2. pc-audio
  3. 1228287975

Foobar 2000 or MediaMonkey v.3?

My PC runs Windows XP 2000 w/ Service Pack 3. My music library, so far, contains tracks dowloaded from Amazon.com. My audio player is WMP.

Audio out is via Behringer U-Control (dedicated USB cable, 16/48 DAC); RCA's from Behringer to Parasound pre (analog inputs only, no internal DAC) to NAD amp. I will soon upgrade from the Behringer to an Edirol UA-1 EX (24/96). I'd love to get something like a used Bel Canto DAC, but do not have the bucks.

I'm wondering if Foobar 2000 or Media Monkey will afford better sound than the WMP. I don't care about all the bells and whistles - just the sound. If yes, which is better - Foobar or Media Monkey? Where does J River fit in?

If I download one of these, should I also get ASIO and/or Kernel Streaming?

Thank you. Mike19
mmarvin19

Showing 3 responses by blindjim

blindjim
3,092 posts
 
Vista 32 sounds better than either XP or XP Pro.

JRiver Media Center 12 (now 13), sounds better than FUBAR. Never heard Monkey.
blindjim
3,092 posts
 
I think it's the same for Media Center and Jukebox... MC has a free trial too and does more stuff than Jukebox. I think it may also sound better.

Go into the options, PLAYBACK... DSP... OUTPUT... AND PLAY WITH the bit rate and sampling rates some. Defaults on mine were 16/44... switching upwards both settings improved things fairly dramatically. Albeit, the noticed changes were more noticeable using my main stereo rather than my PC, naturally.

Depending on your OS you may wish to select WAVE vs. Direct sound. A good ASIO driver will further improve things, if a USB device is being used.
blindjim
3,092 posts
 
Seekburk
To be frank... they could be right. I had several issues with different PCs that led me to buying the MC and discounting the JB version.

Primarily, playback of protected files. MC did it with less trouble and more seamlessly. Also not all file types MP3, WAV, M4P, AND M4A (alac) files would not always play on the ASIO driver output. I would have to switch over to WAVE OUt or Direct sound output to play my old mp3 & wav files. that bugtged me some.

Another bug forced me to go get another codec for ALAC (m4a, m4p) files. Direct show. this works better than the use of the Quick time codec MC uses by default. it's a bit less edgy up top and a bit more natural overall. until you hear both, side by side, either will be fine though... the default or Direct Show codec.

Vista too using MC sounds far better than XP using the same MC media player on both OS. Don't know about Macs. I can't use them. Sure would like to though, just to see.
More to discover