Fun with Fubar - What Media Player?

Shadowfax

Shadowfax

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A while back a work mate of mine was cleaning house and gave me a Fubar II USB DAC. I don't have a system hooked to my PCs but had a receiver and speakers laying about and tested just to see if it worked. After that it has been sitting.

I just recently snaged a laptop for home use and so the wife does not need to run up and down steps all day to check email in the office. I have the ability to stream digital files thru my OPPO into my secondary system and to my HT setup, but had no way to play them thru my main rig. Last night I decided to hook things up to the main 2ch setup to see how it sounded.

I was streaming via bad wireless from my main PC upstairs in the office, thru this old crappy laptop and out to the Fubar and into my VAC pre. I was playing both FLAC and MP3s via Media Player and or VLC. What I was noticing is that the volume controls on my Pre hardly did anything and I had to use the volume adjustment on the media players. If I went past 50% the sound was getting bad, but if I back it down to 25% and then use the Pre volume, it only adjusted teenie bits.

So with all that, what is a good PC player that sounds better than VLC or Windows Media Player that I should try to get better sound? Overall, I was surprised at how good some of my files actually sounded on the main rig thru the Fubar II.
 
I got a demo copy and have just briefly played around with very crappy IP Phone headset. But, the major distortion when going past 50% volume in WMP and VLC is not present. Next I will install on laptop and steam thru the Fubar into main rig.

Thanks again, i was unaware of this software since I am just starting to dabble with digital files.
 
You guys rock!

J.River is a great program and did with the volume exactly what I was asking for. Sends the signal properly out to the DAC for proper volume adjustment from the pre.

I have a lot of playing and reading to do, but in the DSP>Equalizer, there is a slider labeled "PRE". Is that for adjusting the output gain?

Spent last night streaming a bunch of FLAC and 320-MP3s and am amazed at the sound via crappy old laptop into the Fubar II. It's also nice to finally be able to play the digital files thru my main setup.

Thanks again for the great recommendation!
 
I use Foobar2000; it does what I need very well indeed. I have used the built-in facilities to customize the UI the way I llke it which is for classical music.
 
Bill, how does it deal with the Audio Out? Does it bypass the softwares volume slider and allow full control at the Pre-Amp?
 
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