cbutch

It's a shame you and Josef can't agree to disagree. I was a dedicated Foobar user until I found JPlay. After many hardware upgrades going from Foobar to JPlay produced the most marked improvement by far in my system. I don't think it was placebo as I wasn't expecting any change and was hoping for no change (as it cost money). And yes I have followed the other [jplay] thread with much interest. For the record jriver and JPlay get along far better on my machine than they do on the CA forum. I have had no issue other than the noted problem switching between songs of different resolution. Which I think is going to be sorted in the next release. I discovered JRMC after JPlay and I also love your software and could not live without it now. Chris

Has anyone been brave enough to investigate the Windows 8 developer preview on their music server to check out any SQ improvements over Windows 7? The guys over at the JPlay forum have reported tangible improvements over Windows 7 SP1 which I found very interesting if not a bit surprising. It would be interesting to see if these improvements were specific only to JPlay or if all players benefit from the 'upgrade'. As always I imagine any improvement will be system dependent to some degree. I downloaded it yesterday and attempted to install on my lounge rig today but gave up after four attempts as I kept getting a rather annoying unhanded exception with a very unhelpful generic, non specific error message. Unfortunately I never got as far as listening and I'm considering hanging fire for a few weeks till MS have got the glitches ironed out. I did find the UI a little unintuitive to be honest and had to Google to find how to shut it down which can't be good! Incredibly you've got to go to 'settings' which is the last place I would have looked. Chris C - It would be interesting to get your perspective on the difference the upgrade brings to the CAPS v2, which you must be very familiar with by now. Chris

You've got to love the retro design too. You could imagine David Lightman in War Games having a DAC like that.

Hi Elp, I think it's maybe because people have been used to getting free software players such as Foobar for years now so software has a lower perceived value than hardware. People prefer to spend their money on something they can hold in their hands. Maybe the reason that I raised it was because the price has come under fire on another audio site that I'm involved in and I thought that it should be addressed. I personally think JPlay represents very good value. I think a €99 baguette represents very bad value. Chris

After months of dithering I've finally bit the bullet and purchased JPlay. I must say I was initially sceptical about the improvements that could be brought by software alone. I was wrong to be sceptical. I initially thought that the purchase price seemed a bit steep, and isn't made any easier to swallow by the unfavourable Sterling to Euro exchange rate. However once you factor in free future upgrades and unlimited personal licences (I'll be using three) I think the price is fair. The pill was sweetened a little by a 20% discount available to John Kenny customers. I've been optimising my work machine over the last few months. I realise that a PC not solely dedicated to music replay is far from an ideal solution, but unfortunately this is the only option available to me currently. Over this time period I've purchased a new DAC, increased the RAM from 4GB to 16GB, isolated audio output to its own USB card, and added mains filtering to PC and other associated components as well as other changes. It's hard to say which of these changes has made the biggest impact. All I can say is I'm very happy now I'm with the sound now. I was happy with the sound of v3.3 (pre Throttle mode) feeling that it offered a smoother and more natural presentation to Foobar in both Kernel Streaming and WASAPI modes. Once I tried v3.4 with Throttle mode engaged though I was sold. Immediately on listening to Feist's new Metals album I was struck with the atmosphere of the recording which just isn't as vivid with it turned off. Track 3, "Caught a Long Wind" has much more depth, texture and bass extension. It looks like the guys have made real progress with v3.4 and I'd urge anyone less than impressed with previous versions to try this release. It is free to try after all! I've seen only minor negative impacts to the user interface with Throttle Mode engaged so I can highly recommend this configuration to anyone with a fairly high end work PC which they are looking to take to the next level. I'm not sure how much impact Throttle Mode will have on resource hungry apps such as Visual Studio or Fireworks but I'll report back once I've given them a good workout.

Eloise, I just found one (and only one) vendor selling it for £79 in the UK including delivery which makes it nearly as cheap as on the other side of the pond. When you're talking these prices every penny counts! I'm not sure if citing vendors is against the rules, but suffice to say a quick Google will find it. It would be a cheap and easy way to upgrade my adaptive Beresford DAC so it is tempting. Chris

But Marcin and Josef, does a digital volume control not loose too much resolution say -20db and lower compared to an analogue control? Except when for instance the control is a 32 bit control in respect to 24 and 16 bit files? -kyrill As far as I understand it the guys were going to implement lossless software volume control (I made the suggestion just a couple of weeks back!). In other words no dither and removing the padding zeros only. Each zero equates to 6dB so -20dB wouldn't touch the significant bits of a 16bit source file with a 24 bit DAC or a 24 bit source file with a 32 bit DAC. Chris

We also decided to implement volume control and phase inversion for the next release - those with power amps should appreciate it -Marcin_gps Great stuff guys. I can't wait to have a play with the new version! Chris

Bill, Yes I believe it to be good value for money also although I've not carried out anything like the level of comparison that you have. It is certainly a step up from my Gatorised Beresford DAC (which is itself good value for money). Not that I'm a cheapskate or anything. Detail is greatly improved and instruments are more fixed in the soundstage. I was looking at the JKDAC as a stepping stone to a Burson level DAC as I believed it to be superior (based on reviews such as the 6moons one). They certainly have something of a following. Interesting that you feel it is not so. Chris

"However purely because I do not like leaving things up in the air I will give the JK the edge but reserve my final opinion until later." In the Off-Ramp thread I thought you said the Off-Ramp/Burson combo was dramatically superior didn't you, or is this a different setup you're comparing? Anyway, it's pretty amazing that the JKDAC is anywhere near this combo isn't it considering the prices difference? I'm certainly happy with mine so far. Thanks for the recommendation. Chris

My Holy Grail is having a good quality system that I can listen to as much high quality music on for as much of the time as possible. For me this is only currently possible at work. I gave up on the idea of having a super duper system at home that I could listen to once a month with my hifi buddies a long time ago, so I concentrate my attention and funds on my work system. Chris

I got a AudioQuest Cinnamon 1.5m today to replace a QED cable of the same length. I'm not sure if there is an audible improvement but it sure does look purdy. Chris

The copyright law in the UK is probably not quite as dumb as some of these... http://lorla.com/top-10-british-stupid-laws-thou-shalt-not-die/

spacejay, that is pretty much the point. Nobody is bothered about the law so everyone rips their CDs and breaks the law currently. So what's the point of the law? Might as well not have the law in the first place. I'm not suggesting this is going to cause a massive change in behaviour.

At last the UK government is going to change the law which makes it illegal to rip Music and Films for personal use:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14372698 I'm not sure about the situation in the rest of the world but this is great news for us in the UK.