Topic: Playback Software

[kindms]

I was wonder what apps people were using to playback files off their computer bassed listening. I know there have been a few responses about not wanting the computer any where near the hifi etc but what playback software offers the best solution for quality. I have Wavelab 5.0a and it is what I use for editing etc and I usually just use that but it isnt as user friendly for loading hours of music for conitual playback as say winamp.

I bulit an extremely quiet PC for this purpose. I have a nice interconnect coming from leegeedy and I am running a ESI waveterminal 192x -> marantz sr880.

Any recs. on playback apps is greatly appreciated (Free is always nice as well)

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

The free version of music match jukebox that does what you want. 


edit:
http://www.musicmatch.com/download/free/?OS=pc&MODE=input&DID=&OEM=MMD&LANG=&SOURCE=getbasic_jbpromo

[dnsacks]

why not use winamp? 

[Tall Adam]

does winamp acutally play back at 24/96 when you play 24/96? i suspect it does because my 24-bit sound card does some funky stuff when i switch between 24 and 16 bit files...but does anyone know for sure. also, is there a newer winamp with gapless playback?

[kindms]

Wiamp will palyback 24bit files if your soundcard supports it. You have to go in and select the soundcard in Winamp to do this sometimes.  It sometimes will default to the windows audio driver

[Tall Adam]

nah my echo is the default. thanks! +T

[ducati]

I did a shootout between playback software a few years ago and was shocked at the results.  Playback software SIGNIFICANTLY alters the sound you get out of your files.  I was running my Dell lappy > EMI 2|6 > dCS Delius at 24/96, and some playback apps caused the Delius to lose lock if I had the DAC in "narrow mode."  Narrow mode was better sounding on the Delius, and related to the PLL lock that it would perform on the incoming datastream.  You could switch it to "wide mode" for jittery sources, but this somewhat softened and diffused the soundfield to a negative degree, as I recall.

Anyway, even among the apps that I could get to lock with "narrow" I found a wide variability in the sound quality.

I am sorry I don't have the results of my test, but I specifically recall WinAmp was the WORST sounding alternative, and either Wavelab or CoolEdit was the best (I am thinking it was CoolEdit...  don't remember).  Since all my 24/96 files were very large, I didn't care too much that I had to get up and re-load the tune every hour or so.  Now this was when I was *really* listening... If I was just putting on background tunes WinAmp was fine.

FWIW WinAmp will definitely output 24 bit.

[Nick in Edinboro]

FooBar 2000 is cool too, small footprint, low cpu usage.  http://www.foobar2000.org/

[kindms]

Great responses. I would have to agree that when listening to full shows this becomes less of an issue.

I will continue to use Wavelab. Glad to hear it did well in your earlier trials.

[Tall Adam]

unless its a full tracked, then what do you do?

[kindms]

good point I didnt think of that. hmmm. will files paly 1 after another if loaded in wavelab as a montage ?

[ducati]

Good question--my 24 bit shows have never been tracked out (at the time I was just burning as one long file to a DVD-V), so I am not sure of that.

Pressing play after every tune would be annoying, rather like flipping my 45s after every tune.

[Tim]

why not use winamp?

I've never liked the way winamp sounded... maybe it's just me

[Tim]

I did a shootout between playback software a few years ago and was shocked at the results. Playback software SIGNIFICANTLY alters the sound you get out of your files. I was running my Dell lappy > EMI 2|6 > dCS Delius at 24/96, and some playback apps caused the Delius to lose lock if I had the DAC in "narrow mode." Narrow mode was better sounding on the Delius, and related to the PLL lock that it would perform on the incoming datastream. You could switch it to "wide mode" for jittery sources, but this somewhat softened and diffused the soundfield to a negative degree, as I recall.

Anyway, even among the apps that I could get to lock with "narrow" I found a wide variability in the sound quality.

I am sorry I don't have the results of my test, but I specifically recall WinAmp was the WORST sounding alternative, and either Wavelab or CoolEdit was the best (I am thinking it was CoolEdit... don't remember). Since all my 24/96 files were very large, I didn't care too much that I had to get up and re-load the tune every hour or so. Now this was when I was *really* listening... If I was just putting on background tunes WinAmp was fine.

FWIW WinAmp will definitely output 24 bit.

apparently it isn't just me

spoke too soon, glad to see someone has actually done some a/b's though

[ducati]