![]() ![]() I found it quite remarkable the drop in null depth by just turning on the iTunes EQ plug-in and using it to adjust just 1 notch (don't know how many dB's this is supposed to represent) ! Pure Music -1dB volume control changed the measurement slightly but not much. Part I: RightMark 6.2.5 (PCM 16/44, 24/96, and DSD64)Īll the measurements done with the test signal encoded as FLAC except for those based on iTunes (iTunes, Pure Music) where AIFF was used. Grab data from the E-MU 0404USB and process the data through DiffMaker, RightMark, or jitter FFT analysis. Again, nothing fancy, just 2.2GHz AMD Phenom X4 processor to Win8 laptop is the Acer Aspire 5552 which has been my measurement "work Running OS X Mountain Lion with no OS tweak for audio. Nothing fancy, and in fact relatively "old" 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo ![]() MacBook Pro is the 17" early-2008 model previously described. MacBook Pro ( *running audio player*) -> shielded USB -> TEAC UD-501ĭAC -> shielded 6' RCA -> E-MU 0404USB -> shielded USB (Note that this is same as previous DMAC Test.) I see there's also BitPerfect for iTunes - again, FLAC limitation sucks. Over the years I have tried Play, Amarra, and Fidelia as well, but figure the above was enough to look at for a sense of the field out there around Mac music players. Seriously, after 11 versions, to not support the universal lossless audio format is just stupid and has been a reason why I do not buy music from Apple. IMO, the other BIG negative about iTunes is that it does not support FLAC. The BIG negative about iTunes for audiophiles is the lack of automatic sample rate switching - need to go into the "Audio MIDI Setup" panel to change sampling rates and bit depth (yuck). Version 11 was released in November 2012 with some folks claiming volume and sound quality changes compared to version 10. A lot of uncertainly out there about this program with folks jumping up and down with each version claiming that sound has changed for better or worse. Should be "bit-perfect" so long as volume at 100% and none of the DSP plug-in's are activated. iTunes 11.0.2 - The "standard" Mac music player. Does have an "Expand to RAM" mode which I did not use for these tests.Ħ. Just a freebie I can run with the TEAC DAC. TEAC HR Audio Player - Release version 1.0 for Mac. My subjective opinion is that I did not like the UI and using iTunes means no native FLAC support.ĥ. "Memory Play" was activated for playback. Can handle DSD but I didn't bother trying since it looks like there were some contortions needed to get these files recognized under iTunes. It literally "wraps" around the iTunes interface. Pure Music - I'm not as familiar with this one. It's capable of DSD playback to the TEAC using DoP.Ĥ. Bit-perfect from the start so I didn't fool with any of the default settings. I measured the beta 18.0.177 build for this test. JRiver Media Center for Mac - Well known media player originating from the Windows world. Also, I have SysOptimizer turned on (disables Spotlight, Time Machine, some USB tweaks).ģ. For these tests, I'm using Direct, Integer Mode with memory playback to the TEAC. They also talk about 64-bit processing which is great if one has need for the SRC and dithering (iZotope-based). Since the software supposedly bypasses CoreAudio, I would have thought that "Integer Mode" would be an obvious given. "Under the hood", it's also got some extra features like memory playback, "Direct Mode" apparently bypassing CoreAudio as well as "Integer Mode". Able to handle DSD files with DST and was able to play DSD64 and DSD128 over the USB interface to my TEAC UD-501 without problem. Audirvana Plus: Current version is 1.4.6. I upgraded to the latest version 1.2.11 for these tests. As with all the commercial offerings, it can switch sample rate automatically. It's able to take exclusive access of the audio device, and memory playback. It's a no-nonsense program that plays a nice range of file formats without fuss. Decibel: I bought this program more than a year ago. Do they sound the same if set to bit-perfect output? Let's have a look at the candidates I'll be considering here:ġ. Over the last few years, the list of "audiophile" audio players on the Mac has gradually increased. ![]()
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