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

As much as I know BitPerfect is designed to work only as an add-on for Apple iTunes, but no other of the “audiophile” playback software.

 

I see, and you’re right, the automatic switching to the native, matching sampling rate and bit depth for individual audio files is the most important key feature of BitPerfect. However, since my whole library contains exclusively 16 bit/44.1 kHz ALAC files, BitPerfect isn’t that important for me. It’s cheap, not intrusive and may make one feel better while using it ;-)

It also does not support wirelessly streaming to different AirPlay/Airport Express stations. I use three of these playback locations in my home, so I rarely have any use for BitPerfect.

 

I agree with you. If you have only redbook files and you do a lot of AirPlay streaming, then BitPerfect is of no real use.

 

I've used Pure Music for awhile and it seems that the latest updates to ElCapitan and iTunes have fubared it pretty well. It seems to lock to the higher bit rate and pause and I can never seem to get it to play.

Channel D's software is the most frustrating I have used on the Mac. It is easy to see where they have some really great tools, but implementation is a mess. I got Pure Music as part of Pure Vinyl, as either was overpriced, but I figured the bundle made it more palatable, but needle drops with Pure Vinyl are an example of reading glowing reviews in the audiophile press, then pulling your hair out with the UI. I am sure some programmer is incredibly proud of the spinning record gui element, but it's the worst visual tool ever created for editing music!

Ok rant over....

 

Audioengine 5+ speakers and a Schiit stack will get you there.

 

Yep.

 

Audirvana Plus

 

I have the Schiit Modi DAC in my kitchen office set up. It's a good sounding DAC. It just uses USB though.

Chad

 

Thanks. She was going to get Audioengine speakers, but I was looking for a speaker WITH a dac.

 

I'm on Roon lately (mixed my stored FLAC files with a Tidal subscription).

You might want to take a look at Tomahawk though.

 

Whoops, just noticed they do come with an internal dac.
Thanks for the suggestion again.

 

You can play FLAC with Windows Media Player if you upgrade the codecs. Been doing this for a while on my MS Surface Pro.

 

Just switched to iTunes 12 the other day. I'm still alive, the collection is still intact, and it sounds fine to me.

 

Didn't you have issues with iTunes in the past due to the size of your collection or am I mistaken?

 

I did prior to about iTunes 10. I was reluctant to switch over to 12 because there's been thousands of complaints about it since the summer, but decided since it was the end of the year... what the hell. No catastrophes yet.

 

My library isn't near your size, 23,000+ songs, but I've used iTunes since the beginning "as intended" and it has worked very well for me. What I mean by "as intended" is that I have always allowed iTunes to organize my files and library. I have used iTunes with that structure. I have used iTunes with Pure Music and Audirvana in integrated mode with that file structure. I use Audivrana in standalone mode with that file structure. I use Sonos with that same file structure. I mostly operate my library with JR Media Center for Mac now using that same iTunes managed file structure and it has essentially worked great for me. Everything is pointed at the exact same file structure and I have no issues with missing files, bad metadata, wrong art etc. The structure of my library may be such that I don't have the complexity others may have that might generate issues. Again I use iTunes to manage folders/files. I do not create my own structure. I do not have Various Artists selection that seems to generate metadata problems as compilations. I have minimal classical music selections where the metadata some may understandably require can be quite complicated and iTunes does have its limitations in this area. All of my art has been manually embedded in my AIFF files and save for the first time I transferred the library to A new HDD AND "lost" about twenty artwork (I've lost none in two subsequent HDD moves) it's been rock solid for me. And last the size of my library is large at 23k files but not as substantial as those who manage 50k, 100k or larger libraries. I cannot have direct knowledge of why some people have had such issues and disdain for iTunes but it's my general opinion that a great deal may been contributed to lack of knowledge of how to properly use the tool or a personal choice that they want to do things their way where iTunes may not accommodate those choices. It seems to me softwares are designed to work within certain parameters and attempts to work outside that design could very well lead to frustration and failure. The more I learned about how it works and worked within those confines the better it worked for my needs.

 

There's a Beta available with embedded Qobuz support. Great for Sublime subscriptions. Streams the hi-res versions if you've bought them. Sounds amazing

 

Same here. I have almost 100,000 songs and it seems much more stable and responsive than it was around two years ago. Plays well and sounds great via AirPlay to my stereo. I still feel the interface could be a bit simpler line the old days but I have finally mastered it

 

Me too either.

I'm on 12.3.2 also with no apparent issues. But like mwheelerk above, I deliberately detach from all convenience and syncing abilities. And you do have to bird-dog iTunes settings, esp when updating OS, to ensure that detachment. That effort runs counter to the whole point of the Apple ecosystem, but music/audio enthusiasts are always the exception.

ALAC > iTunes > BitPerfect > iFi Nano > elderly audio system. Music has never sounded better here.

 

For those of you who have had good luck with recent versions of iTunes, I wonder if you'd be willing to share your thoughts.

I'm way back on 10.6.3 with about 58 Gigs of music, mainly ripped CDs (MPB OS 10.7.5--I'm a "late bloomer" for sure). I have been spooked about updating by the many horror stories that were circulating recently: specifically libraries, metadata and artwork being mangled beyond recognition. I'm also rather unsophisticated in my knowledge of the inner workings of iTunes (and most things technical). My sitch: My library is almost entirely classical, all tagged manually using my own somewhat unusual methodology. All artwork has also been added manually. Do you think everything will come through intact when I finally get my butt in gear and do some upgrading to the current version? Thanks for any thoughts you may be able to share.
-Bob

 

In the most general terms...

The best thing you can do is to back up your collection to at least one (preferably 2 or 3) external hard drives. Your very best protection from iTunes "interference."

The somewhat more difficult thing to do is to go through ALL iTunes preferences and disable options that enable connectivity and syncing – unless you have need for those things. If you don't need iCloud, disable it. If you use a mobile device, arrange for manual loading.

I couldn't tell you the specific items to check for; I simply went through all preferences and disabled what looked like links to The Outside World. This doesn't work for everybody,as the whole point of OS X and iOS IS connectivity and convenience. But if your focus is maintaining a custom music library, try to detach.

58GB suggests a comparatively small collection (unless you've ripped to MP3, in which case re-rip 'em all to lossless). So you can keep it on your internal HDD in the iTunes folder – but STILL, back up! If your collection gets significantly bigger, change the destination disk for your music to an external drive.

Yes, it's complicated.

 

Depends on you Mac. My two iMacs are one and four years old. I used the older one for music and I now use El Capitan the latest OS.

Not sure of the tagging but cover art should be fine. I'm not a sticky about all that though. I have a large LP and cd collection so my 2 TB of music is only for listening pleasure. The technical archiving does interest me.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, gdO and Mazzy. Just for the record, I am fully backed up, and my files are ALAC. To be clear, rather than upgrading iTunes on my current MacBook Pro, the upgrade will probably take place when I buy a new MacBook Pro with current software and transfer everything on my hard drive. Just hoping I can get to iTunes preferences, etc. quickly after the transfer so I can defeat every automatic thing I can think of ! Thanks again.
-Bob

 

I agree 100%. Way too often, when Apple tries to "simplify" something, what they wind up doing is removing features, altering the user interface in a non-intuitive way, moving important modes and burying them under several layers of menus, and then breaking a few things that used to work flawlessly.

 

My problem with that is that they store music files only by title, and I want the files to reflect Artist Name - Song Title (and sometimes with a version after the title). I can only do this with custom ripping software like dBPowerAmp. I'm also demanding enough to want a bit-accurate rip, and I can only get that with an AccurateRip engine like dBP. Now that dBP is available for Mac, that's the first thing I grab when I need to rip and organize CDs.

Most of the serious collectors over on the iLounge Forum also agree that it's very difficult to get by with a really huge collection unless you invest in a bunch of 3rd-party utilities. If I didn't have dBP, Tag & Rename, Better Finder Renamer, and file recovery programs, I couldn't deal with iTunes at all.