Mac Music Players

I've been testing several Mac music players (Pure Music, Audirvana Plus, Decibel, Amarra & Fidelia) and after weeks of comparisons, I've found that the rankings are (best to worse)/

1. Fidelia
2. Audirvana Plus
3. Amarra
4. Decibel
5. Pure Music

I would add that my preference is based on my audio system, room environment and my own pair of ears. Fidelia sounds very analog-like and connects me to the music in a way that the others don't. It seems to take away that last bit of digititis while bringing me closer to my vinyl source. Fidelia is also attractively priced and integrates well with iTunes. 2014 will see me moving even closer to computer audio.

Hope this helps forum members who are looking for an audiophile quality music player for their Mac.
Original Post

I couldn't get past the appalling windows looking interface and the fact it seems to be some sort of java applet or something, the menus are terrible to work with and its very much an alpha release.

 

I'll try and give it a go tommoz, its come on a bit since the last time I tried where is simply crashed on startup.

Originally Posted by garyi:

I couldn't get past the appalling windows looking interface and the fact it seems to be some sort of java applet or something, the menus are terrible to work with and its very much an alpha release.

 

I'll try and give it a go tommoz, its come on a bit since the last time I tried where is simply crashed on startup.

Agreed and prefer Audirvana +

 

Tog

I recently tried J River for Mac, but I found it pretty diabolical.  I'm sure it'll do lots of clever things but for playing music it's mediocre, even ignoring its lousy interface. Very good iPad app though.

 

I've finally settled on Amarra Symphony with iRC room correction software. Expensive but really excellent.

Originally Posted by Adrian F.:
 
I've tried all the previously mentioned programs and JRiver.  I chose JRiver for both my usb->v1-headphones and streaming to my NDX.  [I run two instances 1 on a OSX 10.8 VM]  It provides great sound along with sophisticated library management capabilities.  [The other programs rely on iTunes]
 
The early versions for OSX were pretty buggy but now runs rock solid for months at a time with 0 problems.

Has someone tried the sound quality of the "JRiver Media Center" on Mac?

 

It seems to be very popular amongst the Win users and is available for OS X by now...

 

http://www.jriver.com/download.html

 

 

 

Originally Posted by elkman70:

Does it make any difference which music player you use if you have Asynchronous USB?

 

Regards,

 

Nick

Good question. If the data stream received by the asynchronous USB input is BitPerfect then it's all down to the DAC isn't it? It's then only a question of which user interface you prefer.

 

Dave

Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Hi, I use Jriver on OSX. Agree that the UI is not the best, however does seem to offer direct media access as well as controlling the Naim network player via UPnP including loading the Naim playlist buffer. The direct media playback does offer some interesting DSP options.

Simon

Hi Simon

 

Are you saying Jriver can act as a UPnP server, or are you connecting it via USB .?

 

Graeme

I see no options for connecting to network music or playing to network devices, all I could find in the utterly utterly dreadful interface was media network but the interface is so terrible that the 'setup info' button does not work.

 

I find it amazing anyone could use this day to day, clicking on things constantly results in the window behind coming forward as if it didn't exist.

 

It looks like that will be the interface moving forward, I see no reason they would have java style menus etc unless that was what it was built upon. For my money I would far prefer something built for mac such as plex. Or dare I say it in this instance, itunes.

 

It actually reminds me a bit of songbird, which is another terrible cross platform abomination, at least jriver is not using 100% cpu like songbird does lols.

Originally Posted by garyi:

There was a problem retrieving files from the selected DLNA Server.

 

Moving on, lifes to short haha.

Garyi, you've lost me there. Are you saying it can act as a UPnP server but your having trouble getting it to work. Looked at this before but have to say find computer audio way too confusing

 

Graeme

An awful lot of UPnP servers are either dreadful, require serious bug fixes or some hacking to get working well. The only ones I have found remotely usable are

 

miniDLNA (aka ready DLNA) 

Logitech Server (latest version is excellent)

minimserver 

Plex - brilliant for Video - rapidly improving for audio

 

Many for the Mac are terrible and yes I'm talking about those venerable PC servers currently in OSX beta. Asset for PC works very well if you are prepared to put up with Windows which for a whole multitude of reasons I'm not. 

 

Currently I'm using Logitech Server to stream and Squeezelite via async USB from my Vortexbox powered TogServer. Incidentally the latest version of VB - 2.3 is excellent and very stable. 

 

Tog

 

 

 

Foxman my upnp servers appeared, none of them worked with jriver even though they work with everything else I have tried them with. 

 

Please be assured my interest is not high, I was not looking for a renderer, which is good because jriver is shite on osx.

Originally Posted by garyi:

Foxman my upnp servers appeared, none of them worked with jriver even though they work with everything else I have tried them with. 

 

Please be assured my interest is not high, I was not looking for a renderer, which is good because jriver is shite on osx.

Are the mac software renderers, if thats the term, that act like a UPnP streamer. I use minimserver on my Synology, and i know that the likes of itunes and Jriver can play via USB but is there software that can act as a streamer over ethernet. Thats any good that is

Sorry confusing my own terminology I meant to say I was not after a control point for UPNP.

 

I think its a sad situation for OSX that this software is even considered by the likes of simon who clearly has a lot of experience, its one of the down sides of mac, itunes killed music reproduction in all its forms on mac and consequently we are around 6 years behind PC.

 

To accept jriver as a viable application is because, put simply nothing else exists. Songbook had promise but seems to have died, seriously what else is there? Kinksy seems to be about it.

 

Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Foxman, JRIver can do both when running on my MacBook Pro. However I tend to use Asset on my Raspberry Pi as my Naim UPnP server. Its always on and costs very little to run. 

Simon

 

Sorry i think what i was actually asking is if it can act as a software streamer (get so confused with all these terms). Basically to do the same job as the NDX into a DAC via ethernet

 

i tried the PI but couldn't get it to go into sleep mode, wanted this so it would let the NAS sleep as i didn't  want the disks running 24/7

Originally Posted by dave4jazz:
Originally Posted by elkman70:

Does it make any difference which music player you use if you have Asynchronous USB?

 

Regards,

 

Nick

Good question. If the data stream received by the asynchronous USB input is BitPerfect then it's all down to the DAC isn't it? It's then only a question of which user interface you prefer.

 

Dave

So use iTunes. Works "perfick!" Bit perfick.

 

ATB from  George

Originally Posted by George J:
Originally Posted by dave4jazz:
Originally Posted by elkman70:

Does it make any difference which music player you use if you have Asynchronous USB?

 

Regards,

 

Nick

Good question. If the data stream received by the asynchronous USB input is BitPerfect then it's all down to the DAC isn't it? It's then only a question of which user interface you prefer.

 

Dave

So use iTunes. Works "perfick!" Bit perfick.

 

ATB from  George

I thought, going by what people say, they all sounded different, i haven't tried any by the way, which is why people prefer different software. God i thought streaming was hard to get my head around but computer audio seems worse.

Hi, Tog,

What is the trick to make LMS on Mac work with Naim?  I see the tracks on my NDX , but they will not play.  Tried a suggestion from a different thread but could not figure it out.

Minimserver is my best experience so far.  Thanks for introducing me to that one.  But, I would prefer to use LMS for both NDX and SBT.

Nick
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Foxman, ok I see, well yes it can, although I have not tried this into the NDAC, but I have played into the macbook pro internal DAC (although it is shockingly poor - even compared to the iPad)

Many thanks Simon, friend is passing on a mac mini so would like to compare this with the chord Hugo compared with the NDX. New it would work via USB but didn't realise it could act as a streamer.

 

Graeme

Originally Posted by George J:
Originally Posted by dave4jazz:
Originally Posted by elkman70:

Does it make any difference which music player you use if you have Asynchronous USB?

 

Regards,

 

Nick

Good question. If the data stream received by the asynchronous USB input is BitPerfect then it's all down to the DAC isn't it? It's then only a question of which user interface you prefer.

 

Dave

So use iTunes. Works "perfick!" Bit perfick.

 

ATB from  George

Good to hear

 

Dave

a few folks say that playlist on Audirvana sounds better than the iTunes integrated mode. I will have to try that this afternoon when the local lawn mowers die down a bit.

 

Audirvana is supposed to have an iTunes type interface in the works so you can dump the Apple product and still use the iPad.  Last time I looked it was in beta testing.

 

Originally Posted by garyi:

On a mac itunes as a minimum in conjunction with BitPerfect to set the audio output depending on the file

That's all I use. I don't really hear a sonic difference with BP (a little louder which makes A/B harder), but I like the on-the-fly, file dependent, bit-rate and word-depth switching. Otherwise, switching is a complete PITA with iTunes and OSX.

Originally Posted by NickSeattle:
Hi, Tog,

What is the trick to make LMS on Mac work with Naim?  I see the tracks on my NDX , but they will not play.  Tried a suggestion from a different thread but could not figure it out.

Minimserver is my best experience so far.  Thanks for introducing me to that one.  But, I would prefer to use LMS for both NDX and SBT.

Nick

Hi Nick 

 

I am running LMS or Squeezeserver as some like to call it via Vortexbox 2.3 as miniDLNA is no longer part of the package.  Both Mac and PC versions seem to be problematic.

 

Tog

Originally Posted by Briz Vegas:

a few folks say that playlist on Audirvana sounds better than the iTunes integrated mode. I will have to try that this afternoon when the local lawn mowers die down a bit.

 

Audirvana is supposed to have an iTunes type interface in the works so you can dump the Apple product and still use the iPad.  Last time I looked it was in beta testing.

 

iTunes integration works fine but ITunes will start to stumble with large libraries. At present I have kept my flac library and uses A+'s proxies.

 

Tog

Gees.  I'm pretty sure this sounds different.  Listening to a Nora Jones rip off vinyl With Audirvana playlist mode  It's less forward and in your face, but it's also sort of cooler, less warm.  It's more delicate, piano rings more, more air and less forward.  I will have to try this mode for a day or two before switching back.  See what the conclusion is.

 

its certainly less user friendly.  Like vinyl in that you have to get up.   It will be interesting once the amps warm up properly (My CJ gear uses tubes and Teflon caps, the Teflon takes at least an hour with further improvements after a few hours, the naim DAC et al is always on)

I've tried Fidelia, Audirvana Plus, Pure Music, Bit Perfect & Amarra (in fact, they all still reside on my computer) & there's little to choose between them. You can jiggle around with the settings in Audirvana Plus/Amarra & change the sound in various ways, and using their playlist modes I thought sounded a wee bit better. But not enough to make me want to sacrifice the convenience of iTunes integration & the iPad app.

If it wasn't for the wonderful iRC room correction available with Amarra symphony (a real game-changer) I'd probably have stuck with Bit Perfect or maybe Audirvana+. And if I didn't have music with different sample rates I'd probably be content with iTunes.

 

Spoke to a mate that uses A+ last night.  He said something similar toTonym ( not much difference). With hifi it's funny how initial differences seem to almost evaporate over time. In the longer term you are struck by the similarities it would seem.   Results are also system dependent, some setups are more resolving than others.  I know that because in the last 6 months my system has gone from so so resolving to much more resolving, mostly because the digital signal path needed cleaning up.

 

Listening to some old and new music last night and the balance is different, instruments sound a little more like what they are, vocals are more present and in a space, bass initially seems less but when it comes through its articulate, weighty and tight.  It's pretty much what would expect from losing a layer of noise or smearing or whatever you call a less accurate articulate sound.  It does add to emotional engagement and it make the music more interesting because more is going on. I haven't played any really poor recordings yet.  if they sound awful I can always just switch player settings for those albums.  I am also finding that I can't locate some albums so until I locate them physically on the hard drive I will miss the iTunes interface.

Originally Posted by garyi:

I see no options for connecting to network music or playing to network devices, all I could find in the utterly utterly dreadful interface was media network but the interface is so terrible that the 'setup info' button does not work.

 

I find it amazing anyone could use this day to day, clicking on things constantly results in the window behind coming forward as if it didn't exist.

 

It looks like that will be the interface moving forward, I see no reason they would have java style menus etc unless that was what it was built upon. For my money I would far prefer something built for mac such as plex. Or dare I say it in this instance, itunes.

 

It actually reminds me a bit of songbird, which is another terrible cross platform abomination, at least jriver is not using 100% cpu like songbird does lols.

I think you need to upgrade to the latest version of JRiver.  I've found it to have excellent functionality, usability and stability.  [It now looks like a OSX application too.]

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