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In Reply to: RE: cPlay - the open source high-end audio player using ASIO posted by cics on May 05, 2008 at 13:31:58
I'm a user of cMP / cPLAY for quite a long time, this is not a perfect solution, but to me it's the best in sound quality.
Reading "the absolute sound" from January 2012, page 40 to 53, there is a very interesting article on computer audio. It's talking about many software, from cPLAY to JRMC, foobar, etc and a new comer for me name JPLAY. From what there say, it's even better than Cplay !!!
There not enough detail on the configuration of the PC to have a good idea of what they did. But there is enough to try to benchmark both JPLAY and CPLAY on the same computer with all the tweaks from here. Sadly, I will not have the time to do a serious benchmark, but I will try to report in the future about this new software and cplay.
Does someone already test it ?
Nicolas
Follow Ups:
If you search this Forum for "jplay" you will find previous posts about the program.
You can download a free "trial" version of jplay which allows you to verify the sound quality, but not use it for enjoyable listening because it mutes the sound every so often (clever).
I tried it and I found it to be close to cplay, but not quite as "analog" sounding as cplay. In other words, cplay is still better, and is free.
Note:
- I am running Vista 32-bit (so whoever said in this thread that jplay is 64-bit-OS-only is wrong, I think they are confusing that with the fact that it IS Vista/Win7-only).
- My PC is a Home Theater PC for both video and audio, which is why I use Vista. So, prior to discovering cPlay, I had already turned off many Windows services. But I still have more things running than most cmp/cplay uers.
- I use an asynchronous USB DAC which avoids a lot of the jitter that the cmp optimizations are designed to remove. (Many people have found this asynchronous link to make the biggest difference in computer audio; the V-Link product does the same thing for SP/DIF DACs)
- I do not use cMP shell, since cMP mode freezes in the Vista Welcome Screen (and all the prior posters who successfully used cMP mode in Vista no longer read this Forum). But, jplay has a "hibernate mode" that I also did not use, so that is equal. :)
- jplay does sound better than foobar2000. This is mostly due to the fact that the jplay authors have previously used cmp & cplay, and because the foobar creator is a "sound quality denier" (and in fact, posting about sound quality differences on the foobar forum can get you banned). So, for example, you cannot use foobar2000 with an asynchronous USB DAC, because he refuses to allow a buffer latency of less than 50ms.
- I use the free player MusicBee for everything other than flac and wave, because the developer is friendly and willing to make changes (it has an .ini file parameter for the butter latency which you can set to zero - hurrah!)
It was my mistake about 64 bit OS, certainly I meant vista/7. I have read everything that I managed to find about jplay, including a too warm review from Poland, with nice photos and everything. The hibernate-and make-the-processor-run-at-extreme-at-the-same-time idea seemed interesting.
Serge.
I think that this is not the place for such topics. This topic about cPlay! Better start a separate topic.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, GA-H55M-UD2H, i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S FAT32, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Live
Nicolas! We cannot test jplay on the same machine (I mean os), as jplay is 64 bits only. Marcin Ostapovich and Joseph Piri - the authors of jplay have taken a lot of ideas from foobar forum and from here, I think, and probably their own to produce a player. Even the name is nothing short of imitation. I have VERY STRONG doubts that jplay can even get close to the sound, one can get from cplay WITH FULL TWEAKING, so why waste 100 euro? My doubts are based on the fact that jplay is a commercial product (and even that being evolving), that has to work in a normal unabridged OS environment. While, probably, a good product, it doesn't cost its money, I am sure, as no simple player does cost such a sum.
Now, cplay is more than a stellar and splendid player. Its a hobby, a rite of passage and assention.
BTW, Can you imagine anyone paying 100 euros for the player and then starting to tweak his windows7 to reduce it to 25mb?
Serge.
I agree completely.
I became aware of this a few months ago and thought the claims made were bordering on ridiculous (considering a full WINDOWS installation) and the imitation did not have any of the graces of flattery.
There is nothing wrong with someone reporting their experience especially in comparison to cMP. Just as it is interesting to know how our evolvning cMP systems compare to CD players. But there is no question this Forum cannot become a JPplay forum, also.
I did not get the feeling that n_vincent had any intentions of that happening by his hand.
=Just as it is interesting to know how our evolvning cMP systems compare to CD players.=
System: a source - cMP2 classical optimized (one year ago) w/o network with Lynx Studio L22 upgraded and with full linear PSU (see my website, black Zalman); the amplifier - ART AUDIO LAB m25, acoustics - Klipsch La Scala 2. A reference source - Accuphase DP-75V (http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/249/).
At first the various jazz and classical material was listened to get used to system sound, first of all Klipsch La Scala 2 (personally I listened the horn for the first time). The record of Miles Davis and Gil Evans "Sketches Of Spain" and the record of Anna-Sofi Mutter "Carmen-Fantasie" were listened attentively. The system sound on these records made strong impression to me - live, natural sound. Anna-Sofi stood in the room and played for us. A reference source and cMP2 were compared on the record of Bucky Pizzarelli "Swing Live" (Chesky).
Summary of my friend Michael Nikolaev:
"Both compared sources has similar sound in sense of a musical involvement. But Accuphase gave more gathered elastic bass, in my opinion, more correct. May be Accuphase has the slightly higher resolution but not considerably. cMP2 has more analog sound and sometimes it seemed that sound of cMP2 is more preferable for music listening. It is possible to tell that the source cMP2 was gained worthy, involving the listener in music. And as a whole the system can be described as a true Hi-End".
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, GA-H55M-UD2H, i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S FAT32, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Live
Is that you or Michael in the picture?
It is my friend Serge, owner of system. I and Michael were on visit to him. Michael is audiophile with great experience.
Serge.
http://cmp2-mihaylov.narod.ru/
My cMP2: Windows XP SP2 Ru, GA-H55M-UD2H, i3-530, Corsair CM3X160C9DHX 1GB, system drive - Transcend IDE FLASH MODULE TS2GDOM40V-S FAT32, ESI Juli@, full linear PSU, NAS - WD My Book Live
There is not a perfect source.
I compare cMP to an analogue setup.
All in all I find myself enjoying cMP with minimized WINDOWS more than analogue.
We all are sensitive to different aspects of sound. I guess cMP aligns with my biases?
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