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

Bit Perfect has never worked correctly for me. While I'm in the iTunes environment it is fine. If I switch to a YouTube video or something outside of iTunes it is muted and I have to stop running Bit Perfect to hear audio.

 

FYI, Audirvana Plus has an iOS remote app called A+ Remote.

 

From your profile, it appears you are most likely connecting the MacBook to your DAC over USB. OS X cannot do 24/192 over HDMI, which is incredibly frustrating for those of us who go from a Mac to an AVR's DAC over HDMI. The hardware can support it, but the OS does not.


Personally, I use XLD to transcode everything from FLAC to ALAC, load into iTunes, and run Audirvana Plus in iTunes Integrated Mode.

For 5.1, I leave the files as FLAC and play directly out of Audirvana Plus.

 

Okay. Good for some to know that there are still some limitations via HDMI. It certainly works like a champ via USB at 192.

I guess "hog" mode in VOX wouldn't overcome this, since it still has to work through the OS limitation?

 

And only never versions at that. My music server is an older pre-Intel G5, running 10.5.x, so no Bitperfect for me...
Wish there was an alternate I could use... if anyone knows of one...!

 

No need to worry about this too much. Honestly, I’m not sure if there is a noticeable difference in playback quality when comparing plain iTunes to Bitperfect with iTunes.

 

I use iTunes mostly, as I stream to Apple TVs quite a bit, but Decibel is cheap, simple, and gets round FLAC playback issues. It can also switch sample rate and bit depth to that of source material without having to quit and use Audio MIDI setup. How useful that is for you will depend on your hardware. I use some B&W MM-1 desktop speakers in my study, and they will only cope with 44.1/48K 16bit over USB (but sound very good for little speakers) so if I let Decibel switch the sample rate when I play a hi res file they mute. That's one situation where letting the Mac downsample to a rate and bit depth that suits the speakers is the best route to take.

Other kit I use will quite happily cope with higher sample rates and bit depths, though the one 192K/24 bit album I have won't play reliably on everything.

 

My focus is on the automatic sample rate and bit depth switching, which is something I still have to do manually. (And since that older machine has to run an older OS and iTunes, I have to restart iTunes before the change takes effect. So it's a pain in the butt all the way around, enough that I rarely bother to change it at all.)

 

Used to use Audirvana+; switched to JRiver (Mac version) and never looked back.

 

Update for VOX showed up in app store this morning and after installing the issue where it would not open is fixed.

 

I'll check it out. To be honest though, I find the user interface really counter-intuitive and difficult to navigate. For example: I couldn't figure out something as simple as if there was a way to show my music library. I was using VOX just to play FLAC files, so I'd have to drag the album folder from Finder onto the VOX dock icon. I wish it had a UI similar to WinAmp where it showed the library to one side and the playlist on the other, and you could just drag and drop song/albums/artist names into it.

 

I still use iTunes, but I don't love it. I also have Pono Music World, and while it is more versatile than iTunes, it's also got lots of small, weird bugs that annoy the heck out of me, so I usually don't use it.

I have an external DAC/amp plugged in via USB, which AFAIK bypasses the computer's core audio, so I shouldn't have to worry about bit perfect either.

 

I agree - the interface should be a lot better. But its free and sounds superb - to me better than Audirvana and at least as good as Amarra (weird I have 2 players I paid for but prefer the free one).

 

This is something else I need to look into, but since you brought it up…

My current setup is - probably by the forum standards - laughable. Since I use my Mac Mini connected to my TV via HDMI, I simply have RCA cables connected from my TV audio out to my integrated amp. At full computer volume, I get clipping noises out of my speakers, and since it's connected via HDMI, OS X bypasses the master volume control, so I have to put the volume at about 75% of any program (iTunes, VLC, YouTube videos, etc.).

I need a DAC I'm sure, but I don't know the first thing about them or which one to get. Looking on Amazon I mostly see them advertised as for headphones.

 

BitPerfect is working exactly as it is supposed to. In order to implement some of its features, it goes into "hog mode," taking over whatever audio output is selected for music playback. If you then try to play sound through the same output using another app, it won't work because BitPerfect is controlling that output.

That's how BitPerfect is designed - in the BitPerfect menu, you should be able to select the "disable BitPerfect" option and that should free up your audio output. That way you don't have to stop running/quit BitPerfect.

I am not someone who automatically believes in sound-quality improvements from playback apps, different USB cables, and so on. But I have BitPerfect and I find music definitely sounds better with it enabled, especially because it can switch resolutions and therefore play all my music at its native resolution. Without BitPerfect, iTunes is brute-force downsampling all your high-res tracks (or upsampling all your CD tracks using an awkward 44.1-to-96 multiplier) before sending them along to your DAC or analogue stereo.

 

A bit off-topic, but could someone recommend a pair of powered speakers to use with a Mac Mini? An internal DAC wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

I highly recommend Hegel HD12 which I connect via usb from my Macbook Pro and run output from Hegel to Focal CMS 40 speakers. It's a perfect desktop system as far as I'm concerned.

http://www.hegel.com/products/dac/hd12

 

Thanks. That looks pretty involved.

I went ahead and ordered this inexpensive FIIO DAC from Amazon just now because I'm hosting an Xmas party on Saturday. Gotta get in those Prime benefits.

 

Y'know, I dunno for sure but that little guy doesn't look like a music signal is passed thru USB; looks like it's for power only. You might wanna check that out.

Can you spend up a little bit and throw $100 at a Schitt? (Yes, that's what it's named)

Also yes, this crap is complicated.

 

Now you guys have me paranoid that I should be using Bit Perfect. However, I'm intrigued by Fidelia. Do I need Bit Perfect if I'm using Fidelia, or is Bit Perfect something I should have regardless of my music playback app?

 

I was planning on connecting via the optical out of my Mac Mini, but now I'm thinking I f'd up. I'll look into it more.

Which piece of Schiit were you referring to? http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1...&keywords=schiit+audio&ie=UTF8&qid=1450396747

 

I usually use Fidelia (or VLC if I'm just listening to something quick.)

 

If there actually is an optical out of the Mini, then it should work. USB to USB for power (?). Still, worth researching to make sure.

No first-hand experience with Schiit, but it is a forum favorite; you might do a search here. I've got an iFi Nano, which leaves little to be desired. But it's $200, and it sounds like you're trying to get out ultra-cheap. If so, there should be a few <$100 USB DACs out there; the USB connection can act as both music access and power. (I'm not convinced the one you linked can do both, at least not without research.) May not be highly regarded on this forum, but ANYTHING is preferable to using the TV as a music audio source.

I'm pretty sure there are a few other "better" contenders in the 100-150 range, and there have been a few threads on them here.

 

I can't sync my iPhone 6s with the MacBook. I simply want to sync my iPhone so I can get my albums. I'm having to use File Via Wifi to get individual songs. Still annoying, only plays individual songs, no album artwork, have to close app to view Safari, etc

 

You can save a lot of time redoing all the metadata tags by using this AppleScript:

http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=copytinforackstotracks

It basically allows you to copy the tags from one set of tracks onto another. You can customize which tags get copied: