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JPLAY - It aint subtle

Tried it awhile back and just couldn't get it to work consistently. When it did work, I could hear that it was doing some good things. Recently however, I was browsing ComputerAudiophile and saw that quite a few their members were using it so I decided to give it another go. It seems that they have done some improvements up to the current 5.1 version. It only took me 5 minutes from download of the trial version through set up.

I am not one for audiophile jargon so let's just say that what I heard would be comparable to what I would expect to hear if I had thrown some serious money at upgrading a major component. Needless to say I went ahead and spent the $130 to purchase the software.

My setup has been using two computers. One simply acts as a fileserver streaming files to the other pc. I had figured that reducing load on the pc doing the processing couldn't hurt the sound. Jplay also recommends a dual-pc setup, so I went ahead and tried their configuration and what I heard was yet another step above what I got with the single pc.

Now, I know that there is major controversy brewing over what exactly Jplay does and how to explain it. Jriver actually generates a warning page specifically citing tests that shows that Jplay has no benefit whatsoever. However, I am one of those audiophiles that follow what my ears tell me and not what some measurements show. Having said that I'd like to limit this thread to generating some feedback and discussion from others who have tried the software and want to share with others.
128x128hew
dob
577 posts
 
I own Musica Pristina server which has its own proprietary software environment. Kevina and Simon, practically, challanged me to compare their software with JPlay and any other software I want. I already had JPlay and I (along with a few other Musica Pristina oowners) found clearly "pure" Musica Pristina to be superier.

Its too bad that Musica Pristina sells theit software only along with their hardware only
lwin's avatar
lwin
574 posts
 
When you think about it what is J Rivers problem? You have to purchase their software to use JPLAY so it's not like they are losing money.
lewinskih01
909 posts
 
The more I read about JPlay, the more interested I get. My digital front end is now a SB Touch, followed by a Metrum Octave. In a few weeks I'll get a USB converter, probably an Audiophilleo, and will get rid of the SBT and use a laptop as server, probably with JRiver. What are the minimum laptop requirements to give JPlay a fair shot?
billbartuska
83 posts
 
Uh, Jplay works with Foobar2000 which is free and it works as a stand alone player too.
vladimir
346 posts
 
Lewinskih01:

Any modern computer with 4GB or more of memory and at least a dual-core processor is OK for JPlay, but more power and more memory are better. Windows 8 helps too because some of the latest JPlay features can only be used with it. The less you do other things with the computer while it's playing music the better, to avoid clicks and pops and slooow browsing. All of that because JPlay heavily tweaks Windows to give priority to sound. I have found that using Fidelizer before starting JPlay helps even more, but then you can barely use the computer for anything else but music until you reboot. A dual-PC arrangement is even better.
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