What is a media player.
It is a piece of software allowing you to navigate your collection, build play list, tag, rip etc.
But of course its primary function is to play the songs you have selected.
There are many different audio formats.
You need a Codec for each format.
There are various codes to uncompress MP3.
Although today's reports about differences most of all report no differences, it might be a source of a differences in sound.
Ok, let's play WAV or FLAC.
WAV is already PCM and for FLAC each simply use the same library as supplied by the developer.
This should eliminated possible differences due to Codecs.
The media player sends the audio to a sound card (or SPDIF out).
It might apply DSP like equalization, volume control, etc.
The quality of the DSP like algorithms used and the precision (16, 32 or 64 bits) will have an impact on the sound.
Ok, disable all enhancements, set volume to 100% in other words, bit perfect output.
If the player resample, this might again affect sound quality.
Ok play everything at its native sample rate.
Having eliminated any possible meddling with the bits, will they still sound different?
If you play 24 bits sources but your DAC accept only 16 bits, the media player will trunk and might apply dither.
Ok we play only sources with a bit depth accepted natively by the DAC.
What about the drivers?
If one media player uses Direct Sound and the other WASAPI, this is obvious not a valid comparison as the drivers differ.
Ok, set both to WASAPI
Have we eliminated all possible differences?
Are both players delivering bit perfect output?
If yes, why and how could they sound different?
If they simply use the same codec and handle the output to the same driver they should sound the same.
Barry Diament did some testing (http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/first-test-and-some-food-audio-thought)
Recording the digital out when playing the same recording at its native sample rate using iTunes and another application. The bits where identical.
Still a lot report to hear a difference using the same apps.
The usual suspects?
- expectation bias
- improper configuration
- our lender of last resort: jitter?
It is a piece of software allowing you to navigate your collection, build play list, tag, rip etc.
But of course its primary function is to play the songs you have selected.
There are many different audio formats.
You need a Codec for each format.
There are various codes to uncompress MP3.
Although today's reports about differences most of all report no differences, it might be a source of a differences in sound.
Ok, let's play WAV or FLAC.
WAV is already PCM and for FLAC each simply use the same library as supplied by the developer.
This should eliminated possible differences due to Codecs.
The media player sends the audio to a sound card (or SPDIF out).
It might apply DSP like equalization, volume control, etc.
The quality of the DSP like algorithms used and the precision (16, 32 or 64 bits) will have an impact on the sound.
Ok, disable all enhancements, set volume to 100% in other words, bit perfect output.
If the player resample, this might again affect sound quality.
Ok play everything at its native sample rate.
Having eliminated any possible meddling with the bits, will they still sound different?
If you play 24 bits sources but your DAC accept only 16 bits, the media player will trunk and might apply dither.
Ok we play only sources with a bit depth accepted natively by the DAC.
What about the drivers?
If one media player uses Direct Sound and the other WASAPI, this is obvious not a valid comparison as the drivers differ.
Ok, set both to WASAPI
Have we eliminated all possible differences?
Are both players delivering bit perfect output?
If yes, why and how could they sound different?
If they simply use the same codec and handle the output to the same driver they should sound the same.
Barry Diament did some testing (http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/first-test-and-some-food-audio-thought)
Recording the digital out when playing the same recording at its native sample rate using iTunes and another application. The bits where identical.
Still a lot report to hear a difference using the same apps.
The usual suspects?
- expectation bias
- improper configuration
- our lender of last resort: jitter?