JRiver Media Center 19

[Ammonite Audio]

I've been spending quite a bit of time recently with JRiver Media Center 19, having version 17 already installed on a couple of PCs that I use for music. Version 19 is supposed to result in better sound quality, but to my ears it falls well short of Version 17, typically making the music sound soft and slightly diffuse, eg a bit polite and rose-tinted. That's playing from a laptop via USB to my Naim DAC-V1 (using WASAPI Event Style) as well as from the dedicated DIY music server in my main system (using ASIO), also via USB. I'm interested to know why there should be such a clear difference - maybe it's because the audio output mode settings in Version 19 are now automatic, where in Version 17 you can select every option that the computer supports. Whatever, I'm very happy to revert to the older version, and to welcome music back into my home.

Luckily, the two versions co-exist happily on the same computer, so I have been able to go back to Version 17 without any drama. I'd be interested to know what other users feel about Version 19 and its impact on sound quality (if any). I've checked every setup option in Version 19 and I don't think I've missed anything critical, but I would be interested to hear from anyone who can explain what might be going on. No DSP options have been selected in either version.

[User211]

I think the audio output mode settings are dependent on which driver you are using.
Are you talking about setting say 24 or 32 bit output, say?

19 sounds fine to me, easily as good as other playback s/w I have.

[brian2957]

That's interesting Hugo . I upgrade as a matter of course and use 19 at present . I may go back to 17 and carry out a straight comparison. If I do I'll re- visit this post.