31 Free Hi Res Audio Players [Windows Mac Linux Android iOS] – 2. Amarra Luxe

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Audirvāna Studio. The High Resolution digital audio player. Enjoy all your streaming and local music with the best playback sound quality. Free trial. As far as I know, several settings within Audirvana Studio will alter the ‘bits’ of an audio stream so the playback is no longer bit perfect.
 
 

Audirvāna – Music Player⎢HD Digital Audio Player – References

 

The publisher himself is claiming that he’s sweetening the signal. Otherwise Audirvana would sound just like all the other about half a dozen bit-perfect players for OS X. I actually went to the trouble to compare them all before reaching this conclusion. Why do you think Audirvana sounds better? Because it’s more bit-perfect?

Surely you realise that bit-perfect is an absolute. I can’t find it out now, but amirm has a test graph of stereo separation for one of the DACs he tested which shows a blurry line in the middle instead of a clean one.

It surprised him in an otherwise perfect measurement performance. He mentions that he did the test with Audirvana playback. I’d suggest amirm do some bit perfect playback tests between Audirvana and the applications I mentioned but Amir is a Windows lifer, considering his past. He could test Audirvana against foobar which I also successfully tested on OS X for identical bit-perfect playback though the OS X foobar is a limited feature beta version.

Oh, and my opinion, Audirvana sweetening is successful for most music. Damien knows what his business as a coder and he’s got a good ear. Just don’t claim it’s bit-perfect. Still, I’m astonished to find so many Audirvana users among men of science though. What a strange world. My one serious criticism of the built-in sweetening in Audirvana: Plisson should allow users to turn off the Audirvana filters with a checkbox to allow real bit-perfect playback. Tks Major Contributor. Joined Apr 1, Messages 3, Likes 5, Jimbob54 Master Contributor Forum Donor.

Joined Oct 25, Messages 9, Likes 12, Nango Major Contributor. MediumRare said:. I see on various forums that different music players have different SQ. A hardware manufacturer told me the same thing just last week. And personally, I think I hear a benefit to Audirvana. And yet, bits are bits, right? So, amirm , please save us from this mystery: Do these players deliver different bits or clock speeds or jitter or “musical ether” to a DAC via USB?

Does it matter if you have “good” DAC? Nango said:. Must be something between the bits, even kinda vacuum Alec Kinnear Member Forum Donor. Joined Jan 28, Messages 63 Likes Jimbob54 said:.

Then the publisher is either playing both ends against the middle or you are misunderstanding some of his utterances. But does having different sigs imply that they all essentially apply different EQs to the music? If one player is grainy and the other is smooth, that is not part of an EQ since an EQ alters the frequency response and grain is not part of a frequency response. Or if one player has a deeper soundstage, or a blacker background, that is also not a part of an EQ process.

I have posted an update on page 10 of the article in an attempt to clarify the confusion about the different players being colored, applying EQs and such. Hope that helps:. Mike — Before you do a Windows test, please contact me — I have been down this path on the Windows side, and can suggest a few things. Unfortunately, he was not interested in User Interface aspects, so using the player requires deliberate manual action in the same way as playing a CD does, as opposed to listening to radio.

So it is missing some of the features even found in relatively spartan software like foobar, which is one reason that cPlay is rather obscure. Some people have written free accessory software programs for cPlay I myself wrote a Batch file that makes it simpler to use.

Lastly, it is worth noting that many of us agree that the original 0. So, creative people flocked to Apple years ago. I just installed Foobar 0. Thanks for the heads up! After some testing, I do agree that the old foobar 0. The sound is less congested and less bassy on the old version. Also with very hot recordings, the new version seems to feel a little more distorted as if its output goes louder than 0db.

I have one question — How large is the different in sound quality when going from BitPerfect to Audirvana Plus? The latest BitPerfect is very good. Perhaps you could try citing The Absolute Sound next, or perhaps 6Moons to prove that quantum field projectors make your audio better?

You are missing the point. The point is that it is a waste of time to start over on a 10, post discussion that has already occurred with very dedicated people on both sides of the argument.

As someone has already said, Headfonia is entirely based on the method of listening and then changing only one thing, and listening again, and then reporting on what you heard. You may have noticed that I have been reasonably careful in not attacking everything as wrong, merely stating that I am skeptical.

As I said earlier, I believe the method of simply listening for differences can co-exist with some degree of skepticism when it comes to the causes of these differences. The site does have a statement on this issue at:. From my own perspective, I am a professional software engineer and my diploma is in audio engineering.

Suppose fictional example , you have Audio Measuring Software and there should be a line of code that says:. But at the moment the programmer is typing that line, the sexy girl from the mailroom walks by, and so the line ends up as:.

Normally, that would get caught by testing, but Marketing has put pressure on the Development department since the software is already a month behind schedule, so only a few inadequate tests are done, and the bug is not caught, and so whenever X is 3, the software does the wrong thing. This is why — as somone who sees these things from close up — I do not trust technology to work any better than human beings, because all technlogy includes flaws because it is created by human beings.

Since the purpose of headphone is to reproduce music, then the best test is not a frequency response test, but rather to play a variety of music. Actually, it is somewhat a non sequitar — it is assuming that your reason for Skepticism is the same as the legion of O2 fans who berated Mike for daring to have a subjective opinion that varied from the measurements, so I was more talking to them, without wanting them to come back and cause more noise again, lol.

Your claim that there is something wrong with an observation for which there is no scientific explanation YET means that:. Because when you spoke just now, no one knew about chlorophyll and the mechanisms that make a leaf green. Therefore, it is invalid for you to say that the leaf is green — since no one at the time knew any mechanism that made it green. So there is your example of a sense perception that later was explained by science.

Anything that Mike and L hear while wearing a headphone is a sense perception. Having used computers from the HP through the iPad and most everything in between, I do understand bit perfect, and the ability of modern computers to copy terabytes of data without any resulting error in the target files is very gratifying.

But of course, errors happen behind the scenes and the inner algorithms reread automatically to correct the errors. I am certain the things that affect that cursor are affecting music playback, despite the best efforts to buffer out the interruptions.

And eliminate any other background processes. Is this a problem with BitPerfect, or is it true that the E17 is incapable of Is it really that big of deal with my modest equipment to simply use the 96 upsampling setting? It sounds fine to my ears, still a marked improvement over leaving the files at their native Would that be the best option if I want full iTunes integration?

There are a lot of inconsistencies in this article though. For example, you say BitPerfect is more spacious than Decibel in one section, then say the complete opposite in the following section. Please let me know where the inconsistencies are. Great article as always.

What I would say is that I slightly disagree with your view on the usability of the Fidelia iTunes integration. It feels like going back to iTunes 10 years ago. I found the Audivarna integration MUCH better as you basically carry on and use iTunes to pick the music even going as far as switching the Audivarna display off which gives you a well known library function but with the grunt of Audivarna to handle playback. I can definitely hear a change in the music as the degrees and intensity are notched up.

Sort of like moving the sound forward physically. Is there a recommended setting for these controllable values? One final note…. I have BitPerfect too. Chris, I will try to simulate the problem you are having with FHX and get back to you on this.

You can find the link here, and also my short impression of it:. Hi Mike, great review I was really looking forward to reading your views on various OSX players, since Ive been playing around with them a while as well.

I do notice a difference between bitperfect, vox, and iTunes SQ. I dont know if its neutral or not, but I sure prefer bitperfect to my other players! I was disappointed by the available music players for Mac. On Linux, I have used Amarok 1. The packing is lossless. Also, DoP format may be used on Windows. It consumes processing resources. In the general case, better sound quality depends on amount of computing resources. Also, it saves free space on hard disk HDD of an audio player allow more songs on the disk.

To play high-resolution audio on computer you can use player software It depends on the mode of playback. In bit-perfect mode , a music player app just transports audio data from a sound file to DAC without audio processing.

When audio player software process audio data resample , alter bit depth, apply dithering , EQ, etc. If considering psychoacoustics, distortions may have a different character, which also impacts the final perception of the distortions. Also, the interaction of the distortions with a playback system DAC , amplifier, speakers is a matter. Some apparatus can cause the audible level of intermodulation distortions generated by ultrasound components.

An audiophile music player should provide hi-fi sound quality low distortions. In instance, in bit-perfect mode, an audio player doesn’t process sound-file content and delivery it directly into a DAC.

Gapless playback is needed for playback albums like operas, live concerts, etc. Memory playback necessity is disputable due to given computer performance. To listen to high quality music on computer, you are need to install audio player software on the computer. To play music on your computer, you can use music player software There are 3 options of audio driver software program player connection to DAC :. What is the best player is matter of personal choice.

In the bit-perfect mode all players should playback with same sound quality. If an audio processing is applied, player sound may be different.

The author recommend compare different players to verify personally As rule, it’s personal choise. You can read opinions by other peoples. But, if you want the best music player just for you:. In general case, the author recommend to listen to free demo versions of the players or free ones to choose the best software for you The best sound quality is playback unprocessed audio file bit-perfect mode.

However, changing if sample rate and bit depth may open audio-quality abilities of your DAC. The processing may be done inside the player or before playing file back with an audio conversion software. Most af audio players see list have free or demo version and you can try it before buying. PC is capable to play hi-res audio with sound card that provides sampling rates and bit depths above 48 kHz and 16 bit, respectively. Windows 10 is capable to play DSD with audio player software You can listen to hi-res lossless music via digital audio player device.

For computer and mobile phone, you can use player software But actual result is matter of implementation of an audio equipment and software. Read definitive guide In general, 24 bit is recommended for playback at home audio.

It may solve some issues of 16 bit resolution. However, bit doesn’t guarantee better sound than bit. Memory playback doesn’t improve “transparency”. Player causes no distortions in the bit-perfect mode. If the player applies gain control, some distortions may be there.

FLAC decoding, as rule, implemented via standard library. Thus, for FLAC no difference from player to player. If resampling or other processsing is appllied, player difference is the same other lossless format. If you are need the best result, download a player or its demo version and check sound. Digital audio interfaces don’t impact sound quality, which may be defined as “sound transparency”.

But pauses, clicks, serial interruptions are possible when an audio interface doesn’t work properly poor cables, grounding, shielding; hardware issues, etc. Analog inter-module cables linear inputs and outputs can impact the noise floor, crosstalk and frequency response. DAC clock source can impact to analog output jitter of a digital-to-analog converter. To add a bit more confusion: The Windows sound settings are overruled by Audirvana.

Audirvana has to bypass the Windows sound engine in order to achieve bitperfect performance. These are necessary to allow Audirvana and other music apps to bypass the Windows sound engine in other words to use your DAC or soundcard in exclusive mode. If I may use this thread for a question about the connection to the DAC.

I have no problem with that. When I activate the volume again it becomes 24 bit again. How do I do that without the activated volume controle?

 

Exclusive Core Player – Audirvāna – Digital Audio

 
Audirvāna Studio. The High Resolution digital audio player. Enjoy all your streaming and local music with the best playback sound quality. Free trial. As far as I know, several settings within Audirvana Studio will alter the ‘bits’ of an audio stream so the playback is no longer bit perfect.

 
 

Bit perfect on different systems – Bit-Perfect – Audirvana

 
 
Audirvāna Studio. The High Resolution digital audio player. Enjoy all your streaming and local music with the best playback sound quality. Free trial. As far as I know, several settings within Audirvana Studio will alter the ‘bits’ of an audio stream so the playback is no longer bit perfect.