What Is The Best Audio Player?

For the desktop?  Thanks.

13,398 views 21 replies
Reply #1 Top

Xion....... :)

Reply #2 Top

JRiver Media Center 20.....but it costs money.

Reply #3 Top

WinAmp 2.XX is my fav

Everyone's got their own personal favorite......

But.... I think the best player ever made was Kjoföl - untill WinAmp headhunted their codemonkies, and basically killed it off.

Reply #4 Top

Quoting BoXXi, reply 1

Xion....... :)
End of BoXXi's quote
Yup |-)

Reply #5 Top

In general I like WinAmp better because of the strong library features, but I do drag a few files into Xion occasionally to look at the skins.  I say "use them both"  ;)

Reply #6 Top

WinAmp because it has the best quality sound!

Reply #7 Top

Quoting Snowman, reply 3

WinAmp 2.XX is my fav
Everyone's got their own personal favorite......
But.... I think the best player ever made was Kjoföl - untill WinAmp headhunted their codemonkies, and basically killed it off.
End of Snowman's quote

What he said...;)

Reply #8 Top

I am looking for best quality sound.  WinAmp has been discontinued.  Is this a problem or is it still the best?

Reply #9 Top

Call me crazy, But i use Windows Media Player for everything. I installed Windows 7 Codecs and the X64 Components and now there is no file either audio or video that i cannot play. 

Reply #10 Top

^^^^^^

Ditto... except when I use Kodi, formerly XBMC, to access additional features.

Reply #11 Top

Bottom line....

If all you are doing is playing MP3s then choices are largely meaningless.  The format is somewhere between OK and down-right crap.  No amount of fudging with whatever player and/or EQ settings will make any difference....it's all 'sow's ear'.

If it's about high-end [uncompressed] audio then look for commercial audiophile proggies...;)

Reply #12 Top

Quoting neone6, reply 4


Quoting BoXXi,

Xion....... :)

Yup |-)

End of neone6's quote

Yup too.

Reply #13 Top

Quoting Jafo, reply 11

Bottom line....

If all you are doing is playing MP3s then choices are largely meaningless.  The format is somewhere between OK and down-right crap.  No amount of fudging with whatever player and/or EQ settings will make any difference....it's all 'sow's ear'.

If it's about high-end [uncompressed] audio then look for commercial audiophile proggies...;)
End of Jafo's quote

unless you speak of having vinyl i dont see a huge diffrence between playing a wav or a lossless 320kbps mp3
VLC... for everything

 

Reply #14 Top

Quoting GregII, reply 8

WinAmp has been discontinued. Is this a problem or is it still the best?
End of GregII's quote

 Pick a version and hear for yourself.  I'd think the later versions would work best on modern 64 bit systems. http://www.oldversion.com/windows/winamp/   ;)

Reply #15 Top

Honestly, I think you need to drink a bottle of Rieslings before you listen to any music on the computer.  Just my humble opine. 

Reply #16 Top

Sadly ears are analogue but anything from CDs onwards are digital so the wave form will always be 'wrong'.  Brains don't make the ideal 'DAC'...;)

Reply #17 Top

Don't know how any of you can tell the difference with the constant ringing in your ears or is that just me. ;P

 

Reply #18 Top

Quoting scorpNZ, reply 17

Don't know how any of you can tell the difference with the constant ringing in your ears or is that just me.
End of scorpNZ's quote

Not just you....31 years of Formula One at [mostly] 120 db has put paid to any quality hearing I might ever have had...;)

Reply #19 Top

Quoting scorpNZ, reply 17

Don't know how any of you can tell the difference with the constant ringing in your ears or is that just me. ;P

 
End of scorpNZ's quote

A yes!  Ringing in one ear and can't hear in the other. :-"

I suffer with tinutus in my right ear, and it is constant, though worse sometimes than others, but I still enjoy listening to music in spite of it.... not that I have as loud these days as I used to.  Back in the day it was all about the bass and how loud it could go [and I had the system to do it, too], but nowadays it's all about the finer points and those sweet notes which simply weren't audible at 150db.

As for sound quality, the majority of my music is converted from CD to FLAC lossless files, so that way I'm not losing too much quality-wise.  At the end of the day, however, it won't matter much if you have a high end media player but crap sound card and/or speakers.  To truly experience high quality sound one needs to have high quality equipment from the media player up.

 

Reply #21 Top

Quoting starkers, reply 19

To truly experience high quality sound one needs to have high quality equipment from the media player up.
End of starkers's quote

Actually....from the media...up.... JAFOCHECK