jplay

ted_b: jplay 5 is vastly more easier to use then earlier versions and also quite a bit more stable as it no longer depends on Foobars' & JRiver's APIs which, in fact, were never designed to support playback engine customisability. I will refer you to Manual page on our website for more details on setting it up as it would not be proper to either post links here or misuse this forum for jplay-support questions: we have our own forum for that Hope you'll understand. Just to answer your pointed question: we recommend Hibernate be used in what we call StreamerMode i.e. dual-PC setup as it provides remote access in same way you're used to (iPad/JRemote in case of JRiver) but also Android/MonkeyMote in case of Foobar or iPeng in case of Squeezbox/LMS whatever is called now... In other words: Hibernate is recommended for a dedicated audio-pc fully optimized for audio without any software installed apart from OS & jplay. Re tweaks: again, plenty in our forum but a good start is to eliminate extremely hungry processes (e.g. anti-virus, btw Defender is actually quite well-behaved but some Scheduled Tasks in Win8 are not) and turning off page file (if computer is dedicated to audio there is no need for it and it can speed things up e.g. startup of Xtream mode...). There are many more but we've learned that significant proportion of 'computer-listeners' are not always 'computer literate' and as some tweaks could cause problems or even disable PC if not applied with care we prefer not to go out with those

Some people asked me to reply here as apparently incorrect information is being spread - please excuse me for not quoting each poster directly hopefully you will recognize your questions 1. DSP: As mentioned on our web site and contrary to some claims made here JPLAY does not use _any_ DSP i.e. is indeed Bit-Perfect! This is play's whole 'raison d'etre': experimental proof that digital _can_ sound different based on other factors then simply ensuring a bit-perfect signal. One obvious factor is timing which, let's not forget, is deeply tied to how digital playback works but there seem to be more... For example, size of playback/driver Buffer or, indeed, even the audio API used! E.g. most of our customers prefer Kernel Streaming but there are those who like WASAPI more or swear by ASIO: Why would that be when all APIs are bit-perfect? In fact, some people claim that _any_ CPU or I/O activity in the system can & does influence quality of music reproduction! We test that theory with Hibernate mode which will shut down dozens or even hundreds of tasks and dedicate computer to music playback solely making it totally inaccessible to the user! We think it definitely shows not only 'a difference' but definitive improvement however you can try and judge yourself... Our aim is simply to identify all these factors and work them out in order to get best possible computer-based music playback while preserving original 'music bits'. 2. River/Beach/Xtream engines: no, they do not mean that Windows is being optimized in different ways 'a la Fidelizer': I don't know exactly what Fidelizer is doing (you can ask the author he is also on this site and btw also our customer) but I do know what these 'engines' do and it's a totally different thing as all of them are about how computer RAM is used. (without going into details but, for example, with Xtream in its most 'insane' setting several gigabytes(!) of RAM need to be allocated) 3. 'Volume control being possible so it's not bit-perfect' etc: Please note volume control is ultimately under control of your particular sound driver & Windows and _not_ your software player! Windows is not built for audiophiles but for general public who would overload MS support with 'I can't change volume, your OS is broken!' calls in far greater quantities then audiophiles complaining 'I can change volume so signal is no longer bit-perfect' In fact, things can get FAR worse with Windows: some drivers will even allow playback from _multiple_ apps _regardless_ of whether player requests exclusive access or not! Again, this is not tied to any player so you could, for example, play JRiver via WASAPI and Foobar via Kernel Streaming _at the same time_! Stock Microsoft driver will not allow this (as it should be) but there exists at least one driver (_very_ popular among hi-end DACs) that will! re: 'i'll switch to ASIO i'm safe there': good if it works for you but be careful not to generalize: in this particular case, JRiver/Foobar using ASIO driver (no jplay in the loop) can still be affected by Windows volume! Don't know if it's a bug or a feature but point being: In Windows, ultimately you are at the mercy of sound driver & OS so make sure your volume is at max if you care about preserving bit-perfect signal!