Audirvana Brightness Tweaks

[DancingSea]

Aloha - I've search the forum and couldn't find anything specific. Does anyone have suggestions about how to setup Audirvana so its not quite as bright? I did find posts that suggests Audirvana needs to be setup properly to sound good and a reference to the owner of Audirvana saying as much. But I couldn't find any clear guidance about what setting Audirvana up properly means, no clear steps.

 

I love Audirvana's UI and functionality, just don't have enough personal knowledge to adjust the sound to be less bright.

 

Thanks.

[zackthedog]

Aloha - I've search the forum and couldn't find anything specific. Does anyone have suggestions about how to setup Audirvana so its not quite as bright? I did find posts that suggests Audirvana needs to be setup properly to sound good and a reference to the owner of Audirvana saying as much. But I couldn't find any clear guidance about what setting Audirvana up properly means, no clear steps.

 

I love Audirvana's UI and functionality, just don't have enough personal knowledge to adjust the sound to be less bright.

 

Thanks.

 

"Bright" is not a problem I've experienced with Audirvana. What is your digital playback chain?

[DancingSea]

"Bright" is not a problem I've experienced with Audirvana. What is your digital playback chain?

 

Well, maybe bright is not the right word, I'm not completely fluent in Audiophilia lingo. I find the highs a bit harsh in the way they often are in digital music. I prefer the less harsh highs of tube like audio. I have a 2013 MBP --> Apple TV 3 via Airplay --> Peachtree Audio DAC ITx via toslink optical --> Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp (made by YBA) --> Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rod speakers. I have an Ah! Tjeob CD player.

 

I auditioned the little Vanatoo computer speakers, loved them, except for those oh too harsh highs - set them back.

 

Both Fidelia and Amarra yield more pleasing highs, but I much prefer Audirvana's overall usability.

[Bob Stern]

In Audirvana Prefs > Audio Units, use the popup to select "Apple: AUParametricEQ". Experiment with cutting a few dB at a center frequency of about 3 to 5 KHz, with a Q of 1. Try cuts of 2 dB to 6 dB and different center freq's in this range in 0.5 KHz increments.

[pl_svn]

I love Audirvana's UI and functionality, just don't have enough personal knowledge to adjust the sound to be less bright.

 

have you tried changing Integer from Mode 1 (default) to Mode 2?

[DomieMic65]

have you tried changing Integer from Mode 1 (default) to Mode 2?

 

+1

[zackthedog]

Well, maybe bright is not the right word, I'm not completely fluent in Audiophilia lingo. I find the highs a bit harsh in the way they often are in digital music. I prefer the less harsh highs of tube like audio. I have a 2013 MBP --> Apple TV 3 via Airplay --> Peachtree Audio DAC ITx via toslink optical --> Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp (made by YBA) --> Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rod speakers. I have an Ah! Tjeob CD player.

 

I auditioned the little Vanatoo computer speakers, loved them, except for those oh too harsh highs - set them back.

 

Both Fidelia and Amarra yield more pleasing highs, but I much prefer Audirvana's overall usability.

 

Oh, okay. Some one else suggests setting Integer Mode to 2 and that is a good idea. Mode 1 can be a a little aggressive-sounding in some setups. You might also try unchecking Integer Mode altogether. Are you employing any upsampling?

[DancingSea]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I will try them out. I just left Audirvana with the presets it came with, haven't really gone through any adjustments as I don't understand what most of them do.

 

I upgraded to El Capitan two days ago and Airplay has been problematic. Not just with Audirvana, but all the others I'm trying and iTunes as well. Lots of skips and pops. That led me to cut out the Apple TV 3 and connect the MBP directly to the Peachtree DAC via USB. Of course that eliminated the Airplay issue, but it also seems to have made the overall sound better. I wonder if the Apple TV 3 was some how constricted the signal, or if its just my audiophile imagination - always a dangerous element!

[DancingSea]

The other weird thing El Capitan brought is that when I set the audio output in System Preferences to Airplay, it would automatically make iTunes output to Airplay. When I turned off iTunes Airplay, it would make both internal speaker and Airplay be selected in System Preferences and I had to click over and over to switch the output back to Airplay in hopes eventually iTunes wouldn't switch as well. This confused all of the HD players, Amarra, Audirvana, Fidelia and A+

[jielcey]

The other weird thing El Capitan brought is that when I set the audio output in System Preferences to Airplay, it would automatically make iTunes output to Airplay. When I turned off iTunes Airplay, it would make both internal speaker and Airplay be selected in System Preferences and I had to click over and over to switch the output back to Airplay in hopes eventually iTunes wouldn't switch as well. This confused all of the HD players, Amarra, Audirvana, Fidelia and A+

 

+1 Grrrrr !!!!