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Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: ericshore on March 29, 2011, 11:10:55 AM
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I apologize if this has been covered already, I'd be shocked if it were not. I'm currently running VLC for Mac, not happy. I'm not a noob but am with FLAC playback on a Mac. Is there a preferred app to manage a FLAC library and play it back? VLC is choppy, dropouts, blips, not seamless between tracks...what am I missing. Dual Core2 iMac, ::braces:: iTunes, is seamless and perfect with all supported formats....what's up? Is there an application with FLAC playback that is "just exactly perfect" for playback. Is there anything that will both manage well and play FLAC (SHN would rock too)? I tried songbird and it appears I am missing the boat here too, it seems weak in every way. iTunes does it all but play FLAC (yeah, fatal flaw) and not suck for interface performance(I am not too troubled by it really).
So. I want a FLAC playin' Mac application with a killler interface. Point me to the dead horse I missed on my way back in if necessary.
THanks so much. I'm goin' nuts with VLC.
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Does winamp work on a mac? It plays back both SHN and FLAC (and APE). Just gotta download the plugins.
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I use Cog for FLAC playback but I don't use it to manage a FLAC library at all. I'm sort of old school in that I just load music into it on an as needed basis to listen and then remove the tracks when I'm done.
I think MacAmp Lite might play FLAC files but I can't remember. That was sort of the Mac equivalent to Winamp.
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i use http://sbooth.org/Play/ to play flac files
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i use http://sbooth.org/Play/ to play flac files
i use Cog, but have never tried Play...thanks for the suggestion, I will check this one out...
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You could try this: http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/06/12/how-to-play-flac-files-in-itunes/
It works on my MacBook Pro which is still running 10.5.
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Songbird is what I use.
It's an itunes-style clone that plays gapless flac/ogg.
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I have been using Play recently and like it.
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I went to provide a friend with a link for Play and saw they (Booth) have a new player geared to audiophiles called Decible but I don't think it is free. I am going to have to try it out:
http://sbooth.org/Decibel/
What is Decibel?
Decibel is an audio player tailored to the particular needs of audiophiles.
Decibel supports all popular lossless and lossy audio formats including FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, WavPack, Monkey's Audio, Speex, Apple Lossless, AAC, MP3, WAVE and AIFF.
For lossless formats such as FLAC and WAVE, and for Ogg Vorbis and specially tagged MP3 files, Decibel supports gapless playback with seamless transitions between tracks.
Decibel processes all audio using 64-bit floating-point precision, providing the highest possible playback quality for files sampled at all bit depths.
Decibel has an intentionally minimal user interface designed to be instantly intuitive and non-intrusive:
For audiophile users desiring more control over their audio, Decibel can take exclusive control of the output device (using hog mode) and send audio in the device's native format. Additionally, Decibel can automatically adjust the output device's sample rate to that of the playing track, preventing audio quality degradation associated with software sample rate conversion.
Finally, Decibel can load and play files entirely in memory, eliminating audio glitching associated with disk access.
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I tried Cog and Songbird but greatly preferred Vox. But I also don't have any need for anything DB-like. Both of the other apps did too much of that for me. Vox lets me select the first FLAC in a directory and plays through all of the FLACs in that directory. If the other two have that feature, it's been added since I tried them or it was obscure enough not to stumble upon.
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I like Vox. Simple but effective, and their EQ options are nice.
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Im a big fan of songbird on the Mac, it will also work well your existing iTunes library (if you use use that). there are also a lot of neat plugins
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Just noticed this mac player [Fidelia] by Audiofile Engineering that looks fabulous and thought of this thread. Don't know if will decode/playback the higher resolution encoded in HDCD's as this is not specifically mentioned. I'm thinking of giving it a try, is anyone using Fidelia???
http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/fidelia/
(http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/fidelia/images/header.png)
Technical Specifications
System Requirements
Hardware
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1 GB of RAM (we recommend 2 GB or more)
Display with 1024-by-768 resolution highly recommended
A hard disk with 1 GB or more free space
Software
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion)
QuickTime 7.2 or later highly recommended
Feature List
Elegant design
Sleek Intuitive controls that contemporary Mac users demand
Classically styled volume dial buffered by single-click Mute and Dim functions
Individual track details, stereo levels and audio waveforms displayed in crisp, eye pleasing fashion with no superfluous trimmings
Powered by iZotope
iZotope's industry-best 64-bit SRC&trade (sample rate converter) to achieve optimum sonic fidelity.
Discerning listeners can select real-time dither via iZotope's MBIT+™ technology.
Maxium formats
Supports AIFF, WAV, CAF, MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, Ogg Vorbis, or FLAC formats
Supports sample rates up to 192kHz and bit depths up to 32 bit floating point
Effects
Audio Units and VST
Customize with up to three effects
Library
Direct access to your iTunes library
Fidelia Library which additionally supports FLAC files (and more hi-res formats to come!)
Option to convert files to preferred format when adding to Fidelia Library
Remote
Beautiful Fidelia remote available in the iOS App Store
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If you want to just play flacs, Play & Cog are very simple and sound great as mentioned by others, but if you want a DB and remote control
and much better sound. Audirvana Plus is the one. http://audirvana.com/
(http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/edtyre2/SafariScreenSnapz001.jpg)
You can operate Audirvana Plus as a standalone player, dropping any type files to play OR use with Itunes integration. Thats how i use it!
With Itunes integration, any file selected in Itunes will play in Audirvana Plus. This lets you use Apple's own Remote App with an Ipod Touch
Ipad or Iphone. In the latest version you can add flac files to Itunes through Audirvana Plus like this.
(http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/edtyre2/AudirvanaPlusScreenSnapz001.jpg)
When added to Itunes the flac files appear in the Music Library as aiff files. Everything plays and works as normal via the proxy files A+ makes.
I have added over 500 shows in flac format using this proxy method, and no worries so far.
(http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/edtyre2/iTunesScreenSnapz001.jpg)
(http://i931.photobucket.com/albums/ad159/edtyre2/iTunesScreenSnapz002.jpg)
I have also ripped all my DVD-A and DVD-V to flac files and added them to Itunes via A+. Yes all the 24/192 and 24/96 and 24/48 etc.
Now, when i download a show in flac (everything on the internet) i can add it to Itunes right away without any conversion!
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I'm looking for more than flac myself but remembered this old thead when I saw Fidelia. I have Cog and VLC which constanly crashes since their latest update, if they don't release a fix I'll restore the previous version with time machine next time I need it.
Audirvana looks similar to Fidelia in features and sound quality but Fidelia offers plug-in support which I'm hoping will allow use of K System Metering plug-ins. I'm ultimately looking for a player that will decode the HDCD's, SACD's, DVD-Audio & DSD discs which are part of my collection too. The later is probably reaching for the moon at this point but I've been impressed with Audiofile Engineering thus far and they are working on adding more high res formats so fingers crossed. It may be possible to import them as flacs like you have done so I'll look into that when I demo it but it would be ideal to just pop these discs in when I want to listen to them instead of ripping them to a hard drive. Fidelia also offers two licenses and their more expensive version has "hog mode" too but I don't need that. A remote App is available for both versions and built in to both the program and remote app are mute/dim buttons which are also nice.
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My initial impressions with a trial of Fidelia are poor!!!
It displays the K System metering plug-in just fine but locks up playing CD's directly and it's volume control does not function when using the optical output to external DAC (mute and dim do work though). It's current version is intended for files ripped to a hard drive library. I've got many discs that I don't want to rip to a drive and only want to play them occasionally. Currently Fidelia doesn't support legacy HDCD, SACD, DVD-Audio or DSD discs so I'll be looking to try out Audirvana next but it doesn't look like Audirvana supports plug-ins at all.
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My initial impressions with a trial of Fidelia are poor!!!
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it's volume control does not function when using the optical output to external DAC (mute and dim do work though).
that's probably by design. It's just sending 1s and zeros to your DAC
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My initial impressions with a trial of Fidelia are poor!!!
...
it's volume control does not function when using the optical output to external DAC (mute and dim do work though).
that's probably by design. It's just sending 1s and zeros to your DAC
Yeah, I'm not completely surprised by this but then the volume control in iTunes works as does the volume for all the assorted different players so it should be possible for this to work.
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My initial impressions with a trial of Fidelia are poor!!!
...
it's volume control does not function when using the optical output to external DAC (mute and dim do work though).
that's probably by design. It's just sending 1s and zeros to your DAC
Yeah, I'm not completely surprised by this but then the volume control in iTunes works as does the volume for all the assorted different players so it should be possible for this to work.
but those players probably don't present themselves as completely bit perfect audiophile solutions