Best audiophile player for Mac

[bumperdoo]

This might also prove helpful:

 

Build a Music Server Using the Mac Mini | DSD-Guide.com

 

Based on the iTunes model - which I wouldn't advocate if you are using FLAC files and plan on buying some DSD files too (which I would highly recommend - sound is wowzers).

[tranz]

Did not mean to scare you off. Mine is just one story; everyone's ears, preferences, room and equipment are different. Your ears will tell you if it is good enough.

 

If I had to do it again I would not buy a Mac.

 

My point was more that these days a streamer/dac might be something to look at before jumping into the potentially slippery slope. Much easier.

[romavictor]

This might also prove helpful:

 

Build a Music Server Using the Mac Mini | DSD-Guide.com

 

Based on the iTunes model - which I wouldn't advocate if you are using FLAC files and plan on buying some DSD files too (which I would highly recommend - sound is wowzers).

 

All of my music currently in iTunes are direct from cd wav or aiff files.

[romavictor]

Did not mean to scare you off. Mine is just one story; everyone's ears, preferences, room and equipment are different. Your ears will tell you if it is good enough.

 

If I had to do it again I would not buy a Mac.

 

My point was more that these days a streamer/dac might be something to look at before jumping into the potentially slippery slope. Much easier.

 

What streamer would you recommend? I already have the dac capability. Just need something for storage, transport and navigation,

[One and a half]

I guess my most important attributes of the player would be by order of magnitude starting with the highest is:

 

1. Ability to play all high Rez music files up to DXD.

 

2. Ability to control everything from an iPhone or iPad after initial set up with keyboard and mouse

 

3. Ability to transfer, organize and manage library with ease

 

add

 

4. Utilise ASIO for OSX

[romavictor]

add

 

4. Utilise ASIO for OSX

 

What's ASIO?

[peabreu]

ASIO is a standart driver mostly used in music production software because of lower latency, that means nothing for hifi.

 

The best player will surely depend on your setup, I would argue especially dependent on your DAC but after extensive ( ad nauseum) experimentation my favourite is Amarra (as a player, do not confuse with the dreadful buggy Amarra for Tidal... had I met this software first and I would think twice before placing my cash on Amarra). Anyway, Amarra works perfectly and Sonic Studio has an hifi and studio track record that clearly put them in the top of the crop when it comes to mac based audio.

 

My second favourite was HQ player but personaly I could not live with that interface and I prefer upsampling duties on dedicated hardware...the least you push the PC ( in my case a mac mini) the best.

 

On mac mini mods I would recomend agood linear power supply first and an internal SSD second. Well, this if you have galvanic isolation on your dac otherwise galvanic isolation would be first ( read Intona).

 

Opposite to others opinion, if I had to start it over I would go mac mini again...tired of PC BS... could not care less for the extra tweeks at stability headache expense...

 

PS: for decades in the studio Mac only, no pc allowed.. PC for me is for office work only...if that much.

[bumperdoo]

On mac mini mods I would recomend agood linear power supply first and an internal SSD second. Well, this if you have galvanic isolation on your dac otherwise galvanic isolation would be first ( read Intona).

 

Linear power supply as per Tranz's mod?

[tranz]

Linear power supply as per Tranz's mod?

 

You can ask Superdad from Uptone Audio about his Mini linear power kit. Makes it easier to do. The biggest bang will be an USB cleaner, and Uptone's Regen is very good. There are a few current threads related to these USB gadgets.

 

Regarding streamers, if you already have a DAC that you like, audition the Auralic line up. The Aries came close to the super tweaked Mini. But there are so many now with Teac, Technics, Marantz, Sonore, Lumin, Naim, etc. Audition a few at your local store or home audition.

[Tugsay]

I'm using mac mini 2012 with an ssd disc and 8gb of ram.

I'd tried audirvana, amarra and another famous player but don't remember the name of it.

Than I decided to install windows 2012 server r2. I bought audiophil optimizer and jriver. This setup beats every player I tried on Mac Osx.

Making this setup is really painful but the sound quality is very very good. If you are an audiophile, please try this. Don't buy audiophil optimizer but install windows 2012 server r2 and try it.

If you want to listen good music and you are not obsessive about listening to music, audirvana is the one I like best on mac osx... The sound quality is a little different in all players, you can try and decide which one is better for your taste.

 

For a mac mini setup, the best thing to do is to buy a firewire external hard drive if you'll use a Usb dac, or vice versa... The signal from usb dac will be much cleaner in that kind of setup.

I don't try the linear power kit yet, because it's an expensive try for me in my country. If I don't like it, I can't sell it

 

I couldn't read all the post but I want to write about these. I'm sorry if I said something irrelevant...

 

Regards

[bumperdoo]

You can ask Superdad from Uptone Audio about his Mini linear power kit.

 

Looks nice - thanks for the tip!

 

Regarding streamers, if you already have a DAC that you like, audition the Auralic line up. The Aries came close to the super tweaked Mini.

 

I'm going to keep on the roid-racked-mac-mini route for a while - all the tweaking options look interesting.

[bumperdoo]

If you have not already purchased a Mac, check this thread before spending on anything:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f10-music-servers/mac-mini-version-computer-audiophile-pocket-server-music-server-step-step-17666/

 

And perhaps start at the end...

 

Thanks for all your wisdom - fascinating stuff.

 

Question - your Keces DC-116 - still think highly of it? Just talking to Ronald now about ordering one. He tells me they now have the Mac conversion kits too, so he's sending more details.

[tranz]

Thanks for all your wisdom - fascinating stuff.

 

Question - your Keces DC-116 - still think highly of it? Just talking to Ronald now about ordering one. He tells me they now have the Mac conversion kits too, so he's sending more details.

 

Yes. Well made. Silent. I still have one in use for my DVR. Another good option I tried was from Teddy Pardo.

[bumperdoo]

Yes. Well made. Silent. I still have one in use for my DVR.

 

Nice - Ronald was talking about a newer DC-212 which supports 12A. Waiting on details... I'll post when I get them.

 

Another good option I tried was from Teddy Pardo.

 

I was thinking of TP today - they all look like low amp units though. But I'm no expert in power - which one would work as a Mac mini PS?

[bumperdoo]

Nice - Ronald was talking about a newer DC-212 which supports 12A. Waiting on details... I'll post when I get them.

 

It's actually their new DC-216 - looks nice. See attached PDF.

 

USD$650 including Mac mini mod and shipping to Canada.

KECES Products Datasheet.pdf

[bumperdoo]

I was thinking of TP today - they all look like low amp units though.

 

Talked to TP - they can't do PSUs for Mac minis.

[Paul R]

I'm using mac mini 2012 with an ssd disc and 8gb of ram.

I'd tried audirvana, amarra and another famous player but don't remember the name of it.

Than I decided to install windows 2012 server r2. I bought audiophil optimizer and jriver. This setup beats every player I tried on Mac Osx.

Making this setup is really painful but the sound quality is very very good. If you are an audiophile, please try this. Don't buy audiophil optimizer but install windows 2012 server r2 and try it.

If you want to listen good music and you are not obsessive about listening to music, audirvana is the one I like best on mac osx... The sound quality is a little different in all players, you can try and decide which one is better for your taste.

 

For a mac mini setup, the best thing to do is to buy a firewire external hard drive if you'll use a Usb dac, or vice versa... The signal from usb dac will be much cleaner in that kind of setup.

I don't try the linear power kit yet, because it's an expensive try for me in my country. If I don't like it, I can't sell it

 

I couldn't read all the post but I want to write about these. I'm sorry if I said something irrelevant...

 

Regards

 

Only problem with the is a legal copy of Windows Server 2012 R2 is around $880, though it can be found for around $530 or so. Be aware, Windows server is not cheap.

 

-Paul

[semente]

Hey guys

 

Looking to retire the sub par olive 1 that I'm using right now for a custom Mac mini music server. The mini will be used only for music, nothing else. It'll be hooked up to an external SSD.

 

Any suggestions on music software that's best suited for a mac is greatly appreciated. One that'll handle all music files up to the highest quality DSD codec with the ease of an app for total control.

 

Thank you

 

My favourite browser is iTunes but it needs an add-on player for best sound.

Alternatives are BitPerfect, Amarra and Audirvana.

I use it with BitPerfect for casual listening.

 

But my preferred player is HQPlayer.

I use iTunes to browse, right-click on a track and select SHOW IN FINDER, then drag the file or folder into the HQPlayer window.

It's not as practical or effective but it works.

 

When I compared MacOS player my sound preference went to HQPlayer followed by Audirvana.

 

Roon seems to be the hot thing now but the magazine-like experience doesn't attract me; quite on the contrary, it looks to me like it could be distracting and stand in the way of enjoyment...I'd rather focus on the music, not trivia.

 

R

[bumperdoo]

Roon seems to be the hot thing now but the magazine-like experience doesn't attract me; quite on the contrary, it looks to me like it could be distracting and stand in the way of enjoyment...I'd rather focus on the music, not trivia.

 

I initially totally agreed with you re: Roon, but then Kevin at Roon suggested I have another look, so I did and I'm actually really discovering what Roon has to offer on this trial.

 

Radio - have you explored that feature? Looks at what you're currently listening to and decides what would sound nice next, and makes that decision for you. Interesting.

 

And the metadata support is really quite phenomenal if you want to delve into it - you may discover new artists as a result.

 

If you just want to play an album / track and not be distracted, then I would agree, Roon is over-the-top.

[goldsdad]

But my preferred player is HQPlayer.

I use iTunes to browse, right-click on a track and select SHOW IN FINDER, then drag the file or folder into the HQPlayer window.

It's not as practical or effective but it works.

 

You could ask for HQPlayer to be enhanced so that you simply drag and drop from iTunes straight into HQPlayer. That is available in Decibel, Fidelia, VLC, Audacity and probably most Mac audio apps.

[semente]

You could ask for HQPlayer to be enhanced so that you simply drag and drop from iTunes straight into HQPlayer. That is available in Decibel, Fidelia, VLC, Audacity and probably most Mac audio apps.

 

I don't have to: just tried it and it works.

Thanks!

[semente]

I'm thrilled!

 

R

[One and a half]

 

But my preferred player is HQPlayer.

I use iTunes to browse, right-click on a track and select SHOW IN FINDER, then drag the file or folder into the HQPlayer window.

It's not as practical or effective but it works.

 

----

 

Roon seems to be the hot thing now but the magazine-like experience doesn't attract me; quite on the contrary, it looks to me like it could be distracting and stand in the way of enjoyment...I'd rather focus on the music, not trivia.

 

R

 

Thanks for the tip about drag and drop, at the moment I use Explorer (yes it's Windows) and HQ Player drag and drop like the Finder. Itunes doesn't support FLAC or DSD, but Jriver does at least the files are listed. There's an older version that works since I'm not going to give Jriver one more cent for a new version, all the audio is disabled and a track or album can be dragged to HQ Player and added to the playlist.

 

Agree about roon, the editorials/critiques and the radio feature turned me off. HQ Player (at the time) integration was OK, but could easily be broken.

[goldsdad]

I don't have to: just tried it and it works.

Thanks!

 

Cool!

[gstanley75]

Use ChannelD's Pure Music for main system. Switch to iTunes to stream via AppleExpress and Airplay to 6 other rooms for casual listening.