FooBar has best Sound quality

I was going through Head-fi and came across some lot of posts claiming FooBar has best sound quality & its DSP's are best.


Is it true?

i used to think iTunes is best.

 

Wasn`t there another thread about this?
I still think Winamp is good, although Foobar is better in overall sound quality.

 

As far as i know Foobar2000 does have the best sound quality, although in normal instances you shouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

Different media players have different sound quality? Jeese and I thought it was just the headphones / speakers I had to worry about.

Too bad foobar doesn't have iPod support like Winamp does or I would actually use it.

 

You can get a plugin for ipod. Look at this thread

 

Ooooh thanks.

 

I use media monkey - it works

 

I would think that the bit rate and quality of the various files you play would make more difference. I usually don't mess with DSP or equalization within software media players. Maybe on my portable mp3 players.

 

FooBar is great for FLAC files. the sound playback when i use the optical on my laptop is so crisp and clear
and most FLAC recordings are in 5-1

 

From what I understand, the codecs foobar uses allow better snr and more bass, which is why it sounds better.

I think the built in codec that does it is mpg123, you can find it for winamp.

 

The thing that has grown for foobar is mainly its customization. Look on deviant art awsome skins for it heavily customized.

 

This is exactly the reason i stopped using iTunes and made the move to foobar...i found iTunes to be quite boring, foobar gets to look spruced up while using a lot less system resources

If anyone decided to use foobar and want a great skin, this is what i've been using and in my opinion is currently the best foobar skin to date...be warned, it takes a LOT of work to get it together, but the results are absolutely stunning:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=62449

And oh if you follow the link, the screenshots for the player has a purple background to it just to show transparency, but the player itself is not purple and is actually transparent black and can be made transparent in other colors provided you have vista + aero...

 

I use http://dawxxx666.neostrada.pl/ava/images/bloc.png

but i dont understand how technically FooBar is better?

Infact, iTunes & WinAmp have Pre-Amp which gives u a Gain in the output.

 

Foobar also has preamp options (stock install).

Pretty much all media players sound the same, the only difference would probably come from using ASIO or Kernel streaming output instead of going through the OS mixer.

Also with foobar (and winamp) you can do some advanced processing like high quality resampling.

 

From the official foobar FAQ:

Does foobar2000 sound better than other players?

No. Most of “sound quality differences” people “hear” are placebo effect (at least with real music), as actual differences in produced sound data are below their noise floor (1 or 2 last bits in 16bit samples). foobar2000 has sound processing features such as software resampling or 24bit output on new high-end soundcards, but most of other mainstream players are capable of doing the same by now.

http://www.foobar2000.org/FAQ.html

 

I would use foobar but i couldn't figure out how to apply a theme. Why couldn't it make it easier. You have to apply like 10 other things before you even apply the theme.

 

Yeah thats the thing really sucks about themeing foobar but there are some themes such as this one http://dawxxx666.deviantart.com/art/FOOAvA-1-04-75008052 that have an installer.

 

I don't hear a difference.

 

+1 mm rocks for anyone with a large music collection

 

foobar2k has AWESOME sound quality, as well as a great equalizer and COUNTLESS plugins. I've hardly scratched surface with it, and I LOVE it.

 

all in the "ears" of the beholders

cheers ...

 

foobar doesn't the best sound quality since they are all the same, but I love its simplicity