# Bug head emperor player - audiophile player from Japan



## michaelios

Hi!
 Have you heard this incredible PC based player from Japan?
 UI not among the best and usability too but you'll forget all this faults at the moment "play" button pressed. 
 Normal-basic-red or white mode  adds great amount of space and air.
  
 http://oryaaaaa.world.coocan.jp/bughead/index.html
  
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bug-head-technology/221354151338856   Here you'll find latest beta versions.


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## devhead

My youngest brother who lives in Japan introduced this little gem to me this past week.  All I can say is I was blown away by the audio quality.  Even better sounding than JRiver Media Center, which I've been using for a little over a year.  I'm outputting from my Asus Xonar Essence STX card digitally into my Onkyo Receiver, which drives a pair of Polk Monitor 40s and a PSW10 subwoofer.  The clarity and transparency in the audio is just amazing.  I've been fiddling with the preset 'flavors' recently.  What do you recommend?


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## michaelios

IMHO BHEplayer is the best sounding among others. F
 I use Z tune mode. Press Shift-Z before selecting your output driver. (memory optimization)
 In Normal mode in last versions you can't see part of options.
 Usualy I use redx1, whitex1, balck3x1.
 Turning off AUTO stops controlls output volume.
 By default Buglvl5 - is the level of selected sound optimization in resulting output. lvl5  or lvl3 are good.
 Anyway all this optimization levels only a metter of test and your mood at the current moment.
 Higher levels at x4 mode crushes my old comp so you can check it by yourself.)


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## devhead

Thanks for the tips, especially the Z tune mode.  I'm going to try that today when I get home!


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## Stonephace

This looks really interesting. Thanks for posting about it.
  
 There's almost too much to play around with  But at least it looks like you can't break anything - closing down and restarting seems to reset everything to 'default'?
  
 Does it matter which version I use - 32-bit or 64-bit? Or should I just install the version that matches my OS (in my case 64-bit)?


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## devhead

I don't know if it matters, but by default I selected the 64-bit install, since I have a 64-bit CPU.  One thing I don't understand is why he got rid of the Pause button.  I kind of miss that.


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## michaelios

Version 2.99 released. Judging by sound quality foobar is a dead toy compared to BHE.) It makes your system sound like magic mega hi end from another world. 

Отправлено с моего GT-I9100 через Tapatalk


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## sweetplastic

Downloaded the 3.00 version for a try, and man, I must say I am impressed. SQ is amazing even with basic settings ( I don't have ASIO drivers for my DAC...yet, and only 6gb of ram), much more engaging and detailed than foobar. Just had a quick listen and might be getting carried away a bit, but WOW. Definitely worth a try, even if the UI is...um... Thanks for the heads up!


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## michaelios

3.00!? He is too fast))

Отправлено с моего GT-I9100 через Tapatalk


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## imeem

does it support wasapi?


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## devhead

Yes, it supports WASAPI.  Naturally.


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## michaelios

It shows all available drivers at the beginning so it's very easy to choose. 

Отправлено с моего GT-I9100 через Tapatalk


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## glassmonkey

I'm really impressed with the audio coming out of this. Compared to this, foobar sounds soft, with more distant lower frequencies. Bug head emperor just sounds more present. The bass is deliciously full and the sound feels a little bit more spacious.
  
 I haven't played around with it much, but am looking forward to figuring out how the software can be fiddled with.


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## nagual

Does it support streaming (like Foobar) ?


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## michaelios

nagual said:


> Does it support streaming (like Foobar) ?



No. BHE is only to play music. For streaming better use something like jriver. Anyway Foobar sound is so dry and dead I'm not able to hear it anymore.


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## sweetplastic

I couldn't agree more, Foobar sounds very dull after a session with Bug Head. I still cant figure out how the filters (or the software in general) are affecting the output, but the result is outstanding. Currently using Banana1 x4, everything is more energetic, bass is tight as can be, soundstage is more open... Music has never been as engaging. I can only urge people to try it out.


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## yay101

I must be the only one who finds this disappointing (only tried defaults so far), it has a wider soundstage but the bass is ruined, muddy and over pronounced. High's sound no different, it reminds me of the 5.1 setup for foobar but with a overbearing eq thrown on top. What settings are everyone else using?


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## leeperry

The problem is those obscure players don't support VST plugins and headphones do require EQ in order to sound flat duh, JRiver comes with the most horrid GUI I have ever seen so foobar has no competition basically....but yes its SQ is less than ideal, especially with its KS component that hasn't been updated since 2006 bleh.


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## michaelios

leeperry said:


> The problem is those obscure players don't support VST plugins and headphones do require EQ in order to sound flat duh, JRiver comes with the most horrid GUI I have ever seen so foobar has no competition basically....but yes its SQ is less than ideal, especially with its KS component that hasn't been updated since 2006 bleh.



Sorry. My audiosystem and hp's are good enough not to use any VST's or EQ.


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## michaelios

michaelios said:


> leeperry said:
> 
> 
> > The problem is those obscure players don't support VST plugins and headphones do require EQ in order to sound flat duh, JRiver comes with the most horrid GUI I have ever seen so foobar has no competition basically....but yes its SQ is less than ideal, especially with its KS component that hasn't been updated since 2006 bleh.
> ...


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## mkeroppi

yay101 said:


> I must be the only one who finds this disappointing (only tried defaults so far), it has a wider soundstage but the bass is ruined, muddy and over pronounced. High's sound no different, it reminds me of the 5.1 setup for foobar but with a overbearing eq thrown on top. What settings are everyone else using?


 

 Agreed.
  
 To me this sounds like the classic lowpass + overcompression. It sounded good at a first listen (and without direct comparison to foobar), especially with the more pronounced bass.
  
 However, a further listen reveals that the dynamics of music is gone (everything sounds at the same volume), which means it's overcompressed. With that, it can easily tell that the high freq. is pretty much gone (i.e., sounds like "lo-fi," cheap speakers, high freq. can be heard as "color" or "flavor," or more easily characterize as "hiss" or "sibilance"). Checking back with foobar reveals that this is indeed the case.


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## kiskaprince

Can someone post link to that BNEplayer please?
 Thank you


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## kiskaprince

Got it
 Thank you


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## Franatic

Originally Posted by *kissmevn* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  
 I tried this software this morning, and damn. It kicked my gear to a new level. Bigger soundstage, better clarity, detail and better bass. 
 I set at 2GB/2GB/4GB/4GB at run. Can you tell me how to configure this to a better sound ?
 And I can see there are Bug emperor and Infinity Blade. Are they different ?
 *******************************************************************
  
 I would say, and the author recommends, to use Infinity Blade SQ for the best sound quality.
 The settings I have are:
  
 Left side-select options
 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 -red   Dimm 4-4-4-4 (16gb ram)      if you have 8gb ram: Dimm 2-2-2-2
  
 Right side-select mode:
 Option 1-red Normal
  
 I find best sound playing file as it is. Other people upsample. Definitely try and see what sounds best. There are numerous filter which can be changed on the playback screen. Still trying different ones there.
  
 You can also read this thread over on the Jplay forum. It has had much recent postings
 http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/1553-infinity-blade-hq-bug-head-emperor-worth-trying/page-5#entry28188


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## dmbr

Not abandoning my Foobar plugins and components. Ever.


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## Franatic

dmbr said:


> Not abandoning my Foobar plugins and components. Ever.


 

 There is a boatload of those things for Foobar! Nothing can compete with all that!
  
 In digital audio, everyone's experience is system dependent.
  
 I am using BHE strictly for playback on my desktop 2 pc streamer audio system. I have 16gb of ram and an i5 processor on my control pc. I am playing redbook, hi-res and DSD from connected hard drives. In my experience (JRiver, Foobar, HQPlayer), BHE gives me a more relaxed, organic and detailed presentation when used in this way. My PCs also use Jplay and Audiophile Optimizer and they add much to BHEs sound quality.
  
 I still use Jriver for file ripping and library management....and streaming audio from the net.


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## Spineur1

I tried this player and indeed the sound is a lot better than the others.  I had to tweak the AS4ALL driver with a larger buffer.  The best performande I got are with optimized memory 2x2x2x2 Gb.  I tried oversampling a CD quality file to see if it cound be turned in HD sound: no way !!!
 It consumes a lot a PC ressources for a player.  I am puzzled why there is so much differences among the players.  Is it in the way the DAC are controlled ??


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## yay101

spineur1 said:


> I tried this player and indeed the sound is a lot better than the others.  I had to tweak the AS4ALL driver with a larger buffer.  The best performande I got are with optimized memory 2x2x2x2 Gb.  I tried oversampling a CD quality file to see if it cound be turned in HD sound: no way !!!
> It consumes a lot a PC ressources for a player.  I am puzzled why there is so much differences among the players.  Is it in the way the DAC are controlled ??




It's processing the audio and changing the signal significantly to "improve" it.


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## Spineur1

Thanks.  I am going to have to learn one day how it all works !!
  
 I tried the Jplay driver instead of the asio4all, and this is yet another improvement.  At first I was a little set back by the fact it would only work on the 44kHz files on my system.  Finally, I found that by forcing the streaming to 32 bits cured the problem.  It gives a more open and "shinny" rendrering, which is really nice for many pieces of music.  For a voice and piano piece, I somehow prefer something a little more dull.
 Bughead/JPlay or Asio4all combinations feel like the "anti-microsoft" spirit.  Lots of tweaking to get the desired result.  But I must say, its there !!
  
 Happy new year to all of you.


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## sonci

"NEED Additional BURN IN 400+ hours"
  
Ha Ha, What does it have to burn in in a software?
 It's a pity this is free, I'd spend at least 1k on this thing..
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 
  
 This is more a equalizer than an audio player, it certainly does smth to the sound, but not for better, it adds a glare of harshness to the highs, maybe ok for not reveling systems, you can achieve the same sound with foobar +resamplers +DSP..


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## mrinspire

Bughead sounded very liquify and organic, I really love it


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## theoctavist

to all the folks commenting about the "sound improvements"  "it is oranic" "it is an EQ" and so on..... I implore you to learn a bit about how digital audio works. Nika Aldrich's excellent book http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Audio-Explained-For-Engineer/dp/141960001X  is a wonderful introduction/primer. 
  
 Also Ethan Winer's  http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Expert-Everything-Need-About/dp/0240821009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460108791&sr=1-1&keywords=audio+expert
  
 Once you have gotten a firm grasp of the basics, you should then revisit this thread and examine the claims that have been made.  They simply do not hold water... I would even go so far as to say they are nearly satire-like in their outlandishness.   
  
  
 Look at everything critically.  Intellectual Rigor. FACTS. Objectivity.    Refusing to rely on our ( woefully inadequate and fickle, handicapped by myriad bias/stimuli every second of existence) ear-brain systems , well that benefits every one.


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## lian00

Hello,
 I tried to test the software with iBAsso DX 90 DAC but I have no choice for Audio Device:
  

  
 JRiver 21 is running correctly with WASAPI
  

  
 I'm a little lost - my Japan is very bad


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## Peti

Loser here! I've been trying to install this program. Got the latest version from the developer's website but when I try to launch bughead.exe I get an error message: "bass.dll error - Don't load bass.dll"
  
 Anyone can help please?
  
 Thanks


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## ColtMrFire

At first I was very put off by this player.  Counter-intuitive and ugly UI, the broken english and weird terms, and the sound itself sounded very heavily processed to me, not at all natural.  I went to HQPlayer and forgot about it.
  
 Then I got curious about Bughead again and started fiddling with the settings and am astounded at how great it is.  It's so important to find the right settings that sound best to you, otherwise it's really off putting, IMO.
  
 Properly tweaked, it even blows HQPlayer out of the water, at least in my setup.  I am even struck by the fact that a piece of software can have such a massive influence over sound quality (that includes upgrading to WIndows 10 and running Bughead and music files from RAMDisk [Softperfect RAMDISK] rather than my hard drive).  It's almost as if I have a completely different (and better) DAC.  It makes me wonder what I'm actually hearing most, the software or the DAC's interpretation of the software's output.


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## Peti

Hear, hear! I just got introduced to this little wonder,  and I'm perplexed of the plethora of options. But even without any tweaking, by using the default settings, this player sounds phenomenal. I know it's worth the time to dig deeper into the manual!


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## ColtMrFire

peti said:


> Hear, hear! I just got introduced to this little wonder,  and I'm perplexed of the plethora of options. But even without any tweaking, by using the default settings, this player sounds phenomenal. I know it's worth the time to dig deeper into the manual!




These settings seem to work best for me (could be a good starting point for you):

Under 'Select Option 1'

1, 2 and 3 should be RED.  6 and 7 should be RED (Setup DIMM should be 1: 2GB / 2: 2GB... this is with 8 GIGs of RAM which I have, if you have more, you can increase it)  Be sure it tick "enable this mode" in the box.

Under Select mode 2

1 should be RED

Disable stardust mode - you can enable it if you want, it does make the sound more "sparkly" but I personally find it sounds too processed and not very natural.

When the main player screen starts, Over to the right and down a little, you will see a small box labeled 'mmx+', click it and scroll down to 'Tuning rewrite avx', select 'Tune amx plus'. Click the small box above that one... My favorite right now is 'Slash'.. Click it.

That should get you started on some really good sound, and you can tweak with the different settings if you want from there.  Personally I feel there are way too many options, so I am sticking with this for a while.


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## Peti

coltmrfire said:


> These settings seem to work best for me (could be a good starting point for you):
> 
> Under 'Select Option 1'
> 
> ...


 

 thanks, I gave it a try, awesome!! I'm enamored of this little player!! However, I have a question: When I launch the program and start to play a, lt's say, redbook (16bit, 44.1kHz) file and right after I open a different one (like a 24 bit 96kHz) the player won't play it back for me. Any idea? I have to close and re-launch the player in order to play back an audio file of different resolution.


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## ColtMrFire

Bughead doesnt let you load songs of differing resolutions in one session. It has to all be the same format per session/playlist


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## Peti

coltmrfire said:


> Bughead doesnt let you load songs of differing resolutions in one session. It has to all be the same format per session/playlist


 

 Thank you! And just to clarify it, the seeking bar cannot be used to move to certain points within the track with your cursor, right?


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## ColtMrFire

Not that I'm aware of.


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## Franatic

Hi Guys
  
 If you are interested in a very active BH thread, check the Jplay forum:
 http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/1553-infinity-blade-hq-bug-head-emperor-worth-trying/page-164
  
 164 pages / 3268 replies / 265K views   
  
 This player is amazing and keeps getting better. Oh yeah, it has it's quirks, but the SQ is so worth. No other player comes close.


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## Peti

franatic said:


> Hi Guys
> 
> If you are interested in a very active BH thread, check the Jplay forum:
> http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/1553-infinity-blade-hq-bug-head-emperor-worth-trying/page-164
> ...


 

 Bughead for president! Best player I've ever encountered. I remember you from Jplay forum...what is your current settings for Bughead? Or you have been using Infinity Blade?


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## Franatic

peti said:


> Bughead for president! Best player I've ever encountered. I remember you from Jplay forum...what is your current settings for Bughead? Or you have been using Infinity Blade?


 
 Nice to be remembered. I'm running Infinity Blade. The current BH program is 7.12 SP5. You can get it here:
 http://oryaaaaa.world.coocan.jp/bughead/
 I'm running 7.12 SP3 which I prefer. If you PM me, I can send it to you.
 To get the most out of it you need at least an i5 quad core processor and 8 - 16 gb of ram(best is 16gb dual sided).
  
 Hiroyuki continues to improve it. He is amazing....some kind of obsessed, eccentric genius/wizard. This player is his great obsession.


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## Peti

franatic said:


> Nice to be remembered. I'm running Infinity Blade. The current BH program is 7.12 SP5. You can get it here:
> http://oryaaaaa.world.coocan.jp/bughead/
> I'm running 7.12 SP3 which I prefer. If you PM me, I can send it to you.
> To get the most out of it you need at least an i5 quad core processor and 8 - 16 gb of ram(best is 16gb dual sided).
> ...


 

 Absolutely agreed! I only wish we had a detailed description of the plethora of settings he managed to squeeze into his player in proper english...have you managed to go through all the settings and find out what they do?


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## ccschua

I love it and if the interface is further, I will die for it.
  
 the interface is not as bad if compared to LP. imagine getting up and demagnetize it.
  
 The player obviously trumps the foobar by a big margin. the word to describe is like "emotional", "live", "analog"
  
 though I run it with audio PC, soon I am making my control PC to be able to put my audiopc in hibernate mode. I am not sure if this will further improve the sound.
  
 running infinity blade in server 2012 minimized gui mode helps further, another jaw dropping experience. also getting a graphics card and ethernet card to do away onboard devices.


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## ColtMrFire

Sounds even better running from an SD card or RAMDisk (Softperfect version).


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## ColtMrFire

Can Bughead be used with Linux?


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## dannyhc

Does anyone please have a copy of 7.27 for those stuck on AVX 1.0 they can upload or email me?
  
 Regards,

 Dan


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## Franatic

dannyhc said:


> Does anyone please have a copy of 7.27 for those stuck on AVX 1.0 they can upload or email me?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Dan


 
 Check my PM


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## rikk009

I decided to give it a try. When I try to install it, it says "It doesn't support 64bit OS" I am running Windows 7 64bit. What kind of music player doesn't support 64bit in 2016? I downloaded the latest 7.34.


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## ColtMrFire

I was using Bughead just fine on my 64bit windows 7. There's probably something else going on.


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## froxmor

I can confirm latest version doesn't support Win7 64bit. It even tells you that in an error message.


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## dew1

hi
 the problem it's not win7 64bit

 with Version 7.28 bughead Support only cpu with avx2.0!
  
  
 dew1


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## ColtMrFire

If you can't use it best to find an older version.


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## ColtMrFire

So apparently it has nothing to do with 32 vs 64bit. Newer versions of BH only work with computers that have avx 2.0. Some kind of fancy processor.

I can probably upload an older version for someone who wants it. PM me.


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## ferrilu1

Hello can anyone please upload the latest version working on Win 7 64 bit. Yhanks a lot.
  
 g


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## ColtMrFire

ferrilu1 said:


> Hello can anyone please upload the latest version working on Win 7 64 bit. Yhanks a lot.
> 
> g


 
  
 Send me a PM


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## ferrilu1

Wow thanks!!!!
 g


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## xrodx

dannyhc said:


> Does anyone please have a copy of 7.27 for those stuck on AVX 1.0 they can upload or email me?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Dan


 
  
 I could use a copy of that version  too, haven't updated in a while and now bh wont start on my system
  
 thanks in advance


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