High quality media player for Android

[Katji]

provenance. I was talking about the pure format. Wav, flac, alac, aif.

Pure format? flac? Theoretically maybe. ...I do my own provenance, so i can find that a flac file is actually a 160kbps mp3. - iow, container format.

 

[richard_crl032]

I am surprised that noone has mentioned Poweramp. It also has it's own hires USB audio drivers and I like the interface - much better than Neutron player.

Can anybody compare Poweramp to UAPP, as I am considering trying UAPP after reading this thread.

Hi, I do not believe PA has its own usb audio driver like uapp, neutron, onkyo hf etc. players ... it is still based on android driver and its 48khz base and hence always resamples 44.1khz to 48khz or its multiples depending on your dac capability as well as your android hardware along with its ROM/SW/Android uniqueness.

Moreover, I am using PA especially for dsd playback in my car android HU connected via usb to my expensive Brax dsp because unlike mentioned alternatives with their own audio drivers that are only playable within their respective SW apps with no sound when other android apps plays, PA because it is still android driver based allows other android apps e.g. googlemap, BT phone calls etc. to have sound.

This no sound issue certainly does not affect users of dedicated music android hardware but for my car headunit, these apps with own drivers causing no sound issue from other google apps renders them useless. I had contacted their developers on this issue but while I received several engineering versions of their apps that release back the control over audio driver, android does not poll or at least not capable to take back control to restart audio output using android driver.

To answer to your query on SQ between PA and UAPP, the latter does sound slightly better. Perhaps the nice audio routing info and user configurable setting that allow me to output to full 32bit/192khz capability of my Brax dsp narrows the SQ between the PA, which essentially still "mods" android driver, and others.

Cheers.

 

[Daveya.]

I've been using Amazon music on an Xperia phone via Qudelix and in a moment of madness paid a tenner for UAPP with MQA and signed up for Tidal free trial, used the Qudelix in wired Dac mode and I can't tell any difference between that and Amazon music over Bluetooth

Both sound superb and really it's more about which has the better music library's

 

[Berwhale]

I've been using Amazon music on an Xperia phone via Qudelix and in a moment of madness paid a tenner for UAPP with MQA and signed up for Tidal free trial, used the Qudelix in wired Dac mode and I can't tell any difference between that and Amazon music over Bluetooth

Both sound superb and really it's more about which has the better music library's

UAPP is great for local FLACs, although i've recently switched to PowerAmp now that it can drive a DAC directly like UAPP - PowerAmp's UI and widgets are much better than UAPP. I bought PowerAmp in November 2010 for $4.99 for use on my HTC Desire (same insides as Google Nexus One). I hadn't used it for years, so it was nice to find out that it was still being developed and could drive a DAC directly.

 

[richard_crl032]

Yup .. their audio info/flow/details is worth gold.

No uncertainty, no but, no if and highly configurable within this audio info/flow/details

Glsd that my younger playing dsd music in hdd in his car also introduced me to PA to play dsd music when dsd cae UAPP, Neutron etc. with their within app only audio drivers and not applied globally ‍‍

 

[Peterinvan]

I was excited to try Tidal from my Hiby Music App (Android on FiiO M11Pro).

I was able to use the excellent Hiby EQ functions playing my Tidal tracks. The Tidal UI is lacking functionality, but EQ is great.

HOWEVER… the link to Tidal seems to time out after I exit the Hiby app. I can’t find a way to re-establish the link to Tidal.

I have had to delete the Hiby app, re-install it, and log into Tidal again.

 

[rozel]

I was advised that a TIDAL update has knocked out MQA playing through a DAC. Update 7.3 is supposed to reinstate this function. I am currently on version 7.2 and as yet, despite it appearing on the internet, Google Play Store hasn't got the 7.3 update available. Anyone know more about this please?

 

[nerone]

On my mobile with the new 2.73 update...Tidal only broadcasts at 44.1
I can't find my favorites list anymore

 

[rozel]

@nerone - is that due to the update? And did you get the update (2.73) via Google Play Store?

 

[nerone]

@nerone - is that due to the update? And did you get the update (2.73) via Google Play Store?

Yes

 

[Mal]

The Topping 10s USB DAC provides an easy way of checking if any device is providing the requested sample rate - it shows you it on its front display. Darko, besides pointing out the general excellence of the DAC, is always mentioning how handy this feature is... with all the gear he listens to, I guess it's really great to always see the sample rate. On my android compliant chromebox it show's I'm permanently stuck at 48.0!

 

[nerone]

I managed to find the playlist of my favorite albums and songs by making my profile public on Tidal
I don't see it right

 

[rozel]

Yes

Thank you - Google hasn't uploaded 2.73 yet here in the UK

 

[Chrise36]

I managed to find the playlist of my favorite albums and songs by making my profile public on Tidal
I don't see it right

I am currently trying Deezer Hifi where i transfered all of my tracks easily from Tidal due to incompatibility with the car system and the phone storage as downloaded tracks were not accessible offline after the updates.The quality of the majority of the tracks is the same or better with Deezer

 

[nerone]

I've never liked the sound of the Tidal application, I often use Mconnect or UAPP, the latter transmits up to 96.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

Has anyone mentioned Neutron media player yet ?
No streaming support, network storage support needs work, the interface is complicated . . .
But by far, the most tweakable, complex, bit perfect or otherwise player.
With an infinitely configurable parametric equalizer, one can find.
I use it daily.
If UAPP has one competition, it is Neutron.

Hi-res audio player and recorder apps

The audiophile software for music playback (Neutron Music Player) and audio recording (Neutron Audio Recorder) with in-house developed 32/64-bit audiophile-grade hi-res audio engine which supports rich set of DSP tools that meet any need in sound tuning.

neutroncode.com

 

[Berwhale]

If UAPP has one competition, it is Neutron.

Or PowerAmp which now has it's own audio stack and a better interface then both UAPP and Neutron.

 

[ZolaIII]

@Ken Tajalli many time's, hands down great PEQ and filters along with graphical representation of them (great for making them on the go and/or practice). Support for Qualcomm codecs and much more but buggy.

 

[julian_hughes]

I mentioned Neutron Player on the first page of this thread It is excellent. Any UI issues are more about the initial set up than when actually using it. I've been using it for a few years on different devices and am currently on android 13 on a Samsung A52S and it's great on this too. I'm a Qobuz subscriber and I have my own music collection on a home server running BubbleUPnP server. I use BubbleUPnP app on android to pass my own streams or Qobuz streams to Neutron, or to my home audio systems running UPnP/DLNA renderers, and it's all lossless and gapless (as appropriate). I started using Neutron and UAPP in order to use USB audio dongles and enjoy bit-perfect playback and a bit of extra output voltage. I find my latest Samsung actually outputs a reasonable level even for modern, rather quiet IEMs like Truthear and Moondrop Kato but a dongle is still useful for headphones. I paid for both Neutron and UAPP but Neutron is definitely my daily driver for a renderer on Android. UAPP's single advantage, so far as I can tell, is that it can browse UPnP libraries rather than needing to incorporate them into its own database. This is occasionally useful but mostly Neutron is pretty good about detecting changes and rescanning. In the last year or so Neutron incorporated the AutoEQ database and updates it quite regularly, so it has become incredibly good for switching between IEMs/headphones and using EQ. UAPP uses a toneboosters morphit EQ plugin (costs extra) and it is nowhere near as good or convenient.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I mentioned Neutron Player on the first page of this thread It is excellent. Any UI issues are more about the initial set up than when actually using it. I've been using it for a few years on different devices and am currently on android 13 on a Samsung A52S and it's great on this too. I'm a Qobuz subscriber and I have my own music collection on a home server running BubbleUPnP server. I use BubbleUPnP app on android to pass my own streams or Qobuz streams to Neutron, or to my home audio systems running UPnP/DLNA renderers, and it's all lossless and gapless (as appropriate). I started using Neutron and UAPP in order to use USB audio dongles and enjoy bit-perfect playback and a bit of extra output voltage. I find my latest Samsung actually outputs a reasonable level even for modern, rather quiet IEMs like Truthear and Moondrop Kato but a dongle is still useful for headphones. I paid for both Neutron and UAPP but Neutron is definitely my daily driver for a renderer on Android. UAPP's single advantage, so far as I can tell, is that it can browse UPnP libraries rather than needing to incorporate them into its own database. This is occasionally useful but mostly Neutron is pretty good about detecting changes and rescanning. In the last year or so Neutron incorporated the AutoEQ database and updates it quite regularly, so it has become incredibly good for switching between IEMs/headphones and using EQ. UAPP uses a toneboosters morphit EQ plugin (costs extra) and it is nowhere near as good or convenient.

Yes, Neutron is for my daily use.
UAPP only for Qubuz.
If anyone is interested, Neutron network capability is for smb1 protocol.
Windows, by default runs smb2.
UAPP can read both, so it is better on that front.
However, somewhere on ASR and somewhere on Headfi, I have a post, giving step by step instructions as how to enable smb1 on a Windows machine and create a shared music folder and how to setup Neutron to access it.
With recent updates, Neutron has a stable connection .
I can add the Windows shared folder to the Media Library and play flawlessly from it.
One more thing Neutron does, which is cool, is the fact it can route hires audio to BT.
Even using DSP, and then to BT.
So if you have LDAC , you can send hires to it.