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). Version 11 was released in November 2012 with some folks claiming volume and sound quality changes compared to version 10. 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. Should be "bit-perfect" so long as volume at 100% and none of the DSP plug-in's are activated. iTunes 11.0.2 - The "standard" Mac music player. Does have an "Expand to RAM" mode which I did not use for these tests.Ħ. Just a freebie I can run with the TEAC DAC. TEAC HR Audio Player - Release version 1.0 for Mac. My subjective opinion is that I did not like the UI and using iTunes means no native FLAC support.ĥ. "Memory Play" was activated for playback.
![bitperfect vs amarra bitperfect vs amarra](https://roon-community-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/optimized/2X/3/308f20cd72b588cdd8e5de9e5d75ddc4b2f13a87_2_562x998.png)
Can handle DSD but I didn't bother trying since it looks like there were some contortions needed to get these files recognized under iTunes. It literally "wraps" around the iTunes interface. Pure Music - I'm not as familiar with this one. It's capable of DSD playback to the TEAC using DoP.Ĥ. Bit-perfect from the start so I didn't fool with any of the default settings. I measured the beta 18.0.177 build for this test. JRiver Media Center for Mac - Well known media player originating from the Windows world.
![bitperfect vs amarra bitperfect vs amarra](https://contents.mediadecathlon.com/p1296900/k8c2a25ba949e65ef67ab6c31675c50df/1296900_default.jpg)
Also, I have SysOptimizer turned on (disables Spotlight, Time Machine, some USB tweaks).ģ. For these tests, I'm using Direct, Integer Mode with memory playback to the TEAC. They also talk about 64-bit processing which is great if one has need for the SRC and dithering (iZotope-based). Since the software supposedly bypasses CoreAudio, I would have thought that "Integer Mode" would be an obvious given. "Under the hood", it's also got some extra features like memory playback, "Direct Mode" apparently bypassing CoreAudio as well as "Integer Mode". 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. Audirvana Plus: Current version is 1.4.6. I upgraded to the latest version 1.2.11 for these tests. As with all the commercial offerings, it can switch sample rate automatically. It's able to take exclusive access of the audio device, and memory playback. It's a no-nonsense program that plays a nice range of file formats without fuss.
![bitperfect vs amarra bitperfect vs amarra](https://www.amarra.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/20053_b-scaled.jpg)
Decibel: I bought this program more than a year ago. Do they sound the same if set to bit-perfect output? Let's have a look at the candidates I'll be considering here:ġ. Over the last few years, the list of "audiophile" audio players on the Mac has gradually increased.