.  I'm having a hard time reconciling keeping it small and out of the way w/ making this part usable.  I think I'm just going to have to break the music selection stuff out into its own window.

The separate window idea is sound, and the interface in your second post above looks to be getting there. As you know, Fidelia uses a separate window, but even that isn't particularly feature risk when I compare it to Foobar.


Ok, I'll make sure the sample rates and other pertinent info makes it in there.  As for what happens when it sees those files, it resamples everything to the sample rate of the output.  So, on my Benchmark for instance, its set to 96k/24bit, so a 44k/16bit track will get resampled to match.  It wouldn't be too hard to add an option to match the file.  I think that's what you're asking for, right?

Yes - matching output to file (rather than resamplng or upsampling). I'm pretty sure my dac does no resampling, so I just want to be sure that if a track is 44k/16b that's what it gets, and if it's 96k/24b that's what it gets, etc.


You're the second person to mention this.  The up/down drag motion adjusts the volume up/down.  My intent was to make it work like a dial, where you would drag it in a circle, though I haven't gotten around to writing the gesture handling for that yet.  Its supposed to control the master volume.  I just went and checked based on your feedback, and I must've forgotten to hook it back up after changing audio engines .  I usually keep it at max and control it via the knob on my dac.  I'll get this fixed asap.

I wondered if that was the intent - it is a very small dial, though, so I was struggling to attempt different gestures with the trackpad...

Hey, thanks a ton for all the feedback and the kind words!  I'm glad its moving in the right direction, even if there's still alot to do.

No sweat - keep at it. I'll keep an eye on your progress, and am happy to offer comment.