Best software for Classical music?

[Bufo Bill]

Hi can anyone tell me if there's a good player/ library organiser for classical music? I currently have a small library of music on my SSD, so am not yet tied in to one format or system. I have iTunes running ATM, and although things are much better than they were metadata wise, I am not seeing many of you running iTunes on a PC. Am I wrong here or am I missing something? Is there a dream player/library combo out there for classical fans?

All the best from Bill. 

[Musicophile]

On a Mac, I find Audirvana to be the best compromise for tagging flexibility and sound quality. 

 

On PC (which seems to be your platform), MusiChi has received some good reviews, but I never used it.

 

http://www.musichi.eu

 

Alternatively, JRiver is also pretty flexible tagging wise. On a PC; I indeed wouldn't´t bother with iTunes. 

[Bufo Bill]

Hi, thanks for your quick reply. Yes I am on PC. Will check out musiChi, and am heartened that Jriver has some good options for the classical music enthusiast. 

Many thanks from Bill. 

[Old Listener]

Both composer and performer(s) are important in browsing classical music.  Most players don't let you browse using those attributes separately.

 

JRiver lets you use whatever tags you want in views you define.  Here is a screenshot from several years ago of  JRiver view that I use for classical music.

 

 

I researched alternatives 11+ years ago and picked JRiver.  I have never found anything else that is close for browsing classical music.

[Bufo Bill]

Thanks @Old Listener, I've downloaded the Jriver trial, listening to my first tracks now (I'm very much an "album" type of guy so it'll be the whole of "Sacred Music of Russian Orthodox Church" if anyone is interested). I was pleasantly suprised by the interface and the music has much more subtlety (I'm hearing a lack of compression I think). I'll get to grips a little more before I buy but initially I love it. 

Many thanks from Bill. 

[rando]

You'll fast find the number and variety of offerings confusing.  Consider picking a few albums to try in at least a couple player software.  Seeing as you are just starting out, picking something that will be actively supported for many years forward has merit.  The interface and how well it works with your system are both important.  There will be compromises if you want the best SQ and slick interface.  There is no right or wrong once you leave the iTunes on PC environment for any of these players mentioned in here.   

 

Here are a few programs ranging from free and simple to coming at substantially greater expense of time or money.

 

Foobar 2000 - free, works well, bare bones player with decent amount of search functionality

 

HQ Player -  $$$ Fully featured slick interface, upsampling to DSD512, etc with owner/employee active here (I think)

 

Media Monkey - free or $25 full version 

 

Bug Head Emperor - free but not fun or frivolous.  Potentially great SQ if you can figure out how to use the program

 

JPLAY - used inside of J-River or Foobar to really complicate things

 

XXHighEnd - $$$ bring a fast and powerful computer and a love of the color yellow.  @PeterSt would probably love to explain better.

[Old Listener]

4 minutes ago, Bufo Bill said:

Thanks @Old Listener, I've downloaded the Jriver trial, listening to my first tracks now (I'm very much an "album" type of guy so it'll be the whole of "Sacred Music of Russian Orthodox Church" if anyone is interested). I was pleasantly suprised by the interface and the music has much more subtlety (I'm hearing a lack of compression I think). I'll get to grips a little more before I buy but initially I love it. 

Many thanks from Bill. 

 

Here's a gallery of screenshots and text to show how to build a view for classical music.

 

constructing a JRiver view for classical music.

 

I use the genre tag to distinguish classical music from other types of music.

[Bufo Bill]

@rando, I am once again very grateful to you for your comprehensive reply. I like the look of Jplay, perhaps to the point of stressing the wallet moths further, the trigger finger is a little

twitchy . . .

@Old Listener, will be giving your link a thorough read this evening, thank you so much, it looks like just what I need. 

All the best from Bill. 

[S Vale]

MusiChi is terrific as a classical library organizer/tagger.  It also has a player that I haven't tried.

 

You can organize your library with MusiChi, and play with any other player such as JRiver.

 

-SK

[Bufo Bill]

Thank you @S Vale. 

From Bill. 

[DomieMic65]

+1 for MusiCHi

[Bufo Bill]

46 minutes ago, DomieMic65 said:

+1 for MusiCHi

Thanks. 

So to take things a step further, listened to Foobar, and didn't like it as much as Jriver. I'm running out of cash for the moment, so I'm not going to take the software any further right now. 

I would love to hear whether people find much improvement with Jplay, or does it just heap more work onto the Processor?

Many thanks from Bill. 

[AnotherSpin]

Hi, if you want classical music organizer/library, than the players mentioned above will give you some options to choose from. If you want great sound quality and you are not afraid of command-line bare linux try wtf-player, it is free, simple and would be used in Windows computer.

[Bufo Bill]

7 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Hi, if you want classical music organizer/library, than the players mentioned above will give you some options to choose from. If you want great sound quality and you are not afraid of command-line bare linux try wtf-player, it is free, simple and would be used in Windows computer.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think Linux is for me just yet, still trying to get my head around Windows at this stage. 

Many thanks from Bill.

[AnotherSpin]

6 minutes ago, Bufo Bill said:

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think Linux is for me just yet, still trying to get my head around Windows at this stage. 

Many thanks from Bill.

 

I was thinking the same just about a month ago, before I tried wtf-play, but the learning curve was quite short, and the sound nothing less than amazing. Again, you have your Windows pc intact, just rebooting from usb flash and here you are.

 

[rando]

This is a prime example of why I stated compromises between sound quality or a slick interface were probable.  Even worse, a good PC interface or a good app/mobile interface.  At any time you can download a trial or free copy of the other software mentioned to A<>B or play around with.  

 

I'm going to try wtf-player in the coming days.  Thanks for bringing this to my attention @AnotherSpin.  I rarely visit this corner of the forum.

[AnotherSpin]

14 minutes ago, rando said:

I'm going to try wtf-player in the coming days. 

 

Do yourself a favor.

[plissken]

Any of the bit perfect players will sound the same. J River and Foobar will both tell you the same thing.

 

If something is sounding different it's in the configuration. 

[AnotherSpin]

Any combination of letters will means the same. If something reads different it's in the configuration.

[plissken]

26 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

Any combination of letters will means the same. If something reads different it's in the configuration.

 

Any combination of sighted evaluation will always mean something sounds different even when it doesn't.

 

Any combination of bias controlled evaluation of bit perfect play back.... Oh wait, every subjectivist I've met won't submit for having their expectation bias removed from the equation. 

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

Admittedly I haven't tried all the other players mentioned here but I am happy with JRiver.

 

Yes it can be bit of a steep learning curve, its extraordinary configurability and organizational flexibility both a blessing and a curse at times.You can create custom tags and view your libraries in any number of ways, if that is important. I like that for my music. For video I went back to Kodi (xbmc) and stream with Plex. Both much simpler and appealing to my family.Edit: Kudos to JRiver, it has recently been working on being more user friendly. I'm not saying it is hard to use at all, just that others are easier. Complexity often comes with choice.

 

If you want to experiment a bit further when you have time and money you can explore audiophile-optimizer for your PC. It can be used with JPlay ( I do not) and can be configured to make JRiver the automatic front end. JPlay is not supported by JRiver.

 

David

[Marcin_gps]

JPLAY will work with latest JRiver builds: one needs to download and install foo_dsd_asio (originally intended for Foobar), then select it in JRiver as audio device, and then set foo_dsd_asio to work with JPLAY Driver. 

With JRiver builds before 20.0.0.41 it will work directly. 

 

But JPLAY is not only JPLAY Driver. There is a standalone JPLAYmini and JPLAYStreamer which converts your PC into a network streamer and you can use your smartphone/tablet with Kinsky/Kazoo or BubbleDS apps for controlling playback.  

[lucser]

From all listed until now:

1. Audirvana+ (Paid, trial, avail only on Mac). It is what I use now mostly (after 3.1 supporting UPNP ). If files are properly tagged then many features to display your library, create smart playlists based on different criterias, edit tags etc. for classical music you can store the arrist, album artist, composer, performer, instrument .... All these you can use later on to sort/display your library,, create smart playlists ( e.g classical, piano, beethoven).

2. JRiver - (paid, trial?) from what I've read similar with the above but didn't test myself since I have purchased at that time Audirvana and HQPlayer.

3 foobar2000 - (free) I've used some time ago on windows. As far as I remember you can obtain similar features with the above but you need additional plugins and config them to suit your taste.

4. HQPlayer - (paid, trial)one of the best for SQ and upsampling features but worst for library management (almost no feature). Tags only as per original Convention limited and    library displayed only in the alphabetic order of the artist. Not recommended for proper classical music library with complete / complex tagging but highly recommended for sound quality and streaming over network to the proprietary NAA client ( could be installed on various devices).

hopefully all these will help you. 

[fragoulisnaval]

For classical music, MUISChi wins hands down. The developer is a HUGE fan of classical music and he has developed the software with this in mind.

 

It comes with a preinstalled database for classical music which comes very handy in case yout files are lacking in tagging. This database is open source and can anyone contribute. However, every now and then he is updating it, enriching it with new content

 

Pricewise, it is very competitive.

 

If i were you, i would write a message in the Support section , telling him what i look for and want and want.

 

 

[Kal Rubinson]

2 hours ago, fragoulisnaval said:

For classical music, MUISChi wins hands down. The developer is a HUGE fan of classical music and he has developed the software with this in mind.

 

It comes with a preinstalled database for classical music which comes very handy in case yout files are lacking in tagging. This database is open source and can anyone contribute. However, every now and then he is updating it, enriching it with new content

 

Agreed and I do use this for tagging help but it does not support DSD and/or multichannel, both of which are essential for me.