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Author Topic: Sound quality of MJ  (Read 2343 times)

rayden

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Sound quality of MJ
« on: April 21, 2008, 05:57:18 am »
Hello Everyone,

I am currently running the trial version of MC12 and so far I have found the sound quality with this software to be the best (compared it to another program, MS WMC and Foobar 2000). I am currently using my PC connecting to a USB DAC. My question is since I am using MC12 only for music if I decide to go with MJ would I have any loss of sound quality? I guess in my situation ASIO playback which is a plus in MC12 is a non-issue compared to MJ.

Many thanks for any help offered. BTW I tried to dig up this info by using the search function and could not find any relevant discussion before.

Regards
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DarkPenguin

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2008, 04:15:17 pm »
I don't know why it would be different.  MJ is free so feel free to try and compare.
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modelmaker

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2008, 08:05:49 pm »
There's no difference in sound quality.
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Jay.

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rayden

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2008, 05:44:23 am »
Thanks for saving me some money guys  ;D I will try the MJ while I still have some evaluation days on MC just to be sure though.
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Alex B

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2008, 06:53:36 am »
As said, there's no difference in audio quality.

The difference is in other features. For example, I have found the following MC12 features useful with an audio-only library:

- Zones
- Tabs
- Split Views
- Image handling (I have imported about 10000 scanned cover art images - front, back, booklet pages, inlay, disc label, etc)
- Document handling (I have imported lots of artist or album related documents in html, pdf, doc, txt etc formats.)
- Library Server

Of course, if you have video files too, you may find that MC's database is superior for organizing them even though the player is just as good as some other good DirectShow video player programs.
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rayden

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2008, 04:12:44 pm »
Quote from: rayden on April 24, 2008, 05:44:23 am
Thanks for saving me some money guys  ;D I will try the MJ while I still have some evaluation days on MC just to be sure though.

I have been running both for the last couple of days and IMHO MC has a sonic advantage over MJ. It sounds more refined with an overall better balance. The difference is as between excellent and perfect. Sad but true. YMMV.

BTW I have absolutely no clue on the technical details of both products so if it does not make sense to you logically please ignore.
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2008, 05:14:05 am »
Quote from: rayden on April 28, 2008, 04:12:44 pm
I have been running both for the last couple of days and IMHO MC has a sonic advantage over MJ. It sounds more refined with an overall better balance. The difference is as between excellent and perfect. Sad but true. YMMV.

BTW I have absolutely no clue on the technical details of both products so if it does not make sense to you logically please ignore.

Are you sure you haven't played with DSP settings on one of them?
They both use the same code base.  Unless somethings gone seriously wrong in the developent of MJ
the chances of one sounding better is similar to copying your Media Center folder to a different location
your hard drive and it sounding better. ;D  ;D  ;D


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rayden

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2008, 12:23:28 pm »
Quote from: Mr ChriZ on April 29, 2008, 05:14:05 am
Are you sure you haven't played with DSP settings on one of them?
They both use the same code base.  Unless somethings gone seriously wrong in the developent of MJ
the chances of one sounding better is similar to copying your Media Center folder to a different location
your hard drive and it sounding better. ;D  ;D  ;D

I literally laughed when I read your post ;D

I don't understand it as well because everyone on the forums, including some admins, have told me the same. Maybe my mind is palying tricks on me. BTW I have checked the DSP settings and they are both at defaults. There was a slight difference in the output mode settings with the MC having it to the extreme right (more responsive) and the MJ was a little bit less. I have now moved both of them to the extreme right to make them similar although I don't know whether this setting is optimal.
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JimH

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Re: Sound quality of MJ
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2008, 12:30:47 pm »
Playback options that could matter:

Direct Sound vs WAV Out
DirectShow settings for the file type
DSP (as Chris says) -- turn them off

For performance problems:
Virus checker
Network issues
Plug-ins
Background processing (MC can build thumbnails, analyze audio, download podcasts, add cover art, etc.)  This shouldn't be a problem unless the PC is older.  They can all be turned off in settings.
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