I'd say GSPlayer sounds the best especially when combined with X50mix.
GSPlayer has a better equalizer than TCPMP and more sound adjustments like pseudo sourround and reverb if you like. TCPMP is more video-oriented than audio-oriented, and while it supports a few more formats than GSPlayer, I'd still say GSPlayer sounds better as it gives you more tweaks. It seems rock solid too.
Both are equally excellent players, mind you. I use GSPlayer for most of my music and TCPMP for videos and formats GSPlayer can't play.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. - the Smartphone and Pocket PC Wiki Project! Feel free to come and help! :approve:
Assuming the only features one cares about are audio quality and stability, which software player simply sounds the best?
I use 40th iPlay (note, some can't access the website...). I chose it specifically because I thought its sound was better than all the rest of the players.
Assuming the only features one cares about are audio quality and stability, which software player simply sounds the best?
I'm using WMP with X50-Mix alongside it. Sound is excellent. You need nothing more. Absolutely beats the daylights out of an iPod. I listened to a friends iPod and it could not come close.
I have just tried 40thiPlay and it has blown me away. I was ready to give up on
the idea of using my X51V for music until I tried the demo of 40thiPlay. I am basing
this purely on sound quality, sure some of the skins for other players may have a nice lay-out and some convenience features, but for me the only thing that is important is audio quality. I can work with any interface I have to if I can get great sound. I have only tried mortplayer and wmp. Mortplayer introduces tons of distortion and the EQ and “effects” are just awfull, they really seem to just really discolor the music bad, you can really hear a problem with quiet passages, there is some sort of underlying tone that just seems to be added. I went back to wmp which had a much lower distortion or “noise –floor” than mortplayer.
I searched aximsite for “audiophile” and the first message was for 40thiPlay. I downloaded the demo and was instantly amazed. What a relief! Not only is the distortion non- existent, but the parametric EQ is awesome. Did I mention the gapless playback? I have quite a few CDs that get slaughtered by having a gap between songs, and this player is truly gapless playback. I had a hard time popping the IEMs out last night as the music was just sounding great, I went through a wide range of music for this audition and everything sounded fantastic.
Phendric – You said that you tried a few different players and settled on the 40thiPlay Which I can see why. I am just curious, would you mind listing the other players that You tried? I truly feel that I need to look no further, but feel a bit negligent in not at least testing some of the others. The reason I tried Mortplayer first was because of all the great reviews, and I did like the slick interface very much, but I think that the people recommending it really don’t care too much about the actual audio quality.
Let me restate one more time that I am basing this opinion completely on audio quality, Not that it has big buttons or can make playlists a particular way. I can’t really judge the 40thiPlay interface because once I started listening to it, I just closed my eyes and enjoyed!
I tried iPlay and didn't like it - interface cluttered and over-complex, sounded no better than any other player.
It's also not free and many people wanting to find more info on it can't even access the author's website, which seems to be blocking traffic for some silly reason. It's being doing that for ages and the author refuses to comment on WHY, or respond at all.
The author also refuses to respond to emails, and takes a "holier-thant-thou", bigoted attitude of going round various forums and preaching how amazing his player is. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if dvard was simply another of the author's fake handles.
That alone is a MAJOR put-off. I prefer to buy software whose authors stay in touch with their customers and listen to what the people want. Ignoring people totally is a NO-GO.
IMHO, avoid. Go with the free, just-as-good-if-not-better alternatives before forking out for a lemon.
If you fancy paying for a decent player that has more bells and whistles, take a quick look at Conduits Pocket Player. It has a nice array of features and the company making it has a good track record of nice software.
Also take a look at Pocket Music, I've only ever tried it on my Smartphone ages ago, but I keep hearing good things about it.
To be honest, audio quality is only going to be as good as the MP3 you're playing. Player doesn't make that much of a difference these days in terms of raw MP3 playback quality. Extra features of the player such as EQ and other effects can spice it up a bit according to your taste - again GSPlayer is great for that. For stability, and from my experiences, GSPlayer, PocketMusic and Pocket Player are all pretty damn solid and haven't let me down.
Honest advice from a big fan of music and audio.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. - the Smartphone and Pocket PC Wiki Project! Feel free to come and help! :approve:
I've tried, purchased and used them all. For sound quality. 40th floor iPlay is it. But yeah I agree wuth d0pefish. The interface is clunky and over complex. but once you learn what you need it's great. The developer is not the nicest e-guy and he tends to make and use his own jargon but the product is a great if expensive audio player.
__________________
Don't Panic!
Bobby
42 Soft-reset is our Friend To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I consider myself to be a pretty computer savvy guy, and I could never even get the 40thiplay demo to LOAD, much less work properly. I figured that if installing the software was that bad, how bad was the actual interface going to be? I ran away... quickly.
Any dev that expects me to pay 40 bucks and then can't develop a decent install routine is delusional, IMHO. Not to mention the aforementioned holier-than-thou, arrogant attitude that I've seen.
As for the sound quality argument... yeah, w/ some good cans on, I can hear the problems in Mortplayer's EQ. But, this is an MP3 player! Not a reference sound source! Most of the time, I'm listening to my Ax while driving down the road or at work. Not exactly the best environment for audiophile sound. I would imagine that most users are like me and aren't sitting in their anechoic chambers with $100,000 sound systems and playing mp3s off their Axims. If sound quality is the be all end all, what are you doing with compressed music anyway?? You should be playing a CD (or a turntable) anyway.
I will readily admit that the sound on Mortplayer (my player of choice) could be improved... but there's no way it can be improved enough to be worth 40 bucks (or whatever 40ths price is these days).
dopefish - I will take your advice and try the demos of the players you listed,
as I stated, I only tried Wmp, Mortplayer and 40thIplayer. there was a HUGE difference between all 3 regarding noise. And believe it or not, I used the same files for testing. I have also read all of the negative feedback about the author, but if the players you suggest introduce the same noise levels as Wmp or Mortplayer, I personally will be glad to send in my cash for the audio quality. I am not affiliated with the author in anyway at all, and please don’t suggest it again. I am simply, like the original poster, in a quest for the best sound quality that I can get out of the axim.
Forge42 – you listen to music how you like, and I will do the same thank you :) . I don’t have the luxury of being able to listen to my main system whenever I want however loud I want (I have a family) So I have to compromise if I want to listen, I would like to compromise as little as possible. We can save the compressed music/vinyl record debate for another thread.
...In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if dvard was simply another of the author's fake handles.
dvard is from posting from Michigan. 40 is posting from Texas. Let's let sleeping dogs lie and just talk about the program okay?
__________________
Don't Panic!
Bobby
42 Soft-reset is our Friend To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Forge42 – you listen to music how you like, and I will do the same thank you :) . I don’t have the luxury of being able to listen to my main system whenever I want however loud I want (I have a family) So I have to compromise if I want to listen, I would like to compromise as little as possible. We can save the compressed music/vinyl record debate for another thread.
Sorry I came on a bit heavy handed... I'm just generally frustrated by everything about the 40th floor software. Mortplayer has the best support of any software I've ever used, pay or free. I mean that literally. To me, that is worth more than any marginal gains in sound quality.
If 40th works great for you and your particular situation, wonderful! I'm not trying to tell you that you are an idiot for using it if it works well for you. If you're happy, you're happy and I have no business arguing with that.
My point is just that I don't think the sound quality issue is all that important for 95% of Axim/mp3 users. Furthermore, even if it is important, I don't think that Mortplayer is 'that' bad. Especially considering other things it has going for it, such as the support, price, interface, etc.
I apologize for being almost as preachy at 40thfloor.
Follow Us
RSS Feed
Follow on Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
