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

Add BitPerfect to your iTunes.

Cheap. Bypasses Apple core audio. Sends precise rates to your DAC. Can expand to DSD. Sounds great. iTunes cataloging is maintained. All good.

My 2-ch rig has never sounded or worked better.

http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com

 

Currently iTunes + BitPerfect but I'm going to check out Roon.

 

Has it always bypassed Core Audio? I used BitPerfect before Audirvana, and I could swear there was a difference in sound. But, y'know, could be confirmation bias and all that.

 

You mean there's something besides iTunes? It seems to work for me.

 

I can't claim any expertise on BP history or technology. But because of the iFi Nano DAC I use, I do get a visual confirmation of the various sampling rates.

As far as the sound goes, I can only attribute that to the DAC itself, as it outperformed an old-but-good EAD DAC even before I installed BP. I haven't done a with-BP / without-BP comparison directly to that DAC. And I don't intend to. That it sounded discernibly better – on a budget – is good enough for me. I admit I'm assuming that sending a precise rate to a DAC (that can discriminate it) will at least do no harm, if not sound a little better.

Tried Audirvana, PureMusic (avoid!) and HQ Player. Each has something about it I don't like (mostly library management). Even BP stalls once in a great while, but the fairly idiot-proof iTunes library works as usual. Until it doesn't. If it becomes so bloated it can't perform the basic task of filing / playing media, I'll get something else.

 

Roon + Tidal will change the way you listen to and explore music. The price is more than many of the options mentioned in this thread but is next to nothing by audiophile hardware standards. I've used iTunes, J River, Amarra, foobar, Pure Music, VLC and others I'm sure I've forgotten about. If you have a newer ipad, the Roon remote is excellent ws well.

 

FLAC to ALAC with XLD

iTunes

 

What is it you mean about JRIver and "Windows-over-to-Mac port"? I know there is now a Master License that can be bought that will allow you access to each version (Windows/Mac/Linux) but they are separate softwares. You couldn't ever transfer a Windows JRiver license for use to a Mac or vice versa. I may be misunderstanding your meaning though. JRiver is certainly more comprehensive than iTunes and probably has a larger learning curve but it is a very robust tool.

 

iTunes and BitPerfect

 

Same here. Highly recommended.

 

I meant it's clearly a Windows app (somewhat awkwardly) ported to Mac, not written natively for Mac OS from the ground up. Nothing to do with licenses. It's incredibly robust, but also can't run on my Mini without locking up. MediaMonkey is really the only thing I miss terribly about having a Windows PC. Still the best music software I've ever used, by a mile.

 

One thing cool (or cluttering) is that the Pono app opens a queue for about every audio device it can find on your network. As such you can send tracks to your Airplay devices, and IIRC your Sonos devices from the one window. It's kinda confusing until you get a grasp of it, then it's kinda cool - but it does clutter up the main interface a lot. Of course there are other views available as well.

 

Came in the mail today. Rocketfish brand, found new for 6$.

Immediately, the volume is 4-5x louder, much more gain, bypasses the ipods output??

Jamming loudness's 2012 album, it sounds amazing. Why is it so much louder?

 

iTunes. For FLAC I use VLC.

 

That looks interesting.

 

Is BitPerfect just for Apple computers, (and not Windows?)

 

Gotcha and I agree. I wish they made the Mac version more Mac-like but from dismissive responses on inquiries on their forum I don't expect improvements in that area. I still like the product.

 

Mainly iTunes + bit perfect

I also have Fidelia which I got for their excellent headphone options and JRiver which is on a Windows partition via VMware fusion, but I rarely use it.

Since Roon will have trials without requiring a credit card in the near future ( I already have a code that will bypass the credit card), I am going to give it a try. However, it would have to be super impressive with my own library ( I have no intentions to go back to Tidal) to justify the subscription price. I am still curious about it, though.

 

If it was more reasonably priced, I'd be okay with some of its issues, but for $60 or whatever it is, I expect it to never crash, ever, even with a large library. I'm not home all that much anyway these days, so Swinsian is working for me, but I do miss being able to control music with an iOS remote.

 

Yes, it’s available only for Mac OS X.

 

The line-level output is full volume. You may have had the volume limit at less than 100% when you were using the headphone jack, or EQ enabled.

 

Audirvana Plus for flac files and Amarra for Tidal streaming.

 

Audirvana Plus

 

Audirvana Plus here as well. I also use an iPad app called VPN Connect to remotely control the Macbook-based part of my system.

 

Clementine