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wiped out my Macbook, any applications like Audirvana to check out?

108.14.104.71
Posted on April 19, 2017 at 20:28:33
bullethead
 I was going through my Macbook, I tried to completely remove LMS, but I couldn't figure out how to do it properly so I just erased everything and installed MacOSX from scratch. Lucky I had a backup of OSX 10.11 on bootable USB stick as the recovery partition didn't work properly.

I had a copy of Audirvana that is now gone. Are there any other applications such as that that can upsample PCM to DSD that I should check out? I know one is HQPlayer, are there any others inmates recommend?

 

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Best sounding application I've heard on a Mac Mini..., posted on April 19, 2017 at 20:42:47
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 Don't laugh.

iTunes with Bit Perfect plug-in.

Beats Audirvana.

Seriously.




First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

RE: Best sounding application I've heard on a Mac Mini..., posted on April 19, 2017 at 20:46:38
bullethead
 can iTunes play back FLAC? Ironically I've never used iTunes.

I have a lot of CDs ripped, I don't want to do that again.

 

found my answer, posted on April 19, 2017 at 20:55:05
bullethead
 how come not? Is that the Apple walled garden? The OSX is fantastic though so I guess it is a tradeoff.

 

Maybe not but how would I know? :-), posted on April 19, 2017 at 20:58:00
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 I rip to AIFF using iTunes but I am pretty sure the Bit Perfect plug in allows iTunes to play Hi Rez and even DSD (I don't have a DSD DAC at the moment so I really don't know).


I can use iTunes with Bit Perfect and Audirvana but that's about all I know.

Could not believe Bit Perfect would sound better for $10 than Audirvana for quite a bit more?

Don't recall now.


First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

RE: Maybe not but how would I know? :-), posted on April 19, 2017 at 21:07:45
bullethead
 ok, I'll have a look at HQ Player first.

I started ripping everything to FLAC over 10 years ago. This Macbook I have was my first Mac really since I had a Powerbook G4 that used an IBM PowerPC chip. I've always been Linux. I use Red Hat linux most of the time to get stuff done. When I surf the web I'm on a Chromebook Pixel.

 

A couple thoughts, posted on April 19, 2017 at 21:53:36
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 46302
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
 iTunes will not play FLAC but there are converters that will convert FLAC to AIFF or ALAC (which iTunes will handle). XLD comes to mind and works via a GUI or command line. I haven't used it in years. You can batch convert but be careful... experiment first with source and destination directories, and keep a copy of your originals totally separate in a safe place while experimenting.

I played with HQPlayer but hated the library management interface. It was clunky IMHO. HQPlayer can also be a CPU hog depending on the upsampling you choose.

I played with BitPerfect a few years ago and it locked up intermittently so I figured it wasn't ready for prime time. I haven't played with it since but I would expect that it has been fixed by now. Maybe iTunes + BitPerfect, assuming you batch convert your FLACs.



 

RE: A couple thoughts, posted on April 19, 2017 at 21:57:07
bullethead
 can iTunes play .wav? I can just run a FLAC -d on everything if it can.

 

Also check out VLC Media Player - it's free, posted on April 19, 2017 at 23:04:01
Chris from Lafayette
Audiophile

Posts: 26480
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012
 I use Audirvana and HQ Player on my Macs (in addition to VLC).

 

RE: A couple thoughts, posted on April 19, 2017 at 23:17:37
AbeCollins
Audiophile

Posts: 46302
Location: USA
Joined: June 22, 2001
Contributor
  Since: February 2, 2002
I believe iTunes can play WAV but metadata might not be handled very well. I have no direct experience here as I have never tried WAV in iTunes.

A few links that I found.

http://www.kirkville.com/an-overview-of-audio-file-formats-supported-by-itunes/

http://www.kirkville.com/why-itunes-doesnt-support-flac-files/


 

RE: "When I surf the web I'm on a Chromebook Pixel", posted on April 20, 2017 at 06:24:44
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 Wonder what the folks at Google think of you music preferences.

If you use a Chromebook, the Google Guys know EVERYTHING you do! ;-)






First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

lol! yep, posted on April 20, 2017 at 06:59:44
bullethead
 I love the Google Guys, I just wish I would have invested in them before their stock went through the roof!

I have Google Music subscription too. The Chromebook Pixel can also run Android apps on it, for close to $1,500 it better :)

My music preferences are all over the place, one day Classical, the next day Death Metal. I like to branch out.

 

RE: Best sounding application I've heard on a Mac Mini..., posted on April 20, 2017 at 08:22:45
weedeewop
Audiophile

Posts: 231
Location: Midwest
Joined: June 22, 2013
 I can attest to iTunes bundled with Bit Perfect. Based on discussions here I recently assembled a Mac Mini using iTunes and Bit Perfect. I control it with an iPad Air2 using SplashTop. It sounds great and is very easy to use. Thanks to all on the Hi-Rez hi way for your insights. I finally converted my CD collection.

 

RE: " VLC Media Player "..., posted on April 20, 2017 at 08:34:38
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 SOOOO non-audiophile!

And yes, my go-to player for hi rez and anything else that nothing else plays.

And it sounds good to me!




First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

You are in good company..., posted on April 20, 2017 at 08:47:16
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 When Paul McGowan of PSAudio fame visited our local Audiophile meeting he demoed his new mono-block amps and DirectStream DAC, he played music from his own computer. He used an older headless, server version MacMini running iTunes with the Bit Perfect plug-in.

I got the same system from the same guy in Denver (currently back for repair due to a Thunderbolt hard drive failure). I've run other playback software on it and Bit Perfect sounds as good (or better) than any other I've tried (including Roon).



First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

I totally agree (including video!! [nt] ;-), posted on April 20, 2017 at 09:18:29
Chris from Lafayette
Audiophile

Posts: 26480
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012

 

RE: Best sounding application I've heard on a Mac Mini..., posted on April 20, 2017 at 11:55:37
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 15703
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 That's what Gordon Rankin told me, but I haven't gotten around to it.

 

RE: A couple thoughts, posted on April 20, 2017 at 16:27:29
G Squared
Audiophile

Posts: 8491
Location: Washington, DC Metro Area
Joined: November 16, 2004
Contributor
  Since: May 23, 2023
 WAV sounds great on PureMusic with ITunes as a library. Check out free samples from Blue Coast records for hi rez WAV. The meta data translation sucks and you can't use album art.
Gsquared

 

Gordon Rankin? Now I gotta find something else!, posted on April 20, 2017 at 18:00:31
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 Just kidding!

Gordon is OK, I guess. :-)


First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

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