BitPerfect for Mac vs Pure Music

I have been trying BitPerfect, JRiver Media Center 19 for Mac, Pure Music 2.0, and most recently got Amarra 3.0. I am hard pressed to "hear" differences between playback on these various players. However, the user interfaces are vastly different. Some I find much easier to operate than others. For instance, I have difficulty with the logic and features of JRiver even though it's a lot of people's favorite player. By cobntrast I find Pure Music and BitPerfect really easy to use. I was getting dropouts with BitPerfect and discovered it was my DAC. I only just purchased Amarra so can't yet tell if I will find the GUI easy or crazy. I do like the JRiver Remote app better than using the iTunes remote app which you have to use to control Pure Music or BitPerfect from your iPad or iPhone device. Amarra recommended I try Splashtop to use as a remote app with that player, so I am trying that out as well. For me, the easiest and best user interface is iPeng controlling Logitech Media Server for my Squeezeboxes. There is no other remote app that offers the functionality and ease of use of this one, but it only works with Squeezebox which Logitech has discontinued. Luckily mine are all still functioning so I still have that option at least for a while.

I've found Audirvana to provide the best detail from my iMac and it
integrates seemlessly with iTunes.

Better details and dynamics than Bitperfect without the cost of Amarra.

Never tried Pure Music, so can offer no opinion on that front

Regards

Does Bitperfect sounds better than Amarra? Only for Mac?

Hi, Just a question on BitPerfect in general: does BitPerfect remain local to the laptop, or do I also receive the improvement if I sync music files to my Apple TV server?

Thanks inadvance

Loud blasts of static should not be occurring. No way that your older Mac mini is to blame for this.

You should definitely try A+. I considered the cost of the license to be one of the best investments I made in digital audio. Not only did the sound improve relative to PM, A+ is also more stable and predictable.

Wow bitperfect I just purchased, I own amarra trial before and pure music,
This is at another level of details, wow, wow.
For 9 dollars. no kidding!!!!!

My system
Luxman 550 A2
Harbeth compact 7es3
Rega HD11 DAC
Cables AZ hologram
IC Nordost LS RD
Format AIFF
iTunes via Mac book pro 2007

I love BitPerfect. It's so cheap but does so much.

A+ sounds a tad better and does DSD but if you didn't need DSD, I'd save my money and just use BP.

Amarra is my go to app if the software doesn't support INT/Direct mode on A+.

Thanks, folks. Kenny, not sure how much time I'll devote to Pure Music at this point. With the last version update, my 5 year old Mini evidently has borderline capability of running PM and iTunes without having loud blasts of static take place concurrent with CPU activity spikes. And when I say loud....I'm lucky the speakers survived intact. Went back to the prior version of PM w/o problem, and decided to look around to see what was available. Easy enough to change the upsampling, I suppose. I'll also take a look at the Audirvana Plus.

Another Audirvana+ user here. In a word...transparent.

Try defeating upsampling in Pure Music just to see if it has any effect on the muffled sound you've been hearing. Though there were many positives from upsampling in PM, this seemed like one drawback. But a friend did not hear the same thing in his system, so YMMV.

Automatic sample rate switching is a MUST HAVE if one owns music in multiple sample rates.

I have not used either PM nor BitPerfect in well over a year. I made the switch to Audirvana Plus (A+) and have not felt any desire to return to the others. You may want to try A+ as well. There's a 15 day trial.