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I am a long time Foobar user and tried to switch to JRiver for some of the added features but could not get my FIR convolution or my ADC hooked to my turntable to work without glitches in JRiver. JRiver has more features but Foobar is simpler and less resource intensive and seems to work more reliably as well as being free.
digitalfrost
Major Contributor
I have used foobar2000 since it was v0.1 or whatever was the first. I remember when Peter quit Winamp and developed foobar and I was in the IRC channel where the first versions were released. Actually, "Stop after current" in the playback menu was my feature request. Been using it ever since. That is a long time, roughly 16 years.
I also rarely change anything about it. I've been using the Spotifoo skin for years now. It broke here and there with new plugin versions, but I always managed to fix the source code so that it continued to run. For me, foobar2000 does everything I need.
If you just listen to music, I don't think it matters much, but I also convert a large amount of files between formats, I like to resample using specific plugins, I apply custom dither etc. While I do tagging with beets nowadays, the fb2k tag editor is still the best for me. Also fb2k was one of the first to support Replaygain. If you like to tinker or just customize things to your liking fb2k is for you.
I've tried JRiver in the past, and while it's also very flexible, I think it's more aimed at casual users, albeit still being a niche player.
I also rarely change anything about it. I've been using the Spotifoo skin for years now. It broke here and there with new plugin versions, but I always managed to fix the source code so that it continued to run. For me, foobar2000 does everything I need.
If you just listen to music, I don't think it matters much, but I also convert a large amount of files between formats, I like to resample using specific plugins, I apply custom dither etc. While I do tagging with beets nowadays, the fb2k tag editor is still the best for me. Also fb2k was one of the first to support Replaygain. If you like to tinker or just customize things to your liking fb2k is for you.
I've tried JRiver in the past, and while it's also very flexible, I think it's more aimed at casual users, albeit still being a niche player.
Have you looked at EqualizerAPO? I use it to do convolution for the whole system, including the turntable. I simply use "listen to this device" in the windows WDM drivers to run my turntable through the playback soundcard.
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I use both. Mostly Foobar, but when I want to listen to a whole album I usually use JRiver.
I can't hear a difference. I am not sure I would have bought a licence if I had found ASR before.
The only good thing useful for me that JRiver has and that Foobar hasn't is auto-switch convolution files according to bitrate. In Foobar I have to resample everything above 44.1kHz to 44.1 kHz (that is 0,5% of my music maybe). Not that I hear a difference...
I can't hear a difference. I am not sure I would have bought a licence if I had found ASR before.
The only good thing useful for me that JRiver has and that Foobar hasn't is auto-switch convolution files according to bitrate. In Foobar I have to resample everything above 44.1kHz to 44.1 kHz (that is 0,5% of my music maybe). Not that I hear a difference...
- Thread Starter
- #7
So, not for a beginner like myself?
There should have been a third choice: "Other." 
I only use Foobar for testing and for ABX tests. I find it functional but very crude to use.
I installed jriver once, noticed its massive site and its tendency to pull inappropriate images from the internet in its screen saver. It got uninstalled the next day. I want the least intrusive audio player I can get and Jriver is the opposite of that.
I only use Foobar for testing and for ABX tests. I find it functional but very crude to use.
I installed jriver once, noticed its massive site and its tendency to pull inappropriate images from the internet in its screen saver. It got uninstalled the next day. I want the least intrusive audio player I can get and Jriver is the opposite of that.
DDF
Addicted to Fun and Learning
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Long happy foobar user here. It plays whatever bit rate I throw at it without resampling and without any manual switching (my dac reports sample rate).
Between the two I prefer Foobar for the simpler interface. I actually use Roon these days though since it makes it super easy to stream to multiple endpoints.
- Thread Starter
- #12
Which do you use sir?There should have been a third choice: "Other."
I only use Foobar for testing and for ABX tests. I find it functional but very crude to use.
I installed jriver once, noticed its massive site and its tendency to pull inappropriate images from the internet in its screen saver. It got uninstalled the next day. I want the least intrusive audio player I can get and Jriver is the opposite of that.
I suppose I should give Foobar another chance. I do like some of the custom skins I've seen from time to time. I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted, probably because my pea brain got in the way. I've been a jriver user for many years.
BillG
Major Contributor
Neither after reviewing them both, and not liking the user experience of either, I went with this instead:
https://getmusicbee.com/
https://getmusicbee.com/
I use Roon. See my review from a few years ago when I adopted it: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...er-and-library-management-software-review.18/Which do you use sir?
Neither...I use a QNAP NAS that feeds a Squeezebox Touch and I control with iPeng on an iPad (plus a couple of other controllers on my Android phone...neither of which is as good as iPeng). I have used Foobar and I own JRiver 23 but i play music through my PC as little as possible.
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So, what do you use, then?There should have been a third choice: "Other."
I only use Foobar for testing and for ABX tests. I find it functional but very crude to use.
I installed jriver once, noticed its massive site and its tendency to pull inappropriate images from the internet in its screen saver. It got uninstalled the next day. I want the least intrusive audio player I can get and Jriver is the opposite of that.
- Thread Starter
- #18
Better than both huh?
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There should have been a third choice: "Other."
I only use Foobar for testing and for ABX tests. I find it functional but very crude to use.
I installed jriver once, noticed its massive site and its tendency to pull inappropriate images from the internet in its screen saver. It got uninstalled the next day. I want the least intrusive audio player I can get and Jriver is the opposite of that.
I can think of several other really important players:
Roon, the ultimate solution
Volumino, elegant and free.
Audirvana, for Mac lovers.
Foobar may be crude, but it's lean interface grabs some of us and it works like a charm. By the way, at Audiophile Style a similar poll showed a heavy preference for JRiver.
jeffbook
Active Member
Foobar. It does everything I want, including converting DSD files on the fly and can be controlled by my iPhone using Monkeymote iOS app. This allows me to ignore whatever is on my laptop screen and concentrate on the music. Price/performance ratio is heavily tilted in Foobar's favor vs. JRiver. Tough to beat free.
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