Do music player programs (Foobar, Winamp, Dopamine, etc.) affect the quality of digital music file playback? Or do they just spit out digital information to the DAC? Or sound quality changes due to prebuilt internal EQ from the player (software)? I am wondering if some programs fail to send complete digital information of a FLAC file to the DAC? Maybe it’s placebo thing; Potplayer (I use it to watch video files) makes the music much noisier than VLC to my ears.
If no difference, are there some better programs (for Windows) to playback digital music files (ie FLAC)? No commercial, no privacy theft, etc.
Thanks!
Well designer media players don’t alter the sound on their own. Basically they are library managers allowing you to maintain your collection. They might over all kind of DSP but it is up to you to activate it.
A simple test might be to install both Foobar and Musicbee. Match the volume (or set it to 100%) and do a unsighted test. Bet you won’t hear any difference at all.
My personal favorite is Musicbee. I like the interface.
It does nothing on its own, no underwater update of tags, etc. Only when explicitly told so, it will perform the tasks you ordered.
The most “purest” path to your DAC is using WASAPI in Exclusive mode. This bypasses the Win audio stack completely. https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MusicBee/MusicBee_audio.htm
Great.
New things to learn!! WASAPI that is.
I’ve been using Tidal in Exclusive mode.
It allows complete control by Tidal enabling up to 24bit 192kHz, on my Focal headphones it’s a massive difference.
Never tried it on the stereo really though.