Let's Talk Computer Audio

[Andre Marc]

Well apparently you are easily boggled.

I do go to live concerts on a regular basis. In the last two weeks I have been to the opera, the symphony and to a Mary Chapin Carpenter Concert. Marshall Crenshaw and Brandi Carlile are in June.

No owning that amount of music doesn't make them music lovers. What good is having music you are never going to listen to again in your lifetime? You end up with rooms full of clutter, old LP's and old CD's you will never touch again.

So someone who has 9000 CD's and listens for 8 hours every day could cycle through those discs every three years or so. No thanks. I would rather have 500-1000 and of those I will only regularly listen to a couple hundred before I add and delete a bunch of them.

Sorry, your premise is bunk, and your projecting your method of listening to the same 500-1000 albums is NOT the way I do it.

No clutter here.

To say those with large collections are not music lovers simply is absolute rubbish.

 

[Andre Marc]

JRiver does release weekly publicbuilds for the PC Version. Each build is considered stable and usually adds new features or changes the way things work based on user feedback. Only the new features are considered beta. There are also third party audio and video codecs that are updated to the latest version and foreign language updates. Sometimes the new features or changes cause a bug, sometimes OS or driver updates reveal a bug, and sometimes there is just an oversight. Most of the bug fixes are such corner cases that I have never noticed them. Between my family and I we use JRiver about 8-12 hrs a day on 3 computers. I might find about 1 actual bug every couple months.

It is a different model than any software I've ever seen. It is constantly evolving. A person can choose to use the version they download the day they purchased, but getting the weekly builds is only to one's benefit. Like JRiver says, each version is worse than the next. JRiver always calls its releases Beta since they contain new features that haven't yet been vetted for several weeks.

They are completely open with what they are doing. For example, here are the changes listed on their website for the past two weeks. You can see there are things being worked on the audio, video, TV, and image playback.

Has Jriver ever been asked to build an Audio Only, stripped down version of Jriver?

 

[still-one]

Sorry, your premise is bunk, and your projecting your method of listening to the same 500-1000 albums is NOT the way I do it.

No clutter here.

To say those with large collections are not music lovers simply is absolute rubbish.

No, I said that having large collections does not make a Music Lover. Just a collector of stuff they have listened to.


You may not think its clutter, but your 5000 CD's in racks would have to be at least 5 feet high and about 16 feet in length. Not something I want to look at.

I am not sure which premise you have attributed to me??

 

[asiufy]

Steve,

I'm a Mac user, and even though I keep hearing those reports that CAPS PCs produce better audio than Macs, they run Windows, so they're off limits here
I've tested just about every Mac player out there, and my fave is Audirvana Plus, the current 1.4.9.xx betas. I think they're up to 1.4.9.11 now.
These produce, by far, the most detailed audio, and are close enough to my CD transport (MSB) that I can enjoy computer audio with no stress.
Audirvana+ will play DSD and PCM, as Bruce mentioned, and if you use iTunes to catalog your music, you'll get a nice interface to do so, and also a free iPad/iPhone remote as well.
Windows is a nightmare for everything, and with audio is no different.

alexandre

PS: the comment about collector x music lover is plain absurd. Forcing one's habits (throwing music away) onto everyone else is crazy.

 

[mojave]

Has Jriver ever been asked to build an Audio Only, stripped down version of Jriver?

Yes, but they don't see a purpose since you can turn off all features in Tools > General > Features. Technically nothing would change for audio with a stripped down version vs the regular version. The JRiver download is only 23 MB vs 85 MB for iTunes.

By the way, if you ever want more builds you can go to Tools > Startup > Update Channels and change it to Latest to get the weekly builds. I think the default updates a few times a year.

 

[mep]

hey Davey:

ok, i will be honest.. your questions are from someone starting at less than zero. I really believe you need someone
to actually help you in person. Replies on this forum are going to be a nightmare. Since we live so close, I can help
you get started. I am NOT a CA guru, but I can have you up and running in day. And they did not build Rome in a day.

Less than zero! At least you put a smiley face at the end of the dig which always makes things OK on this forum. More importantly, you offered to go to Davey's house and get him up and running which really makes things OK assuming Davey isn't hot over your dig.

 

[Steve Williams]

Steve,

I'm a Mac user, and even though I keep hearing those reports that CAPS PCs produce better audio than Macs, they run Windows, so they're off limits here
I've tested just about every Mac player out there, and my fave is Audirvana Plus, the current 1.4.9.xx betas. I think they're up to 1.4.9.11 now.
These produce, by far, the most detailed audio, and are close enough to my CD transport (MSB) that I can enjoy computer audio with no stress.
Audirvana+ will play DSD and PCM, as Bruce mentioned, and if you use iTunes to catalog your music, you'll get a nice interface to do so, and also a free iPad/iPhone remote as well.
Windows is a nightmare for everything, and with audio is no different.

alexandre

PS: the comment about collector x music lover is plain absurd. Forcing one's habits (throwing music away) onto everyone else is crazy.

Thanks Alexandre

What sound card do you use

 

[mep]

Steve-Since you are going to come out of your Apple computer into a D/A converter, why are you worried about a sound card?

 

[Steve Williams]

I'm not. I would use the USB-X meant for the PD

 

[Vincent Kars]

Has Jriver ever been asked to build an Audio Only, stripped down version of Jriver?

Yes, many times but they went the multi media way.
BTW: JRiver OSX is audio only

 

[Julf]

I'm a Mac user, and even though I keep hearing those reports that CAPS PCs produce better audio than Macs, they run Windows, so they're off limits here

I guess the appropriate response would be "don't believe everything you read on the internet"

Forcing one's habits (throwing music away) onto everyone else is crazy.

Or forcing one's choice of computer, OS, player software, or file format for that matter...

 

[asiufy]

Thanks Alexandre

What sound card do you use

None. I use either a Mac mini or an old MacBook Pro 17", via USB into the MSB DAC.
If you want to get serious about it, get a Mac Pro and a SOTM USB card. This card, supposedly, is what gives the CAPS-based PCs an edge in terms of audio performance, over a Mac mini. Since the mini can't receive a card like the SOTM, the playing field is not exactly the same. But if you hook one of those to a proper Mac Pro, it's likely the CAPS will lose handily, since it uses Windows to begin with



alexandre

 

[asiufy]

I guess the appropriate response would be "don't believe everything you read on the internet"



Or forcing one's choice of computer, OS, player software, or file format for that matter...

First of all, I'm hearing from friends and folks who have actually purchased one of the beasts, and replaced Mac minis in the process. So it's not just "something I read on the internet". I'd like to think I'm a little beyond that stage in my life...

And I don't see where I'm forcing my choice of anything. Steve asked for people's input, and I gave mine, based, again, on experience, not hearsay. I do understand people can have different experiences, using different gear, and that's what forums are for, innit? So we all could exchange our experiences...
Do you have any, btw? What players have you tested, in what hardware? What can you contribute to this thread?


alexandre

 

[Andre Marc]

Yes, but they don't see a purpose since you can turn off all features in Tools > General > Features. Technically nothing would change for audio with a stripped down version vs the regular version. The JRiver download is only 23 MB vs 85 MB for iTunes.

By the way, if you ever want more builds you can go to Tools > Startup > Update Channels and change it to Latest to get the weekly builds. I think the default updates a few times a year.

Thanks mojave.

Yes, I guess you can turn off all features in Tools. But I think it would be attractive from a marketing perspective
to offer a "lean and mean" version to audiophiles.

 

[Andre Marc]

Less than zero! At least you put a smiley face at the end of the dig which always makes things OK on this forum. More importantly, you offered to go to Davey's house and get him up and running which really makes things OK assuming Davey isn't hot over your dig.

Davey and I have spoken on the phone, and we live 15 minutes apart. He knows my tongue was planted firmly in my cheek.

 

[mep]

Davey and I have spoken on the phone, and we live 15 minutes apart. He knows my tongue was planted firmly in my cheek.

Cool. If Davey is serious about wanting to get a computer audio based setup, you should be able to get him up and running in no time.

 

[Andre Marc]

No, I said that having large collections does not make a Music Lover. Just a collector of stuff they have listened to.


You may not think its clutter, but your 5000 CD's in racks would have to take up at least 5 feet high and about 16 feet of space. Not something I want to look at.

I am not sure which premise you have attributed to me??

This is what you said: "An individual with a large CD collection is a collector not a music lover" End of discussion on that topic because
it is nonsense.

As far as space, I guess you don't know the Can-Am folks up in Canada who make storage systems. My 5000 CDs take up
exactly 8 sq feet, and on top of that, the system houses my 5.1 Home Theater. It is also a custom color which matches the floor.
All good.

 

[Andre Marc]

Cool. If Davey is serious about wanting to get a computer audio based setup, you should be able to get him up and running in no time.

I am NO super expert. But I CAN get him up and running. I use XLD, xACT, and other pieces of the puzzle on a daily basis. I have 4TB of music stored on various drives etc.

I have been storing music on a hard drive since 1998 when WinAmp was all the rage...

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I finally decided in the last year to get a little more serious about CA. I needed to accomplish this on somewhat of a budget, and I think I was able to do that. I have a Win 8 Dell Inspiron, 500gb HDD, 1TB external drive, 8gb RAM, MediaMonkey player, Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard. I've been fooling around with Foobar, but really don't like it. I know people rave about it, but it's not for me. I'm thinking of getting the JRiver player as I tried it and felt more comfortable. The next step is to connect what I have to my system, which will happen very shortly.

 

[Bruce B]

Speaking of a budget. The computer I just set up for Newport is a white $400 MacBook. Plays PCM and DSD perfectly!