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Something New in JRiver MC, MC19 now available

clivem2 said:
It is strange jriver have gone down the memory route given their position on jplay and that any bit perfect player cannot be improved upon.
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Their comments are:
"Sound Quality
JRiver is unaware of any test that shows a sound quality advantage to memory playback.

The option was added due to popular demand."

Full description of the feature here.

Plenty other reasons already you might want to upgrade from 18 to 19 - see here. Upgrade was less than $20 to those that fancied trying it.

ps Plugplayer is pants compared to JRemote.
 
What did anyone have to do when installing on a PC with MC18 installed? I love MC when it's set up but I always forget how to configure it as it is usually at least 6 months between doing it last time. Maybe time to write down what I need to do this time. I think last time I used them in parallel for a few months until I worked out the auto audio out switch :)
 
They seem to be hedging their bets...they don't believe their new development sounds better but they also say there can be theoretical benefits due to minimizing I/O etc.
 
Peter Stockwell said:
You should try the new R128 Replay Gain thingymewhatsit. That really f00ks up the sound, sounds like there's a sock over everything!!

But the memory playback, defo sounds like Raj sez, crisperer betterer, new improved recipe, etc. Ooh, I don't know kind of like relaxing into the music rather than being impressed with hifi pyrotechnics, kind of thing.

Some one will have to deaf, dumb and blind test it, innit ?
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I am on Jriver for Mac Peter which is sort of MC18 in beta. It sounds really good to me much better than iTunes.
 
I know bitz is bitz an' all, but I do think that 19 memory playback is better than 18 memory playback.

Gizmo sucks, coz it can't do artist sort properly, or at least I haven't figured out how to do it. Most of the time I use VNC to run Jriver from another machine or tablet.

The interface in general is good with JRiver and it can do almost anything you want it to, within th elimits of what you might expect from a Software media centre.
 
Well, I have installed two of them so far, and it is all working OK is it.

There seems to be more options on the ASIO audio out, including asio kernel streaming there.

Interface is the same / very similar.

DS
 
Peter Stockwell said:
You should try the new R128 Replay Gain thingymewhatsit. That really f00ks up the sound, sounds like there's a sock over everything!!

But the memory playback, defo sounds like Raj sez, crisperer betterer, new improved recipe, etc. Ooh, I don't know kind of like relaxing into the music rather than being impressed with hifi pyrotechnics, kind of thing.

Some one will have to deaf, dumb and blind test it, innit ?
Click to expand...

Crumbs, you weren't kidding. I upgraded for the memory playback and the new R128 volume thing. The jury is still out on the memory playback but re the new replay volume thing...they must be totally deaf on the J River team as MC 19 compresses the whole soundstage, everything closes in and it sounds like I'm listening to it out of very small speakers with blankets over them.

I need to do further comparisons between 18 and 19 but not impressed at the moment.
 
Pelham said:
Crumbs, you weren't kidding. I upgraded for the memory playback and the new R128 volume thing. The jury is still out on the memory playback but re the new replay volume thing...they must be totally deaf on the J River team as MC 19 compresses the whole soundstage, everything closes in and it sounds like I'm listening to it out of very small speakers with blankets over them.

I need to do further comparisons between 18 and 19 but not impressed at the moment.
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Why use R128 volume levelling if you don't want to? It's just an implementation of the EBU standard - a way of getting tracks in a playlist to sound similarly loud. Don't bother turning it on if you don't want it. It is off by default.
 
AndyU said:
Why use R128 volume levelling if you don't want to? It's just an implementation of the EBU standard - a way of getting tracks in a playlist to sound similarly loud. Don't bother turning it on if you don't want it. It is off by default.
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That's the point - I do want it...in 18 it was a fantastic feature. I listen to lots of playlists and it's brilliant not to have to hover over the remote every time the track changes.

I'm just disappointed that such a useful feature has (on my system at least) been hamstrung.


I actually popped back to say that with this feature switched off 19 is a definite improvement over 18 and then found some speedy responders to my post.
 
Pelham said:
That's the point - I do want it...in 18 it was a fantastic feature. I listen to lots of playlists and it's brilliant not to have to hover over the remote every time the track changes.

I'm just disappointed that such a useful feature has (on my system at least) been hamstrung.


I actually popped back to say that with this feature switched off 19 is a definite improvement over 18 and then found some speedy responders to my post.
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In DSP studio where you enable R128 volume levelling, it also says that "the overall volume of a playlist may be reduced. Enable 'Adaptive Volume' on the left to compensate for this". Did you try that? Have you selected any other signal processing? All the volume levelling uses is JRivers volume control, which uses 64 but arithmetic and so is of incredibly high quality, so there shouldn't be any degradation in sq, apart from the reduction in level.
 
I was overly critical of R128, there's a thread on AoS, where seomeone went to the trouble of comparing the streams with and without R128. They found it had no effect on data integrity.

It will sometimes cut output level by 15dB or so, and I think that I was unwilling to compensate with the volume control, so playback sounded dull. Which, of course, leads to the arguments about perceived differences dissapearing if levels matched.

Have it disabled at present, but consider, now, that its not as diabolical as I first thought. I'd say I was wrong.
 
muzzer said:
JR themselves state that memory playback feature has no effect on sound quality
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Not sure where this 'popular demand' comes from - JR had memory playback since v14. Was there really 'popular demand' for it then? Or for improved memory playback now?

No, this is just more double-talk. “JPlay's aims and methods are disreputable, but we'll do something similar. Bit-perfect players sound the same, but ours is better.”

It is interesting to note how in the last five years, the concept of universally identical-sounding software has been eroded bit-by-bit.

In the Mac ecosphere there's much wider acceptance that iTunes sounds worse than Audirvana, Pure Music and Amarra - to the point where I suspect Apple may even release an audiophile 'iTunes Pro' - with auto sample-rate swtiching, memory playback, core audio bypass and service suspension. If Jobs were alive, co-opting innovative third-party development was very much his MO, and he was something of an audiophile himself . . .
 
Peter Stockwell said:
I was overly critical of R128, there's a thread on AoS, where seomeone went to the trouble of comparing the streams with and without R128. They found it had no effect on data integrity.
Click to expand...

It really shouldn't - all it does is adjust the volume setting.
 
ItemAudio said:
It is interesting to note how in the last five years, the concept of universally identical-sounding software has been eroded bit-by-bit.
Click to expand...

It is interesting to note how in the last five years, the concept of universally different-sounding software has been eroded bit-by-bit.

In the Mac ecosphere there's much wider acceptance that iTunes sounds worse than Audirvana, Pure Music and Amarra
Click to expand...

iTunes is very seldom bit-perfect.

to the point where I suspect Apple may even release an audiophile 'iTunes Pro' - with auto sample-rate swtiching, memory playback, core audio bypass and service suspension. If Jobs were alive, co-opting innovative third-party development was very much his MO, and he was something of an audiophile himself . . .
Click to expand...

Not to mention a brilliant marketeer.
 
Julf said:
It is interesting to note how in the last five years, the concept of universally different-sounding software has been eroded bit-by-bit.

iTunes is very seldom bit-perfect.

Not to mention a brilliant marketeer.
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Marketing responds to (and creates) demand. The increasing demand for players sonically better than iTunes and WMP drives sales of JRiver, Audirvana, JPlay, Amarra, Pure Music, and the uptake of many other free, specialised players like MQN, Foobar, cMP, et al. New playback software seems to be springing up monthly. You may not like it, but that's the way the wind is blowing. There's now a large, happy customer base for those products.

And anyone serious about buying dedicated audio playback software is going to be running iTunes bit-perfect by clicking the necessary button. That's pure what I like to call FUD.
 
A stupid question maybe:

Can I run Jriver via Gizmo or another remote app without having the computer turned on all the time?

Thanks //Magnus
 
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