Best Windows music playback app

MusicBee is my player of choice for rock/pop/jazz. The Midnight Blue skin is my choice. I use Media Monkey to play my classical and opera collection. It's set up pretty much the same as MusicBee. I keep both players active on my music server laptop as I go back and forth between various types of music.
 
JoeESP9 has reminded me to retry MusicBee. I really liked what I found with that program, but it had some weird interaction with my Meridian Direct DAC, and so I sorta forgot about it.
 
I can only report on the DAC's I've tried with MusicBee, Media Monkey, JRiver Jukebox, Foobar and Tune Browser. I've also tried some other players. However, for one reason or another I completely rejected them. Please note, I'm very into free.

I like the JRiver interface but I don't like the way it handles compilations. Foobar IMO has an interface that could be called agricultural. MusicBee and Media Monkey are more alike than not. Tune Browser has a very different interface. However, the free version will only handle 500 files max. I'm considering buying the very reasonably priced full version.

The DAC's I've tried include, a HiFiMe DIY Sabre DAC, a Behringer UCA-222, a Topping D-10 and an Emotiva XDA-2. All four DAC's have worked perfectly regardless of the player or PC that I've tried them with.
 
<snip> I like the JRiver interface but I don't like the way it handles compilations. Foobar IMO has an interface that could be called agricultural. <snip>

Foobar2K interface = agricultural. Still laughing, that's just too perfect. I always thought of it as austere but functional. The Foobar2K interface is highly configurable with add-ons. Not necessarily intuitive, though.

I created a 5-pane screen layout for it years ago (3 computers ago) which I really liked. Three interactive library search panes: by genre, artist name, and album title. A tabbed playlist pane, and a current selection album/track info/cover art pane. Darned if I can remember how I did it, or what layout plug-in I used. :dunno:

I just set up a new(er) computer recently, so I did a fresh Foobar install. Then, after giving up on configuring an interface I liked, copied over "everything Foobar" from an old backup (Program Files and User/Application Data Foobar folders). Updated the executables, and voila, I had my favorite screen layout back. Happy again.

Now, I run Foobar under WINE, in PCLinuxOS, where it plays very nicely. I downloaded MusicBee once and tried it, but it doesn't (play nicely) under WINE. Too many .NET shenanigans. These days, I'll only boot Windows under extreme duress, and with much "weeping and gnashing of teeth". Not trying to start a stupid Windows/Linux bashing thing, that's beyond unproductive. Just explaining the work environment and my preference. We work with what we're comfortable with.:thumbsup:
 
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Winamp,with Foobar2000 a close second (for me)by a hair.....
UoUiiQh.jpg
 
Resurrecting my old thread with some new questions. First some context - At work, I have a Windows 7 PC with a flash drive containing over 2500 songs most of which are in Apple Lossless format. I have an external USB Soundblaster Omni soundcard, and from it is an optical cable which goes into an AV receiver for DAC and preamp duties. I have an outboard amp supplying a feed to two small speakers, and from the receiver an RCA cable to a powered sub.

I have tried MusicBee, Kodi, J-River, iTunes, Foobar with WASAPI as suggested earlier in this thread and have found each program has its own sonic character it imposes on the music. My question is, is there a program that simply takes each digital file and pushes it out, in the order I designate, to the receivers DAC without any alteration/coloration/algorithms...etc.? Just a straight stream transfer of the 1's & 0's and nothing else?
 
Resurrecting my old thread with some new questions. First some context - At work, I have a Windows 7 PC with a flash drive containing over 2500 songs most of which are in Apple Lossless format. I have an external USB Soundblaster Omni soundcard, and from it is an optical cable which goes into an AV receiver for DAC and preamp duties. I have an outboard amp supplying a feed to two small speakers, and from the receiver an RCA cable to a powered sub.

I have tried MusicBee, Kodi, J-River, iTunes, Foobar with WASAPI as suggested earlier in this thread and have found each program has its own sonic character it imposes on the music. My question is, is there a program that simply takes each digital file and pushes it out, in the order I designate, to the receivers DAC without any alteration/coloration/algorithms...etc.? Just a straight stream transfer of the 1's & 0's and nothing else?
https://resonic.at/
 
I've tried Hysolid. It's not especially intuitive. The free version of Tune Browser only does a maximum of 500 files. However, IMO it's worth considering because it has DSD capability from install. There is no need to add plugins for WASAPI or DSD. The pay version is IMO very reasonably priced. I like Tune Browser enough that I'm considering purchasing the full version.

Like others I've noticed that all the players sound slightly different. A direct AB comparison makes the differences easy to hear. I have no idea which is "right" as I'm playing files from my NAS HDD. None of them sound bad, only different.

Of course, all of my DAC's also sound different from each other.

I've downloaded resonic and will give it a listen.
 
I've never had any problems with any music player I've tried. I've even tried Virtual DJ which is great if you're doing the DJ thing. As I've posted before, I don't like the way JRiver handles compilations. Daphile is out for me as I need something that runs under Win10.
 
I downloaded the free version of Tune Browser, pointed it at the folder containing all 2700+ songs, it shows all of them and I am able to play any/all of them.
 
I finally decided to give Musicbee a try. So far I am very pleased with it. I made changes in settings to get the best sound output I can. Hopefully I didn't miss anything.
 
Something has been brought up in this thread that has me confused. It has to do with avoiding Direct Sound on a Windows machine. In the past, I have read about setting the volume control to 100% to avoid it and take advantage of WASAPI. However, what I've read was never quite clear as to whether the volume setting being talked about was the Windows volume control setting - or = the volume control setting of the program (MusicBee, MediaMonkey, Itunes or whatever).

So, can someone chime in with a bit of clarity about this for me? Are you setting Windows volume to 100%, or (for example) MusicBee's volume to 100%?
 
Something has been brought up in this thread that has me confused. It has to do with avoiding Direct Sound on a Windows machine. In the past, I have read about setting the volume control to 100% to avoid it and take advantage of WASAPI. However, what I've read was never quite clear as to whether the volume setting being talked about was the Windows volume control setting - or = the volume control setting of the program (MusicBee, MediaMonkey, Itunes or whatever).

So, can someone chime in with a bit of clarity about this for me? Are you setting Windows volume to 100%, or (for example) MusicBee's volume to 100%?
I have both Musicbee and Windows volume levels set to 100%. Why? Because I was told (read) that it's better to control the volume with your receiver. Something to do with the digital attenuation degrading the sound. :dunno:
 
I have both Musicbee and Windows volume levels set to 100%. Why? Because I was told (read) that it's better to control the volume with your receiver. Something to do with the digital attenuation degrading the sound. :dunno:

Oh, I should have clarified. When I listen using the laptop I am using it with headphones. Otherwise, my stereo has a USB slot that I plug a drive into for sharing the listening when people are visiting. Sorry about that.

Ha! I just tried the laptop with Windows' volume control at 100% and to avoid blowing my ears off I had to set MusicBee's volume slider at about 1-2%. Setting the MusicBee control to 100% I can set the Windows' volume control to about 26% without pain.

I'll have to wait until my ears stop bleeding to tell you if there was a difference in sound quality. Anyone got any aspirin? HA! Just kidding.
 
Winamp,with Foobar2000 a close second (for me)by a hair.....
UoUiiQh.jpg

OMG I can't believe I had to dig 47 posts in until I found a WinAmp recommendation! LOL

Yes, WinAmp, the mp3 player left over from the 90s (I'm still using the 2013 last signed version, but I see there's a 2018 v5.8 out IDK if it's legit though). The 'vintage' media player! :D

I've been using WinAmp for over 20 years, and there's still just so much more I know it can do that I've never even jumped into with all its available plug-ins. It is still the best I've used, I'm currently listening to streaming radio with it right now but I have my whole digital collection installed, most of which are Apple Lossless CD rips, and it handles them perfectly. It also plays nicely with my Creative SB XFi-HD external DAC/soundcard.

But yeah, this is what I'd recommend as a music player in a Windows environment. You can get the v5.666 version at download.com.
 
OMG I can't believe I had to dig 47 posts in until I found a WinAmp recommendation! LOL

Yes, WinAmp, the mp3 player left over from the 90s (I'm still using the 2013 last signed version, but I see there's a 2018 v5.8 out IDK if it's legit though). The 'vintage' media player! :D

I've been using WinAmp for over 20 years, and there's still just so much more I know it can do that I've never even jumped into with all its available plug-ins. It is still the best I've used, I'm currently listening to streaming radio with it right now but I have my whole digital collection installed, most of which are Apple Lossless CD rips, and it handles them perfectly. It also plays nicely with my Creative SB XFi-HD external DAC/soundcard.

But yeah, this is what I'd recommend as a music player in a Windows environment. You can get the v5.666 version at download.com.
It's Legit :thumbsup:
 
It's Legit :thumbsup:

Thanks for verifying dude, I just downloaded it. :D

I'm a little hesitant to install because my WinAmp is set up *exactly* the way I want it, and I don't want an upgrade changing stuff around since it already works perfectly on my system. I'll have to ease into that once I make a backup of the system.
 
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