Perfect Player Os X Trial Version 1

I see theres also BitPerfect for iTunes - again, FLAC limitation sucks.

Do they sound the same if set to bit-perfect output Lets have a look at the candidates Ill be considering here: 1.

Its a no-nonsense program that plays a nice range of file formats without fuss.

Its able to take exclusive access of the audio device, and memory playback.

As with all the commercial offerings, it can switch sample rate automatically.

I upgraded to the latest version 1.2.11 for these tests.

Memory playback was activated.

Audirvana Plus: Current version is 1.4.6.

I bought this one about 6 months ago.

Able to handle DSD files with DST and was able to play DSD64 and DSD128 over the USB interface to my TEAC UD-501 without problem.

Since the software supposedly bypasses CoreAudio, I would have thought that Integer Mode would be an obvious given.

They also talk about 64-bit processing which is great if one has need for the SRC and dithering (iZotope-based).

For these tests, Im using Direct, Integer Mode with memory playback to the TEAC.

JRiver Media Center for Mac - Well known media player originating from the Windows world.

Bit-perfect from the start so I didnt fool with any of the default settings.

Its capable of DSD playback to the TEAC using DoP.

Pure Music - Im not as familiar with this one.

Perfect Player Os X Trial Version 1

I installed the trial version 1.89g.

It literally wraps around the iTunes interface.

Can handle DSD but I didnt bother trying since it looks like there were some contortions needed to get these files recognized under iTunes.

My subjective opinion is that I did not like the UI and using iTunes means no native FLAC support.

TEAC HR Audio Player - Release version 1.0 for Mac.

Just a freebie I can run with the TEAC DAC.

Does have an Expand to RAM mode which I did not use for these tests.

Tunes 11.0.2 - The standard Mac music player.

Should be bit-perfect so long as volume at 100 and none of the DSP plug-ins are activated.

A lot of uncertainly out there about this program with folks jumping up and down with each version claiming that sound has changed for better or worse.

Version 11 was released in November 2012 with some folks claiming volume and sound quality changes compared to version 10.

The BIG negative about iTunes for audiophiles is the lack of automatic sample rate switching - need to go into the Audio MIDI Setup panel to change sampling rates and bit depth (yuck).

IMO, the other BIG negative about iTunes is that it does not support FLAC.

Seriously, after 11 versions, to not support the universal lossless audio format is just stupid and has been a reason why I do not buy music from Apple.

Over the years I have tried Play, Amarra, and Fidelia as well, but figure the above was enough to look at for a sense of the field out there around Mac music players.