Audirvana Plus 2.5.1 with PCM->DSD Conversion

[Jud]

I posted this in another thread, but figured it would be more appropriate in its own:

 

PS: 2.5.1 is also bringing PCM upsampling to DSD...

 

 

 

 

I haven't heard my system sound better, and it was not, at least to my ears, a small change.

 

I believe Damien may be looking for volunteers to "stress test" beta builds, if anyone is curious.

[MrTHX]

I'd put my hand up for that

[jhwalker]

I posted this in another thread, but figured it would be more appropriate in its own:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't heard my system sound better, and it was not, at least to my ears, a small change.

 

I believe Damien may be looking for volunteers to "stress test" beta builds, if anyone is curious.

 

Big DSD fan here - certainly willing to participate

[tipunch]

Big DSD fan here - certainly willing to participate

 

+1

Présent!

[miguelito]

I haven't heard my system sound better, and it was not, at least to my ears, a small change.

Awesome! Will try when I get some time...

[Jud]

One thing I wanted to mention if you're thinking about whether or not you want to try out a beta build: With my laptop (2009 vintage 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo, so a very old and not very powerful CPU by today's standards), I have no problem doing conversion at the highest quality setting to DSD128 (DoP), the maximum resolution my DAC will accept. So you will not need a powerful computer to get the best out of this.

[damien78]

Dear volunteers for beta testing, you'll find the current cooking PCM to DSD upsampling version at https://audirvana.com/delivery/AudirvanaPlus_2.5.0.6.dmg

 

But be warned this is still a work in progress, the DSD SDM filters still need some tweaking to cope well with some edge cases. You might encounter white noise if your DAC has a filter that has a resonance for some ultrasonic signal, or blanks with very high pitched low noise with some "loudness war" tracks that have heavy clipping. For these last ones, I've place some safeguard for TIDAL originating tracks, using the supplied replay gain info (yes replay gain will come after, but just implemented check for clipping now).

 

So I am interested in your feedbacks, and especially if you encounter such noise/blank (with your DAC model & song)

 

And special thanks to the Master of the SDM, Måns you know here on CA as Mansr

 

Damien

[AudioDoctor]

Damien, can I install this alongside my current 2.5 and have both work happily?

[jabbr]

Interesting and will try

[Jud]

Damien, can I install this alongside my current 2.5 and have both work happily?

 

Yes, just rename the old app at least to AudirvanaPlus25.app or something like that before installing the beta. You can rename the new one to something else if you want, but it's not necessary.

[AudioDoctor]

Yes, just rename the old app at least to AudirvanaPlus25.app or something like that before installing the beta. You can rename the new one to something else if you want, but it's not necessary.

 

Actually, OS X asked me if I wanted to keep both of them, so I said yes, and now both of them are there. 2.5.06 is sounding GREAT.

[AudioDoctor]

It seems to me that the GUI is a bit snappier too, in my local library and when using Tidal.

[juliocat]

DSD 128 is working!!! Sound is great!!!!!! Any expalnation about DSD Filters???

[orgel]

Conversion of PCM to DSD seems to be a no-go for me with the Mytek Stereo192-DSD. If I try to convert 24/192 to DSD128 (the max for the Mytek via FireWire), I get a very loud noise (sounds like 2 dissonant tones) for less than a second, followed by low-level white noise. This happens at both Level 0 and Level 4.

 

If I try to convert the same PCM track to DSD64, it sort of plays, but I get a couple of different medium-level tones periodically in the right channel (again, for less than a second) and the right channel seems to cut in and out, not to silence, but to a lower volume level and then back to the same level as the other channel. Pretty weird effect, but not as horrifying as the really loud noise I get when trying DSD128. Again, this happens at both Level 0 and Level 4.

 

Mytek is running the latest firmware.

 

BTW, is Level 0 supposed to be the lowest quality and Level 4 the highest?

 

Sorry to be a buzz kill.

 

--David

[AudioDoctor]

Conversion of PCM to DSD seems to be a no-go for me with the Mytek Stereo192-DSD. If I try to convert 24/192 to DSD128 (the max for the Mytek via FireWire), I get a very loud noise (sounds like 2 dissonant tones) for less than a second, followed by low-level white noise. This happens at both Level 0 and Level 4.

 

If I try to convert the same PCM track to DSD64, it sort of plays, but I get a couple of different medium-level tones periodically in the right channel (again, for less than a second) and the right channel seems to cut in and out, not to silence, but to a lower volume level and then back to the same level as the other channel. Pretty weird effect, but not as horrifying as the really loud noise I get when trying DSD128. Again, this happens at both Level 0 and Level 4.

 

Mytek is running the latest firmware.

 

BTW, is Level 0 supposed to be the lowest quality and Level 4 the highest?

 

Sorry to be a buzz kill.

 

--David

 

Does the Mytek require drivers on Mac OS X?

[juliocat]

HQPlayer is dead !!!!! Long Live Audirvana+ !!!!!!!

 

PCM to DSD conversion is the best i have heard !!!!!!!!

[mansr]

Conversion of PCM to DSD seems to be a no-go for me with the Mytek Stereo192-DSD. If I try to convert 24/192 to DSD128 (the max for the Mytek via FireWire), I get a very loud noise (sounds like 2 dissonant tones) for less than a second, followed by low-level white noise. This happens at both Level 0 and Level 4.

 

If I try to convert the same PCM track to DSD64, it sort of plays, but I get a couple of different medium-level tones periodically in the right channel (again, for less than a second) and the right channel seems to cut in and out, not to silence, but to a lower volume level and then back to the same level as the other channel. Pretty weird effect, but not as horrifying as the really loud noise I get when trying DSD128. Again, this happens at both Level 0 and Level 4.

 

Mytek is running the latest firmware.

 

BTW, is Level 0 supposed to be the lowest quality and Level 4 the highest?

 

Sorry to be a buzz kill.

 

--David

 

It seems Damien was a bit too eager to release this. I'm testing a new filter set now, and it's looking much better. If it all passes, there will hopefully be a new beta soon.

 

Thanks for testing.

[mansr]

I'm testing a new filter set now, and it's looking much better. If it all passes, there will hopefully be a new beta soon.

 

The new filters seem to be good, so now we're just waiting for Damien.

[Dandaman]

This A+ version of PCM>DSD has really jumped up my sound to the best I've experienced yet. It's more revealing, has more depth, and yet is relaxed and non-fatiguing. Very, very nice. Have noticed a very few dropouts and also one louder "click" when changing from track on one album to a track on another album, but mostly just nice, involving music. This is upsampling to DSD 256 thru my Exosound e-22 and my 2008 Mac Pro with only one dual core processor (vs. the usual quad core). This may put HQ Player in my rear view mirror because now I have great sound with a much more friendly GUI (I don't have to search and search for where HQP put my classical tracks).

[elcorso]

Dear volunteers for beta testing, you'll find the current cooking PCM to DSD upsampling version at https://audirvana.com/delivery/AudirvanaPlus_2.5.0.6.dmg

 

But be warned this is still a work in progress, the DSD SDM filters still need some tweaking to cope well with some edge cases. You might encounter white noise if your DAC has a filter that has a resonance for some ultrasonic signal, or blanks with very high pitched low noise with some "loudness war" tracks that have heavy clipping. For these last ones, I've place some safeguard for TIDAL originating tracks, using the supplied replay gain info (yes replay gain will come after, but just implemented check for clipping now).

 

So I am interested in your feedbacks, and especially if you encounter such noise/blank (with your DAC model & song)

 

And special thanks to the Master of the SDM, Måns you know here on CA as Mansr

 

Damien

 

 

Great news Damien !

 

I was waiting for this since a long time.

 

Kind regards,

 

Roch

[Pocobear]

Good news first, plays at 64 and 128 no problems with playback, no skips or pops. Things to be careful about is the CPU temperature. At 64 the CPU overall runs at 27 percent for about 6 minutes then drops back to 1 - 2 percent for about 4 - 5 min. While it's at 27% the temperature starts climbing fast, I stopped it when it past 85 deg C, and turned the fan control up to 100% (5500 rpm) and tried again and it still reached 82 deg C occasionally. That's on a MAC Mini 6.2 Quad core, i7, 2.6Ghz with 16GB of memory and no other programs running. At 128 it just stays at 28 - 30% and the temp just keep on climbing. Even the case on the Mini got hot. HQ Player doesn't get any where near that hot running at 128, I don't even think I've seen it get that hot at 256. With some more tweaks hopefully A+ will match HQP in that respect. As an old electronics engineer I'm just not comfortable with those temps on a continuous basis.

[EuroDriver]

Damien,

 

this is great news ! Congratulations !

 

Now we have a second front which we can open to persuade the PCM to DSD non believers

 

Best Regards

 

Edward

[AudioDoctor]

Good news first, plays at 64 and 128 no problems with playback, no skips or pops. Things to be careful about is the CPU temperature. At 64 the CPU overall runs at 27 percent for about 6 minutes then drops back to 1 - 2 percent for about 4 - 5 min. While it's at 27% the temperature starts climbing fast, I stopped it when it past 85 deg C, and turned the fan control up to 100% (5500 rpm) and tried again and it still reached 82 deg C occasionally. That's on a MAC Mini 6.2 Quad core, i7, 2.6Ghz with 16GB of memory and no other programs running. At 128 it just stays at 28 - 30% and the temp just keep on climbing. Even the case on the Mini got hot. HQ Player doesn't get any where near that hot running at 128, I don't even think I've seen it get that hot at 256. With some more tweaks hopefully A+ will match HQP in that respect. As an old electronics engineer I'm just not comfortable with those temps on a continuous basis.

 

I wonder, do you have a spinning drive inside your mini, or an SSD?

[YashN]

Dear volunteers for beta testing, you'll find the current cooking PCM to DSD upsampling version at https://audirvana.com/delivery/AudirvanaPlus_2.5.0.6.dmg

 

Bien joué, Damien !

[YashN]

Damien,

 

this is great news ! Congratulations !

 

Now we have a second front which we can open to persuade the PCM to DSD non believers

 

Make that third, as you can also do PCM -> DSD with Foobar2000 on Win!