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Media Players for Windows

From Benchmark

Benchmark's guide for configuring Windows-based media players

General strategies for setting up your computer for high quality audio playback

1 Tips for configuring media players using Windows
2 Media players for Windows
3 Comparing media players
- 3.1 Is there any difference in audio quality between various media players?
- 3.2 What makes one media player better then any other?
4 Article Outline

Tips for configuring media players using Windows

There are a few general rules of thumb for configuring any media player. We encourage you to read about the specific media player you may be using.

SET CORRECT SAMPLE RATE AND 24-BIT WORD LENGTH, IF POSSIBLE
- Some players give you the option of setting the sample-rate and word-length. If so, this is VERY important to avoid distortion due to sample-rate conversion and word-length truncation.
- Read more about the affects of sample-rate conversion and word-length truncation

MAX VOLUME
- It is ALWAYS best to keep the Volume on the player set to 100% (or 'unity gain', or 0 dB, depending on nomenclature). A poorly designed digital volume control can be the source of significant amounts of distortion. Analog volume control (after D-to-A conversion) should be used, when possible.
- Read more about how digital volume controls affect audio.

NO EQ, BASS BOOST, OTHER AUDIO 'ENHANCERS' OR PLUG-INS
- Most players have features such as EQ, bass-boost, surround-sound simulators, and other 'sound enhancement' DSP and plug-ins. These should be completely avoided to maintain the original audio quality, as they can cause significant distortion.
- Read more about how DSP and plug-ins affects audio.

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Media players for Windows

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Comparing media players

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Is there any difference in audio quality between various media players?

We have tested several media players to determine which, if any, best maintain audio integrity. We found that there are several features and settings within each media player that can cause significant distortion. For example, a player's volume control can cause more than 60 dB of distortion. Your DVD-audio could be reduced to MP3-quality simply because of the settings within the media player. This article will review the test results and recommend configurations for each media player.

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What makes one media player better then any other?

Several features of a media player that may appeal to a user don't affect the quality of the audio. Therefore, we do not wish to claim one player is better then another. Instead, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages several popular players, and we will recommend a configuration for each player.

Since this article is focused on maintaining audio integrity, we will only discuss factors that actually affect the quality of audio playback. These include:

These are not completely independant - that is, some items on the list affect others. For instance, sample-rate conversion sometimes is evoked because of multiple application mixing. also, volume control-induced distortion is closely related to word-length settings and dither. Other relationships exist as well, and it is encouraged to read more on each subject.

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