media player for mac.

Have you tried Songbird?

I haven't tried any media players yet but the first I'm going to try is BitPerfect.
It seems to be the least intrusive, retaining the 'look' of iTunes but handles the music end well (check out their blog from the designer).
You can get it directly from the iTunes app store.

If anyone knows why it should be avoided, I'd like to know.

All the best,
Nonoise

decibel, pure music amarra, all which will sound better than iTunes. According to Stereophile, Decibel is the giant killer, for about $40.

PureMusic and Audirvana are a couple of suggestions. PureMusic interfaces with iTunes and Aurivana is a stand alone product. Both are terrific but suit different tastes.

My rough order of preference:

Fidelia -detail and dynamics, get the full version $79
Amarra - just feels good, too pricey
Decibel and Audirvana are tied.
Pure Music- this may rank much higher, honestly it has been awhile on this one. Bit perfect is in the middle somewhere- I haven't spent a lot of time with the newer versions.

Very interesting about Fidelia. I haven't heard of it before. Anybody else have experience with it relative to others?

Thanks, Peter

I use Fidelia, but the cheaper version, ($20). Works fine with a lovely interface. It just uses iTunes as your library but plays and converts if needed without any hiccups.

I also use BitPerfect. Even cheaper, ($5). But you retain the iTunes interface. The only issue with BitPerfect is that it's not Airplay compatible.

Hi Fiedelia is better than itune!

Thanks

I just downloaded BiPerfect and it's.......perfect.
Playing through the Centrance DACmini is kind of a revelation,
of sorts, in a way, whatever.
It's never sounded so good.

It's also the first time I've had tons of visual clues hitting me all at once, continuously, accompanied by some slight shifts in location, tone, etc., like it was righting itself.

Best $5 tweak I've ever done.
This is fun.

hi.

where did you find that bit perfect. I tried goggle but i only find junk website.

THanks

can this fidelia rip cd?

Thanks

The free version of Audirvana sounds fantastic.

http://audirvana.com/

Here is the site for BitPerfect:
http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/

For some reason I can't get it to come up at the iTunes app store.
Just click on 'Purchase' in the main title and it will take you there.
I believe it only works on Macs.

Enjoy

Any of these work with AirPlay?

Bitperfect sounds great. Has anybody tried it on Leopard OS X? I have version 10.5.8. The Mac store says you need Mac version OS X 10.6.6 or later.

It looks like I would need to upgrade my OS from Leopard to Snow Leopard in order to use Bitperfect :(

Erndog,

The Apple Store should have it right when they say you need OS X 10.6.6 or later. You can double check at the designer's link above.

Bpopman,

No, sorry, it doesn't work with AirPlay. But it will respond to my iPod Touch as a remote using the built in AirPlay from my iMac.

And yes, it sounds great. At least to my ears.

All the best,

Nonoise

hi.

in bitperfect, what do you put on you buffer size and upsampliing size?

i'm having weird sound "tick tick tick" sound....
for your info. music steamer ii+
i also check mark on Upsampling powers of 2.

Thanks

Gmahler2u,

I don't select buffer size or upsampling size. I'm under the impression that it's done automatically. If there is a provision for further tweaks, I haven't done any yet.

As for the "tick, tick, tick" sound you are getting, I am a total loss. I believe you should email the designer and ask him. He is very good at responding and should know what to do. Two emails that I sent him were answered within 10 minutes (I must have caught him while at work).

All the best,
Nonoise

Ok.

Tim (designer) told me that uncheck the "Use Maximum device Buffer size" Option.

He was very quick about respond to your email. that was very good

Great to hear!
Its one thing to read his blog and see how he fixed and made adjustments based on feedback from actual users in order to refine his product.
Now this. He is one pro-active designer.

All the best,
nonoise

I tried the trial version of Pure Music for 15 days and now I'm trying the trial version of Decibel. In my system, Decibel wins hands-down. Now I will admit that I might not have tweaked Pure Music as well as I could have, but Decibel clearly improved the music in every way possible. The downside to Decibel is that you have to load tracks into the player before playing them, which takes away much of the spontaneity of playing music from the computer.