Mac users: What program do you use for music playback?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by JustinBond, Dec 6, 2015.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. JustinBond

    JustinBond Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Looking for an alternative to iTunes, ideally something that plays flac files. I've had VOX for a while but it's always been slow and clunky with what I think is a poor UI, and with the last update it won't even open anymore. I liked using Winamp back in the day.

    What do you use?
     
  2. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    JRiver
     
    johnny q, BayouTiger and JorgeGvb like this.
  3. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    VLC when I'm lazy and need something all purpose. Amadeus Pro when I'm dubbing and need something higher resolution, Toast when it's a CD, I have a copy of VinylStudio but haven't used in it awhile...thought
    Amadeus Pro sounded better...
     
    AcidPunk15 likes this.
  4. SoporJoe

    SoporJoe Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    I used to use iTunes with Fluke to play FLAC.

    I don't really use FLAC much anymore, but I usually use VLC these days.
     
  5. JustinBond

    JustinBond Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Can VLC show artwork? I use VLC a lot for movie watching but I've never used it for music.
     
  6. bibijeebies

    bibijeebies vinyl hairline spotter

    Location:
    Amstelveen (NL)
    I use VLC exclusively, mostly play FLAC files.
     
  7. Dr. Mudd

    Dr. Mudd Audient

    Decibel
     
    Stone Turntable and Gaslight like this.
  8. ash1

    ash1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    bristol uk
    vlc
     
    fluffskul likes this.
  9. ex_mixer

    ex_mixer Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    GP likes this.
  10. tgdinamo

    tgdinamo Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Amarra, Audirvana Plus, and VOX - all sound great but I suggest try VOX first because its free
     
    doctor fuse and BuddhaBob like this.
  11. JustinBond

    JustinBond Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    This looks interesting. What do you like/dislike about it?

    Check my original post. VOX doesn't work on my machine any more for some reason.
     
  12. pathosdrama

    pathosdrama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Firenze, Italy
    Swinsian
     
    Hendertuckie and Mike McMann like this.
  13. Galley

    Galley Forum Resident

    I haven't tried it, but I hear it's good.
     
  14. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    I just convert FLAC to ALAC and use iTunes.

    edit...I use XLD to do the conversion.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2015
  15. GP

    GP Senior Member

    Location:
    Lynbrook, NY
    I'm always (at least) a few steps behind in the audio race, and I'm still using an older Mac and an older version of Fidelia, which I found I liked marginally better than Audirvana Plus and Pure Music with my particular firewire interface. Haven't heard Amarra yet but I'm glad it's not the only game in town. The bucks are tight, ya know.
     
  16. Socrates

    Socrates Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    Unfortunately I use iTunes....
     
    Gary7704, wavertonwood and Linto like this.
  17. ad180

    ad180 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Clementine
     
    The7thStranger likes this.
  18. wwaldmanfan

    wwaldmanfan Born In The 50's

    Location:
    NJ
    I have purchased Audirvana Plus, HQPlayer, Decibel, and BitPerfect. I have also demo'ed Amarra, Pure Music, and JRMC for Mac.
    Audirvana Plus is the best one for me.
     
    AmosM, joannenugent and shirleyujest like this.
  19. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    Toast 12 Titanium
     
    joannenugent likes this.
  20. Bathory

    Bathory 30 yr Single Malt, not just for breakfast anymore

    Location:
    usa
    We use Apple withitunes, play music and stuff.

    I made a huge mistake past 5 years, ripped my entire cd collection at AAC , now I get fairly poor playback to my reference stereo. Am I totally fuc*ed? Do I have to re-rip ALL my cd's again in lossless?
     
  21. wwaldmanfan

    wwaldmanfan Born In The 50's

    Location:
    NJ
    Yes, and then make a couple of backups on external media after you get all the metadata tags and cover art sorted out.
     
    Geordie777 likes this.
  22. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    WavePad Masters Edition by NCH Software
     
  23. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    About 85% of my playback is from JRiver, 10% from iTunes via my Apple TV and the other 5% via Sonos.
     
  24. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    I'm sorry to say if you want to really gain anything in listening enjoyment you will have to re-rip your library to a lossless format like ALAC or FLAC or an uncompressed format like AIFF or WAV.
     
  25. Jason Manley

    Jason Manley Senior Member

    Location:
    O-H-I-O
    iTunes, works great for me. Also, I use Apple Lossless encoding on my files.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine