Hats off to a great amount of work. My problem with what is easily declared as "truth" is, that my personal perception of what is happening in my listening room is very much different. I like JRiver for the looks, the ease of use etc. So i planned to buy, but i stumbled upon stealth audio player. Which does not cost a penny, just (another) act of love. Given the sonic result, the guy pretty much knows what he is doing. For me, improved clarity and even more control when the music is getting more complex, are a sign of clearly doing something right without having to discuss personal taste.
On the other hand, JRiver was some sonic improvement over my foobar setup.
This leaves me with foobar definitely sounding worst, though it is for a lot of reasons, the player I would like to be on par with the best.
Not a long shot we wouldn't see any differences between foobar, JRiver and stealth in their bitperfect modes, I guess. Means they all sound exactly (EXACTLY) the same.
Now, IF this is the/your case, I'm totally out of the game. When I use all of the three programs for what they are meant for, my reality IS different from yours, without having to spend a dime.
Sidenote: IMHO, Peter's XXHighEnd and Josef's JPLAY don't sound identical with foobar or JRiver or stealth, too.
Funny thing: Because you are (yet?) not able to tell the difference (in numbers) between the work of Matt or Josef (or maybe Peter?), you claim that there definitely is no audible one. That is what *I* call strong belief. And as long as anyone / the legions that are jumping by ("Oh my God! The truth! It is revealed!") is trying to install these findings as valid truth for really everybody, I wish you had not done all that work...
Cheers
Andi
