The best audio player

Discussion in 'Software' started by mp5, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    Well, not necessarily. Just post a 1-2 min. piece of audio in lossless 44.100 format, with natural instruments (meaning no synths, because they do not have an 'original' sound), if you like, and I'll try to a remaster it and post it back.
     
  2. tun

    tun Rock Star

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    are we talking about remastering or "sharpening" everything you play?
    im not against remastering per se, but i am against running every track through the same algorythm before playing it.
     
  3. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    Remastering is my trade, in fact. So my offer is still open.
    If the same algorithm concerns better setting and aligning of hardware (CPU, HD, RAM, MMCSS, etc.) it's quite alright to be the same for all. Also de-quantizing, DC offset removal, decorrelation removal & stereo offset removal and like (especially for lossy formats) are OK. With (auto) EQs, harmonic enhancers, spectral fillers, noise removal, transient shapers, compression and like, I agree with you.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2020
  4. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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  5. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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  6. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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  7. tun

    tun Rock Star

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    i dont fuss about trying to correct imperfections in peoples music when i listen, i would rather just enjoy it. i do fuss about imperfections in the production process, but when it comes to listening i try to keep them seperate.
     
  8. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    After all this time, it seems to me people on this forum are much more interested in producing music than reproducing it. But sincerely, the music other people made are making us enjoy music, not listening to our own. So, players are important.
    My current list is as follows:
    1. Bug Head Emperor (most awkward, non-transparent, non-user friendly, but at least a class ahead of all other players in respect to sound reproduction quality),
    2. HQPlayer 4, (best WAV* and FLAC* player - after No1, also not very user-friendly, but much better in that respect than No1), commercial
    3. Apollo (best sounding player /mp3* only/, also - after No1),
    4. foobar2000, (very good sounding with all formats, versatile, and even better sounding in conjunction with Fidelizer),
    5. Winamp, (slightly lesser sound quality than foobar2000, also currently has some bugs and issues with YASAPI /WASAPI/output - hangs, especially on 'pull' option),
    6. Resonic Player (solid sound quality, but lesser than Winamp, also plays loops etc., very friendly interface), commercial

    The rest (I've tested 9 more players) I would not recommend (concerning sound reproduction quality only).
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I haven't tried Jie Extreme Player Pro because it doesn't work on my system, and also did not try JPlayer. Both are commercial.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2020
  9. tun

    tun Rock Star

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    windows media player (plays floating point audio signals) :D
     
  10. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    Another player improvement, works for all - MinorityClean. Can be used side-by-side with Finalizer, but Finalizer must be loaded first. And don't use memory optimizers during reproduction sessions, since they might throw MinorityClean out of memory.
    Also you can get some small benefit by setting your audio player priority to "high".
     
  11. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    Who distributes floating point audio?
     
  12. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

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    Sure, I watch animes without dubbing or subtitles... in my dreams :rofl:
    You should ask R2R, they're Japanese and clearly they're quite skilled :wink::winker:
     
  13. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

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    So true :rofl:
    Let alone the classic "I can hear all the mojo above 20Khz"
     
  14. Talmi

    Talmi Audiosexual

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    Yeah it's an audio forum, populated with audio afficionados who are gonna split ears (get it ?? :):)) regarding anything related to audio.
    There are other talks on the forum if people can't handle it.
    Foster is having a very interesting debate, I'm sure that's better.
     
  15. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    Hi-Fi speakers are much better. Nowadays. Back in 1970s people in studios used 200l cabinets as a standard. 12'' or (occasionally) bigger woofers. Now it's bookshelves. And a Hi-Fi enthusiast would never use 'active speakers' - now used massively by producers - because of heavy electro - mechanical closed resonances.
    The first requirement in Hi-Fi is that speakers should not be placed on shelves, or anything vibrating or transferring energy back/forth, to/from anything. And far from any walls. And enclosure materials of studio monitors are mostly thin. My Hi-Fi friend has speakers built into 200l 5'' thick concrete 'bunkers'. Many Hi-Fi enthusiasts have hand made and calibrated speaker enclosures any factory could never produce because of their heavy cost /$10.000+/.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2020
  16. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

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    Let's make a clear distinction between "hobbyists and pros" and "snobby-hobbyists and snobby-pros".
    Regarding your pun, I don't even make an aficionado :wink:
     
  17. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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  18. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    These setting I find the most natural. Most of 'tweaking' options add DSP, I suspect, giving more and more compressed-like and metallic sound. Also, leave default settings at Pcm untouched. Newer versions are getting more and more extravagant.
    Set BugHead.exe priority to High.
    I also recommend using Fidelizer and MinorityClean along.
    Tweaked up settings work very well with older recordings (1930-1950) though.
    Bug Head Normal.png
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2020
  19. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    Rewrite Affeine.png Latency measurement.png CPU latency 2.png CPU latency.png CPU Affinity.png
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2020
  20. mp5

    mp5 Producer

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    ASIO setup.png
    Also, for even better results, turn off memory manager, network traffic monitor, antivirus software, internet connection, etc.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2020
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