Media player for Mac

[shandit66]

I am looking for a media player, for my Mac(s)

My setup is as follows:

• My server is a 2012 Mac Pro, with RAID 1 drives that holds all my media
• Networked to my other Macs around the house, mostly wired
• I ripped my entire collect to FLAC and put it on the server, ~300 Gb.
• Its all organized on the server by:
  • Genre
    • Artist
      • Album
        • Songs

When I ripped my collection, I was using MonkeyMedia, on Windohs.

Its great software, for playback and even auto organized the songs into that above structure.
Really love that program.

Occasionally my network has hickups. Which recover. But even a small hickup distrupts the music.
So the player needs to cache a bit. Ideally it allows me adjust the amount of caching.

So I have tried

1. iTunes - HATED it. There was litterly nothing I liked about it
2. MediaMonkey - there are instructure for how to run it on Wine, but I've never been able to get it running.
3. Swinian - decent. I like the UI flexibility. But, has no caching adjustment. Play pauses a lot
4. Vox - decent little player,
   1. a bit limited on how to select what I want to listen to. Typically I pick a genre, then the artist
   2. I have no interest in uploading my files
   3. or syncing model etc.
   4. so most of their business model does not appeal to me
   5. their app maps my network and all the connected devices - WAY too intrusive for me
5. Audirvana - decent, expensive, no caching options - same problems as Swinian

So I still have not yet found a player which meets my needs.
And I am very open to suggestions.

Thanks

Olaf

 

[Doodski]

Off topic but maybe a good suggestion to have... Are you running a EQ/PEQ?

 

[sq225917]

Try Audivarnia, decent interface, easy to setup,

 

[JCM800]

I have a similar set up and have been having a good time with Jellyfin, an open source Plex alternative (local only). It’s not really “audiophile” quality like Audirvana, but it’s good enough for me as an audio enthusiast.

- Jellyfin Server runs on my headless Mac mini, reading files off the attached drive

- Jellyfin Media Player runs on my Mac mini desktop for daily listening on headphone

- Jellyfin app on my iPhone for couch listening (no remote listening, but you can download tracks to to); see also Finamp for a music-only audio focused Jellyfin app

- I can cast either Jellyfin media player back to server to play through my office speakers

- It didn’t screw w my files or metadata when I set it up but iirc I had to screw with to avoid that.

 

[_thelaughingman]

Audirvana is a good player, but expensive for what it’s worth.

 

[sibi1865]

I'm also looking for a media player for local files stored on an M1 Mac, and currently looking at this list:

Music Player for Mac: Top Solutions in 2023

Want to make sure you’re using the best music player for Mac? We've put together the best solutions for you to make an informed decision.

www.macgasm.net

Has anyone tried JRiver? When I first started looking into computer audio some years back, I took a look and it looked OKish. I ended up using MinimServer and LUMIN, but I'm now looking at a standalone USB-based desktop system using copies of the music files I have stored on my Mac.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Occasionally my network has hickups.

Better trouble shoot this issue.

Audirvana - decent, expensive, no caching options - same problems as Swinian

Are you sure? A quick Google tells me it supports memory playback (cache the track in memory before playback starts)

 

[dBiz]

I use a Raspberry Pi so not a lot of time with other Mac players.
Have you tried VLC?

Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN

www.videolan.org

 

[pjn]

I am looking for a media player, for my Mac(s)

My setup is as follows:

• My server is a 2012 Mac Pro, with RAID 1 drives that holds all my media
• Networked to my other Macs around the house, mostly wired
• I ripped my entire collect to FLAC and put it on the server, ~300 Gb.
• Its all organized on the server by:
  • Genre
    • Artist
      • Album
        • Songs

When I ripped my collection, I was using MonkeyMedia, on Windohs.

Its great software, for playback and even auto organized the songs into that above structure.
Really love that program.

Occasionally my network has hickups. Which recover. But even a small hickup distrupts the music.
So the player needs to cache a bit. Ideally it allows me adjust the amount of caching.

So I have tried

1. iTunes - HATED it. There was litterly nothing I liked about it
2. MediaMonkey - there are instructure for how to run it on Wine, but I've never been able to get it running.
3. Swinian - decent. I like the UI flexibility. But, has no caching adjustment. Play pauses a lot
4. Vox - decent little player,
   1. a bit limited on how to select what I want to listen to. Typically I pick a genre, then the artist
   2. I have no interest in uploading my files
   3. or syncing model etc.
   4. so most of their business model does not appeal to me
   5. their app maps my network and all the connected devices - WAY too intrusive for me
5. Audirvana - decent, expensive, no caching options - same problems as Swinian

So I still have not yet found a player which meets my needs.
And I am very open to suggestions.

Thanks

Olaf

I've used Swinsian for some time - quite like it. Also allows some limited eq.
Filtering to find things works very well. And SoundSource is good too (although not as a source) - particularly for fine tuning for headphones if you have one ear more efficient than the other.
Agreed on iTunes - horrible interface and very much an Apple "walled garden" product. And does not do Flac files. All media are obscured behind a strange database format, although you can find the original files by digging around. I had hopes for their multichannel files - but this is limited and hideous also

 

[andrewjohn007]

I am running JRiver Media Center 27 on a 2015 MacBook Air. It has a ton of features with the major let down being the supporting "instructions". Rather than having a comprehensive operators manual, JRiver relies upon customer supported forums for FAQs and troubleshooting. IMHO it's disappointing for a paid music application to resort to customer forums for information, support and troubleshooting. I have yet to figure out how to utilize the more advanced features in the DSP section. In my use case, my Mac connects via USB to a MOTU Ultralite MkV. I like it, but don't love it.

 

[shandit66]

Thanks for the feedback

I have tried Audirvana, its ok, expensive and no caching, so it didnt solve my problem
I dont run an EQ

Has anyone tried JRiver? When I first started looking into computer audio some years back, I took a look and it looked OKish.

That is an excellent recommendation! thanks,

1. UI - nothing special. Not flashy, more 2005 plain vanilla (I run an UI/UX design group... so maybe I'm an excessively harsh critic...
2. OS X native release - albeit seems a bit old. But I appreciate not having to jump through hoops to run this on my Mac
3. Pre-buffering adjustments - excellent. Haven't had enough listening time to see how well it handles network hickups. But I could set it for 10 sec, which should handle the worst.
4. Functionality 9/10 - very similar to MediaMonkey. Might be a 10/10 - need more time to play with it
5. A "workflow" thats just to my needs: pick a genre - based on my mood, then artist
6. Abilty to handle a stupidly large collection
7. It has tools for video etc, which I have not looked at - and really dont care.
8. Cost: $60 to buy, no annual/monthly fee. very nice.

Might have tools for "sharing" across platforms. Thats likely important to a lot of people.
Personally, I dont care: my network, my collection, my house. Dont put it online.

Overall, this is a great recommendation. thank you!

 

[mkt]

I use Roon for files that sit a on NAS and Pine https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pine-player/id1112075769?mt=12 for local files.
JRiver has a lot of functionality but in my experience not great documentation and ugly.

 

[amper42]

My Audirvana is set to cache over an hour worth of audio. The setting is located under "Audio settings". It works really well on my MacBook Pro.

 

[shandit66]

Have been using JRiver MediaCentre for a week.
It appears to mimic MediaMonkey very closely - I'm happy with it.

 

[AudioScience Enthusiast]

I use Roon for files that sit a on NAS and Pine https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pine-player/id1112075769?mt=12 for local files.
JRiver has a lot of functionality but in my experience not great documentation and ugly.

I love PINE too, but it doesn't seem to support multichannel 5.1 files.

Does anyone know of a good player with 5.1 support?

 

[recycle]

I tried every possible player on mac, now I'm on VLC for daily use, JRiver for high bitrate audio files. Nobody sane in their mind use itunes anymore, in fact, from Big Sur apple retired it.

 

[just1n]

Give Plex a look, too.

 

[elvisizer]

plex for the less $$ option, Roon if you're fancy

 

[Timcognito]

+ 1 for Roon

 

[recycle]

plex for the less $$ option, Roon if you're fancy

Never heard about Roon
Price: $14.99 /month or lifetime billing for $829.99
Most anti-bargain app ever