The best media player

[PJPro]

I seem to change my media player every other month. I've been through Windows Media Player, Foobar2000, Media Monkey and Winamp. However, I always seem to return to Foobar2000.

I like to use Foobar2000 with the "out of the box" configuration. Nice and simple but provides everything I need. I used to be big on playlists but I don't bother with those anymore. I select my entire collection of albums and set the playback to random.

What do you use and why?

 

[John Duncan]

iTunes (8 is downloading as I type). Put simply, I see no reason to use anything else.

 

[russ74]

I currently use Winamp 5.4 with the kernel streaming plugin. Was using the asio plugin but the kernal streaming one gives better gapless playback.I use Itunes 8 as it's still the easiest for podcasts. Still rubbish for anything else - on windows xp anyway (I know it works seamlessly on a mac)- no way of overriding kmixer. At least Apple finally got round to adding a 'play album' function which stops playing when the album finishes.Plus realplayer for BBC radio and it's nifty video download function and WMP 11 for BBC iplayer!Have tried others: media monkey, foobar and J River Media Juke Box but always went back to winamp.

 

[Ajani]

JohnDuncan:iTunes (8 is downloading as I type). Put simply, I see no reason to use anything else.

I also use iTunes and for the same reason... Also, since I use a Squeezebox (which pulls from my iTunes playlists) I see no reason at all to consider changing to something else.... A long time ago in a galaxy far... ummm... anyway, I used to use Windows Media, Winamp, RealPlayer etc... but now I don't experiment.....

 

[PJPro]

I have to say that while there is clearly a difference in functionality, I've not noticed any difference in audio playback quality. Not sure if I'm surprised by this or not.

The codecs they're using underneath are the same I suppose eg for me that's flac. Still would have thought that they'd have been processing differences along the way somewhere.....resulting in different audio quality.

I have heard, though not personally, that iTunes is less that optimal. Is this just Apple bashing or is there some true in it?

 

[Alec]

winamp. its more flac friendly than wmp. there are still a couple things that irritate, but thats probly as im nu to it and am concentrating on ripping albums for ages now so im not really paying attention to the other stuff.

i do, i must admit, get hung up on playlists and folder arrangement (the "other stuff", along with really getting to know winamp, that i refered to above). I mean, i do set stuff to play randomly, but i like to know roughly whats coming - im seldom in the mood to listen to anthrax followed by elton john, for example.

 

[Alec]

PJPro:I have to say that while there is clearly a difference in functionality, I've not noticed any difference in audio playback quality. Not sure if I'm surprised by this or not.

The codecs they're using underneath are the same I suppose eg for me that's flac. Still would have thought that they'd have been processing differences along the way somewhere.....resulting in different audio quality.

I have heard, though not personally, that iTunes is less that optimal. Is this just Apple bashing or is there some true in it?

Ah! Thats the bit i forgot to mention! Tho many will think im as mad as the proverbial barncake (thats the one, innit?), i do think winamp sounds more forward and bright than wmp. i persuaded myself this was not true and went backk to wmp, but then i changed again and i really do think theres a difference. Tho i could not, repeat - COULD NOT - ABX it, i dont think. its free tho, and it makes me feel better.

There are also some on other sites who would say different software can give an audible difference. Tho they may just be crazies like me.

 

[John Duncan]

PJPro:I have heard, though not personally, that iTunes is less that optimal. Is this just Apple bashing or is there some true in it?

I don't know, I use Gotham cables.

 

[russ74]

I'm not an expert but I would assume that the decoder used for file playback in the varying software would have a slightly different sound. The nullsoft decoders in winamp are supposed to be pretty good as are the ones in Foobar 2000.From my experience I couldn't tell the difference between WMP and Itunes but noticed a big jump in quality when I over-rided XP's Kmixer in Winamp using the asio plugin - asio4all setup or the kernel streaming plugin - both sound the same to me. Hopefully the next jump will come when my £30 ebay DAC DIY kit gets here from Hong Kong!

 

[PJPro]

al7478:[snip]....i must admit, get hung up on playlists and folder arrangement....[snip]
Hhhhmmm. Folder arrangement. That sounds like a good thread!

 

[Alec]

PJPro:al7478:[snip]....i must admit, get hung up on playlists and folder arrangement....[snip]
Hhhhmmm. Folder arrangement. That sounds like a good thread!

Yeah, im full of it, me.

 

[Alec]

russ74:...noticed a big jump in quality when I over-rided XP's Kmixer in Winamp using the asio plugin...

really must get someone to walk me through that some time.

 

[russ74]

The only well organized folders on my PC are the music ones to the point of me being anal about it - renaming folders, adding sub folders for albums and re-editing the ID3 tags. Then again at least I know where they all are and should import into any software without hassle including album art.

 

[PJPro]

JohnDuncan:I don't know, I use Gotham cables.
Don't doubt your own ears.

 

[PJPro]

Perhaps I'll start a thread on folder arrangement and we can compare notes ; - )

 

[russ74]

al7478:russ74:...noticed a big jump in quality when I over-rided XP's Kmixer in Winamp using the asio plugin...

really must get someone to walk me through that some time.Your soundcard supports asio so it shouldn't be to difficult:There are 2 aio plugins for winamp, one is available in the plugins section on the winamp website and the other is available hereSave the dll and copy and paste it into the winamp plugins subfolder in the main winamp installed folder (usually Crogram files/winamp/winamp plugins).Open winamp, go to options - preferences - plugins / output and click on the asio one. It should list your soundcard under device. Leave the settings as they are but change sample rate to 44100 (or 96000 if you've got some modern 24bit mp3's). If it is working the volume control in winamp will not work but the main windows one will.Good luck I hope it works.Also make sure you installed the asio drivers that came with the m-audio soundcard. I assume you have but thought I'd better mention it!

 

[Anonymous]

With Vista I prefer Foobar2000, With XP Media Monkey. I have recently read through some interesting information about building an audiophile computer based system, just re-arrange those two words then see the post about building a quality music server...

 

[Alec]

russ74:al7478:russ74:...noticed a big jump in quality when I over-rided XP's Kmixer in Winamp using the asio plugin...

really must get someone to walk me through that some time.Your soundcard supports asio so it shouldn't be to difficult:There are 2 aio plugins for winamp, one is available in the plugins section on the winamp website and the other is available hereSave the dll and copy and paste it into the winamp plugins subfolder in the main winamp installed folder (usually Crogram files/winamp/winamp plugins).Open winamp, go to options - preferences - plugins / output and click on the asio one. It should list your soundcard under device. Leave the settings as they are but change sample rate to 44100 (or 96000 if you've got some modern 24bit mp3's). If it is working the volume control in winamp will not work but the main windows one will.Good luck I hope it works.Also make sure you installed the asio drivers that came with the m-audio soundcard. I assume you have but thought I'd better mention it!

Why thankyou.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, after having spent many 1000s on a iriad of player combinations I have settled for an all firmware solution...ie no software...which is a delight...

I have a series of ReadyNAS NV+ in the basement...to which I connect most players...actually the best players I have found are the DiVCO series, TViX...I have 3 now, the oldest one dating 2005.

I have tried D-Link, KiSS, etc etc...all sent back within 2 weeks...none actually do what the promise.

In fact reading the reviews of this magazine on (for example) the Netgear EVA8000 it says "wirelessly streams HD..."...in what universe boyo...its a bandwidth issue...

My honest suggestion...is get an NV+ to store everything, and you can access it from anywhere in the world is you use a Dyndns hardware enabled router...

As a client the ONLY ones that I have found that stream CORRECTLY music and DVD files are the TViX series...

Good luck...

Andrew.

 

[Anonymous]

JRiver media center for sure. Supports ASIO out of the box, has a great looking and highly customizable interface and deals with a 80Gb plus music collection without any problem. Also, its contains numerous functions for tagging, converting, ipod smartlisting etc. Finally, JRiver is a media center, so when I upgrade my system to a fullHD HTPC, it will also be ready for a movie collection

The only 'bad' thing is that its not freeware like winamp or foobar. Having tested these alternatives, I am more then willing to pay the fourty dollars for JRiver.

 

[manicm]

I'm in a minority here, but for pure playback of WAVs and MP3s and of-course WMAs, I think WMP 11 is the dog's bollocks, and it's lightweight to boot.

 

[PJPro]

I have to say that my recent foray into improving the sound of my media players by looking at ASIO and WASAPI (see here) has changed my view on this one.

I think perhaps I was too understated in the post identified above. Changing to WASAPI has provided the biggest single improvement with PC based music for me so far! It is most probably due to WASAPI releasing the potential of the rest of the system, especially the DAC.

This significant gain in performance, and the availability of a WASAPI plugin, makes Foobar2000 the media player of choice for me.

 

[russ74]

I agree finding a way to override the windows mixer gives a great step up in sound quality. With still being on XP that mean's overriding kmixer by asio or as I currently use Kernel Streaming. This has again been improved by adding a DAC. Currently got winamp and mediamonkey kernel streaming from the same plugin.Got bored the other night so decided to set up WMP 11 to play all music types (ogg, flac, m4a etc) and kernel streamed using ReClock. Took a bit of trial and error to find the most stable compatible codec plugins but finally got it sorted and now sounds very good. The main reason I did this was I prefer the way the library is set up in WMP 11 it's the best looking if like me you browse music by album cover.So my best media player has now gone up from the old favourite winamp but now also includes mediamonkey and surprisingly WMP 11.

 

[Alec]

PJPro - mitght give it a bash. very satisfying what can be done for free/ve cheap, isnt it?

russ74 - have you had any issues with the way wmp shows flacs in the library, or now paying panel? i did, and thats why im now using winamp - still without asio as yet.

 

[russ74]

I did initially but found a piece of software called WMPTagSupportExtender.1.4 which allows for flac tags to be shown in the WMP library - still had to fill them all in manually unlike in the other media software. No real issues with playback so far but it doesn't show the track length or the the moving blue bar above the function buttons (not sure of its proper name). Do get a little time lag between tracks on flac and apple tracks - not sure if it's ReClock or the codec plugins.Not sure about the long term stability of this modified version of wmp compared with winamp etc, some of the codec plugins were very flakey.Still as you say it's all free and easily reversible so worth a shot trying it all.