Audio players...all the same sonically?

dazco · 20 Aug 2011

I use foobar because the interface does what i want exactly the way i want after a few tweaks. But i've often wondered whether a software player can make a difference in sound quality. Note that i have used my share of them and don't hear a difference. i'm a musician of 40 years, so it's not like i'm tone deaf. But i haven't really compared them side by side so i'd like to hear opinions. What really piqued my interest was a player i saw in the software for W7 list here which stated it uses 32 bit playback and therefore sounds superior. i tried it but couldn't hear a difference. Is there one, or is it just a case of most mp3's generally being made in 16 bit format?

So do any of these players sound better, or do they sound better only with files that are made in 32 bit, or what? Mind you, i'm a long time musician but i'm NOT very versed in the technology end of things.

fireberd · 21 Aug 2011

I'm a musician (been playing in bands since 1959) and have a Sonar based recording studio.

I haven't heard any real difference between media players.

As far as bitrate, 16 is the "CD standard" and what all commercial CD's are recorded at. I use 24 bits for studio recording, but only because it allows a little more headroom. But when I mixdown to the "standard" audio format for CD burning (or whatever) I mixdown to the standard 16 bit/44.1 Khz "standard". If you burn your own audio discs, this is what it will burn standard audio CD's at (Redbook standard).

If something is recorded or generated at 16 bits, converting it to 32 won't really get you anything.

An MP3 is "something less than full fidelity" as it is a compressed bitrate file. Once a full fidelity wav file has been converted to an MP3 it can never regain it's full fidelity if it is converted to a wav file - it will be at the fidelity it was as an MP3.

szoltan · 21 Aug 2011

Yes, I tested the most popular ones a few years ago and I can assure you that foobar2000 has the best sound quality and I still hear noticeable difference after WMP or VLC player. But If you only have a sound equipment that has the same sound quality with every player....it doesn't matter in this case, especially if you play lossy formats like mp3. I recommend this site http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ to dig deeper into this if you want.

dazco · 21 Aug 2011

Thats what i figured, thanks