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272 Comments
- Kriff, on 02/19/2008, -3/+117Where's foobar2000?
- oxygen911, on 02/19/2008, -5/+94so that list sucked.......
- br0wnstar, on 02/19/2008, -8/+79I bought really expensive headphones, thinking that I could finally hear what the difference was between a 320 kbps MP3 and a lossless rip. Still can't. Oh well, they keep my ears warm.
- rimco, on 02/19/2008, -2/+56This has nothing to do with being an audiophile... it's just yet another list of apps we've all heard about before a million times... wheee!.....
- fusen, on 02/19/2008, -1/+54the title is inaccurate tbh, this isn't a list for audiophiles, it's simply a list for any windows user who wants to cover all aspects of audio playing/ripping/extracting etc. "Top 10 Free Software for Managing Your Music"
- johanm, on 02/19/2008, -13/+54im gonna bury this story like a hooker in my back yard!
- plup, on 02/19/2008, -5/+43"Magic MP3 Tagger" (what a lame lame name) is not freeware. And the article is dumb on so many levels, it's not useful at all.
- TheNewFlesh, on 02/19/2008, -6/+43*Top 10 Free Software for Audiophiles using Windows
- sparf, on 02/19/2008, -4/+39mplayer / mencoder / oggenc / cdrtools / audacity
All I need. - heathengray, on 02/19/2008, -10/+40Failed to include Amarok, Failed at life.
I don't care if it's only on Nix for now (win port in the works), Amarok is a whole reason to switch OSs - robbh66, on 02/19/2008, -2/+26The list sucks. If you want a good ripper use EAC: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ Just wish their was a mac version :/
- dn11, on 02/19/2008, -1/+25Dude, you need to wear a a gold plated pyramidal foil hat while you're listening otherwise you have no idea what good audio is
- topgigmedia, on 02/19/2008, -2/+23Ultimately it really depends on a number of factors, one important one being the actual quality of the mastering process. If the record is crap to begin with, it really isn't going to sound better at lossless vs. 320kbps. High compression during mastering can cause this.
- jacekpoplawski, on 02/19/2008, -7/+28Audiophiles don't listen to mp3.
- aelias, on 02/19/2008, -1/+20I remember getting nice cans and being all excited about curling up with my laptop and breaking them in. Then I heard the hard drive chatter and it made baby jesus sad.
- hniu, on 02/19/2008, -1/+19List has nothing to do with audiophiles.
Failed to mention:
- 1by1 (great 100k audio player)
- foobar2000
- mediaplayer classic
- dbpoweramp
Lame and inaccurate descriptions. Buried. - broodking, on 02/19/2008, -3/+19winamp is great for playing song while playing games as its so light weight compared to WMP10 and itunes
- inactive, on 02/19/2008, -26/+41WINAMP!?!?
Lmao, buried. - Dested, on 02/19/2008, -3/+18Would have been slightly funnier if you said the instead of a.
- leonhyral, on 02/19/2008, -2/+16Buried this story for inaccuracy after not seeing foobar immediately.
- spyd3rweb, on 02/19/2008, -12/+26Just say no to Winamp, the equalizer is garbage, foobar2000 is great. And for ripping, the audiophiles use Exact Audio Copy in secure mode.
- souLLy, on 02/19/2008, -0/+14No Foobar and no EAC... hardly an audiophile's list.
- vault, on 02/19/2008, -6/+18For any mac users reading this, XLD is an excellent freeware app for converting between formats...i.e. flac to apple lossless.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23430/x-lossl ... - yoshman, on 02/19/2008, -0/+12I use mp3tag personally. It's really handy.
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ - groovytrance, on 02/19/2008, -2/+13I don't know why you're being dugg down....
He's absolutely right. He's not saying the apps aren't good, just that the title is inaccurate.
C'mon... Songbird? It rocks, sure... but it doesn't even have a graphical equalizer... Not really up to "audiophile" standards - kevincannon, on 02/19/2008, -0/+11True. I hate lists like this that are just Digg fodder. Someone just googles for free audio apps and makes a list out of them. I doubt the author has actually tried any of the apps or actually provided any kind of editorial quality control.
Down with this sort of thing! - retawd, on 02/19/2008, -0/+11No one in comments or the article has mentioned encoders. "Audiophiles" and archivers will defiinitely want some sort of LOSSLESS codec (FLAC/APE/WV/ALAC/...FROG?/) rather than just a LOSSY 320 mp3 or 400 aac. These are just as important as making sure that you use a secure ripper (EAC or dBPoweramp).
Lastly, just my opinion, but for m4a files EAC+Nero AAC >>>>>>>>>iTunes - shankarganesh, on 02/19/2008, -2/+12@Kriff: i just updated the post to include foobar.
- thetanbark, on 02/19/2008, -2/+12*Top 10 Free Programs for Users who want to pose as Audiophiles
- AeonTorpor, on 02/19/2008, -0/+10I think damn near everything uses less memory than Firefox. Besides, we're talking about audio programs...
- owenkun, on 02/19/2008, -2/+12This list is straight-up terrible. Real 'audiophiles' (and they'd probably be loath to call themselves that anyway), wouldn't be caught dead using a program like Winamp, a program whose decoding engine has been decried for years now. Granted, with Winamp 5 its significantly better, but it still lacks adequate dithering support and the ability to use higher resampling rates.
Classifying foobar2000 as tagging software? Shameful.
While I know that they mention the powerful duo of EAC and foobar, they're only mentioned in passing due to their being contributions by readers. For people that want accurate, scientifically deduced information, head on over to HydrogenAudio and prepare to do some reading. - KloroFormd, on 02/19/2008, -1/+11I'm agreeing with you. I don't understand why you're being buried for this comment, Amarok is great and is free software for audiophiles. It should have at least been mentioned.
- philhoward, on 02/19/2008, -0/+10IHaving EAC as an afterthought is a bit of a joke really.
- flashback99, on 02/19/2008, -0/+10Welcome to the 90's!
- l0k0, on 02/19/2008, -2/+11MediaCoder is better than AudioGrabber. Also, Ardour is a great audio editor, but it's Linux and OSX only.
- Zippo, on 02/19/2008, -0/+9Mac user here.
After reading the list, I tried out Songbird. I mean, Mozilla makes some great apps, so I figured I'd give it a whirl.
Unfortunately, it's twice the size of iTunes, takes up more RAM, has much less in the way of features, and it's much slower to load and run than iTunes.
Sadness.
I know iTunes on Windows is garbage, but it's really good on OS X. - dn11, on 02/19/2008, -1/+10the headline was wrong. the article has nothing to do with audiophiles
- KloroFormd, on 02/19/2008, -1/+10Guess what your CD was mixed on... yeah... that's right.
- sparf, on 02/19/2008, -0/+9Specifically the sound of the cymbals (if present). That's the general deal breaker for me.
- sparf, on 02/19/2008, -1/+9Nah, sorry. Not to get into a flame war, but *nix runs games just as well as any other platform. See Quake or Unreal. The problem is getting the source, or builds, to whatever you feel like playing this week.
- inactive, on 02/19/2008, -0/+8ROFL iTunes
- thetanbark, on 02/19/2008, -0/+8Nothing beats EAC, yet they list it last. This list is downright horrible and sounds like a script-kiddie sound-off with no real research into what the best audio apps are.
- diggymow, on 02/19/2008, -0/+8You shouldn't really be able to unless it's a really bad encoder. I use 192 VBR mostly and I can hear the difference between that and the original CD, it's all in the highs.
- dn11, on 02/19/2008, -4/+11say no to winamp if you are a freakish audiophile - say yes to winamp if you're a normal music listener that wants a program that is far more versatile and customizable than any other music player/library/organizer other there. especially considering it has changed so much over time - the older simpler versions may suit some people more and are still totally viable (oh, and there are equalizer plug ins and output modules that are superior to the built in ones).
- glenelg, on 02/19/2008, -3/+10I always thought an audiophile was somebody who spent their time listening to equipment, not music.
- themono, on 02/19/2008, -1/+8There's a big difference between Audiophile and Tin-Foil Acoustic-Shaping Hat-Wearing audio freak.
- mCanada, on 02/19/2008, -0/+7Mediamonkey is without a doubt the best jukebox on the market. I have tested every single app (OSS or not) and in terms of handling large databases, handling tags, artwork, plugin support (it works with winamp plugins) MM is absolutely kick ass for managing music. It doesn't get a lot of attention because of it's closed source nature, but if you have a large database of songs, nothing will keep up.
- quomen, on 02/19/2008, -0/+7Can you tell us what type of headphones you have? If you want to hook it up to a portable player than you don't need an amp unless the headphones are very high impedance. I have beyerdynamic dt880s and a minibox e+ (connected via lineout dock) and trust me, the only thing an amp does is make it louder. The volume is usually high enough for me w/ my ipod touch but the volume can be quite dim when maxed during Classical Music listening sessions. And iMod is a waste of your money because the quality difference is negligable, and only works on 5g ipods. For portable use, IEMs are probably best. When at home, the source is just as important as the encoding. Jaalin got dugg down for saying that it's time to upgrade from onboard audio, but it's true that you're going to get a huge increase in sound quality if you get a good sound card or even better, get a dedicated DAC and amp to connect to your headphones, but that's probably out of your budget. Getting a better soundcard will likely enhance your listening experience. Lastly, it depends on the type of headphones you have. Some headphones mask imperfections of the music quite nicely and doesnt need to be amped. However, most higher impedance phones will pick out the flaws of music like pink llamas in a crowd of sheep. Those need to be properly amped and with a good source. Whatever this is a giant block of text GOOD NIGHT!
To summarize, you don't really need an amp unless you got high impedance cans. For a great cheap portable one you can go to http://www.penguinamp.com/ and get a CMOY. Dont bother with imods. Oh, and upgrade to a decent soundard if you're using onboard audio right now. There's a big difference. Sorry if this didnt help you at all and you wasted about 10 minutes of your time. :( - spyrochaete, on 02/19/2008, -0/+7I've loved Foobar2000 ( http://www.foobar2000.org ) for years for its minimal interface and tiny memory footprint. My wife showed me the newest version of Foobar recently and I reluctantly decided to try out some of the new media manager features. I love them! Here's a screenshot:
http://www.demodulated.com/crap/foobar0.9.5.PNG
I started out just adding my ripped CD folder but tried adding my downloads directories as well. This cluttered up the browser a little bit, so I tried using the "Filter" search function which is really fantastic. You can type the name, artist, album, partial file directory, or other kinds of meta data in there to find the music you're looking for.
The best audio player for Windows is now even better. - mattsx, on 02/19/2008, -1/+8that is the nature of prefixes and suffixes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-phile -
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