Subjective comparison of Software Music Player

[beerandmusic]

funnny this thread show up tonite...i have just upgraded to jriver 26 yesterday and just tried audirvana first time (windows version).  Jriver has so many features, but seems bloated...i was just thinking i would want something simple to work out of the box that supported dsd.  I haven't done any comparison testing, but i like the simple interface, and i didn't have to google to get it working out of the box like jriver or foobar with dsd. 

 

Is volumio the only player that has a self booting image (good for streamlined os for audio) that supports dsd?

I wish there were more software players that had a self booting image that would support dsd right after boot without hassle of configuring?  I downloaded volumio, but have tried it yet...maybe in a couple days.

 

I also have licensed copies of audiogate and hqplayer and they both sound great, but don't care for the gui...not paying for roon....will likely stick with jriver, but do wish there was something simpler and with better interface than what is out there that also sounds good.

[beerandmusic]

6 hours ago, Norton said:

Wtfplay is an ultra simple “OS on a stick”,  you don’t need to know Linux to use it (just as you don’t to use a Linux based streamer) and it has an excellent manual.  More significant reasons for not using it may be that it has no gui (text-based control via simple interface or command line),  no networking and doesn’t handle gaps between tracks particularly well.  But it is incredibly simple and fast in use, to my ears closer to transparency than any other replay software I’ve used and of course, it’s free of charge.

thanks for your knowledge on wtfplay....can you confirm when you say no networking, so you have to have your music stored locally?  Also, you can't control it from remote node? (both local storage and command line interface only option of playing?)

[beerandmusic]

3 hours ago, nonsynchro said:

What a great comparison.

I'm digging Jukebox 2112. I like its interface, the album artwork is wide form taking up half of the screen. It looks really good. I'm in the process of finding images on the net to replace the usual square jpegs. The player has inbuilt equalizer, replay gain and many more customisable settings. And it has VU meters!

N.B. it's not free at $20. I'm not affiliated, but I am a very happy user.

I'd love to know what you think of the audio quality. 

does it support native dsd?

[beerandmusic]

I am curious what others may think of resonic...quick and easy and VERY FAST especially switching in middle of songs...the thing i like about it is that it will show let you browse by your own file structure (something roon lacks).  download it and it works right out of the box, supports dsd, and you can be up and running as fast as you can download it...check it out.

[beerandmusic]

5 hours ago, manueljenkin said:

It supports usb drives in fat32, NTFS and ext4 formats. No networking, so no remote control though you could use a wireless USB keyboard I suppose.

 

Regarding resonic. It is also based on BASS audio library similar to winyl and music bee. I tried it for a while, but since asio is not supported for the free version I couldn't make proper comparisons, though I remember it being similar to winyl, musicbee, etc as expected. My friend who has owned resonic ranked this way. A well set up musicbee > resonic > winyl. However take note that the differences are quite small and changing buffer settings could make them identical. The differences are a lot more profound swapping to an entirely different code stack/library like hysolid or wtfplay.

I liked resonic, so i decided to give musicbee a shot based on the recommendation...i never thought i would try a program called "music bee" simply by the name (grin)...but i was quite surprised with how fast and easy it was.  I did install a upnp plugin and it immediately saw my streamer.  I literally had everything working within 3 minutes...this is how all programs should work!  Its fast switching, has good bass punch, and nice simple and easy interface.....I will play with it some more, but right now i really like what i am seeing!!   It also supported high res dsd with no configuration changes necessary (that was a first for me)  thanks...

 

one thing i noted though that playing either a DSD64, DSD128, or DSD 256 it says 88.2K...not sure what that is about?

 

the top line is the name i gave to the track...the bottom line is what the software is reporting when playing????

 

 

 

 

 

 

[beerandmusic]

1 hour ago, beerandmusic said:

I liked resonic, so i decided to give musicbee a shot based on the recommendation...i never thought i would try a program called "music bee" simply by the name (grin)...but i was quite surprised with how fast and easy it was.  I did install a upnp plugin and it immediately saw my streamer.  I literally had everything working within 3 minutes...this is how all programs should work!  Its fast switching, has good bass punch, and nice simple and easy interface.....I will play with it some more, but right now i really like what i am seeing!!   It also supported high res dsd with no configuration changes necessary (that was a first for me)  thanks...

 

one thing i noted though that playing either a DSD64, DSD128, or DSD 256 it says 88.2K...not sure what that is about?

 

the top line is the name i gave to the track...the bottom line is what the software is reporting when playing????

 

 

 

 

 

 

bump for miska?  do you have any idea what would cause it to report 88.2 khz  and even the 2nd figure is incorrect?  (e.g. 22579k for a dsd256 file)???

[beerandmusic]

23 minutes ago, Allan F said:

 

Perhaps it's none of my business, but why would you bother Miska with a technical question about a music player other than HQPlayer? Don't you think he has enough to do with his prompt replies to questions about his widely used product?

because i figured no one else would know

[beerandmusic]

3 hours ago, Norton said:

Yes you have to have your music on a drive in or attached to the PC you’ve booted with wtfplay.  No networking, so no remote (unless you count a wireless keyboard).

 

I’ve tended to use it mostly for RBCD to date, but tried it for the first time yesterday with  native DSD 256 into my Oppo 205 and was blown away by: a. the fact that it just worked (native DSD via Linux) and b. the SQ - an intense, detailed,  “edge of your seat” rendition that I’ve not  heard before with these files.

do they have a command where you can play a play list or all files in one directory ?  if so, it may be worth the effort to set up, but if you have to issue a command to play every song, that sounds a bit tedious and not worth the time.

 

i remember trying jplay and if i remember, it was command line driven too, and sounded phenomenal...