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

My policy for ten years or more has been to rip to AIFF and play it back that way, unless I want to pack a shootload of tracks onto my iPhone or somesuch. Storage is cheap and of course I've got three backups including one offsite that I update once a month or so.

 

AIFF or lossless? I forget the options iTunes gives me when asked do u want to install this cd ?

AIFF AAC. MP3 I forget the rest, which is best for playing through my home ref stereo?

I would use my iPods via a 3.5mm jack to rca's into preamp.

I have to go buy a couple new external cd drives for ripping then, they go bad after about 2000 cd's. I get a lout static noise sometimes, like ripping paper or somethings, pain in the as* !!!

Oh boy, rerip 3000 cd's. Joy.

Thank you

 

As someone mentioned, playing Bathory, or the old flotsam & jetsam, metallica, exodus, napalm death early 80's demo material, really won't matter.

And those new scorps high pitch disasters

 

If using iTunes to rip, definitely AIFF w/error correction on. There are better ripping programs for Mac. I recommend XLD (X-Lossless Decoder) which is freeware, or DBpoweramp, which is an inexpensive commercial program.

For playback with your stereo preamp, you will get much better sound quality if you connect via the line-level 30-pin jack on the bottom of the iPod. This bypasses the sound quality-degrading volume control circuitry that connects to the 3.5mm headphone jack. You need an Apple Component Cable to accomplish this. These may be discontinued, but you should be able to find one a used on eBay or Amazon for around $20. There are also 3rd party versions of this cable. It also powers/charges the iPod via AC adapter or USB, as well as connecting to an amp or TV with the RCA plugs for L/R audio and video.
For newer iPods, add the Apple Lightning-to-30 pin adapter plug.

 

I use Amarra. I tried Audirvana+ and BitPerfect. Amarra was the winner hands down.

 

iTunes and Decibel.

 

Right now I'm using Vox to push FLAC files to my Airport Express, which is connected to my Pioneer receiver. I prefer iTunes for large library management, but Vox is like a nice contemporary version of what WinAMP was until after version 2.81 or so.

 

I bought the rockfish for 6$. Just plug into iPod, and rca's to preamp, and all set? I hope......

 

I use Pure Music, i think it sounds great.

 

+1 JRiver best over-all program out there.

 

Amarra and Pure Music 3

 

iTunes and AIFF

 

Hey! I have one of those...got it and never used it. I'll send it to someone for shipping cost to get it out of my storage box.

Anyway, I just use iTunes. I use either iTunes with error correction on or sometimes XLD (a very very handy little transcoding program, to jam FLACs into MP3 to get to an iDevice). But I don't use iTunes often; I don't usually play back my library at home but on the go. Most stuff, I just play the CD at home which is quicker than booting 2TB of iTunes library.

I rip to 224 kbps MP3. MP3 for compatibility to everything, and 224 (VBR highest quality settings) because after experimenting that sounds fine to me. I'm not saying indistinguishable, but very musical and yes, easier to cram more stuff onto a player (quicker to copy as well).

I had started ripping 320 kbps at one point, but decided that didn't save so very much space compared to lossless. Select rare stuff I rip in lossless, but I still have my CDs so I don't really need to to that.

 

iTunes for mp3/AAC and Fidelia for FLAC/Apple Lossless

 

Another vote for VOX. Free and effective with gapless playback. Not a lot of bells and whistles though.

 

Audirvana 2.2.5, since it plays the ALAC stuff from my iTunes library plus it plays DSD/DSF/SACD ISOs.

 

My primary program is Amarra Symphony. I also own Pure Music 3 and Audirvana Plus. I feel Amarra is the overall best sounding.

 

Have used demo of Audirvana, used Amarra and they are fine, but sound wise/cost wise VOX is still winning out. Yes options are somewhat limited but, it works fine for me. Rip ALAC into itunes with Bitperfect and error correction. Itunes keeps the library nicely organized.....( other than me having to add artwork from elsewhere sometimes ). But playing through VOX sounds better even though both ( itunes and VOX ) have EQ abilities and VOX will play FLAC files that I have in Hi REZ or standard FLAC files without issue......... and it it NOT slow or clunky at all for me....on a mac mini 8gig RAM

 

Agree, this is an excellent alternative to iTunes. thirty day trial is available as well.
I have JRiver as well and both sound identical to me.

 

Another big thumbs up for Vox. Free, fairly intuitive, easy to drag any file into it to create a playlist. And it has a "hog" mode so you don't have to set the output sample rate in the MIDI settings to put it where it should be. I have an assortment of 24/192, 24/96, 24/44.1, 16/44.1, MP3 and the correct rate always shows up at my DAC without the MAC resampling. I can control the playback with my Apple USB keyboard easily. It shows me cover art by "listening" to the song. It will sync with your iTunes (yecch) if you like.

I tried JRiver and Audirvana and at various times they either locked up and or gave spurious noise when I threw a variety of FLAC files at them with differing sample rates. On a 13" mid-2012 MacAir with 8gb, i7 2gHz, and fast SSD drives. Sound quality is excellent and I have no need for any other player.

 

When I was using my HRT+ DAC, I used Pure Audio.
The difference was substantial.

Now I just use the Oppo 105.
Again, the difference is substantial.

 

Amarra HiFi with iTunes

 

Long time Mac IT guy here.

I've been using the Pono software, which is essentially JRiver with Pono graphics slapped on top of it (it's also free.) Not the most intuitive interface, but I've seen MUCH worse, and you should probably be able to get the basics down without undue stress. It does display artwork, although it ONLY displays the artwork in full screen mode. No track listing, no progress bar. Just the artwork. Not a horrendous problem, but kind of a weird oversight.

What machine do you have? I'm using a couple of old ones: a mid 2007/1.83 GHz Mac Mini in my office, and a mid 2009 MacBook for the listening room. I've been quite happy with the 96kHz coming out of the plain ol' headphone jack, although I'm probably gonna get an outboard digital interface at some point.

You may need to set your output to 96kHz manually...fortunately, this is a no-brainer. First, quit all open applications, then open Audio MIDI Setup (it's in the Utilities folder, inside the Applications folder.) Choose "Built in Output" in the left column, then choose 96000.0 Hz and 2ch-24 bit integer from the drop down menus. This won't make any difference for typical CD quality files (which are at 44.1kHz,) but if you do get your hands on some higher res stuff, you can play them in the JRiver/Pono application like everything else.

Somebody here in the forums alerted me to the fact that OS X will only go up to 96kHz, so the super hi-res stuff is only going to get so good. Of course, that's still over twice what you'll get with CDs.

One thing to note, on the off chance that it comes up. If you happen to be looking at the Audio MIDI application as you're playing something, it'll display whatever rate that something uses. In other words, if you're playing a 44.1kHz file, Audio MIDI will say 44100.0 Hz. That's just the display. It'll automatically do 96kHz when it needs to.

 

I like iTunes with Pure Music a lot. I convert anything FLAC to ALAC via XLD. No reason to fight with any more formats than necessary.

 

OS X may have had a 96k limit at one time, but it doesn't anymore. I can select it in the MIDI app or force it with VOX, no problem. My DAC only goes to 192, but it works fine at that rate from my MacAir.