GoremanX

Huh, you're right. I'm having the same issue. That's really frustrating. I mean, I've been using USB Audio Player Pro for the last couple months anyways since it sounds better and supports the R6 2020 directly, so it's not that big a deal for me, but I was hoping for improvement in this, not regression.

That's a fallacy. I'm not even talking about external DACs. While most devices don't support multiples of 44.1khz, most purchased and crafted HD music is in multiples of 48khz. Basically it would benefit any device that can currently support anything higher than 48khz, which is essentially the only valid reason one would use the HI-Res output in the first place. In addition, this stipulation only applies to generic consumer devices. Most dedicated DAPs do in fact support all the multiples of 44.1khz AND 48khz. In fact, Poweramp detects all the supported sample rates of a device and lists them as choices in the Hi-Res output options. If a sample rate isn't supported, it's not listed. UAPP has an option to not upsample "If possible", which basically means it won't upsample as long as the source sample rate is supported by the device's DSP. If it's not supported, it'll upsample. That would probably take care of 99% of use cases, since a 44.1khz source would need to be upsampled by the DSP of most basic consumer devices anyways and Poweramp probably does a better job of that in most cases. In my case, and the case of most Android 7/8/9-based DAPs, all sample rates are supported, so this is a moot point.

That may be true, but I think audiophiles make up a much larger percentage of Poweramp users. Most music lovers use YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, etc. Very few music lovers carry their music library with them anymore. And the only real reason to do that these days (other than a need for network access) is for quality.

Nope, just got a direct reply from Davy. Can only currently purchase through the play store, and if I'm not logged into the play store, the app will stop working. Honestly, all I need is for Poweramp to stop upsampling and it would be perfect. It's a shame that such a commonly requested feature is getting ignored on some weird, philosophical grounds.

So far, most apps that I buy through the play store require me to stay logged into the play store to continue working. I don't know if they're all like that, but most of the ones that have a "free trial" (like Tasker, Poweramp, etc) will check into the play store periodically to ensure the license is still valid, and if it's not, the app will complain that the license expired. It's infuriating. I prefer to leave my DAP unsecured (no lock screen), but doing so on a device that's logged into my Google account seems like a really bad idea. Poweramp's direct license that I paid for through the web site lives on my device and doesn't care about the play store

I mean, UAPP isn't awful the same way that HiByMusic is... and its HiRes output definitely sounds better than Poweramp's since it does zero upsampling and directly supports my DAP. I just did an A/B/C test and UAPP sounds exactly the same as HiByMusic. Poweramp only sounds the same if no upsampling is being done. If there's any upsampling, I immediately lose some detail and clarity, especially in the higher octaves. And the LED indicator on my DAP confirms that UAPP is sending a signal that has the same sample rate as the source file. There's also a weirdness in Poweramp where the player generates a weird, 1 second-long beep when I pause it while using the Hi-Res output. So far I've been ignoring that because it's not that big a deal, but UAPP doesn't do that. Sadly, I can't find a way to buy UAPP except through the Play Store. That means it won't work unless I'm logged into my Google account. I'm trying to avoid using any Google account on my DAP, and Poweramp allows me to do that when I buy it directly. Ugh... why isn't there a single, perfect audio player app? 🤣

I think the general idea there is that Poweramp is mostly intended for general consumer devices, and implementing a layer that switches sample rate based on the source material would add complexity and potential side effects that outweigh the potential benefits on those consumer devices where the feature might not even be supported at all anyways. I posit that we've reached a point where dedicated Android-based DAPs have become advanced and common enough that it would be worthwhile catering directly to those users with exactly such a feature. If other player apps can do it, then Poweramp should too. The bump in APK size is pretty much irrelevant, and if the adaptive nature of it is disabled by default, then it wouldn't negatively affect anyone that can't make use of it. Personally I wouldn't even care, except that I can hear the difference. If I set the resampler to the same sample rate as the source material, the sound output between Poweramp and HiByMusic is pretty much identical. When resampling is happening, there's a slight loss of quality. Poweramp has BY FAR the better interface and features of any music app, but that slight dip in sound quality on a DAP that cost $800 is disappointing enough that I find myself looking at alternatives, and that's frustrating

A Google search shows that this has been asked multiple times, but there's never a satisfactory answer. I have a HiBy R6 2020 music player. One of the features is an LED on the side of the player that glows a different color depending on the sample rate being played (blue for <=48khz, green for 48<=192khz, orange for 192+khz). It's a neat feature, even if it's mostly cosmetic. Using the stock music app (HiByMusic), the LED changes color depending on the source material I'm playing. However, when using Poweramp with the Hi-Res output enabled, that light is always a color based on the sampling rate that I set in the output preferences. So basically it's always orange, because I have it maxed out at 384khz. Even if I'm playing 16/44.1 files, that light is glowing orange. Hi if I set the output to 192khz, it'll glow green. And if I set it to 48khz, it'll glow blue. This is both reassuring because I have confirmation that Poweramp is really pushing out a high sample rate, but also annoying because it means there's some unnecessary processing being done to the source files by the resampler. I do have the SoX resampler enabled with no dithering, but when doing an A/B comparison between Poweramp and HiByMusic, I can definitely notice a difference in quality, with HiByMusic giving me slightly better clarity and more distinct sound stage, especially with 24/196 source material. This is with the EQ completely disabled in both players (right in the output settings in the case of Poweramp) and any sound processing done at the system-level rather than the player-level. The HiByMusic app kinda sucks, I much prefer Poweramp, which I purchased directly for this music player (not through Play Store). I use Poweramp on all my devices and my music collection is organized with that in mind. Is there a way to bypass the resampler and eliminate that extra processing to send the file directly from the decoder to the DSP? That way the LED on my player would behave as intended, and I'd have the peace of mind knowing there's no extraneous processing happening in the decoding path.