Popular Post Iving Posted July 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 5, 2021 Minor tribute to Alex aka sandyk. I’ve been using foobar2000 since Pontius was a pilot. I like it because it’s simple, does the job and it’s free. To me, it’s not just a player. I spend as much time fettling my flac Library as listening to music on my main system (to be honest - probably more.) Compared with streaming and all that online exploitation (sic) implies, I much prefer ripping CDs, tagging them up idiosyncratically - and learning about music as I go. It’s no small dividend that a very concentrated, high octane (danceable) pool of the music I love makes its way onto the 480 Gb Optane PCIe AIC sitting CPU-direct in my audiophile PC (in another dedicated room). My system is RedNet/Dante. I keep my audiophile system offline. My last upgrade was the 480 Gb 900p AIC – from a 280 Gb that had just gotten too small. So I had to re-install Windows, setting up everything again. Usual learn-as-you-go opportunities, tearing your hair out, whatever … fb2k has always been a bit laggy – not on my ordinary ripping/tagging PC - but on my audiophile PC. Probably some permutation of ASIO combined with all the stripping back of Windows etc. But never so much a problem that I should drop everything to fix it. But this time the vertical scrolling and accompanying minor crackles were just too much. I knew with virtual certainty that there was no fix. It was foobar2000 or my happiness. Usually loathe to consider alternatives, my back was against the wall. I have read with enthusiasm and gratitude the exhaustive notes created by @manueljenkin in the “Subjective comparison of Software Music Player” thread – not to mention the good will posts of many others. Lurking in my mind has been the understanding that Alex preferred JRiver – and the specific memory that he recommended it to me in a PM once. At first, JRiver wasn’t too high on my shortlist. My criteria included: - ASIO - Windows / Remote Desktop - upsample x4 or to 176.4 - Offline use / no advertising at me - or music suggestions - or anything that does my hobby for me. That ruled out many possibilities favoured by others here on AS. I downloaded and tried a small number including musicbee – which doesn’t do 176.4. You guessed it – eventually I tried JRiver on 30 day trial. I could stress test it on my ripping PC before installation on my listening system. It’s not foobar2000 and, so, I have to adjust my seek/hunt/navigate/obtain/enjoy mindset. On JRiver the variant “use Sox” for upsampling makes a difference! The sound is fuller and less like an empty room. Compared with foobar2000/ASIO, JRiver is just that bit cleaner/less grainy/less grunt. At higher volumes JRiver wins the Hi-Fi competition. More than this – my triggering problem is solved! JRiver will scroll vertically just as you please – with absolute impunity – not a complaint - without a murmur or any kind of sound intrusion. Same with the seek bar. Just wonderful. OK so it’ll cost me – what - £60-£70 as a one-time payment. That’s of course no problem. I thought to post my brief report here. If for no other reason than I was thinking of Alex a bit as I went through all of this. With appreciation – naturally. Middy, reverendo and Jud 3 Link to comment
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