Audirvana Plus 2.5.1 with PCM->DSD Conversion

[Jud]

I'll keep testing - I've observed it on B3 and C to-date. Currently listening on A4 (mansr recommended the "A" family for iFi DACs).

 

The problem is it is not predictable and doesn't happen on the same tracks at the same time, so sometimes you have to listen an hour or more to determine if it's happening with a particular modulator / combination of settings. Makes for slow troubleshooting.

 

Yes, but you get to listen to music while you're "working."

[AnotherSpin]

Don't know if i'm respected here... :-)

Finally FUN for me, flushed JRiver.

 

Edited: even in beta stage DSD Upsampling is FUN

 

Even in comparison with HQPlayer? Sorry if I violate the rules of the forum - in several cases I was told I did.

[RunHomeSlow]

Sorry i don't use HQPlayer...

[MemoryPlayer]

One more crash Damien: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s9t0rgf12ez8u50/More%20Crash.rtf?dl=0

[Jud]

Even in comparison with HQPlayer? Sorry if I violate the rules of the forum - in several cases I was told I did.

 

They're both enjoyable...what's not to like about great music?

[stefano_mbp]

did not work unfortunately, even after I restarted my Mac.

 

I think you should ask Damien as your trial period is surely expired. Try to ask him with a pm

[church_mouse]

Just for the record, I too have experienced the strange channel syncing issue jh walker has reported - one channel suddenly appearing to loop back and get out of sync with the other for a short period (20 secs or so).

 

To put in context, this has only happened 4 times in what must be now over 30 hours of testing Audirvana dsd conversion. It occurred with C, A0, and B4 filters. Pausing and rewinding the track would repeat the loss of sync at the same point in time, but stopping and reloading the track would cure it.

 

All my dsd conversion is to 128. I am loading 3gb into a RAM of 8gb. (To be accurate, one of the loss of syncs was when I was testing using just 512 of RAM).

[MemoryPlayer]

Just for the record, I too have experienced the strange channel syncing issue jh walker has reported - one channel suddenly appearing to loop back and get out of sync with the other for a short period (20 secs or so).

 

To put in context, this has only happened 4 times in what must be now over 30 hours of testing Audirvana dsd conversion. It occurred with C, A0, and B4 filters. Pausing and rewinding the track would repeat the loss of sync at the same point in time, but stopping and reloading the track would cure it.

 

All my dsd conversion is to 128. I am loading 3gb into a RAM of 8gb. (To be accurate, one of the loss of syncs was when I was testing using just 512 of RAM).

 

+1!

[pdvm]

Just for the record, I too have experienced the strange channel syncing issue jh walker has reported - one channel suddenly appearing to loop back and get out of sync with the other for a short period (20 secs or so).

 

To put in context, this has only happened 4 times in what must be now over 30 hours of testing Audirvana dsd conversion. It occurred with C, A0, and B4 filters. Pausing and rewinding the track would repeat the loss of sync at the same point in time, but stopping and reloading the track would cure it.

 

All my dsd conversion is to 128. I am loading 3gb into a RAM of 8gb. (To be accurate, one of the loss of syncs was when I was testing using just 512 of RAM).

 

+1

 

Happened only twice in 20h+ of listening. DSD 128, B3 filter.

[OldBigEars]

+1 Using mainly B4. Happens fairly often - maybe once every few days.

[MemoryPlayer]

Unfortunately I'm back to JRiver!

It is nice have another option...

[RunHomeSlow]

Done I've found a way to get Direct Mode back in 10.11.5!

No more need to replace the 10.11.5 kext.

 

You can now update to Audirvana Plus 2.5.1.4.

 

Have a great WE!

 

Damien

 

 

I'm back :-)

 

Nicely done Damien... we all know that you would :-)

[RunHomeSlow]

Unfortunately I'm back to JRiver!

It is nice have another option...

 

You'll be back MemoryPlayer :-)

Don't forget that DSD Upsampling here is in early stage....

 

For me it is just the CPU % that can be reduce by half :-)

And also, just to be able to see the DR option in tabs of A+ and sorting Album by date on the Remote and i'll be in Heaven...

[MemoryPlayer]

You'll be back MemoryPlayer :-)

Don't forget that DSD Upsampling here is in early stage....

 

For me it is just the CPU % that can be reduce by half :-)

And also, just to be able to see the DR option in tabs of A+ and sorting Album by date on the Remote and i'll be in Heaven...

 

I loved the sound of DSD up, but 2.5.1.4 crashes all the time, so I have to listen to music!

[mulberry bush]

I haven’t had any problems at all with the new version. But then I use A+ for Qobuz Sublime streaming, so maybe that’s a simpler use case? In fact it’s been very stable and sounding seriously good.

 

Trying out DSD conversion has indeed been great fun. How successful it is, in my experience, depends on the DAC. Running DSD128 into a Chord 2Qute wasn’t an improvement from max PCM up-sampling. It sounded a tad congested.

 

Conversely, DSD128 into a Music Fidelity MX-DAC was a bit of a revelation. Greater physicality and refinement – I now prefer it over the 2Qute. I guess the difference is that the MX-DAC automatically converts PCM to DSD and is DSD internally. Whereas, I think I’m right in saying, the 2Qute does the opposite.

 

CPU utilization on the mac mini does intermittently go over 260%, but that does not seem to be a problem – no fan noise or overheating. I don’t feel any need to mess with buffer sizes. I have the “late 2014” mini with the i5 and 8gb SSD. The Intel ‘Haswell’ processors need less power than previous generations, consequently dissipate less heat. Maybe this is why I don’t have an issue whereas those with older macs do?

[NWDave]

I may be totally imagining this, but I've never noticed anything like it before with Audirvana. With the 2.5.1.4 update it seems as if vocals have been pushed way "behind" the main soundstage. It's hard to explain. Not that the volume is lower for vocals, more that they're muddied(?) or behind a veil. It's almost as if the instruments and voices have two volume controls inside the converter and are struggling to reach equilibrium.

 

Apologies for such an imprecise description. This isn't a DSD question per se since I don't use it for that. This affects the software on all upsampling settings.

 

Thanks for any input.

[Lee Henley]

A friend of mine brought his Lampizator Golden Gate round to my house last night, we run the GG for a good 2 hours using the latest A+ converting PCM to DSD 128 without any issues what so ever. I have an older Mac mini that only has 2gb of memory, we didn't notice any overheating or fan noises

[tipunch]

I may be totally imagining this, but I've never noticed anything like it before with Audirvana. With the 2.5.1.4 update it seems as if vocals have been pushed way "behind" the main soundstage. It's hard to explain. Not that the volume is lower for vocals, more that they're muddied(?) or behind a veil. It's almost as if the instruments and voices have two volume controls inside the converter and are struggling to reach equilibrium.

 

Apologies for such an imprecise description. This isn't a DSD question per se since I don't use it for that. This affects the software on all upsampling settings.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

For me too, SQ is not good with this last version. Not only for the upsampling. If Damien can make his "magic wand" go for the next version [emoji6]

[damien78]

For me too, SQ is not good with this last version. Not only for the upsampling. If Damien can make his "magic wand" go for the next version [emoji6]

 

Don't worry, it's coming, enjoying it right now btw

[wwaldmanfan]

For me too, SQ is not good with this last version. Not only for the upsampling. If Damien can make his "magic wand" go for the next version [emoji6]

 

This is all very subjective, but for straight PCM playback in dedicated Play Queue mode, with all low-level playback options selected in preferences and no iZotope upsampling, I find v2.3.3.8 the most accurate-sounding on both my main speaker rig and my headphone rig.

[MemoryPlayer]

Don't worry, it's coming, enjoying it right now btw

 

The best sound of DSD Up was beta 2.5.0.8, so would you get that magic again Damien?

Yosemite dedicated in a SDXC Card + 2.5.0.8 and the MacOSX Otimization Setup below from another player, left me in the heaven again.

I can listen integer mode 1 for hours with no fadigue only with this beta 2.5.0.8, every other version I can listen for few time only with integer mode 2!

[damien78]

The best sound of DSD Up was beta 2.5.0.8, so would you get that magic again Damien?

Yosemite dedicated in a SDXC Card + 2.5.0.8 and the MacOSX Otimization Setup below from another player, left me in the heaven again.

I can listen integer mode 1 for hours with no fadigue only with this beta 2.5.0.8, every other version I can listen for few time only with integer mode 2!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]26512[/ATTACH]

 

I will soon publish the new build, though I would like to bring also fixes for the issues you're having (as you are quite good to find rare issues). Can you send me by email the info to help me reproduce it I asked you by PM? (including Debug Info, detailed DSD & iZotope settings, file with which this happens, or the two files if this needs to have two specific tracks (the playing one, and the next one) to trigger the issue)

 

For stopping OS X services, I've voluntarily limited the scope of it as this is for expert users only, as someone not knowing exactly what it does could feel its OS X has been broken.

And there are optimization scripts available that do this site well.

 

Damien

[MemoryPlayer]

I will soon publish the new build, though I would like to bring also fixes for the issues you're having (as you are quite good to find rare issues). Can you send me by email the info to help me reproduce it I asked you by PM? (including Debug Info, detailed DSD & iZotope settings, file with which this happens, or the two files if this needs to have two specific tracks (the playing one, and the next one) to trigger the issue)

 

For stopping OS X services, I've voluntarily limited the scope of it as this is for expert users only, as someone not knowing exactly what it does could feel its OS X has been broken.

And there are optimization scripts available that do this site well.

 

Damien

 

Will be my pleasure, please send me your email by pm!

[Barry in Calgary]

Hi All

 

I downloaded the most recent update and when trying to turn on ppm ->did conversion I noticed the button was graded out.

 

I'm using a Macbook into a MSB Analogue DAC. Just wondering if anyone had an idea what is going on (what I'm doing wrong).

 

My DAC does play DSD files, but in Audirvana it does not show that my DAC can play DSD files, that is all the DSD options are greyed out.

 

Regards

Barry

[Lee Henley]

Hi All

 

I downloaded the most recent update and when trying to turn on ppm ->did conversion I noticed the button was graded out.

 

I'm using a Macbook into a MSB Analogue DAC. Just wondering if anyone had an idea what is going on (what I'm doing wrong).

 

My DAC does play DSD files, but in Audirvana it does not show that my DAC can play DSD files, that is all the DSD options are greyed out.

 

Regards

Barry

 

You need to have the settings on DoP which would then enable Native DSD, and then you'd have the choice to enable DSD upsampling