Software for Music playback

[neonplanet40]

Hi Folks,

I have a lot of old music that I took off disks years ago. It is alll FLACs and other files taken from SACD (5.1 music).

However, it isn't well organised. Is there a music playback softare that will:

1) Playback these files well and send the pure signal from my PC to my AVR.
2) Help me distinguish the 'normal' usic to the 5.1 music.

It's been a long time since I installed a music playback software on my PC

Thank you.

[Jonj1611]

Not sure about 5.1 as it's not something I use but I use Musicbee.

[DDY]

Foobar2000

1) Plays back pretty much anything. If it doesn't do it natively, there's almost certainly a plugin for it!

2) You can filter, group or sort by number of channels. I sort it by adding a custom column with pattern %channels%

[neonplanet40]

I'll check both of these out, thank you. Back in the day, Winamp did it all for me!

[Jonj1611]

Mediamonkey is another I use.

I used winamp as well. Not sure what has become of it these days

[cptwhite_uk]

Old versions of winamp can still be downloaded from oldversion.com, in case you wanted a classic version before it all went south.

[g8ina]

I use AIMP and MusicBee, theres nothing in my FLAC, MP3, DSD collections that these two cant play.
I find FooBar to be very fiddly for setting it all up.

[neonplanet40]

Im still having issues. Windows really pee's about with sound doesnt it

I just want audio sent untouched from my pc to my avr via the hdmi cable. Bitstream I think?

But the sound coming from the AVR doesn't sound great and the sub isn't outputting much, if anything.

I have some DTS music on my PC. Playing it using VLC (for example), it outputs through the 5 speakers corrently, but not through the sub.

I have checked the speakers are set to 'small' on the VR, but that isn't fixing it.

Any ideas about a simple way to send untouched audio to the AVR so it can do the work, taking Windows out of the equation as much as poissible?

I knew there was a reason I didn't use a HTPC for playback in my cinema room anymore and just went with the Nvidia Shield Pro

[g8ina]

Whats the sound card / mobo audio ??

[neonplanet40]

It's a realtek. BUt Im using the HDMI output on my Nvidia 4070Ti

[Saracen999]

Im still having issues. Windows really pee's about with sound doesnt it

I just want audio sent untouched from my pc to my avr via the hdmi cable. Bitstream I think?

But the sound coming from the AVR doesn't sound great and the sub isn't outputting much, if anything.

I have some DTS music on my PC. Playing it using VLC (for example), it outputs through the 5 speakers corrently, but not through the sub.

I have checked the speakers are set to 'small' on the VR, but that isn't fixing it.

Any ideas about a simple way to send untouched audio to the AVR so it can do the work, taking Windows out of the equation as much as poissible?

I knew there was a reason I didn't use a HTPC for playback in my cinema room anymore and just went with the Nvidia Shield Pro

I'm not an expert, but I *THINK* what I'm doing (some of the time) is what you're wanting to do.

What it is not, necessarily, is simple. Or cheap.

My solution is to use an external audio interface. In my case, MOTU M4, but there are reasons for using the M4 (four inputs) when for your purposes, the 2-input M2 would work too. Also, there are a bucketload of alternatives to those MOTU units, Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 being a popular option but there's plenty more.

Downside = not free. You have to buy external hardware. Also, you kinda get what you pay for, at least, to a point.

The MOTU unit I have was about £230, the (2-input) Focusrite, about half that. I use the MOTU *either* when I have other external sound sources connected (think guitar, microphone etc) *or* when I want accurate recording of what's going on on the PC sound.

What happens? Install a driver for the audio interface. Connect the interface via USB. When you want to output to it, select the MOTU in the Windows speaker tool thingy. If I'm outputting to a device like your AVR, I then take a connection from line-outs on the MOTU to that AVR-type device. If I'm recording, the I use the MOTU Loopback option in the Windows speaker tool dropdwn, rather than the simple output. The process then is that whatever's happening on the PC goes out, via USB to the MOTU and goes through the DAC in the MOTU and back to recording software, via the same USB cable, on the PC, which records.

SO .... one reason that MOTU is fairly expensive is a very good, and high resolution DAC. When the data gets back to the PC, I have audio software (like Reaper or Audacity) recording it.

That's only one way I use sound from the PC. Another, and while very different there's a common element, is an external DAC/headphone amp. In my case, Chord Mojo 2. As with the MOTU, you install a driver, and then go USB from the PC to that DAC. On the Mojo 2, there are a couple of 3.5mm headphone outputs, but ALSO a couple of digital outputs, including optical. If you use those, you're effectively bypassing thte headphone amp part of the Mojo, and using it entirely as an external DAC.

So again, you select the Mojo driver (has to be installed, supported natively by my iPad Pro) and sound goes digitally from PC to Mojo, and if using the digital outputs, to your AVR. The Mojo is an example of that kind of device, and again, by no means cheap. Very, VERY good, but pricey. I justify that as it feeds a pair of pretty high-end headphones but it's effectively an 'audiophile' solution.

That METHOD, i.e. using an external DAC, can be done MUCH cheaper than the Mojo, and my opinion is that unless the entire audip reprodduction chain is high end, or you're going to upgrade to that, the Mojo is overkill. My 'audiochain' for that is either just headphones, or to active Sonos speakers.

It's the 'method' I'm trying to illustrate.

i.e. generally, PC sound circuitry is universally pretty crappy. Partly, that's due to compnents that are mass market and generally spec'd down to a price, and partly because a PC is about as electrically unfriendly to sound as environments get. So the objective is to get the originial digital bitsream (like your or my FLAC files, or Amazon HD, Qobuz, whatever) off the PC still in the form of data, and do the DAC bit outside of the PC, on some form of external DAC which, in my case, is either the Mojo or tyhe MOTU M4.

What you'd need, I think, is some kind of driver for Windows that bypasses the PC sound circuitry and spits the data out as digital. Various forms of external hardware, like the two I use, come with drivers that do that but there have to be others that would suit your needs,and would :-

1st) squirt the data out as a digital bitstream, not via PC sound circuitry, and

2nd) get it into a form that can be plugged into your AVR's inputs, either digitally or via the DAC approach I'm using. In the latter case, prices vary a LOT. Quality probably does too but I can only really speak for the two I use.