Okay guys.... gals, another media player I'm currently trying is Audacious, a free/open source player with many options and plugins available.

Yup, I'm impressed!   Not only does it sound great, with graphic equaliser and other effects to adjust sounds to your liking, it is also skinnable with Winamp skins.  Another thing I like about it is its ability to handle large libraries.  I have over collected over 2TB of music over the years and it handles the lot with ease, unlike some other players I've tried.... ones that either maxed out and shat themselves before the entire library was accessed, or which were able to access the entire library but unable to play any requested files.

Another good thing about Audacious is that it doesn't need to be installed.  You simply extract it from the zip file to the newly created Audacious folder and place it in a location of your own choosing [I used Program Files x86] then create a desktop shortcut from the exe file located in the Bin folder inside.  It's that simple.

You can do the same with Winamp...;)

Yes, but for now Winamp isn't current/being updated, Audacious is.... and it is a quality player with great sound, options, etc.

After a week or so of using Bongiovi DPS I can say that the difference in sound quality is truly amazing. Most probably the best upgrade I've done on system in the past year. The depth of sound coming out of my decent two speaker Creative set-up is like night and day compared with what it was before.

If anyone wants to try foobar2000 but has been put off by the configuring it I have a potable version with a nice theme that I made that you can try. Because this is a portable version there is no need to install anything. You just click on the foobar icon in the folder to launch it. The only thing you will need to to is add your library which is easy and I will explain how to do it. This is what the theme looks like below. I kept it rather simple with no fancy visuals. It is also skins nicely with windowblinds. If you want to try it just let me know and I can give you the link to get it from my dropbox.

Just so you know I sent an email off to support for clarification. There are strings attached in that the free version will be a limited version and if you want the full version you will need to purchase it. This is what they said, "Moving forward, there will be a free version that will always be available with the ability to purchase an upgrade to what we're calling the Full Featured version. Details will be coming sometime after New Years."

This is similar to what DFX did. They offered a free version where you could adjust the settings only to the halfway position with the slider bottons.

So yes you are correct that you can always download and use Bongiovi DPS limited version for free. For winamp I will continue to use izotope ozone advance which is the paid version but much more advanced.

I used to be a big Winamp guy. When they went belly up I looked for alternatives, and found MusicBee.

http://getmusicbee.com/

It has all the features I need in one simple package. Replaygain, format conversion, yada yada.

I've been using Winamp just fine since they went belly up, wasn't really a problem since it already had proper codec support for FLAC and plays nice with the new operating systems and hardware.

Edit: I also just blew $300 on a FIIOS X5 because the crappy Realtek chipset on this laptop wasn't doing my headphones justice, and I wanted an "MP3" player anyway.  Making crappy speakers and headphones sound better is all well and good, but you can get near top shelf quality for a lot less than that.  Unless you're truly picky, there are multiple 16-24,000Hz headphones with superb noise levels available for well under a hundred these days.  My $300 Audio-Technica ATH-EW9's(godlike clip on headphones) have been replaced by a pair pretty close to identical for under $20.  They'll spank anything short of expensive, enclosed studio monitor types for the price of a cheap pair of Sony's with amped up mushy base and highs that sound like you're in a tiled bathroom.

I would really like to own a great pair of headphones, something like the Ultrasone Signature Pro but at that price point I will stick with my AKG K550's which are decent cans that don't break the bank account. I pair them with the HRT Micro Streamer for laptop listening which is day and night over the on-board sound card.

Yes, Realtek is ebil.  Poor shielding, bad dacs, can't even do cheap headphones justice.

Quoting psychoak, reply 35

Yes, Realtek is ebil.  Poor shielding, bad dacs, can't even do cheap headphones justice.

End of psychoak's quote

Sadly, that is what I have on my HP 2-in-1, and apart from external speakers and sound card from Creative I don't think there's a lot I can do about it.  However, I could not justify the cost when I have 3 high-end rigs with high-end Creative sound cards, one being connected to Creative Inspire 5600 5.1 digital speakers.  Okay, I may not have the best one could get, but I get better than 'just satisfactory' sound on my main rig and I have no need to go looking for anything better. 

Besides, if I want to listen to high quality sound, I simply go into my loungeroom and turn on my 5.1 Pioneer receiver, which is connected to a network enabled media centre and 4 way homemade speakers, a Yamaha sub-woofer. and truly is a pleasure to listen to.  From there I can access my entire media library and watch/listen to anything I wish.

Junior .... we have a weekly TV supplement in our paper that usually has a bit on Audio 'stuff'....and I can't remember the brand, but a few weeks ago they were waxing lyrical about a 'great set of headphones' ....that cost $70,000 ....that's seventy thousand dollars [not a typo]....

Edit....Sennheiser Orpheus ... 70k would be AUD.

If yer gonna get 'the best' then they are probably 'IT' ...;)

At this point, you don't get a sound card on anything.  You just buy a DAC, you can get one from FIIOS for under a hundred which will equal or beat high end internal sound cards.

The $70k headphones are hilarious...

I am not looking for the best, just an upgrade and psychoak is 100% correct about the $70k headphones being hilarious (I would use the word ridiculous) and that a good dac is one of the best investments you can make. I am more than happy with my microstreamer.

By the way $70k AUD is only 400 dollars less when converted to Canadian dollars. If I had an unlimited supply of cash I still would not buy a $70k pair of headphones.

Yeah, I've been looking into DAC units, the ASUS Xonar Essence One in particular caught my eye, but at this point in time I have other priorities and am quite happy with my Creative sound cards, all of which were purchased before DAC became a viable reality.

As for the $70k headphones.... obscenely priced is more like it.  I don't often use headphones anyway, so I'd pay no more than $80 to $100 tops.  In fact, I have a 25 y/o set of Sony 'over-the-ears' that cost me around $30 at the time.  They still work well and are more than adequate for my needs.

The Asus was discontinued, very hard to get them now, even more overpriced than they were originally.

As long as you've got one of the good ones(some of the early PCI-e versions had massive noise problems because of poor shielding) you'll probably have to spend way too much money to have a noticeable difference over your Soundblaster.  I'll go ahead and plug this thing in when I get home and see if it's an improvement, but odds are I wont be able to tell any increased quality in representation and the only serious difference will be the added 6db on the signal to noise ratio of this thing.

The main advantage here is that you can plug your USB DAC into anything you've got, instead of having to suffer through Realtek's dogshit audio chipsets and unshielded outputs.  If you buy something like the FIIOS X5 then you're getting a top shelf portable music player that doubles as a DAC as a bonus, they're not really an economical replacement for just a desktop sound card.

Their design and spec is pretty significant.

There will always be an audiophile-wanker who will pay for what is claimed to be the best 'speaker system' possible.

I just hope they don't plug in an ipod to them to 'enjoy' the dulcet tones of lossy compression...;p

The Headphoes are actually a part of a music system that includes a tube amp and they don't make them any longer.

Yes they do...;)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-10/new-sennheiser-orpheus-best-headphone-and-amp-combo- 

Yes they do but that is the new version which is a lot more expensive and has only been out since November. Perhaps that is the version you were talking about but I thought you meant the ones made in the 90's. I still think you would be no further ahead with these than just buying a good Mcintosh amp and a set of $1500 headphones. 

Quoting psychoak, reply 42

The Asus was discontinued, very hard to get them now, even more overpriced than they were originally.

 

As long as you've got one of the good ones(some of the early PCI-e versions had massive noise problems because of poor shielding) you'll probably have to spend way too much money to have a noticeable difference over your Soundblaster.  I'll go ahead and plug this thing in when I get home and see if it's an improvement, but odds are I wont be able to tell any increased quality in representation and the only serious difference will be the added 6db on the signal to noise ratio of this thing.

 

The main advantage here is that you can plug your USB DAC into anything you've got, instead of having to suffer through Realtek's dogshit audio chipsets and unshielded outputs.  If you buy something like the FIIOS X5 then you're getting a top shelf portable music player that doubles as a DAC as a bonus, they're not really an economical replacement for just a desktop sound card.

End of psychoak's quote

I could still pick up the ASUS DAC from a local supplier [who has 11 in stock] but I have other tech wants that would come first... like a display adapter to take advantage of Intel's WIDI technology.  I've been readsing about it and feel it'd be more convenient than my current setup.

As for DAC, I do think a USB version for my HP 2-in-1 would be the way to go when the time comes.  I am quite happy with my Soundblasters, though, and I have taken on board what you've said, so unless I see a distinct advantage in a DAC, value for money, I'll just stick with what I have for now.

No, I meant these ones specifically...hence the even higher price than the old ones' 30k.

You'll be a lot 'further ahead' provided you are sufficiently self-absorbed and preoccupied with audiophilia [new word]...;)

If you could have sex with those things, their price would make a little more sense...

Oh Yuk!  There'd be no way I'd use the headphones after that...