Best playback software for Mac Mini

[Infiniteloop]

I'm going to be setting up a Mac Mini over Christmas and was wondering what people out there thought of the various players for OSX.

I'll be sending the output to a Chord Qute hd DAC over USB

I'm interested in:

Audirvana Plus

Fidelia

Pure Music

and Amarra (although it does seem a bit pricy compared to the others, but this won't matter if it's considerably better).

Has anybody listened to these and if so, how do they compare/sound?

I'll be accessing the App via my iPhone/iPad.

suggestions/recommendations/advice greatfully received.

 

[MajorFubar]

They all do the same thing one way or another: they hog the sound card/audio device, they buffer data into RAM to reduce hard-drive interraction, and when playing HD audio they switch the bit-rate and bit-depth settings properly (something which OSX on its own does not). And as such you've missed probably the best one of the lot: BitPerfect. Probably still costs less than £10 (think I paid about £7) and does everything the others do without all the fancy interfaces.

 

[Overdose]

I could find no reason to use anything other than iTunes.

Given the same file type, I would be quite surprised if one could tell media players apart by sound alone, so my choice is based on flawless operation and integration with the other Apple devices in the house.

 

[MajorFubar]

I think all the players he listed (plus BitPerfect) work along side iTunes. You keep the familiar iTunes front end and integration, it's just a different 'playing engine' behind the scenes.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

I have compared itunes with puremusic and found no difference except that puremusic added several steps to the control sequences which I did not like. Also, as with any add-ons, you may get annoyances when the main os or playback software is updated, there is some lag before the add on is updated to a smoothly working version.

I would not bother.

 

[MajorFubar]

Also, as with any add-ons, you may get annoyances when the main os or playback software is updated, there is some lag before the add on is updated to a smoothly working version.

Yes that kind of happened when iTunes 11 was launched. For a while BitPerfect wasn't fully compatible with it because of a bug in iTunes which only affects 'plug ins', like BitPerfect and presumably all the rest, and so Apple haven't exactly rushed to fix it.

.

I would not bother.

If you use iTunes to play HD audio on a Mac, then something like BitPerfect running in the background is almost mandatory, to change the bitrate and bitdepth settings on the DAC properly. Neither iTunes nor OSX will do this automatically. I say 'almost' because technically you can do it manually through Audio Midi Setup, but that's like saying you can eat soup with a fork so why buy a spoon. Yes it's possible, but why bother faffing when a cheap solution exists.

 

[Infiniteloop]

Thanks everyone.

Seems it just comes down to aesthetic and user considerations then, as they pretty much all sound the same.....

iTunes doesn't accommodate FLAC files, so I guess using it on it's own isn't really an option.

Now then, Ripping software.

I found an App called MAX which seems to offer better ripping than iTunes alone.

Has anyone tried it?

 

[ngibbs]

Personally I would strongly recommend Bit Perfect. Great piece of software which 'bolts on' to iTunes and, to my ears anyway, makes it sound ALOT better.