wtfplay

[sligolad]

We have finally seen the release of wtfplay wtfplay-project.org from the developer (I first heard it in basic form over 2 years ago) which is a minimalist Linux based player which for me beats all previous software for real serious audiophile listening that I have tried and lived with in recent years, including JRiver, JPlay, BHE and more.

 

It took a little while to get used to typing text to get to the music but well worth the effort once you get there and it has retired my heavily modified Dual PC setup down to a single Audio PC with no on board SSD for OS.

 

There is no going back to any other software after hearing PCM from wtfplay through my Big7 and I have been happy to listen only to PCM for several months now such is the quality of playback from this basic little player.

 

I have converted DSF tracks to DOP which I have listened to on wtfplay but still keep coming back to the PCM versions as it is that good.

Bear in mind the developer has not supported DSD yet but from what some of the early beta testers have found including myself is that it will pass DSD in DOP to your DAC if it is capable of playing DSD in DOP.

 

You can tweak settings from the command line but I have been happy using the basic file player utility wtfcui as I see no need to do any further tweaking of buffers and such.

 

It will be interesting what others find but all I can do is alert anyone who puts sound quality reproduction ahead of functionality to try it out for free.

 

For reference I had no idea about Linux OS before I tried this so as a windows stalwart it was a bit of a challenge but once I got my head around it after a few days it is so easy now.

 

Once you write the little player to a USB stick and plug it into your PC, boot the PC and wtfplay loads, check that your DAC is seen and its address, type in the command line to get to wtfcui and from there it is like an explorer window where you should see all your music files ready for playback.

 

Cheers and happy listening, Pearse.

[master]

Subscribing...

 

I'll give it a try over the coming weekend... but I'd prefer a Raspberry Pi port as that's my computer of choice for audio playback.

[tonerei]

Slow burner Pearse. Funny best bit of free music software with well written instructions but looks like it will take time to fly. For anybody using jplay,mqn etc who believe the player has an impact this is the player to try.

[Possum Jenkins]

Looks interesting, pity there's no network though, could make it a slight PITA. I wonder if that will be added at some point.

[sligolad]

The developer is getting requests for network support since release and I believe he is going to consider it for future releases.

Hopefully for those requiring network functionality you will not loose any of the incredible sound quality that it currently delivers in its minimalist form.

Cheers, Pearse.

[LowOrbit]

Being a sucker for minimalist installations and following my own recent experiments with diskfree os builds, I downloaded this new player this morning and dropped it onto a USB stick (using Rufus).

 

Up and running, into my Auralic Vega via Regen and out to my HE-6s for a quick listen (supposed to be working :-)). Sounds very good, but will need to sit down with it for a couple hours when today's contribution to the world of work is completed.

 

Simple to get going, simple to use and encouraging on first listen.

 

Many thanks Pearse, and the development team, whoever you are (someone on Tirna Hifi perchance?)

 

Mark

[tonerei]

Simple to get going, simple to use and encouraging on first listen. Many thanks Pearse, and the development team, whoever you are (someone on Tirna Hifi perchance?)

Mark

 

He is on various forums and not from Ireland but living in Ireland and is also on tirnahifi.

A variety of people on tirnahifi did beta testing but I think Fryderck had others on different forums also but that you will have to ask him that yourself

[sligolad]

If anyone interested needs good information on this player then best to have a look here where there is more activity and feedback:

Tír Na HiFi • View topic - wtfplay project - it's official

 

Early days yet with it only released weeks ago so it will take time for some good ears to latch on to it :-))

[ElviaCaprice]

From the website, wtfplay, looks interesting. I'll definitely give it a try, Pearse. Thanks for mentioning it.

[joelha]

Good luck on trying this player. I think its fantastic.

 

The tuning options are what take it to another level.

 

For me, so far, -f 4096 -p 2 is best.

 

Joel

[CR250]

"

The download directory contains ISO images that are optimised for certain processor families. The images are labeled as follows:

 

• corei7 - use this image if you have Intel Core i3/i5/i7 CPU or newer.
  
• core2 - use this image if you have Intel Core2 Duo CPU or newer. "
  

 

Will either one of those work with an AMD CPU, or do I need Intel?

[sligolad]

I have no AMD hardware myself but there is a guy over here Tír Na HiFi • View topic - wtfplay project - it's official who used the core2 version on his AMD base machine and had good results.

 

Dedicated AMD versions are probably further down the list of requests to the developer so far but no doubt he will work on it given the response so far.

[John769]

Thanks for heads up!

 

Any idea why it plays at reduced volume level? Using Core 2, haven't tried 7 yet. Buffer settings, etc, are default.

 

Obviously it's difficult to assess with volume being so low. Level is 100% in Win 10.

[joelha]

John769,

 

I haven't experienced lower volume at all. Just FYI.

 

Can't explain why you're having that experience.

 

Joel

[John769]

thanks

 

It wouldn't be because when I used wtfplay yesterday for the first time, I did accidentally have Win 10 at only 30% volume before installing wtfplay. Does it somehow remember the previous setting when you run it the next time? (seems unlikely but just checking)

[joelha]

No. wtfplay has no bearing on what your volume setting would be, especially in Windows as it boots to a Linux operating system. So a Windows volume setting would have no bearing in the comparison.

 

And the hardware volume setting you choose is also independent of the settings wtfplay uses. More than that, every time you reboot, settings have to be re-established in wtfplay, although the developer has said he's working on addressing that point.

 

Joel

[frd__]

Hi, my name is Fryderyk and I created wtfplay-live. This is my first post on this forum so first things first: welcome everybody.

 

@John769: Your audio device has probably a volume control built in and wtfplay-live Linux kernel uses some default value. It happens to be 30% in your case. To change the volume under wtfplay-live use 'alsamixer' command (without quotes). This will start mixer utility where you will be able to configure desired volume. F6 - selects sound device, arrows - change values, M - mute/unmute, ESC - exits utility.

 

I would appreciate if you let me know the name of the mixer control that is responsible for the volume control - those names are hardware dependent.

 

Unfortunately, at the moment the mixer settings are not preserved during the reboot, but I am working on this feature.

 

Kind Regards,

Fryderyk

[Tribon]

Hi Fryderyk.

Are you going to add Raspberry Pi distribution or this is PC software similar fo Daphile?

[frd__]

The ARM build is in range, but I do not know the target platform yet. Possibilities are: RPi3, Odroid C2 or even Pine64. Of course there is also Cubox i4x4 but it is expensive. At the moment I am concentrating on adding few features to the PC build: the first priority belongs to DSD support and preserving user settings.

 

F

[John769]

No..

Cheers,

[John769]

Hi, my name is Fryderyk and I created wtfplay-live. This is my first post on this forum so first things first: welcome everybody.

 

@John769: Your audio device has probably a volume control built in and wtfplay-live Linux kernel uses some default value. It happens to be 30% in your case. To change the volume under wtfplay-live use 'alsamixer' command (without quotes). This will start mixer utility where you will be able to configure desired volume. F6 - selects sound device, arrows - change values, M - mute/unmute, ESC - exits utility.

 

I would appreciate if you let me know the name of the mixer control that is responsible for the volume control - those names are hardware dependent.

 

Unfortunately, at the moment the mixer settings are not preserved during the reboot, but I am working on this feature.

 

Kind Regards,

Fryderyk

 

Hi Fryderyk. Thanks for your help, it's sorted now.

 

The dac (I'm using temporarily) uses a savitech asio driver and has a utility with two channel mixer and buffer/ bit rate option. In alsa mixer, it says "SA9023" and the driver can be found here:

 

HiFimeDIY Sabre U2 Asynchronous USB DAC

 

BTW, would you recommend Core 2 or Core 7 for 1.6 GHZ Celeron quad- core Braswell CPU?

[frd__]

BTW, would you recommend Core 2 or Core 7 for 1.6 GHZ Celeron quad- core Braswell CPU?

 

The recommendation is simple: try corei7 build and if it does not work (reboots, unable to start shell, other unexpected messages) then try core2 build

[John769]

got ya

[chauphuong]

This software does not support remote control from mobilephone or tablet, does it?

[Possum Jenkins]

This software does not support remote control from mobilephone or tablet, does it?

 

 

It's standalone, no network connectivity. Not yet anyway.