I get that there are streaming services that provide access to music. I know there are a lot of threads about managing digital for a hi fi system, but I’m still having some confusion.
So if you actually are hearing a difference (doubtful) the funny/ironic part is BitPerfect is actually altering playback then.probably like how Tidal MQA seems to have its own "secret" DSP going on.I could use some guidance and education from the hive mind. If you want to try to insist that loop play back is just transcoding the file or something you can test this as well by simply altering playback through the player of choice (changing volume, eq, etc) and you'll see it doesn't null. Invert the file and play it with the source file and you'll see they both null (assuming you have them time aligned). If you have a DAW/Interface that allows loop playback you can simply record playback via any player/DAW you want to test. If you want to test for yourself, it's easy enough. Whether it's "bit perfect" or not, you're certainly not hearing any difference between 2 audio files that occurs below a -120 db floor. You'll find multiple others who've tested and found the same thing.
I've personally tested all 3 (along with several DAWs like ableton, reaper, pro tools) a few years ago. You're not hearing any actual difference if BitPerfect is actually doing what its supposed to do as any decent modern music player's playback (itunes, musicbee, foobar) will null against a source flac/wav to at least -120 db floor. it’s sounds amazing.ĭoes anyone else have experience with BitPerfect? I have other components fed into the SMSL and CA but this combo right now is my preferred path. My system chain for this digital path is: iMac using iTunes with BitPerfect -> SMSL SU-8 dac -> Cambridge Audio CXA 80 via balanced cables -> NHT C3s and Hsu Research ULS-15 mk2. But it does what its supposed to do very very well. It won’t help you improve sound output from any other source on the computer. it is purpose built and that is its strength and weakness.
A downside is that it only interacts with iTunes. I know there are many other player options out there that are very capable, but for me this is a magical $10, doing far more than what I expected. It has a lot of different capabilities including playing ‘hybrid-dsd’ flies in iTunes, which lets iTunes functionally play DSD (something it normally can’t do). I’ve only tested lossless 16/44.1 up to 24/96 tracks this way, so I can’t comment on its effects on lower resolution aac or mp3. In my experience there is an immediate and not-so-subtle increase in coherence, timing, and overall clarity when using BitPerfect as opposed to iTunes native output.
I have about 200 CDs ripped to Apple Lossless and have an old iMac lying around that I decided to dedicate to music full time.
The software is BitPerfect, and it is built to improve sound output from iTunes on a Mac. I don’t think it’s exactly unknown, but it also doesn’t appear to be common knowledge (at least it took me a little digging and time before I learned of it). But a recent software addition to the chain may have made one of the largest improvements in sound quality that I’ve experienced so far so I wanted to share thoughts about it. I’ve built up a decent system that sounds fantastic to me, detailed below.