Winamp sound quality is horrible... What's the BEST mp3 player?

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yo2tup

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
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hm i just tried it with wmp7 and winamp2.64 and i can barely hear a difference. :confused: i'm using sblive! and klipsch promedias
 

yata

Senior member
Jun 2, 2000
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Great info. Didn't know the company opted for an inferior decoder. Trying out 2.22 as of now. I do notice the songs are more smoother, which runs at 192kb/s. Thanks.

Haven't tried Media Player 7 yet, don't know if I should get it. Is there a playlist? I've seen the interface, kinda like RealPlayer...
 

Madcowz

Platinum Member
Jul 23, 2000
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I downloaded the fraunwhatchamacallit, and 2 other winamp decoders which supposedly are even better... one's called mpg123, and the other is the next generation winamp decoder (code name alpha) which is in beta... right now I can't test them b/c I don't have a soundcard, heh, but I should be getting my Live! Platinum 5.1 in tommorrow and I will keep you guys updated on the results of my tests
 

pm

Elite Member Mobile Devices
Jan 25, 2000
7,419
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I'm using WinAmp2.64 w/ WowThing! and WMP7 and I like Winamp a lot more. Of course, this is mostly a function of WowThing (a back-end DSP which boosts the bass and the reverb a little) and my own customized Eq settings, I suspect.

Besides the fact that the sound is better the way that I have it set up in WinAmp, WinAmp uses vastly less CPU on my computer. WinAmp is actually below the 1% threshold on Win2k's system monitor on my system, and with WowThing enabled it lurches up to a stratospheric 2%. With WMP7 it sits between 4% and 8%. I'll take WinAmp.

If you don't use WowThing, I highly recommend it. Everything about it is great except the registration process (which never worked for me), so I have to put up with a Nagware intro when I start it up. But the sound is way better than WinAmp without it.
 

KarsinTheHutt

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2000
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Media Player is suck. It eats all my resources slows down my RC5. Winamp might not be the best, but it sure is frugal.
 

rIpTOr

Member
Oct 9, 2000
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I'm usuing MediaPlayer2, runs clean and flawless on my Athlon.
I even run 3 at the sametime sometimes and my CPU doesnt have much of a burden. Keep in mind the Sound Card also affects the CPU utilization.
 

LXi

Diamond Member
Apr 18, 2000
7,987
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RSI:

Sonique sounds just liek Winamp? How about turning the equalizer on? Try some rock music and turn both equalizer reset to "rock" and you'll hear the difference. I consider myself having really bad ears, but I still can hear the difference and Sonique sounds a lot clearer.

Bigger and uglier? Maybe. I think it looks nicer then Winamp. And you didn't know that you can change the size?
 

jinsonxu

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2000
1,370
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superbaby, what are your equalizer settings? Care to share?

By the way, i always play my favourite songs using JetAudio using all 3 effects, Reverb, 3D and Wide.

Beats Winamp and WMP7 hands down.
 

Sephiroth_IX

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 1999
5,933
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Winamp owns... My equalizer is always on, ill pick up Wowthing and try it also.

For all that dont know <shriek!> the bars go from bass-->treble on the equalizer, so play with it a little and enjoy. I personally like the &quot;full bass and treble&quot; setting...
 

Modus

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,235
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I've got a fairly decent 4.1 speaker setup, and I don't notice any difference between WMP7 and Winamp 2.64. If anything, Winamp sounds a little better, more rich.

As far as equalizer settings are concerned, I find that a scheme that works well for one song might not sound good for another, even of the same genre. Plus there's the issue that the songs have already been equalized and mixed in the studio to sound more or less the way the artists intended. So in genreal, I leave the EQ alone.

Modus
 

err

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
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Installed WOWThing on my winamp and quickly uninstalled it in within 5 minutes.

It sounds horrible. It does boost my bass a little bit, but like what most people said, I can get a better sound config through the Winamp equalizer feature.

Definetely not worth it, adding the stupid and &quot;cheapo looking&quot; Wow interface.

Well, that's just imo :)

eRr
 

LXi

Diamond Member
Apr 18, 2000
7,987
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Guys if you're not impressed with WOWThing, I suggest trying the DFX with Sonique.
 

jinsonxu

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2000
1,370
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Tsk, tsk, Shalmanese. How could you do that...

But you're right, headphones give the best sound for me. And my headphones are the ultra cheapo ones from Philips costing US $5.80.
 

downhiller80

Platinum Member
Apr 13, 2000
2,353
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I'm using Winamp 2.64 and I'm happy with it. When I tried the DFX plugin though I couldn't believe my ears! OK I actually PAID to use this it's that good!

I'll try the fraunhofer decoder late ron but I'm skeptical if I'll be able to tell a difference.

Also all of my MP3's have been encoded at 128kbit (I knew nothing when I started) in Musicmatch.

I want to start doing them at 256kbit (after all HD is so cheap these days) but I'm worried that I'll get used to this and hate all of my 128kbit ones. Whaddya think?

Seb
 

LXi

Diamond Member
Apr 18, 2000
7,987
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So the DFX is compatible with Winamp as well? I tried it with Sonique and it sounds incredible.
 

tristramshandy

Senior member
Jan 11, 2000
556
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The best sounding mp3 player I've ever heard is the AudioActive Player. You can download it here for free: http://www.audioactive.com/download/index.html

The AA player has a minimalist gui and no capacity for changing skins, but it's the sound quality that matters. The program is broadcasting industry standard and can play very high quality Fruanhoffer II encoded mp3s. (AA Production Studio is the best encoding program as well.)
 

LiekOMG

Golden Member
Jul 5, 2000
1,362
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Winamp sounds dull if your not using the EQ. Turn on the EQ, and then pick :full bass and treble&quot; from the preset list. That should make things sound a whole lot better. I don't think its the decoder thats off, its that WoW stuff that came with WMP7. but i think there is too much bass using WoW, i still prefer winamp
 

OS

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
15,581
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So what's going on, do these plugins merely compensate for poorer speakers or what?