which MBP for best audio

SauRoNZA said:
I'm listening to A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step right now with my Sennheisers wired to my M1 Pro and playing via Music on MacOS Tahoe and it's as faultless as it has ever been.
Click to expand...

Try with JRiver. It may sound even better.
 
If you want a DAC just for pc/headphones/soundbar then get the iFi Go Link.

I use it on my Sennheiser headphones and Samsung soundbar. Sound is awesome and I notice an audible difference in quality without it.
 
SauRoNZA said:
I suspect it's not the different versions or even Music being a problem but rather features you likely had enabled (or only available in one over the other.

There are functions like Sound Enhancer (I don't use this as I feel it fiddles too much) and Sound Check in Music that could take them either way and make them sound perceivably different for volume levels changing, but the idea of Sound Check is to normalise volumes across different songs so they are all the same and you don't get some surprises.

It could also come down to the Audio Quality settings in either limiting it.

Obviously there's also a chance you have Graphic Equaliser enabled on the one but not the other, or different profiles loaded in either although I expect that to transfer between the different versions of iTunes but probably not all the way to Music.

What you are doing with iWow is effectively a graphic equaliser and volume leveller and many will perceive different volumes as a quality difference.

The same options are available to you in Music to a lesser degree under Window > Equaliser.

Some would argue iWow is fiddling too much with the source and not giving you a true representation of the studio recording, where iTunes/Music would b more pure.

How were you listening to these to compare? I see the Polk Magnifi in the screenshot but not sure how you are connected to it.
Click to expand...
so iwow is nothing more than a simple extended equaliser - which i why i fail to understand (or believe) iwow is the sole factor.
then when one goes into VLC's extended audio settings - similar tweaks are available there
Screen Shot 2025-06-24 at 10.29.50.jpg

Screen Shot 2025-06-24 at 10.29.59.jpg

but endless fiddling fails to produce the same result as ancient itunes loaded with iwow.
the only conclusion i am able to come to is some kind of differing architecture within itunes itself.
it is not an audio hardware thing as i pulled out the old 2007 mbp with the original itunes 11.4 booted it with it's original drive.
i can replicate the same thing across differing machines along with their differing hardware - the common denominator is the old version of itunes.

as to the listening, this has been primarily been via 2 sets of headphone - one pair is sure, the other is bose.
i also typically use a couple of tracks as a "reference benchmark" - one of which is a track from yello (which tends to be a bit of a challenge for some headphones / speakers.
i've avoided using the soundbars for comparative purposes as they all have their own sound characteristics.
nor have i used to actual "proper" sound system - there the source "media storage" is directly connected to amp / pre-amp speakers, thus eliminating itunes.

in all, it remains a bit of a mystery.
but for now i'm ecstatic with the current configuration of last century itunes - as old and obsolete at the version may be, it is delivering the sound exactly as i prefer it.
i tried the same tracks thru the car's sound system (factory standard meridian) - sounds perfect.
it would seem to me the later versions of itunes seem to deliver an overly flat, almost dull sound - but that may well just be my ears producing their own percieved bias !!

Screen Shot 2025-06-24 at 10.43.21.jpg
 
Mirai said:
Try with JRiver. It may sound even better.
Click to expand...
just downloaded it - immediate improvement over "music".
going to give it a good fiddle a bit later, but looks (and sounds) very promising - even at R1200.

*an hour later and i'm really enjoying it !!
 
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Grant said:
so iwow is nothing more than a simple extended equaliser - which i why i fail to understand (or believe) iwow is the sole factor.
then when one goes into VLC's extended audio settings - similar tweaks are available there
View attachment 1830071

View attachment 1830072

but endless fiddling fails to produce the same result as ancient itunes loaded with iwow.
the only conclusion i am able to come to is some kind of differing architecture within itunes itself.
it is not an audio hardware thing as i pulled out the old 2007 mbp with the original itunes 11.4 booted it with it's original drive.
i can replicate the same thing across differing machines along with their differing hardware - the common denominator is the old version of itunes.

as to the listening, this has been primarily been via 2 sets of headphone - one pair is sure, the other is bose.
i also typically use a couple of tracks as a "reference benchmark" - one of which is a track from yello (which tends to be a bit of a challenge for some headphones / speakers.
i've avoided using the soundbars for comparative purposes as they all have their own sound characteristics.
nor have i used to actual "proper" sound system - there the source "media storage" is directly connected to amp / pre-amp speakers, thus eliminating itunes.

in all, it remains a bit of a mystery.
but for now i'm ecstatic with the current configuration of last century itunes - as old and obsolete at the version may be, it is delivering the sound exactly as i prefer it.
i tried the same tracks thru the car's sound system (factory standard meridian) - sounds perfect.
it would seem to me the later versions of itunes seem to deliver an overly flat, almost dull sound - but that may well just be my ears producing their own percieved bias !!

View attachment 1830079
Click to expand...

Maybe because it's ancient and therefore kak.

Why not just use fully updated Music?

What exactly is the different you experience if you had to put it into words? Is it not maybe just an underlying volume difference between apps?
 
Maybe you want to take Plexamp for a spin, considering you seem to want to do your entire library manually and that would make managing it much nicer.

It does include a bit of leg work setting up with "backend" which is Plex Media Server as well but you might find you enjoy it and then you can also listen to your tunes on any other device using the App.

www.plex.tv

Downloads

Click here to Download the Plex media server for Windows, Mac, Linux FreeBSD and more free today.
www.plex.tv www.plex.tv
 
SauRoNZA said:
Maybe because it's ancient and therefore kak.

Why not just use fully updated Music?

What exactly is the different you experience if you had to put it into words? Is it not maybe just an underlying volume difference between apps?
Click to expand...
you have not been following
sound output on itunes was better on the ancient laptop than it is via "music" on 2 more current models (2021 & 2023) - which are fully updated.

the difference in sound is the clarity.
old itunes had a tighter low frequency bass and brighter high notes.
music has a "boomier" bass and more hissy high tones
mid range is petty much the same.

trying jriver as a playback app gets the sound much cleaner - less "dead"
flat is one thing - should be clean and clear from lo thru to higher frequency, but the sound is not flat, it's dull - almost like that coming from speakers inside a closed cupboard.

thusfar, jriver is way way better than music, but will try plexamp as well
 
Grant said:
you have not been following
sound output on itunes was better on the ancient laptop than it is via "music" on 2 more current models (2021 & 2023) - which are fully updated.
Click to expand...

I was following it like that so maybe there was a typo in your last post because then it sounded like you suddenly said iTunes was now the problem.

Grant said:
the difference in sound is the clarity.
old itunes had a tighter low frequency bass and brighter high notes.
music has a "boomier" bass and more hissy high tones
mid range is petty much the same.
Click to expand...

It's very very odd, because I specifically pulled out my wired Sennheisers just to make sure it's not some AirPods Pro 2 magic I'm experiencing and it was the same as always, but then I'm not using a personal library but streaming / downloading directly from Apple Music so maybe there in lies some codec difference or something.

Care to send me a sample file?
Grant said:
trying jriver as a playback app gets the sound much cleaner - less "dead"
flat is one thing - should be clean and clear from lo thru to higher frequency, but the sound is not flat, it's dull - almost like that coming from speakers inside a closed cupboard.

thusfar, jriver is way way better than music, but will try plexamp as well
Click to expand...

Yeah you might like Plex Media Service for managing your music...because quite frankly it's a bloody mess from the screenshots you've posted. :ROFL:
 
@Grant any chance you maybe have a "per file" equaliser set for specific songs?

1750771686085.png

This is the only Personal Library stuff I still have (mostly because you can't get it on any streaming service) and even comparing my FLAC version in Plexamp and this AAC uploaded one on Apple Music it's very hard to say there is a difference other than the baseline volume changing.
 
SauRoNZA said:
I was following it like that so maybe there was a typo in your last post because then it sounded like you suddenly said iTunes was now the problem.



It's very very odd, because I specifically pulled out my wired Sennheisers just to make sure it's not some AirPods Pro 2 magic I'm experiencing and it was the same as always, but then I'm not using a personal library but streaming / downloading directly from Apple Music so maybe there in lies some codec difference or something.

Care to send me a sample file?


Yeah you might like Plex Media Service for managing your music...because quite frankly it's a bloody mess from the screenshots you've posted. :ROFL:
Click to expand...
no, the library in itunes / music is well organised into playlists - well organised
Screen Shot 2025-06-24 at 15.37.25.jpg


sample file: i usually use one of a few tracks:
this track, 13 minutes is rather large at just short of 300MB, I can change / reduce / convert to you preference - any preference ?

Screen Shot 2025-06-24 at 15.32.15.jpg
 
Grant said:
no, the library in itunes / music is well organised into playlists - well organised
View attachment 1830161


sample file: i usually use one of a few tracks:
this track, 13 minutes is rather large at just short of 300MB, I can change / reduce / convert to you preference - any preference ?

View attachment 1830162
Click to expand...

Send the raw file, don't mind the 300MB.

But now seeing it's a 32-bit file I wonder if Music isn't doing something and converting that down to 16-bit while the others maybe play it outright.

Which in itself is interesting because it's unlikely the source was 32-bit and if it originally came off a CD would be 44 kHz/16-bit in the first place so maybe it's doing something internally that's causing this issue.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Send the raw file, don't mind the 300MB.

But now seeing it's a 32-bit file I wonder if Music isn't doing something and converting that down to 16-bit while the others maybe play it outright.
Click to expand...
SauRoNZA said:
Send the raw file, don't mind the 300MB.

But now seeing it's a 32-bit file I wonder if Music isn't doing something and converting that down to 16-bit while the others maybe play it outright.

Which in itself is interesting because it's unlikely the source was 32-bit and if it originally came off a CD would be 44 kHz/16-bit in the first place so maybe it's doing something internally that's causing this issue.
Click to expand...
here we go:
"the race" by yello

(it's a great track !!)

www.mediafire.com

The Race (12_ Version) - Yello _

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.
www.mediafire.com
 
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SauRoNZA said:
But now seeing it's a 32-bit file I wonder if Music isn't doing something and converting that down to 16-bit while the others maybe play it outright.

Which in itself is interesting because it's unlikely the source was 32-bit and if it originally came off a CD would be 44 kHz/16-bit in the first place so maybe it's doing something internally that's causing this issue.
Click to expand...
interesting, perhaps music is doing that, but old itunes does not know how - so simply plays as it is.
the file itself came off either a minidisk player, or dat player (see post #16)
 
Will give it a go when I get back.

Tried JRiver now on my files and apart from being a horrendously slow app I can't find anything in the way of a meaningful difference.

That being said I'm a purist who doesn't touch the equalisers or DSP.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Will give it a go when I get back.

Tried JRiver now on my files and apart from being a horrendously slow app I can't find anything in the way of a meaningful difference.
Click to expand...
jriver seems a little ram hungry, but enjoying it so far
SauRoNZA said:
That being said I'm a purist who doesn't touch the equalisers or DSP.
Click to expand...
yea, i'm no purist,
i'm somewhere between barbarian & philistine !
 
There is also Foobar2000 which is free, also lots of built in plugins and apparently well respected.

foobar2000 for Mac

foobar2000
www.foobar2000.org www.foobar2000.org
 
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