J River

erniejade
erniejade Posts: 6,321
edited August 2012 in Going Digital
Has anyone used JRiver? I am getting a w4s dac2. When i was on the phone with w4s ( btw excellent support and customer service) I asked them what do they recommend and they said Jriver expecially for the $.

Is anyone using it? If so, any tips or issues with it?
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  • PreCd
    PreCd Posts: 786
    edited July 2012
    Have not used it as I do not have a DAC but my brother bought it to use with his Schiit BiFrost DAC. He said it was a great improvement over iTunes.
    SDA2BTL
    Marantz CD5004
    Adcom GFA-545
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited July 2012
    That is what the people said at w4s as well. They said it did a better job all around at everything vs itunes including sound. It looks like it is a solid front end from what I am reading on the web.
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • 98Badger
    98Badger Posts: 317
    edited July 2012
    I have been using JRiver with a W4S Dac2 since version 17 came out (18 is coming soon). The $50 gave me a bigger boost in SQ than anything else I have done lately. It was well worth the money. I have used media monkey and Winamp previously and neither one is even close to the same league as JRiver.

    There is a bit of a learning curve. Everything can be customized. First off, use either of the WASAPI settings or ASIO. I would advise against importing your whole library at once if you already have them in WAV format. If you are using flac, everything should be good to go. If you are ripping cd's, make sure you set up the ripping to tag things the way you want. Like I said, you can customize just about everything. There is also a forum for JRiver users called interact where you can get help if needed.

    I'll be happy to help you if I can. I'd recommend downloading the free 30 day trial. I didn't even wait until it was over before buying.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited July 2012
    98Badger wrote: »
    I have been using JRiver with a W4S Dac2 since version 17 came out (18 is coming soon). The $50 gave me a bigger boost in SQ than anything else I have done lately. It was well worth the money. I have used media monkey and Winamp previously and neither one is even close to the same league as JRiver.
    .

    That is what I was hopping for! I have not started ripping cd's quite yet. I then when I do, I will use FLAC but, i have not decided on a format quite yet. I am also going to run my cd player through this unit as well. It will arrive tomorrow!
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited July 2012
    I should say I was thinking I should use Flac instead of wav.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited July 2012
    It looks like J River also rips, is flac a choice on the format?
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • brgman
    brgman Posts: 2,859
    edited July 2012
    I use it and really like it.Yes you can rip in FLAC also.
    Coversions are easy and lots of tools for all kinds of stuff if you have time.
    Main Rig-Realistic AM/FM Record player 8 track boasting 4 WPC

    Backup Rig-2 CH-Rogue Audio Zeus w/Factory Special Dark Mods,Joule-Electra 300ME Platinum Preamp,OPPO-105 w/Modwright Tube Mod, Auralic Aries G2.1,Polk 2.3TL,3.1TL's,Dreadnought,RTA-15TL's,1C's All Fully Modded,2xRTA-12c's ,Benchmark DAC3 HGC,Synology NAS,VPI Scout w/Dynavector DV-20XH and Rogue Audio Ares Phono Preamp,Sony PCM-R500 DAT,HHB-850 Pro CDR,Tascam CC-222SLMKII Cassette/CDR,MIT S3.3 Shotgun Cables,Shunyata Hyra-8,Shunyata and Triode Labs Power Cords

    I’M OFFENDED!!!!
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  • Fongolio
    Fongolio Posts: 3,516
    edited July 2012
    Been using JRiver for a couple of years now. I currently output to my Cambridge DACmagic plus. Love it.
    SDA-1C (full mods)
    Carver TFM-55
    NAD 1130 Pre-amp
    Rega Planar 3 TT/Shelter 501 MkII
    The Clamp
    Revox A77 Mk IV Dolby reel to reel
    Thorens TD160/Mission 774 arm/Stanton 881S Shibata
    Nakamichi CR7 Cassette Deck
    Rotel RCD-855 with modified tube output stage
    Cambridge Audio DACmagic Plus
    ADC Soundshaper 3 EQ
    Ben's IC's
    Nitty Gritty 1.5FI RCM
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited July 2012
    Another J. River fan here too.
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • strider
    strider Posts: 2,568
    edited July 2012
    Face wrote: »
    Another J. River fan here too.

    Me too. Switched over from Foobar and haven't looked back.
    Wristwatch--->Crisco
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  • IRLRaceFan
    IRLRaceFan Posts: 172
    edited July 2012
    J. River is the best option for Windows I've tried so far. It works as a great media server too!
    HT
    Onkyo TX-NR1008 | Magnepan 1.7 | Polk LSiC | Polk VM20 | Polk DSW microPro 2000 | Parasound HCA-2205A | Oppo BDP-93

    2-Ch
    Cary SLP 30 Tube Preamp | Polk LSi7 | Carver M1.5t | Audio-gd Digital Interface | W4S DAC-2 | MAC Mini | Denon DP300f & Pro-Ject Debut III TT's
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited July 2012
    Thanks all it looks like thats the way to go! Hey IRLRaceFan, how are you liking the dac2? Mine should be here today. Outside of the burn in, any suggestions?
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • PSOVLSK
    PSOVLSK Posts: 5,208
    edited August 2012
    Can this be used with a Squeezebox? I currently use the Logitech Media Server.
    Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.-John Wooden
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,981
    edited August 2012
    PSOVLSK wrote: »
    Can this be used with a Squeezebox? I currently use the Logitech Media Server.

    Yep.....
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • doctorcilantro
    doctorcilantro Posts: 2,028
    edited August 2012
    In the newest version of J. River, Squeezebox devices should show up as a Zone. If you have an iOS device, check out JRemote. Gives you a native iOS interface to J. River and it's perfectly executed with good support. Then you can control all your zones or stream back to the iOS device.

    PSOVLSK wrote: »
    Can this be used with a Squeezebox? I currently use the Logitech Media Server.
    For Sale 2019:
    Tortuga Audio LDR passive preamp
    Decware EL34 amp
    Allnic H-1201 phono
    Zu Union Cubes
    iFi iDSD DAC, .5m UBS, iFI Gemini cable, Oyaide Tunami XLR 1.3M, Oyaide Tunami Speaker wire 1.5M, Beyerdynamic DT1990 headphones, PS Audio P3 power center

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  • doctorcilantro
    doctorcilantro Posts: 2,028
    edited August 2012
    How's it sounding?

    Here's the Wiki page on DAC setup in case you need it.

    http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DAC_Settings
    erniejade wrote: »
    Thanks all it looks like thats the way to go! Hey IRLRaceFan, how are you liking the dac2? Mine should be here today. Outside of the burn in, any suggestions?
    For Sale 2019:
    Tortuga Audio LDR passive preamp
    Decware EL34 amp
    Allnic H-1201 phono
    Zu Union Cubes
    iFi iDSD DAC, .5m UBS, iFI Gemini cable, Oyaide Tunami XLR 1.3M, Oyaide Tunami Speaker wire 1.5M, Beyerdynamic DT1990 headphones, PS Audio P3 power center

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  • IRLRaceFan
    IRLRaceFan Posts: 172
    edited August 2012
    erniejade wrote: »
    Thanks all it looks like thats the way to go! Hey IRLRaceFan, how are you liking the dac2? Mine should be here today. Outside of the burn in, any suggestions?

    I really like it and to be honest, I didn't notice as much change during the burn in process as I expected. I use an Audio-gd digital interface with mine and it makes a difference, but I'm also using a 25ft coax cable between the interface & DAC.

    I'm kinda late responding here - how are you enjoying your DAC2?
    HT
    Onkyo TX-NR1008 | Magnepan 1.7 | Polk LSiC | Polk VM20 | Polk DSW microPro 2000 | Parasound HCA-2205A | Oppo BDP-93

    2-Ch
    Cary SLP 30 Tube Preamp | Polk LSi7 | Carver M1.5t | Audio-gd Digital Interface | W4S DAC-2 | MAC Mini | Denon DP300f & Pro-Ject Debut III TT's
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited August 2012
    So far so good. I am coming from a Jolida tube cd player to this dac with cd transport and the sound is different than the jolida. Not better or worse kind of thing just different. THe jolida cd players are a different kind of sounding player.

    I started ripping cd's in flac, artist, album title, and the files inside the folders are track number, song name, artist. I need to figure out if there is a way to rip in a higher bit than 16 since the dac 2 can go higher but, native cd is 16/44 the jriver i found out you can up the playback though to 192!! when i did this, i feel i lost a hair of bass but, the mids and highs were actually better than if i played the cd version vs flac upsampled to 192 on the same DAC!

    Question, on flac there is a 1-8 setting for compression and it defaulted to 6. Should that be higher or lower? It looks liek the higher the number, the more compression it uses but, jriver says since its losless, there will be no difference on the sound quality.


    There is a lot ot learn on Jriver. each little setting makes a huge difference.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited August 2012
    Output Bitdepth

    It is recommended to output to your soundcard or DAC using the highest bitdepth that the hardware supports. This is 24bit for most high-end DACs.

    If you play 16bit input, you might feel inclined to output 16bit data even though your DAC is 24bit. This will at best sound the same as outputting 24bit. But it has two important drawbacks:
    Transitioning between 16-bit and 24-bit source material will require reopening the audio hardware (so make gapless transitions impossible)
    If you apply any digital processing, including volume, the sound quality will be worse



    this is taken from the wiki. It is a bit confusing for me. So am I supposed to set the bitdepth to 16 or 24? I have it set to 24 right now.

    Is there a way to rip cd's to a higher bit or is 16 basically max since that is what cd's are?
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  • strider
    strider Posts: 2,568
    edited August 2012
    Downloaded Gizmo to my 'Droid from Google's App Store over the weekend. Allows me to stream any content that JRiver can see over my phone. Also works as a remote for the Theater View function. Pretty cool. Also free, which I like.
    Wristwatch--->Crisco
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited August 2012
    I have this all set up and running and so far it sounds darn good. My quesiton is listing or display. I am a DJ on the weekends. So besides the flac files i am ripping, i figured i would also add my mp3's that i use to dj. Problem now is, since I suscribe to a dj music service called prime cuts, and prime hits, I now have 1000's of entries for prime cuts or prime hits for cd title searches. How can i hide this and just make it the full flac cd's that I ripped? The way i added them, i added the folder i use like 2012 pop, 2012 dance, 2012 country, 2012 rock, jriver just takes the actual file itself without reguard to the file structrue that it is in and lumps it all together. how do i 1 get it so it doesnt show 10000's of hit disk, and 2, keep the file structure I have on my dj music?

    I use somehting called virtual dj for my dj rig. That takes the file structure that is on the drive and that is exactly how it shows up. I would like to keep it like this. I have over 100,000 mp3's and i have not loaded all of them into jriver because it is getting messy fast.
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  • strider
    strider Posts: 2,568
    edited August 2012
    Not following what your goal is. If it were me, I wouldn't bother having the mp3 files accessible to JRiver and would just use the FLAC files for it to pull from.
    Wristwatch--->Crisco
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited August 2012
    when i click on the cd tab or icon, it comes up with 1000's of hit disk titles. The problem with that, is hit disk or prime cuts is the name of the DJ service i suscribe to so I would like all of them hidden under the cd icon. 1 cd of prime cuts will have everything that hit the top 40 that week from country down to rock. i get a cd of mp3 from them a week. Same with the others of the dj service. So imagine trying to find jason mraz cd but having to scroll through 10000's of prime cut cd titles. Now under the artist tab, i dont mind scrolling but, when i want to find just the flac cds i ripped and not have to go through that many primce cuts and hit disk cd titles. So how do i hide prime cuts and hit disk CD title under the cd icon?
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  • strider
    strider Posts: 2,568
    edited August 2012
    What version of MC do you have? I don't have a CD tab on my screen.
    Wristwatch--->Crisco
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