Fostex AudioPlayer Operating Manual

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Operation Manual

High-Quality software music player

FOSTEX-AudioPlayer

(The window above is from the Windows version)

Rev. V 1.1.0.0 (Mac) V 1.1.0.0 (Windows)

Features of the FOSTEX-AudioPlayer

"FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" is software that allows you to play music ﬁles on your computer through a Fostex DAC (D/A converter) connected via USB. The software not only supports high-quality source data such as DSD, it also has the following features:

• It provides a high-quality music environment optimized for Fostex products.

• You can control music ﬁles through the simple interface and intuitive operation.

• You can start using it instantly without the need for complicated conﬁguration.

• You can change various settings according to the music ﬁles or listening environment.

• You can make playlists simply by dragging and dropping ﬁles. It also supports playlist saving and loading.

Compatible products



Visit our Web site for compatible Fostex products. http://www.fostex.com/

Supported ﬁle formats



Format Extension Playable range

MP3 mp3 32 kbps to 320 kbps

PCM wav 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz, 16 bit to 32 bit

FLAC ﬂac 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz, 16 bit to 32 bit

DSF dsf 2.8 MHz/5.6 MHz

DSDIFF dﬀ 2.8 MHz/5.6 MHz

ALAC m4a 32 kHz to 96 kHz, 16 bit to 24 bit

AIFF aiﬀ, aif 32 kHz to 192 kHz, 16 bit to 24 bit

Apple Lossless Audio Codec

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this ﬁle except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the speciﬁc language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

libFLAC

Org Foundation Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modiﬁcation, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

• Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without speciﬁc prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

• “DSD” is a trademark.

• ASIO is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

• Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

• Apple, Macintosh, Mac and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Other company names and product names in this document are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

• All other company names, product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

The information in this manual is divided into two parts: Information about the Windows software, and information about the Mac software. Read the appropriate edition depending on your computer environment.

Windows edition

Windows edition Mac edition



Installation ............................................5

Operating environment ...................5

Installing ...........................................5

Uninstalling ......................................5

Starting the software .......................5

Exiting the software .........................5

Window components ............................6

Playing music ﬁles ................................7

Conﬁguring connected devices ......7

Making playlists ...............................8

Playing playlists ...............................9

Editing playlists ................................9

Troubleshooting .................................10

Mac edition



Installation ..........................................11

Operating environment .................11

Installing .........................................11

Uninstalling ....................................11

Starting the software .....................11

Exiting the software .......................11

Window components ..........................12

Playing music ﬁles ..............................13

Conﬁguring connected devices ....13

Making playlists .............................14

Playing playlists .............................15

Editing playlists ..............................15

Troubleshooting .................................16

Installation

"FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" does not have an installer. Copy the software using the following procedure.

Operating environment



OS Windows 8/7/Vista

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo or above

Memory 2 GB or more

Installing



Copy "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer(Win)VerXXX. zip" to your computer and unzip to install.

• Do not move or delete the "Plugin" folder. To run the software, this folder must be placed in the same hierarchy as "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer".

Uninstalling



Delete the entire folder which contains "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer".

Starting the software



Double-click "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" in the folder to start the software.

"FOSTEX-AudioPlayer"

Exiting the software



Click the "" mark on the upper right of the main display or select "Exit" from the "File" menu.

• When exiting the software after adding ﬁles to the current playlist, "Playlist has been changed. Do you want to save?" is displayed in a dialog box. Select "Yes" to save the playlist or select "No" to discard the changes.

Windows edition

• Before starting the software, install the appropriate driver and connect the Fostex product with a USB cable.

• Before starting the software, turn on the Fostex product and select USB as the source.

Window components

The main window is displayed when the software starts. The components are as follows.

Windows edition

Menu bar

You can change the various settings.

File

You can save or load a playlist.

Playback

You can control playback of the playlist by playing, pausing etc.

Conﬁgure

You can conﬁgure the connected Fostex product.

Help

The current versions of the software and plugins are displayed.

File information

The ﬁle format of the ﬁle being played is displayed.

Playback time

The playback time of the ﬁle being played is displayed.

Playlist

The artist, title and duration of each ﬁle in the playlist is displayed. You can add ﬁles to the playlist by dragging and dropping them into this area.

Controls

: previous ﬁle

: pause

: play

: stop

: next ﬁle

Progress bar

The progress bar shows how long the ﬁle has been playing. Click the progress bar or drag the slider to move within the ﬁle.

Playing music ﬁles

The connected device must be conﬁgured the ﬁrst time it is used. After the conﬁguration, make a playlist and click shuﬄe playback.

to start playback. You can also choose to repeat playback or

Conﬁguring connected



devices

Select "Device" from the "Conﬁgure"

menu.

Select the connected device from the

"Device" drop-down list.

Set the other options if necessary.

MP3 Gapless Playback

When the "Enable" box is checked, playback

skips to the next ﬁle automatically when the

volume becomes lower than the "Gapless

Threshold" setting when playing MP3 ﬁles.

Decode Mode

You can select the transfer method for DSD

data from "DSD over PCM" (DoP - transfers DSD

data over USB using PCM ﬁle containers) and

"DSD Native" (transferring DSD directly).

Audio Data Handling

You can select the ﬁle access method from

"Normal" and "Expand to RAM (Needs More

Memory)" (expands ﬁle data to RAM before

playback).

The latter reduces the load on the computer

and stabilizes playback, but playback may take

some time to start.

Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

• The "Conﬁgure" menu is not selectable during playback.

• The conﬁguration may be cleared when you start the software without connecting the product. In this case, connect the product and restart the software.

Windows edition

Making playlists



Use the "File" menu to make/change playlists.

• You can choose multiple ﬁles in the dialog box that appears when selecting "Open...", "Open audio CD..." or "Add ﬁles..." from the "File" menu.

Windows edition

Adding a new playlist

Select "Open..." from the"File" menu, or drag and drop ﬁles into the playlist area of the main window.

Adding ﬁles from an audio CD

Select "Open audio CD..." from the "File" menu and add ﬁles.

Adding ﬁles to the playlist

Select "Add ﬁles..." from the "File" menu, or drag and drop ﬁles into the playlist area of the main window.

Deleting ﬁles from the playlist

Choose ﬁles to delete and select "Remove ﬁle" from the "File" menu, or right click a ﬁle to delete and select "Remove".

Changing the order

Drag a ﬁle in the playlist higher or lower.

• When you select "Open..." after adding ﬁles to the current playlist, "Playlist has been changed. Do you want to save?" is displayed in a dialog box. Select "Yes" to save the playlist or select "No" to discard the changes.

Playing playlists



Editing playlists



Use the "Playback" menu to play, pause , change the playback order, etc.

Starting playback

Select "Play" from the "Playback" menu, or

click You can also start playback by doubleclicking a ﬁle, or right clicking a ﬁle and selecting "Play".

Stopping playback

Select "Stop" from the "Playback" menu, or click

Pausing playback

Select "Pause" from the "Playback" menu or click

Skip to the previous/next ﬁle

Select "Previous" or "Next" from the "Playback" menu, or click

or .

Shuﬄe (random) playback

Select "Shuﬄe (playlist)" from the "Playback" menu.

Repeat playback

Select "Order" from the "Playback" menu. "Repeat (playlist)":

repeats the entire playlist

"Repeat (title)":

repeats the current ﬁle

"Default":

cancels repeat playback

After adding many ﬁles from multiple albums, you can save the playlist. You can load and use saved playlists anytime you want. Use the "File" menu to make/change the playlist.

Making a new playlist

Select "New playlist" from the "File" menu.

Loading a saved playlist

Select "Load playlist..." from the "File" menu to load a playlist.

Saving the current playlist

Select "Save playlist..." from the "File" menu to save the playlist.

• The "File" menu is not selectable during playback.

• When you select "New playlist" or "Load playlist..." after adding ﬁles to the current playlist, "Playlist has been changed. Do you want to save?" is displayed in a dialog box. Select "Yes" to save the playlist or select "No" to discard the changes.

• The original music ﬁles are not deleted even if you delete the playlist.

Windows edition

Troubleshooting

Common problems and solutions are listed below.

Problem Solutions

There is no sound. • Conﬁrm that the Fostex product is connected

Windows edition

"audio device error (code = -1000)" is displayed and ﬁles cannot played.

"Audio ﬁle is broken ("XXX")" is displayed and ﬁles cannot be added.

The device cannot be selected in the "Preferences" dialog.

properly.

• Conﬁrm that the source of the Fostex product is set to "USB".

• Conﬁrm the output destination.

• Conﬁrm that the Fostex product is correctly connected.

• Select the device in the "Preferences" dialog.

• Conﬁrm that the ﬁle can be played on other players.

• Conﬁrm that other ﬁles are playable.

• Exit the software and restart after conﬁrming that the Fostex product is connected properly.

Installation

"FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" does not have an installer. Copy the software using the following procedure.

Operating environment



OS OS X 10.7 (Lion)

OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo or above

Memory 2 GB or more

Installing



Copy "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer(Mac)VerXXX. zip" to your computer and unzip to install.

Uninstalling



Delete the "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" executable ﬁle.

Starting the software



• Before starting the software, turn on the Fostex product.

Exiting the software



Click on the upper left of the main display or select "Quit FOSTEX- AudioPlayer" from the "File" menu.

• When exiting the software after adding ﬁles to the current playlist, "Playlist has been changed. Do you want to save?" is displayed in a dialog box. Select "Save" to save the playlist or select "Quit" to discard the changes.

Mac edition

Double-click the "FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" icon to start the software.

"FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" icon

Window components

The main window is displayed when the software starts. The components are as follows.

2 3

5 6

Mac edition

Menu bar

You can change the various settings.

FOSTEX-AudioPlayer

You can conﬁ gure the connected Fostex product.

File

You can save or load a playlist.

Playback

You can control playback of the playlist by playing, pausing etc.

File information

The ﬁ le format of the ﬁ le being played is displayed.

Playlist

The artist, title and duration of each ﬁ le in the playlist is displayed. You can add ﬁ les to the playlist by dragging and dropping them into this area.

Controls

: previous ﬁ le

: pause

: playback

: stop

: next ﬁ le

Playback time

The playback time of the ﬁ le being played is displayed.

Progress bar

The progress bar shows how long the ﬁ le has been playing. Click the progress bar or drag the slider to move within the ﬁ le.

Playing music ﬁles

The connected device must be conﬁgured the ﬁrst time it is used. After the conﬁguration, make a playlist and click shuﬄe playback.

to start playback. You can also choose to repeat playback or

Conﬁguring connected



devices

Select "Preferences..." from the

"FOSTEX-AudioPlayer" menu.

Select the connected device from the

"Device" drop-down list.

Set the other options if necessary.

Audio Data Handling

You can select the ﬁle access method from

"Normal" and "Expand to RAM (Needs More

Memory)" (expands ﬁle data to RAM before

playback).

When you select the latter, set the memory

volume to assign. The latter reduces the load

on the computer and stabilizes playback, but

playback may take some time to start.

MP3 Gapless Play

When the "Enable" box is checked, playback

skips to the next ﬁle automatically when the

volume becomes lower than the "Gapless

Threshold" setting when playing MP3 ﬁles.

Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

• The "Preferences..." menu is not selectable during playback.

• The conﬁguration may be cleared when you start the software without connecting the product. In this case, connect the product and restart the software.

• DSD ﬁles are transferred by “DSD over PCM” (DoP - transfers DSD data over USB using PCM ﬁle containers). "DSD Native" is not selectable

Mac edition

Making playlists



Use the "File" menu to make/change playlists.

• You can choose multiple ﬁles in the dialog box that appears when selecting "Open...", "Open audio CD..." or "Add ﬁles..." from the"File" menu.

Adding a new playlist

Select "Open..." from the "File" menu, or drag and drop ﬁles into the playlist area of the main window.

Mac edition

Adding ﬁles from an audio CD

Select "Open audio CD..." from the "File"

menu and add ﬁles.

Adding ﬁles to the playlist

Select "Add ﬁles..." from the "File" menu, or drag and drop ﬁles into the playlist area of the main window.

Deleting ﬁles from the playlist

Choose ﬁles to delete and select "Remove ﬁle" from the "File" menu, or right click a ﬁle to delete and select "Remove".

Changing the order

Drag a ﬁle in the playlist higher or lower.

Playing playlists



Use the "Playback" menu to play, pause , change the playback order, etc.

Starting playback

Select "Play" from the "Playback" menu, or

click You can also start playback by doubleclicking a ﬁle, or right clicking a ﬁle and selecting "Play".

Stopping playback

Select "Stop" from the"Playback" menu, or click

Pausing playback

Select "Pause" from the "Playback" menu or click

Skip to the previous/next ﬁle

Select "Previous" or "Next" from the "Playback" menu, or click or .

Shuﬄe (random) playback

Select "Shuﬄe (playlist)" from the "Playback" menu.

Repeat playback

Select "Order" from the "Playback" menu. "Repeat (playlist)":

repeats the entire playlist

"Repeat (title)":

repeats the current ﬁle

"Default":

cancels repeat playback

Editing playlists



After adding many ﬁles from multiple albums, you can save the playlist. You can load and use saved playlists anytime you want. Use the "File" menu to make/change the playlist.

Making a new playlist

Select "New playlist" from the "File" menu.

Loading a saved playlist

Select "Load playlist..." from the "File" menu to load a playlist.

Saving the current playlist

Select "Save playlist..." from the "File" menu to save the playlist.

• The "File" menu is not selectable during playback.

Mac edition

• The original music ﬁles are not deleted even if you delete the playlist.

Troubleshooting

Common problems and solutions are listed below.

Problem Solutions

There is no sound. • Conﬁrm that the Fostex product is connected

properly.

• Conﬁrm that the source of the Fostex product is set to "USB".

• Conﬁrm the output destination.

"No output device has been selected." is displayed and ﬁles cannot be played.

Files cannot be added. • Conﬁrm that the ﬁle can be played on other

Mac edition

The device cannot be selected in the "Preferences" dialog.

• Conﬁrm that the Fostex product is correctly connected.

• Select the device in the "Preferences" dialog.

players.

• Conﬁrm that other ﬁles are playable

• Exit the software and restart after conﬁrming that the Fostex product is connected properly.

Fostex AudioPlayer Operating Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual