Audirvana Plus 2.5.1 with PCM->DSD Conversion

[jvlata]

Just move the slider for Quality.. and it will revert to the original iZotope filter settings..

Hello

 

Can someone send me the original iZotope filter setting please?

I didn't make note of them before changing and now cannot go back to original setting!

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

[mazuly]

Thank u guys. Now back to tweaking......

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[mazuly]

Day 1 with new pair of 805 D3

My oh my Audirvana from Mac mini to oppo HA-1 to Rotel RMB-1075 to 805 D3

Absolutely heaven and the speakers are not even broken in

Thank u B&W and Audirvana

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[emuzaman]

Currently in private beta testing

Public beta coming early next week...

 

Please let us test the beta because we are the public..?

[astrostar59]

Principle #1: In digital audio, intuition is extremely unreliable.

 

What you describe, while intuitive, isn't what's really going on. Upsampled data is not more reliable, because RedBook (16/44.1) data will, mathematically speaking, specify the analog result (the music) completely reliably. (This is what our friends Shannon, Nyquist and others proved mathematically a long time ago.)

 

So why upsample? Well, because we do not live in the perfect world of mathematical proofs, we lack some of the critical tools necessary to recreate music from a digital file perfectly.

 

One of those things is a perfect low-pass filter (removes higher frequencies, lets the lower ones pass through), which would, completely without distortion, get rid of all the frequencies above the audible range. We have low-pass filters, but they are not perfect. The steeper a filter is (the sharper the cutoff between the frequencies it will pass and those it won't), the more it "rings," meaning if you ran a sharp impulse through the filter, you'd find lots of smaller impulses trailing off in *both* directions, i.e., an oscilloscope trace would look more like a pig moving through a python than one sharp rise and fall.

 

So let's just use a filter that's not so steep and we'll be OK, right? Well, no. Unfortunately, a filter that isn't steep will let through higher frequencies, and these will interact with audible frequencies to cause distortion.

 

The solution is to move the point where the filter has to engage away from the audible band, so even a filter that isn't so steep can do an adequate job getting rid of higher frequencies. The way this is done is upsampling.

 

The upsampling step itself requires filtering out higher frequencies so they won't be fed to the final digital-to-analog conversion filter in your DAC. Beyond just upsampling, A+ also uses better filters for the upsampling step than are usually available in your DAC for this purpose.

So is there any point / logic in up sampling before I feed my Audio Note DAC which is R-2R NOS and no digital filter?

[mansr]

So is there any point / logic in up sampling before I feed my Audio Note DAC which is R-2R NOS and no digital filter?

 

Yes, upsampling is especially beneficial with a DAC like that.

[Jud]

So is there any point / logic in up sampling before I feed my Audio Note DAC which is R-2R NOS and no digital filter?

Your DAC will "objectively" work much better because the conversion filter working at Redbook sample rates is highly imperfect, and outputs much less measurable distortion if it is fed with higher rates.

 

It is up to you if you subjectively prefer no upsampling of RedBook - in other words if the measurable distortion in this type of DAC fed by RedBook sounds pleasing to you.

[Dreaming Jester]

Please let us test the beta because we are the public..

 

It should be just around the corner as A+ Remote got updated to be compatible with the upcoming 2.6

[emuzaman]

It should be just around the corner as A+ Remote got updated to be compatible with the upcoming 2.6

 

[emuzaman]

It should be just around the corner as A+ Remote got updated to be compatible with the upcoming 2.6

 

Hey Dreaming jester, I just updated A+ remote! It's compatible with 2.6 but I wonder why it released before 2.6?!

[Dreaming Jester]

Hey Dreaming jester, I just updated A+ remote! It's compatible with 2.6 but I wonder why it released before 2.6?!

 

Well, I don't know. Perhaps Damien is preparing to release 2.6

[damien78]

Well, I don't know. Perhaps Damien is preparing to release 2.6

Not yet, though beta 10 has all the features of the final 2.6.

 

Compilation done. Now preparing the post (with explanation of all the updates)...

[Dreaming Jester]

Not yet, though beta 10 has all the features of the final 2.6.

 

Compilation done. Now preparing the post (with explanation of all the updates)...

 

Fine. Will you release the beta for testing now? I'd like to try it.

[damien78]

Fine. Will you release the beta for testing now? I'd like to try it.

 

Enjoy the beta 2.6

 

Damien

 

PS: I'm sure someone will create a new thread as this 2.5.1 is more dedicated to DSD upsampling...

[Dreaming Jester]

Enjoy the beta 2.6

 

Damien

 

PS: I'm sure someone will create a new thread as this 2.5.1 is more dedicated to DSD upsampling...

 

Thanks, Damien. Appreciate your work.

[emuzaman]

Enjoy the beta 2.6

 

Damien

 

PS: I'm sure someone will create a new thread as this 2.5.1 is more dedicated to DSD upsampling...

 

Merci beaucoup !

[wwaldmanfan]

Damien is a freakin' genius. This isn't even his day job. His software has enriched my life.

 

I don't even use the proprietary library management. But, even with using iTunes to tag and manage my library of almost 1700 albums, the sheer simplicity of dragging-and-dropping folders into the Audirvana playlist window from the Finder only takes one mouse click. And processing and pre-loading tracks into the memory buffer is fast (Amarra falls down here).

Most importantly, the SQ blows away Amarra Symphony and HQPlayer (for PCM playback). My DAC is not DSD-compatible, but even converting DSD-to-PCM on the fly with Audirvana sounds better than transcoding DSD to PCM in advance with TraX.

Thank you, Damien.

[RunHomeSlow]

New thread for A+ 2.6 created by jtm here:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/audirvana-plus-2-6-a-30475/

[KT77]

Merci beaucoup !

 

I'm still wondering if there's anyway?, or settings that won't cause as much of a strain on say Mac Mini's without the fan keeping in?, as I never had this occur with JRiver or HQ Player while merely upsampling from PCM to DSD 128.

 

Having said that........, I've remained loyal to A+, but pray that at some point a lesser current draw on the CPU can be adapted to any upcoming versions, as I'd be more then happy to pay any extra fees needed.

[AmosM]

I use Audirvana 2.5.4 on a MacMini (late 2014) running Capitan 10.11.5. The Mac goes USB into a Rega DAC-R (NOS). I have Direct Mode and Integer Mode 1 enabled and upsample "power of 2."

 

I haven't yet tried to compare SQ with Direct Mode on or off.

 

These days, my Mini wants very much to install the Sierra it downloaded but I haven't allowed it to do so because of the Direct Mode conflict. The solution discussed here seems workable but not something I'm enthusiastic about attempting myself. (Also, thanks to all of you for such an incredibly rich thread and forum; the generosity is amazing).

 

Would it make sense to do a little A/B comparison with Direct Mode on and off to see if I can detect an SQ difference? Perhaps as a way a way of knowing whether or not to allow Sierra to install?

 

I don't mind putting off Sierra until the end of time, frankly, since my Mini is a dedicated music server. Have others of you installed Sierra and found the loss of Direct Mode isn't a big deal?

 

Thanks in advance!

[pl_svn]

into a Rega DAC-R (NOS)

sorry for going OT and not answering your question (wait... I'll do: I'm not updating to Sierra my dedicated Mac mini. not just because of Direct mode being broken). Back OT now...

 

the DAC you mention is not at all NOS

or better: it is just according to the usual misleading marketing jargoon which claims as NOS a DAC that does not oversample before the DAC chip, which oversamples anyway internally

[AmosM]

the DAC you mention is not at all NOS

or better: it is just according to the usual misleading marketing jargoon which claims as NOS a DAC that does not oversample before the DAC chip, which oversamples anyway internally

 

Is this because the Wolfson chip has an interpolator? I've done a little research since your reply and I think I understand why this DAC isn't a true NOS unit. (which is fine with me, good to learn that!)

 

Are you delaying the Sierra update for other reasons related to Audirvana?

[pl_svn]

no idea what and how much that Wolfson chip oversamples but, usually, all delta-sigma chips (and Wolfson is delta-sigma) do

 

I'm not updating because of a "great new security feature" introduced by Sierra that makes it so the user, to mount a network share, has to manually confirm, by clicking "Connect", a pre-filled dialog (user and password are already there so... great security feature indeed!)

my Mac mini runs headless, is set to auto-mount at boot the NAS share where my music files are and... the above is just a great big PITA

[Ellsworth]

Not sure if this is the right place to post about my library issues but since I am not using the beta version, I will try here.

 

i recently got a new Mini and bought a new license for A+. The DSD upsampling is great and the installation went smoothly except for the library aspect. I have two identical hard drives that I connect by FireWire.

 

On my old Mac, every track was duplicated (each song listed twice) but everything was there. On the new Mac with a new license for A+, tons of songs are missing. The hard drive that I used on the old Mac still shows duplicate listings but half of the songs are gone.

 

i tried my backup hard drive and it was even worse. songs were not duplicated but many albums and songs are missing. I use DPPoweramp to rip all my stuff so I am pretty confident that the tagging should be ok.

 

Are there some settings in A+ that I am not setting up correctly?

[Jud]

Not sure if this is the right place to post about my library issues but since I am not using the beta version, I will try here.

 

i recently got a new Mini and bought a new license for A+. The DSD upsampling is great and the installation went smoothly except for the library aspect. I have two identical hard drives that I connect by FireWire.

 

On my old Mac, every track was duplicated (each song listed twice) but everything was there. On the new Mac with a new license for A+, tons of songs are missing. The hard drive that I used on the old Mac still shows duplicate listings but half of the songs are gone.

 

i tried my backup hard drive and it was even worse. songs were not duplicated but many albums and songs are missing. I use DPPoweramp to rip all my stuff so I am pretty confident that the tagging should be ok.

 

Are there some settings in A+ that I am not setting up correctly?

 

Get rid of the A+ database files. At next startup it will ask if you want to create a new library. Say yes.