For the last couple of weeks or so, I've been trying out the trial version of a memory based audio player for the Windows 7(or vista) platform, called JPLAY. So far I'm pretty impressed with the sound quality it's a step up on Foobar IMO.
The idea behind JPLAY is ultimate sound quality & it's certainly very good, but to get the extra quality it's a very minimal player at only 250KB & has no GUI, File management or playlist support! Its stripped-down, bare-bones playback engine fits completely inside CPU cache & will allow you to pick tracks from Foobar, JRiver etc by copy & paste method. JPLAY then pre-loads the complete chosen tracks into the PC's RAM guaranteeing zero disk operation during playback. There's a few options to choose from & it's pretty easy to get up & running. One of it's main features is 'hibernation' mode, Your PC is used for audio playback only, this kills all unneeded processes from running in the background during the hibernation. A drawback to this is your PC is locked into hibernation until the chosen tracks have been played i.e no browsing or nothing. Hibernation is an option, so you can choose a little less sound quality to be able to use your PC during playback, but this does kind of defeat the point. You can use the player from a USB memory stick & removing the stick will stop the hibernation if needed.
Here's a link to the website for more info & it's full features. There's 32 & 64bit downloadable trials, it does drop out for a couple of secs every 2 or 3 mins or so but it's good enough to see what it's about! It does though cost 99Euro for a single license of the full version.
JPLAY claims
Full memory-based playback: most other memory-based players dynamically load tracks into memory during playback. In contrast, JPLAY pre-loads complete playlist into RAM guaranteeing no disk activity during playback.
Large Page Memory: superior memory management provides minimal CPU latencies.
Maximum System Timer: reduce operating system latency by making Windows switch tasks faster. (0.5ms instead of default 15.6ms)
Maximal Priority Scheduling: ensure uninterrupted flow of music data by running music playback at highest possible priority.
Hibernation Mode: cancel OS ‘noise’ by eliminating dozens of jitter-inducing processes and hundreds of threads.
http://jplay.eu/
Review here http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au...er-for-windows
It does seem to lift a veil & offers improved low end performance & better separation over what I'm hearing with Foobar, infact as good as I've heard in a player, but at some expense, in cost & ease of use in file management.
Well worth a trial if you use a Windows 7 PC set-up IMO.