New Mac Mini

[Filterlab]

Not tried COG, have run Decibel but its overtly bright with quite a hard edge to the presentation. I don't think you should have to pay $130 to get decent playback TBH on a Mac.

Give COG a whirl, it's smooth and neutral and it really shows up the import / recording for what it is. Sadly it's no longer being developed, but the final version is very good. Go for the unstable version though, it's perfectly stable. I've gone though the code and there's little to make it unstable. Great sound anyway, and a fully non-aliasing volume control which is nice.

You might want to download SoundFlower and AU Lab, both of these combined really make full use of OSX audio. AU Lab requires you to be a registered developer, but if you want it PM me as I am one.

I will sit down and write a full run down of SF/AUL, but my time is tight so I'll have to fit it in when possible (and not drunk).

You're spot on the money though NRG, the best OSX audio is available without any, or little, outlay.

[Filterlab]

Fidelia sounded just as good (around £45), but I couldn't get on with the interface.

I've used Cog for a long time, but I find it's pretty awkward for managing large libraries.

I've not tried Fidelia, but I might have a go.

COG certainly does take some manual intervention for library management, saying that I have 100s of gigs of music on my drives and I have no problem, but it's nothing like iTunes for auto-completing artist information. A lot of the time my slightly diverse collection has come up with 'Unknown Artist', but I do like typing so it's no biggy.

I flit between XLD (recommended by you IIRC) and MAX, but MAX is my current fave as it allows 32bit importing - a resolution I can maintain throughout the entire playback chain (thanks to the frankly superb sound card in the Mac mini), up until the DAC anyway.

[AlfaGTV]

Abandon iTunes and it's digital faff, go for something proper.

Amazing how we can value a product so differently! For me it is the best audio playback software ever! Nothing comes even close imo.

Each to his/her own i s'pose!

Regards
/Mike

[Filterlab]

Amazing how we can value a product so differently! For me it is the best audio playback software ever! Nothing comes even close imo.

Each to his/her own i s'pose!

Regards
/Mike

But have you tried dedicated audiophile import and playback applications and compared them to iTunes? Until you have you won't know what else is out there. However, if you're happy with iTunes then stick with it!

[AlfaGTV]

I use iTunes for what it is, a music library tool! For playback i have added Amarra with it's enhanced options and clearly enhanced audio. Still use Apple Remote for controlling playback from my iPad/iPhone. And ripping is of course done using XLD or sometimes Exact Audio Copy on a PC.
All files (AIFF & FLAC) stored on a NAS and used for several different renderers.

Regards Mike