is there a best music player on the computer?

For windows Jplay is a no brainer In my view its better than xxhighend whn played in full hibernation mode
You can listen to trail version but it will cut out every few mins for free but once you hear the difference to what it can do then no go going back to JRiver
Using in full hibernation mode you will have no control over the rest of your computer it will be playing directly on the HD so it is not for everybody but the performance it offers is worth it imho

Jplay was desigbed to work with Vista and Windws7 It strips out all other functions on your computer so music is getting read direct from memory without other processing getting in the way this makes a huge difference as I said full hibernation will not be for everyone as when in use you cannot use your computer for other funtions but this makes a huge difference

Ditto! JPlay is the new reference when it comes to computer playback, IMHO!

About the Apple question; I experimented with MacMini using Pure Music and Decibel (did not try Amarra), and also tried the same with the latest MacBook Pro (Core i7). None sounded as good as if running Windows 7 (x64), JRiver MC and ASIO4ALL. But now with JPlay and JRiver MC17 is a totally new level of performance.

The level of naturalness and refinement combined with extreme detail and 3D soundstage is truly amazing! Congratulations to the JPlay team!

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev

I second "JPlay" for Windows too!

For Mac I feel that Amarra still the best but with high costs. Otherwise Audirvana is now the best albeit not quite stable yet. PureMusic and Fidelia seems to be almost equal.

I will add on to the praise of Jplay. Was using J River and decided to try Jplay on a trial basis - especially since it integrates nicely into J-River as a plugin. I did not need more than a few songs to realize that JPlay was the better player in my system. Difference was not subtle.

It's not cheap (99 Euros or about $137 at time of purchase with exchange rate) but considering what people pay for cables and other tweaks it's a no brainer if you really want to optimize your digital experience on the PC. Between J River and JPlay it will set you back just under $200.

Only potential downside is that the interface is very basic. Don't expect lots of extras. The programming time and effort clearly went into optimizing the sound rather than convenient features. Hopefully, we will get some of these in later updates (which are free for life).