Best Windows music playback app

CraigVMN

Super Member
I ripped all my CD's to my Windows 10 PC using iTunes lossless format. Today I got a nice used pair of speakers and wanted to test them out with some music. I cued up some tunes in iTunes - and was less than impressed. I played the same file through Foobar, and it sounded very different. I then tried Windows media player, and again it sounded different. Hollow, muted, compressed, lack of frequency response, no dynamics, recessed mids & highs, distortion...each had a mixed bag of demerits.

Is there a way to get an unaltered digital signal from my PC over HDMI to my receiver? I made sure all "enhancements" were turned off in each app, and set my receiver (Pioneer Elite) to Pure Direct mode.
 
Biggest improvements can come by leaving the Windows volume control at 100% and using the WASAPI sound handler in your media player. Also set your player's resolution to match that of your DAC or PC card. You might also need to play with your latency settings, which should also be available in the player's setup ...

** Windows will try using Direct Sound (which is crap) even if you have the player set to use WASAPI if the volume control isn't set to 100%.
 
Biggest improvements can come by leaving the Windows volume control at 100% and using the WASAPI sound handler in your media player. Also set your player's resolution to match that of your DAC or PC card. You might also need to play with your latency settings, which should also be available in the player's setup ...

** Windows will try using Direct Sound (which is crap) even if you have the player set to use WASAPI if the volume control isn't set to 100%.

Thank you for that, it did make an improvement, but now I have a different issue - no stereo. I am using the HDMI output from an Nvidia GTX 1070 video card which also does audio feeding into my receiver. I played a coupple songs but something was off, so I queued up the Beatles Hey Bulldog which I know has a strong left/right configuration with vocals in one channel and music in the other. However, all the sound was coming out of both speakers.
 
Get yourself an inexpensive DAC such as the S.M.S.L Sanskrit PRO-B and upsample to DSD using JRIVER. You'll see a significant improvement over using HDMI audio ;)

Maybe not the S.M.S.L actually.... It's a real bugger getting the drivers installed. Though it's the best sounding cheap DAC I've come across.
 
I thought digital is digital - An unaltered digital signal sent to a device (in my case the receiver) to be decoded.

Get yourself an inexpensive DAC such as the S.M.S.L Sanskrit PRO-B and upsample to DSD using JRIVER. You'll see a significant improvement over using HDMI audio ;)

Maybe not the S.M.S.L actually.... It's a real bugger getting the drivers installed. Though it's the best sounding cheap DAC I've come across.

My receiver is a networking device, and in Windows 10 I have the option to "cast" a song to the receiver via my home network via DLNA. Doing this, I have normal stereo playback, and good sounding audio. Setting up a playlist is proving to be tricky.
 
Just use the media centre PC to stream to it using JRIVER then, and JRemote to control from your mobile phone. It's easily done.

I've never found decent sound in an AVR though.
 
Try ripping a CD in native format and playing it to see where the distortion is coming from. And try to play the CD via the PC optical drive...it really should sound just like CD player to AVR (assuming you do not have super-audiophile hearing that can hear differences in cables/wires).

I added a cheap ($20?) audio card with a digital (coax) output to my AVR (analog to PC desktop speakers in another room) and run Foobar. Control by HP media center remote (obsolete) or wireless mini-keyboard with built-in trackball mouse. CDs were ripped to FLAC format. Works for me.

Good luck!
 
Yes, digital audio is digital audio, but the decoders used aren't. On board audio tends to suck, and HDMI wastes a lot of resources on a video signal you're not using ...

Closest to free would be something like the Behringer UCA202 or UCA222 ... $30 at Amazon, and a solid plug 'n play option with excellent reviews. It's also an ADC, so you can use it for ripping vinyl and other analog sources. I ripped all my vinyl using one. These top out at 96/24, but I've never really seen the need for more.

If you're hearing mono, you must have fat fingered some down-mixing setting in either your player or computer, or you have a bad cable. I'd check those first ...

And ya ... if you do decide to go with a different player, jRiver is the sh!t. If it can't do it, it don't need to be done.
 
I did use Windows Media Player early on and dropped it pretty quickly due to the poor sound, which was exactly as you described it. I would second the comments here about adopting JRiver. I adopted it in 2012 and used it until late this year when I switched to Roon.

Also I like the recommendation of adding a DAC in the system to decode your music digital files to analog. I've not tried HDMI to transmit the digital signal but I have used different PC based sound cards to transmit via optical to an AVR. Things got a lot better when I started using USB from the NAS (Network Attached Storage device) and shortened the signal path to my pre-amp/processor with a DAC in the system. My path has no phone streaming or DLNA additions and looks like this:

NAS === USB ==> Roon End Point === USB ==> USB Reclocker === USB ==> DAC === Balanced XLR ==> Pre-amp
 
Get yourself an inexpensive DAC such as the S.M.S.L Sanskrit PRO-B and upsample to DSD using JRIVER. You'll see a significant improvement over using HDMI audio ;)

Maybe not the S.M.S.L actually.... It's a real bugger getting the drivers installed. Though it's the best sounding cheap DAC I've come across.
Another vote for JRiver.
 
I downloaded Kodi and gave it a try, and it sounded pretty good (and stereo is back!) So, is there a good & relatively inexpensive USB based DAC?
 
HDMI to AVR should be fine. Just need the right player software. I second JRiver. They have a free trial. Follow the instructions for setting audio output to HDMI using WASAPI in exclusive mode.

Also make sure the AVR is set to 'stereo' or 'direct' mode and not one of the fake surround or enhancement modes.

Also make sure your speakers are wired in phase.
 
For me, that's the S.M.S.L Sanskrit PRO-B. Best sounding cheap DAC I know of. Install the chipset drivers rather than the S.M.S.L drivers. They're on the CD too.
 
HDMI to AVR should be fine. Just need the right player software. I second JRiver. They have a free trial. Follow the instructions for setting audio output to HDMI using WASAPI in exclusive mode.

Also make sure the AVR is set to 'stereo' or 'direct' mode and not one of the fake surround or enhancement modes.

Also make sure your speakers are wired in phase.

If I go JRiver, can I use it on more than one computer?
 
I use a HRT Music Streamer off USB on my work Laptop, and a Meridian Explorer off USB on the main Rig Laptop both at 96K with very solid results. The Meridian is the better of the two though.
Regards,
Jim
 
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