Upgrade to J River computer program

[Robocop]

I've been playing with computer audio for the last 3 or 4 months. I have a recent Asus lap top dedicated to audio only with W7 64bit running(tweaked per advice from internet).

I have been running Foobar 2000 first in direct sound then Wasapi into my Benchmark Dac. This sound easily beats my dedicated CD playback(Meridian transport with the Benchmark).

I decided to try J River program using Wasapi Event style. Well the sound upgrade was amazing over Foobar and I will be buying the program. I couldn't believe the difference it made, more of everything musically.

Which in terms of Hi-Fi tweaks really is cheap($50US) plus I love the easy processing of music files. I guess you get what you pay for.

Asio seems to be the preferred audio output over wasapi but I've yet to get that working. For now Wasapi Event style is working a treat and easy to set up.

[Gary.M]

I'm using J-River to drive my projector... Picture quality is fantastic! They lead the pack in media players.

[kaka]

It would be worth giving the xxHighend free trial a go as well - JRiver is only second on my sonic list

JRiver has a class interface, xxHighend is dreadful, but I like it's sound

[Robocop]

Kaka you are right thanks for the tip. I downloaded xxhighend and after some effort got it working.

Well its definitely better sounding than J River, so much so I have bought it for $129.

His web site has a lot to read. His DAC looks interesting also but cost 3300 Euro. Wonder how it would compare with other top end Dacs like the Weiss.

[Nathan]

I dislike the J River interface with a passion. I wish they would make an audio only stripped down version without all the web/photo/video elements.

[Robocop]

I agree J River should just do a dedicated audio program. But still the sonic difference is easily audible. We played Jose Feliciano hits CD ripped to Wave which sounds pretty basic as tracks were probably taken from CD's to produce the Hits album as a lot were. Very few hit's albums are taken from master tapes.
Played back on xxhighend was very revealing giving a more involving, detailed sound, larger sound stage. In fact I listened to the whole album. Normally I can only listen to the better tracks with virtually no sound stage.