Jriver 17 vs 23

I have jriver 17 is it worth to upgrade to 23?
Any sonic benefits?

 

There have been some audio improvements along the way. Things like better DSD support and DSD to PCM conversion support. Better WASAPI support. Support for using SoX as a resampler (SoX sounds better to me than the old resampler). And others. And also just general bug fixes that result in the program itself being more stable and better behaved.

Here's what's new for version 18: New Features in MC18
and version 19: New Features in MC19
and version 20: New Features in MC20
and version 21: New Features in MC21
and version 22: New Features in MC22
and version 23: New in JRiver MC23

If you buy an upgrade now you'll end up with an upgrade to version 24 and can buy it at a pre-order pre-release sale price.

 

Thanks!
I look forward to getting it.

 

The audio dithering is also slightly better. All in all ver. 23 is an evolutionary improvement over 17. You won't notice much changes in the user interface.

Things are different if you are also a videophile because a lot of improvement was done there.

 

I’m trying 23 now.a lot of new features but the sound is the same to me.im really not sure what the SoX Resampling is but checked it.

 

I purchased JRiver for DSD support at version 18/19. It's no better than Fubar2000 for this, but JRiver's interface for playing is great.

I don't know if the Gizmo app for tablets/phones works on MC17, but if it doesn't, this alone is worth the upgrade, especially if you have an old tablet that you can dedicate as a remote control for JRiver. The Gizmo app allows you to not even mess with the TV if you just want to play music. Not as useful for video, but not entirely useless.

 

Since 17 I have been using my phone as a player or remote.jriver rocks!and I opened up a port on my computer so I can take my tunes any where lossless.but just for sound wise 23 doesn’t sound any better so will probably hold off till something really big upgrades.

 

The different versions are going to sound the same. JRiver Media Center plays the audio bit-perfect. It's not adding or subtracting anything for regular playback. Expecting new versions to sound better than version 17 is like expecting different CD transports to sound different.

SoX does resampling. If you have JRiver configured to upsample or downsample the audio the new versions allow you to choose to have SoX do the resampling rather than the standard resampler. Different resamplers can sound different from each other. Some can sound better than others. SoX is one that sounds good. The resampler also gets used if you do DSD to PCM conversion.

The main improvements that may affect the sound quality or reliability are the SoX resampler, better WASAPI driver support, better DSD support and DSD to PCM conversions, and general bug fixes that help the program operate better.

Version 17 is about 5 years old now. I'd think it would be worthwhile to upgrade just to get the bug fixes and feature fixes that have happened over those 5 years.

 

Thanks for the details.you are probably right and just get the cheap upgrade.its not like it’s a thousand dollars.

 

AFAIK JRiver handles audio internally as 24bit. IIRC, this is mostly to provide a better control over volume and DSP manipulations. It means that the audio is up-sampled first to 24 bit (that's never been an issue because they are just padding it with 0) and then down-sampled back to the original stream bit depth through a process called dithering. More recent versions of JRiver support the TPDF dithering algorithm, which some says is better than the standard dithering algorithm.
You can read more about this feature here: A different kind of dithering?

Volume leveling should also be better. I think that starting from 21, JRiver use the R128 standard for analyzing dynamic range and doing volume leveling.

But as @Ham Sandwich previously noted, these are evolutionary and incremental improvements, the current version is more stable, less buggy and more compatible with Windows 10 and newer Mac OS versions.

 

Thank you for the details also.ill look at the dithering part ASAP

 

Version 24 is up for pre-order and will be released shortly. Do you know if you'll get a free upgrade to 24 if your purchase 23 now? May be worth just waiting a month or so otherwise.

Upgrade Help for MC24

 

I thought it was 64 bit.

 

I believe that you are correct and that I made a mistake. The internal processes in JRiver are 64 and not 24bit.

 

It is clearly stated that the licences bought today are for version 24 and that they will work also with the current 23 version.

 

Do you guys think it’s worth to upsample my 44.1khz files to 96khz?
I may try it in 23 tonight.some say it’s not worth it some say it is.its not like there is information there.

 

Generally there is no benefit to upsampling 44.1 to higher sampling rates unless you have a NOS (non oversampling) DAC. But it all depends on your particular DAC. Some DACs may sound better if you upsample 44.1 to higher, some won't. Most DACs oversample internally to higher sampling rates.

I use resampling when playing DSD. My main DAC is PCM only. In order for me to play a DSD file I need to have JRiver convert it to PCM. And that involves resampling.

I also have a DAC that sounds better at 88.2 and 96 than it does at 176.4 and 192. When I'm using that DAC I have JRiver configured to resample any 176.4 or 192 source down to 88.2 or 96.

Being able to resample using SoX does come in useful for certain situations.

 

You haven't given any indication on exactly what you are currently using to listen to Media Center.

And upsampling from 44.1 is pointless - unless listening to a batch of extra digital 0's is going to make the listening experience better.

VP

 

I’m using a hrt music streamer 2 as my dac

I checked marked the Sox and am upsampling to 96khz.at the moment I put on saving the day of the ghostbusters soundtrack and heard something new hidden in the sound.
I swear I never heard it before.and the soundstage got deeper.
I don’t think it’s in my head.right now I’m letting the amp warm up.

 

Upsampling or downsampling can affect the sense of imaging depth. Resampling involves digital filtering and the type and quality of those digital filters can affect the sound quality and imaging depth. Linear phase filtering sounds different than minimum phase filtering. Resamplers that are based on linear phase will sound different than resamplers based on minimum phase. DACs based on linear phase will sound different than DACs based on minimum phase. It all factors in. If you get a chance to try a DAC that has multiple filter options of different types (like linear phase and minimum phase) you'll get to hear how different types of filters can sound slightly different.

The SoX settings that JRiver uses is a linear phase very high quality setting. Your HRT Streamer is likely using linear phase filtering (the Streamer HD is linear phase). If you're hearing an improvement in imaging depth with SoX it is likely because SoX is doing better linear phase resampling than the oversampling that the DAC is doing.

 

I’ve let my amp warm up and right now it’s amazing!
Thanks everyone!
The soundstage is incredible!
It’s deeper and way more space around the instruments.so incredible I wanna listen to me cds all over again!

 

Like steeley dan Gaucho the cymbals had a harshness now they sound more brassy.
I’m so ****ing

 

Thanks everyone I love this forum so much!

 

This SoX resampler is so awesome wow!
The soundstage is deeper and more black.the cymbals crisper
Instruments are WAY more separated the mids are crisper and pop out more

 

Awesome!
It's difficult to predict how upsampling like that will sound with a particular DAC till you try. A lot depends on the design of the particular DAC. Looks like the linear phase SoX upsampling has good synergy with the SRG Streamer DAC.