Mr.Y

Thank you all for the responses! Today I'm running Bug Head and I can hear more clarity, 3D, detail and instrument separation. But it took some of the smoothness, the sound is a bit grainy, especially in the mids, compared to JRiver MC20. Very nice player however. But I'm a little confused by what I read on the website of Bug Head creator...

Hello, I haven't been here for a long time. For the past years I use JRiver as my default player for audio files and haven't tried other programs. I wonder if there is something newer, that competes the sound quality of JRMC. Thank you!

After installing FSP Aurum Xilenser AU-500FL 500W fanless power supply I'm experiencing some periodic sound pops while listening with JRiver MC18. They appear in 1-2 minute periods only when music plays, if there's no sound, the speakers are completely silent. The dac is Weiss DAC202U with firewire cable. I reinstalled JRiver and the firewire driver but this didn't remove the pops. Now I'm just finishing Windows 8.1 reinstallation (yes, I did it) but unfortunately will be able to listen and report if there are pops tomorrow. Any ideas if a power supply can affect the sound in such way?

I haven't been here for a while and I expected to find much more information or reviews about MC19... My question is: Do you hear any difference between MC18 and 19 using identical settings for audio playback?

I understand that vocals and intruments stay small/real size, well separated and localized in space but the soundstage is much wider? The soundstage must stay between the speakers or just outside them unless there are phase tricks introduced by the sound engineer. Sorry, but I'm always suspicious to enormous width of soundtage. Often (not always) it's a symptom of problems.

Phase problems?? I've noticed that enormous soundtage is often accompanied by localisation and focus disorders. It makes the heads of the singers ENORMOUS and indefinable in space.

Exactly my impressions! I've bought JPLAY when I used a laptop (Win7 64bit, MANY programs installed). It gave me better focus, better treble, and HUGE overall improvement. Now I'm usind a dedicated PC for audio (Win8 x64, only JRiver and Jplay installed, Windows Defender and Firewall deactivated) and the differences are only minor changes in FR. Focus, instrument separation, soundstage are not affected by Jplay. I think the hadrware potential and software configuration are very underestimated datum when talking about Jplay's abilities. Jplay improves sound with computers loaded with more software and has almost no effect on dedicated audio PCs.

well... my question was not "Does Jplay make difference?". It's disputable only for CA members with problematic systems or severe hearing problems. I asked if someone finds jplay mini different from jriver with jplay driver.

I'm talking about Jriver playing files through Jplay compared to Jplay mini, not as a standalone player. The difference between MC18 with ASIO/WASAPI and Jplay 5.1 mini in ULTRAstream mode is huge and undisputable. I haven't made comparisons with Jplay mini in Hibernate mode, I won't use it anyway.

I know that. I don't want my MC18 to show missing locations like the removed HDD mentioned above.

Does anyone know how to remove a missing location from the library of MC18? I attached an external HDD with music files to my computer for half an hour, MC18 scanned it and now these files appear in the library although the HDD is no longer there.

Has anyone made comparison between Jplay mini 5.1 and JRiver 18 playing with Jplay 5.1 driver? It's supposed the mini should be the better player for stereo (minimalistic software => less processes) but I definitely find the MC18 + Jplay drivers to have much better focus and flatter FR...

I need a new firewire transport for my Weiss DAC202U. I'm choosing between a PC (SSD for Win8, big HDDs) and some MacBook Pro (+ NAS). There are no other laptops with firewire any more. The PC will be custom-build but more complex to use (cables, monitor, keyboard, remote desktop to command with laptop). I wonder it the sound of a well built PC transport will be better than a mac. Any opinions on the sound quality? PC-transport vs. mac?

I used to have Cary 306 SACD (8xPCM1792u DAC chips, native DSD convertion) and now I have Weiss DAC202U (you know it). The cary showed me the unambiguous superiority of DSD over PCM. It's just more natural. Natural treble and bass, natural 3D. It was the first time I heard well recorded and naturally reproduced sounds. The hi-rez PCMs (24/96, 24/192) are still PCM with the odd highs and lows, and problematic 3D. Yes, it's not correct to compare formats on different sources but although Weiss DAC202U is a supreme dac and is comparable (even better) to Cary 306 SACD with CDDA, the hi-rez PCM is nowhere close to the SACD sound.