OT recommended audio player?

[Cary B. Cornett]

Sometimes I just need a simple audio player. For years, my "go-to" for this was foobar2000. As part of the tedious and painful transition to Windows 10, I have found that Foobar and W10 don't seem to play nice together. I absolutely do not want to tie in to either Groove Music or Windows Media Player. I use VLC media player for video files, but it seems it wants to re-sample all audio to 48k, so I guess that one is also outta there for plain audio playback.

I would like to have something that has a small footprint (not all bloated for memory and processor), a relatively plain user interface, and broad file compatibility, including FLAC playback capability. Oh, and I'm looking for a stand-alone program, not a VST plugin. Any suggestions from the crowd here? What are you using?

[RobertV]

have a look at resonic player

https://resonic.at/

I also use it to quickly find sound effects etc very fast and functional

[Angie]

have a look at resonic player

https://resonic.at/

I also use it to quickly find sound effects etc very fast and functional

Likes impressive. But does it play .wav only?

[UpTilDawn]

Likes impressive. But does it play .wav only?

according to their website, it covers many, many file types, Angie.
https://resonic.at/player#formats

[radiorog]

I've used XM Player for years, and very happy with it. Small, lots of skins, and can play just about any format either native or with plug-ins.

https://support.xmplay.com/index.php

RadioRog

[Danny O]

I have been using 'Winamp'(by Nullsoft) for years and years. They have recently been bought by another company so I imagine they will be making changes. The latest version is 5.666. When installing, there are many options you can choose, video,cd database, browser plugins, plugins etc., etc., I only choose the Audio components. It's stand alone, small footprint, and small GUI, so put your reading glasses on:). Try the Lite version, I'm sure it's exactly what your looking for.

http://meggamusic.co.uk/winamp/Winamp_Download.htm

[Angie]

according to their website, it covers many, many file types, Angie.
https://resonic.at/player#formats

Oh. Thanks. I guess I only looked at the Pro page.

[Angie]

You may also want to look at Quintessential Media Player.

[Dave Labrecque]

Sometimes I just need a simple audio player. For years, my "go-to" for this was foobar2000. As part of the tedious and painful transition to Windows 10, I have found that Foobar and W10 don't seem to play nice together.

I've been using Foobar2000 with Windows 10 x64 Home without issue. What seems to be the trouble, Cary?

[Cary B. Cornett]

I've been using Foobar2000 with Windows 10 x64 Home without issue. What seems to be the trouble, Cary?
When I right-click on a selected sound file and select "play in foobar2000" from the menu, foobar2000 never opens. If I first open foobar2000 and attempt to drag and drop the file into the UI, I get that circle-with-line-through-it symbol that indicates "file can't go here". This is in Windows10 Pro. I have the Home version on my laptop, and couldn't use foobar there either.

[Reujonik]

Maybe you are running foobar with administrator rights. Make sure that the box next to the "run as admiistrator" in the properties>compatibility is unticked.

[Richard Rupert]

Maybe you are running foobar with administrator rights. Make sure that the box next to the "run as admiistrator" in the properties>compatibility is unticked....and maybe in "compatibility mode for Win XP"...

[Dave Labrecque]

When I right-click on a selected sound file and select "play in foobar2000" from the menu, foobar2000 never opens. If I first open foobar2000 and attempt to drag and drop the file into the UI, I get that circle-with-line-through-it symbol that indicates "file can't go here". This is in Windows10 Pro. I have the Home version on my laptop, and couldn't use foobar there either.

FWIW, for me, method #1, above, works fine. And method #2 works (loads the sound file into Foobar2000, ready for playback) so long as I drop the file below the various toolbars. I get the circle-with-a-line-through-it above that point, and the "creating shortcut" icon below that point, before the drop. But it works.

Seems like a Foobar install or configuration issue within Windows to me. Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling? I have Foobar2000 set up as my default audio player (double-click on a sound file in File Explorer), FWIW.

[Cary B. Cornett]

Maybe you are running foobar with administrator rights. Make sure that the box next to the "run as admiistrator" in the properties>compatibility is unticked.
Yes, that's what I was doing. I unchecked the box, and foobar operated normally.

Almost.

During playback, I will get an occasional "click" noise. These happen just one at a time, at random intervals, never less than a few seconds apart, usually more than a minute or so apart. I could back up and replay the same part of the file, and the click would not be there, so I know it was not in the file itself.

So, I installed Resonic and tested it. I got it to play files, and had the exact same random click problem. This suggests that the fault is not with either foobar or resonic.

I spent some time working with SawStudio. During that time, I did not get any of these random clicks. I have "force real time priority" set in SAW. I'm not sure, but I think that before I made that change I was getting occasional random clicks during playback from SAW.

So now I have new questions: Is there some change I can make in Windows 10 to make it "play nice" better with these applications? I have already done all of the recommended tweaks, including the best approximation I can make from Bob's instructions, plus trimming processes according to the latest Black Viper list and the suggestions that Sweetwater posts for computer optimization.

Or, is there some application I don't know about that gets around whatever crap W10 is imposing?

[Dave Labrecque]

Yes, that's what I was doing. I unchecked the box, and foobar operated normally.

Almost.

During playback, I will get an occasional "click" noise.

Just a thought: have you tried out the different audio device options in Foobar2000? Different drivers sometimes will behave differently.