What music player software do you use the most?

[Cornan]

None! I only use OpenHome compliant software. Auralic/LightingDS or BubbleDS Next. Cloud based music ONLY.

[Cebolla]

Logitech Media Server (v7.9):

+ ickStream LMS plugin - for online music services, especially Deezer HiFi lossless 16/44.1kHz FLAC;

+ RadioParadise LMS plugin - for Radio Paradise internet radio lossless 16/44.1kHz FLAC stream;

+ UPnPBridge LMS plugin - to allow any standard UPnP/DLNA streamer to be controlled by LMS (as a Squeezelite device);

+ UPnPCast LMS plugin - to allow any Chromecast streamer to be controlled by LMS (as a Squeezelite device).

 

Also some of the UPnP/DLNA, OpenHome & Google Cast notables, especially:

MinimServer UPnP media server (including its MinimStreamer transcoder & user configured stream provider),

BubbleUPnP Server helper application,

BubbleUPnP standard UPnP/DLNA, OpenHome & Chromecast device controller,

Linn Kazoo OpenHome controller,

foobar2000 with the foo_upnp & foo_out_upnp plugins.

 

[Bob Stern]

On 1/30/2018 at 6:25 AM, Musicophile said:

I'm surprised to see so little Audirvana (which I've voted for, as I use it pretty much exclusively).

 

Audirvana now is 2nd only to Jriver in poll ranking.  I expect there are relatively few posts from users of Jriver, Audirvana, HQ Player, etc because the poll question encouraged comments from people selecting "Other".

[Lebouwsky]

Minimserver on nas, feeding eunhasu from Sotm controlled by LUMIN worked really nice for me. Tryed Roon but couldn’t justify the price. Later played around with hqplayer, excellent sound but can’t get used to the crappy user interface. Now I’m on Jriver because I want a 1 box server/player, sound is good, the app looks good, not sure if it’s a keeper. Will try Audirvana after and will then make up my mind.

[davide256]

1 hour ago, Bob Stern said:

 

Audirvana now is 2nd only to Jriver in poll ranking.  I expect there are relatively few posts from users of Jriver, Audirvana, HQ Player, etc because the poll question encouraged comments from people selecting "Other".

Ahh the naivete of numbers. Lets look at this in market terms... older products generally have an "entrenched base", users generally have to encounter pain before they switch.
 

JRiver company founded in 1981. Per Wikipedia initial product  was Media Center Jukebox, this became JRiver media center in May 2003... so 15 years to get to its current market share, enhanced in recent years by supporting Windows and Mac (dual platform)

 

Audirvarna, per their website " Founded in 2011, Audirvana is a French company created by Damien Plisson " so 7 years to get to its current market share, still Mac only

 

Roon is so new it doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, launched in May 2015 per Audiostream article. Dual platform support.

 

A good followup survey  would be a "switch" survey; if you switched in the last year, what did you switch from and go to? Who is winning and losing for retention of their base in the churn war?

[davide256]

Also there is no program difference between Roon subscription and Roon Lifetime.. thats a payment plan detail

[STC]

JRiver is my choice. I have used iTunes, Foobar, Cubase, Audiomulch and WMP before. 

 

As as far as I am concerned, JRiver is more than a media player where some of its features exceeds even pro tools. 

 

I dont think it is even even possible to run 200 over channels with Cubase and the like with such ease as with JRiver. 

 

 

[koupa]

I ran Foobar2000 for many years until last year when I bought a Roon yearly subscription. I kept it installed to manage my library. Also I bought Jriver but I had it inactive. During Autumn my subscription ended and I returned temporarily to Foobar and Jriver. But a few days ago I returned to Roon.

 

It has a lot of problems and the most important is the absence of Greek Music. But I love the discovery of new music and Roon Radio feature. Last year I discovered a few diamonds that I have but never listened. With the conventional programs you have to listen everything. But with Roon the program suggests you similar artists.

[dragonhunter281]

I have been using MusicBee 2.4 to manage roughly FLAC files from my CD collection. I use EAC to rip my files to WAV, then I use FLAC Frontend to convert them. Musicbee has been amazing since they have a portable ZIP version that does not have to be installed so it is easily copied and transferred between my other desktops/laptops. The amount of customization is ridiculous compared to other players that I have tried in the past and I highly recommend it. Currently, mine is a bit out of date but the new version might be worth checking out. For the past five years since ditching iTunes, I have been on a lossless only project replacing every single song that I have. Out of 2,615 songs, I have about 26 songs left to replace and would have been difficult if I had not discovered this player right before I started . I'll leave a screenshot below; all these files are still LAME encoded CBR 320 Kbps.      

[Cebolla]

4 hours ago, dragonhunter281 said:

I use EAC to rip my files to WAV, then I use FLAC Frontend to convert them.

 

You should be able to configure EAC (in Compression Options...) to do the WAV file to FLAC file conversion for you automatically (with optional deletion of the WAV file source) as it's ripping the CD, using the same version 1.3.0 flac.exe encoder that FLAC Frontend comes with or even the latest version 1.3.2 flac.exe supplied by xiph.org - so save you having to manually do it afterwards.

[Spacehound]

14 hours ago, davide256 said:

Ahh the naivete of numbers. Lets look at this in market terms... older products generally have an "entrenched base", users generally have to encounter pain before they switch.
 

JRiver company founded in 1981. Per Wikipedia initial product  was Media Center Jukebox, this became JRiver media center in May 2003... so 15 years to get to its current market share, enhanced in recent years by supporting Windows and Mac (dual platform)

 

Audirvarna, per their website " Founded in 2011, Audirvana is a French company created by Damien Plisson " so 7 years to get to its current market share, still Mac only

 

Roon is so new it doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, launched in May 2015 per Audiostream article. Dual platform support.

 

A good followup survey  would be a "switch" survey; if you switched in the last year, what did you switch from and go to? Who is winning and losing for retention of their base in the churn war?

Audirvana and JRiver market share comparisions are like comparing apples(!) and oranges.

 

Windows has over 90% of the world 'home computer' market. Apple  has 4%.

[davide256]

27 minutes ago, Spacehound said:

Audirvana and JRiver market share comparisions are like comparing apples(!) and oranges.

 

Windows has over 90% of the world 'home computer' market. Apple  has 4%.

Doesn't matter anymore, tablets and phones rule. Given the market dominance of iPhone, I'm betting that a good majority of those Windows PC's

use iTunes as their primary media player

 

 

[Apesbrain]

8 hours ago, dragonhunter281 said:

I use EAC to rip my files to WAV, then I use FLAC Frontend to convert them.

 

3 hours ago, Cebolla said:

You should be able to configure EAC (in Compression Options...) to do the WAV file to FLAC file conversion for you automatically...

 

Guide here: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=EAC_and_FLAC

[whodunitinc]

I tried the Roon subscription for a year and loved it! Just bought the lifetime as it has been by far the best music player I have used and I have tried  many. The worst for me were  iTunes and Jriver due to bloat and config issue and total lack of support.  Amarra and Puremusic were okay but meh...

 

Roon a fantastic player/server and great library management.

[wwaldmanfan]

On 1/28/2018 at 10:08 PM, gmgraves said:

Actually it does except for it's lack of support for high-definition audio files without a "helper" app such as Amara.  I generally rip my CDs using iTunes (although lately I've been using JRiver) but what transfers my music to my stereo system in my living room is the Logitech Media Server to my Squeezebox Touch and my Squeezebox to the Yggy via coaxial SPDIF. The Logitech Media server gets the music from my iTunes folder on my Mac, but it doesn't actually use the iTunes application at all. I like that as long as the files are in my iTunes library, 16/44.1 through 24/96 files are served by the Logitech Media Server application. 

 

If you run the Audio MIDI Setup app concurrently with iTunes on the Mac, you can set the correct sample rate on the fly up to 24/192, or 24/96, depending on the vintage of your computer. The bottleneck is on the receiving end if you are using Airport Express or Apple TV as remote renderers, as they downsample everything to 16-bit.

[Mshenay]

Good ole FooBar 2000 and occasionally jRiver, I just like how my FooBar is set up... and I have the "style" or what ever file buried on my PC some where so I can keep this layout FOREVER... at least until I get roon or something

[Spacehound]

On ‎02‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 11:27 PM, davide256 said:

Also there is no program difference between Roon subscription and Roon Lifetime.. thats a payment plan detail

The subscription  is too expensive compared to the price of most other things  and they will go bust long before you die.

[Spacehound]

On ‎03‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 2:31 PM, davide256 said:

 

Doesn't matter anymore, tablets and phones rule. Given the market dominance of iPhone, I'm betting that a good majority of those Windows PC's

use iTunes as their primary media player

 

 

Possibly but only for people who use music on a Windows machine. I  don't know anyone who listens to music on any sort of computer, Windows or Mac.  In fact I don't know anyone who owns a Mac, though we've all got computers.

 

The  iTunes interface is awful, worse than WMP which  is pre-installed. I only use it to transfer stuff to a iPad, not that I've ever listened to music on a  'mobile' other than to test that the transfer  worked.

[bogi]

Solution from my signature (Windows OS)

 

[foobar2000 as music library manager + possible DSP for PCM content + my SendToHQP script sending audio content through ramdisk to HQPlayer] -> [HQPlayer Desktop in playlist mode + matrix pipeline to get binaural sound from stereo for listening on headphones] -> [HQPlayer NAA]

 

I voted for HQPlayer because it is creating the sound I am listening to (I am converting all to DSD128).

[davide256]

2 hours ago, Spacehound said:

The subscription  is too expensive compared to the price of most other things  and they will go bust long before you die.

We will see. Here's an interesting discussion about Roon company ownership. Given that Roon improved my playback as much as buying a component upgrade,

I plan on buying the lifetime subscription next year.

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/public-or-private-company/18526/3

[Ralf11]

re: Roon improved my playback 

 

- what did you have before?

 

was the bit rate higher, or what?

[Raimund Heubel]

PureMusic since 2012, just upgraded to PM 3.09c, to my ears the best sounding player software, yes, even to compared to Roon.

[Telstar2]

xxhighend

[PeterSt]

2 hours ago, Telstar2 said:

xxhighend

 

Interesting to learn that you're still there ! Haven't heard in ages from you !!

 

Oh, I too use XXHighEnd. Haha.

[daverich4]

One of the main reasons I switched to Roon from JRiver was that I find Roon Remote on my iPad more fully featured than JRemote. And as other people have commented, on the JRiver forums the bedside manner of JimH leaves a lot to be desired.