After Foobar2000 I've been trying J.River Media Center

Posted by: Hot Rats on 17 July 2010

I've always liked the interface of J.River Media Center 15 but I just couldn't get it to work with my Naim DAC/Naim XPS, M2Tech Hiface, Asus laptop system. I thought I would have another go with J.River Media Center. The outcomes have been interesting.

I just can't get J.River Media Center to run with WASAPI. I've followed the guide at the Computer Audiophile website and have unchecked the exclusive use box and forced 24-Bit output in the DSP settings. When I did this it would play but when I tried to play a 24-Bit/192kHz file I got an error message saying that my hardware was not compatible. I've read a number of posts on the Internet that reckon that J.River will not run WASAPI mode particularly well. Foobar2000 runs it without any problems.

I managed to get J.River Media Center running with ASIO4All, selected ASIO output. I tried some comparitive listening a 24-bit/96kHz rip from my DVD-A disc of Steely Dan's 'Two Agsinst Nature'.

J.River Media Center seemed to give stronger and more articulated bass and separation and imaging across the freuqnecy range seemed improved over Foobar2000. I got another couple of family members to listen and they both opted for J.River Media Center as well.

Can anyone advise me if running ASIO4All with ASIO ouput selected still provides bit perfect output.

I wonder if any other members have tried this comparison and what differences they perceived between J.River Media Center and Foobar. Even with the DarkOne 2.1 add on, I still prefer the interface of J.River Media Center. It seems that each of these applications has its own quirks. It's just a matter of learning my way around Media Center.

I'll keep Foobar2000 installed and will try some more listening tests to decide but I would value the opinion of others who have trodden this path.

Thanks

Posted on: 17 July 2010 by pcstockton

I cannot hear a difference between ANY media players. I have tried them all. But that's just me....

Pick the one that pleases you most regarding interface.... that will always sound the best

Posted on: 17 July 2010 by Hook

Have had no problems with JRMC 15 using WASAPI, but am not using HiFace, and have only played 24/88.2 and 24/96 FLAC files.

Was it only 24/192 that gave you problems? Did 24/88.2 and 24/96 play without errors?

Hook

Posted on: 18 July 2010 by Hot Rats

24-Bit/96kHz won't play either. I have ripped a couple of HDCD encoded discs that are 24-Bit/44.1kHz (I ripped them with the HDCD DSP plugin using dBPoweramp)

That's an interesting thought Patrick. If it looks good then it will probably sound good! I asked a couple of family members to listen as well and they heard a difference. When I was doing the testing I recorded a track from each of the players onto a CDR-W disc using my Pioneer PDR-509. Although it's not really a good test for determining ultimate quality, I think you can still hear a difference. Maybe it is because I run Foobar2000 with WASAPI and J.River Media Center on ASIO4All. I appreciate that the theory is that media players should not sound different as they are only feeding 1s and 0s to the Hiface. I didn't think that there would be a difference between the CD5 and CDX2 when they were used only to stream data into the DAC. I made the comparison at my local dealer when I first auditioned the DAC. The dealer was surprised by the difference as well.

I still keep Foobar2000 on my desktop PC to edit metadata. I find it much easier to edit in Foobar2000 than J.River Media Center!

Do all media players sound the same? What do others think

Posted on: 18 July 2010 by tyk263

Have you tried Foobar2000 with its kernel streaming? I got the best result from this with my Hiface. Have not tried other media player though. Which version are you using. Mine's 1.03.

Posted on: 18 July 2010 by Hook

quote:
Originally posted by Doctor Jazz:
24-Bit/96kHz won't play either. I have ripped a couple of HDCD encoded discs that are 24-Bit/44.1kHz (I ripped them with the HDCD DSP plugin using dBPoweramp...

There is a thread called "Can I use JRiver with M2Tech Hiface?" from last March over at computeraudiophile.

If that does not help, perhaps you should start a new thread there with the details of the specific errors you are seeing.

Hook