wtfplay

sligolad · Feb 29, 2016

We have finally seen the release of wtfplay http://wtfplay-project.org from the developer (I first heard it in basic form over 2 years ago) which is a minimalist Linux based player which for me beats all previous software for real serious audiophile listening that I have tried and lived with in recent years, including JRiver, JPlay, BHE and more.

It took a little while to get used to typing text to get to the music but well worth the effort once you get there and it has retired my heavily modified Dual PC setup down to a single Audio PC with no on board SSD for OS.

There is no going back to any other software after hearing PCM from wtfplay through my Big7 and I have been happy to listen only to PCM for several months now such is the quality of playback from this basic little player.

I have converted DSF tracks to DOP which I have listened to on wtfplay but still keep coming back to the PCM versions as it is that good.
Bear in mind the developer has not supported DSD yet but from what some of the early beta testers have found including myself is that it will pass DSD in DOP to your DAC if it is capable of playing DSD in DOP.

You can tweak settings from the command line but I have been happy using the basic file player utility wtfcui as I see no need to do any further tweaking of buffers and such.

It will be interesting what others find but all I can do is alert anyone who puts sound quality reproduction ahead of functionality to try it out for free.

For reference I had no idea about Linux OS before I tried this so as a windows stalwart it was a bit of a challenge but once I got my head around it after a few days it is so easy now.

Once you write the little player to a USB stick and plug it into your PC, boot the PC and wtfplay loads, check that your DAC is seen and its address, type in the command line to get to wtfcui and from there it is like an explorer window where you should see all your music files ready for playback.

Cheers and happy listening, Pearse.

bonzo75 · Feb 29, 2016

Hi Pearse, great to hear. Have you compared this to HQPlayer or Bughead?

sligolad · Feb 29, 2016

Hi Kedar, I tried it against earlier Bughead versions and no contest.

wtfplay is just so musical compared to all other software I have tried and I am coming to the conclusion that a lot of it is down to the small footprint and the low load on resources.
The developer put in a lot of time on getting it to work well particularly with different audio hardware and PPA, JCat stuff and it does respond well to improvements in dedicated Audio PC's.

It takes so little to run that I have my audio PC running with an i7 3.2Ghz processor running at 800Mhz and memory speed also at 800Mhz with tighter timings.
I was really happy with a full JPlay dual PC streaming setup with all the bells and whistles but once I heard the pure musicality of wtfplay there was no going back.

PCM never sounded so good on the Big7 with it and I can see why Lukas is going down the Linux route.
It would be interesting to hear his impressions of the super slimmed down wtfplay compared to his Daphile based recent releases.
Some of the guys over here have tried Daphile and put wtfplay way ahead of it.

I will not say much more as who knows whether my findings will be validated until we see if now that it has gone on general release whether others hear what I hear with it.

Cheers,
Pearse.

bonzo75 · Feb 29, 2016

How is the GUI? Are you saying this can run on a normal laptop, without all the tweaks?

sligolad · Feb 29, 2016

No GUI just a simple Text based window that helps you select your music files and transfer them to a playlist window, hit enter and you have music if you want to avoid all the command line work, there are excellent guides on the site which should answer most questions.
It will play on any laptop without any tweaks.

joelha · Feb 29, 2016

sligolad said:
No GUI just a simple Text based window that helps you select your music files and transfer them to a playlist window, hit enter and you have music if you want to avoid all the command line work, there are excellent guides on the site which should answer most questions.
It will play on any laptop without any tweaks.

Sligolad,

First and most of all, thanks very much for posting this information.

I currently use Daphile and have airways believed that when it comes to digital servers, less is more.

I can't wait to try this program.

Any suggestions as regards the best specific storage media to use . . . Usb drive, sd card, C.F. Card, etc?

I'll appreciate make and model information as well.

Thanks again.

Joel

sligolad · Mar 1, 2016

Hi Joel,

I currently run a Samsung 1Tb SSD for music file storage.
I did however format it to FAT32 before loading all it with music files as I am told it is better but I have not carried out comparisons with NTFS formatting against FAT32.

The only testing I have done so far is to format a PPA TCXO 64 GB SSD drive to FAT32 and load some of the same music files on it and with both in the PC, I could load the same file from both drives into playlist in WTFCUI and listen quickly back to back.
I initially though I could hear a difference but on longer listening tests I did not find any real difference I could say was definite.

I hope to try other storage solutions soon as I have a SATA to PCi converter card and the Mobo I use has an M.2 slot.
Cheers, Pearse.

khonfused · Mar 1, 2016

What does wtf stand for?

wgscott · Mar 1, 2016

khonfused said:
What does wtf stand for?

Recursively speaking:

Code:

zsh-% wtf wtf
WTF: {what,when,where,who,why} the fu c k
zsh-%

joelha · Mar 1, 2016

sligolad said:
Hi Joel,

I currently run a Samsung 1Tb SSD for music file storage.
I did however format it to FAT32 before loading all it with music files as I am told it is better but I have not carried out comparisons with NTFS formatting against FAT32.

The only testing I have done so far is to format a PPA TCXO 64 GB SSD drive to FAT32 and load some of the same music files on it and with both in the PC, I could load the same file from both drives into playlist in WTFCUI and listen quickly back to back.
I initially though I could hear a difference but on longer listening tests I did not find any real difference I could say was definite.

I hope to try other storage solutions soon as I have a SATA to PCi converter card and the Mobo I use has an M.2 slot.
Cheers, Pearse.

Thanks for the information, Sligolad.

So you're running the player off of the same SSD you're using for music files?

Or are you running the player off of a different type of drive?

If a different drive, what are you using?

And thanks also for the information about FAT32 formatting. I have to say, that's a new one on me, but I'm willing to learn.

Joel

sligolad · Mar 2, 2016

SSD is just for music Joel.
The OS (about 50Mb) gets loaded of a USB stick into RAM on boot and once up and running you can pull out the USB stick if you want.
All you need is an old 1Gb or larger USB stick for the OS and you are good to go once you follow the good instructions provided on the developers site.
Cheers, Pearse.

joelha · Mar 2, 2016

sligolad said:
SSD is just for music Joel.
The OS (about 50Mb) gets loaded of a USB stick into RAM on boot and once up and running you can pull out the USB stick if you want.
All you need is an old 1Gb or larger USB stick for the OS and you are good to go once you follow the good instructions provided on the developers site.
Cheers, Pearse.

If I had read the instructions, I would have known this, Pearse.

Thanks for the information.

Given the limitations of wtfplay, what are you using for a server (laptop, server with monitor, keyboard, and mouse)?

Joel

sligolad · Mar 3, 2016

I am using an audio PC which is detailed in my signature Joel.
I have a small monitor connected to it and use a Logitech Wireless Touch Keypad to run wtfplay, in wtfcui it is easy on the keypad to browse through music folders and files, select files and create playlists.
Cheers, Pearse.

joelha · Mar 4, 2016

sligolad said:
I am using an audio PC which is detailed in my signature Joel.
I have a small monitor connected to it and use a Logitech Wireless Touch Keypad to run wtfplay, in wtfcui it is easy on the keypad to browse through music folders and files, select files and create playlists.
Cheers, Pearse.

Hey Pearse,

Thanks for the interesting suggestion.

I'm assuming the keyboard is bluetooth capable.

But how does the computer receive bluetooth commands?

I didn't think wtfplay could receive commands in bluetooth.

Best regards,

Joel

joelha · Mar 4, 2016

joelha said:
Hey Pearse,

Thanks for the interesting suggestion.

I'm assuming the keyboard is bluetooth capable.

But how does the computer receive bluetooth commands?

I didn't think wtfplay could receive commands in bluetooth.

Best regards,

Joel

OK, Pearse. Please forget my previous post.

I think I found my answer. The device comes with a usb bluetooth transmitter which, based on your experience, works with the player.

It's ordered.

Thanks very much for the help.

Joel

sligolad · Mar 8, 2016

Good call Joel.

I have been offline for a few days but if you need help you can always have a look here where there is more activity and interest in the player:
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3770

Cheers, Pearse.

joelha · Mar 8, 2016

sligolad said:
Good call Joel.

I have been offline for a few days but if you need help you can always have a look here where there is more activity and interest in the player:
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3770

Cheers, Pearse.

Thanks a lot, Pearse.

I check the site regularly.

A lot of great contributions made there, yours included.

Joel

Audioseduction · Mar 14, 2016

wgscott said:
Recursively speaking:

Code:

zsh-% wtf wtf WTF: {what,when,where,who,why} the fu c k zsh-%

I thought everybody knew what that stand for.

Mortsnets · Mar 26, 2016

This program is great, not only sounds good but so easy to use!

sligolad · May 21, 2016

New release of Wtfplay with DSD support.

wtfplay 0.5 is now a serious challenger in the DSD arena, while it had unsupported capability previously to read DSD DOP files I was still blown away by its PCM sound which was a clear winner against all other players.

Now with DSD supported I have been truly amazed listening to my DSF files again on Lampi Big7.

I currently have an F-1 Xmos XU208 USB card wired by i2s direct to the DSD Board in the Big7 with 5v supplied to the card by a Paul Hynes Linear supply and DSD sounds amazing.

Hopefully Amanero can get DSD for Linux properly supported one of these days which sounds like it is almost there so lots to look forward with uwtfplay-dsd direct into the Lampizator Big 7.

2016 is again proving to be a great year for PC based playback with wtfplay coming in and raising the bar for music enjoyment.

I will get around to listening to PCM one of these days but so far enjoying the DSD experience first

wtfplay

Well-Known Member

Member Sponsor

Well-Known Member

Member Sponsor

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads