Apollo is a
"general purpose audio player for windows". Reknowned among
audiophiles as
THE mp3 player of choice for the highest quality in sound reproduction, supporting ultra high quality MPEG-1/2 audio layer 2/3 and RIFF WAV PCM/ADPCM
decoders.
This small
app is low in
eye candy but overflowing in fuctional features. Its features include:
- Completely free of charge
- Full HTML documentation
- Plug-in based support for different file formats
- Ships with high quality MPEG-1/2 audio layer 2/3 and RIFF WAV PCM/ADPCM decoders
- Support for Winamp visualization, DSP and general purpose plug-ins
- Internet streaming
- Realtime 16-band graphic equalizer for all file formats
- Accurate adjustable pause between tracks (gapless play also supported)
- Crossfading between tracks (also with DirectSound and WAV output)
- Built-in playlist (PLS/M3U/AAP) editor with drag & drop capabilities
- Apollo Advanced Playlist support
- Support for ID3 and ID3v2 tags
- Standard Wave Out and DirectSound support
- Decode to WAV file
The true joy in using this player is the superb
sound reproduction. This player is able to make
mp3s sound more real, pure, closer to the
cd.
Winamp, even with the
MAD decoder doesn't even come close. Ideally when listening to mp3s, one might want to run their music through a
MidiMan Audiophile soundcard, out through the digital out and through a
DAC. If one is lucky enough to have high quality headphones, running the DAC into a headphone amp prior to the headphone feed would be rather blissful. This setup enables mp3s to have characteristics of at least cd quality, sometimes even 20 bit cd encoding. Apollo can be found at
http://apollo.audiogalaxy.com.