Music Player Daemon (MPD)
Still a work in progress
Short for Music Player Daemon, MPD is a very lightweight player that can run on the slowest computer you have kept unused in the shed/storeroom.
MPD handles both music management and playback and does not require a secondary client to work. MPD is designed to run from a headless computer. In other words, you are running MPD off a computer that is not connected to a keyboard or a mouse.
You control MPD using secondary devices like your mobile phone, a tablet or another computer. This secondary device is a like your TV remote control, only better. More on this at the end of this article.
Four editions of MPD are avaiable in Snakeoil OS:
- v17: A very old version of MPD
- v18-dsd-rt: MPD 0.18 with DSD-RT patches applied. This supports native DSD.
- v19: A somewhat older version
- v20: Old version
- v21: The latest version
Each release of MPD may impart a different sonic signature, so pick the version that sounds best to you. There was a time when v17 and v19 used to sound very different, but I think the gap has closed since. v17 is included for historical reference (as a comparison), use the latest version avilable if you can.
Do not be deceived by the simplicity of MPD. This is an ultra high quality, no-frills player. It is THE player adopted by many high end commercial products, including Bryston, SoTM and Chord.
If you are looking for simplicity and exceptional sound quality, go with MPD. Sonic signature that can be associated with MPD includes:
- pin-point accuracy
- very detailed
- very transparent
- heart pounding attack
- exceptional attack speed
To put in another way - MPD delivers absolute precision when playing back. MPD will tell you a lot about the recording itself. If your audio system is up to it, MPD will turn you into a super bat! You'd pick up the tiniest noise in the recording, details you have never heard before, minute details you may never realise it's there until now.
DSD Playback
MPD supports DoP or native DSD when playing back DSD material. Modern versions of MPD (0.20+) will auto-detect DSD compatibility if you have a native DSD DAC, try setting the hardware to "Native (PCM/DSD)" and let MPD handle the DSD detection - this will do native DSD streaming.
MPD-dsd-rt supports native DSD, refer to the dsd_native_type configuration option below on how to set this up.