Audirvana Plus 2.6

[damien78]

Just released 2.6.3 that brings the fix for the album artist computation from tracks artists for albums imported from iTunes

 

Merry Christmas,

Damien

[PGRPGRPG]

My jackets are +- 1000x1000.

The application itself was not frozen, but no way to move jacket or to shut it down.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

Any idea ? Just to know if I've missed an information to do that or if it's an improvement to come in a next release . Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[dahlberg]

Merry Christmas,

Damien

 

 

Merry Christmas :-)

[audiocanyon]

Ok, so this is weird. I upgraded to 2.6.3 this morning and all went well until I tried to use my A+ remote. When I clicked on the A+ remote app on my iphone it began to connect and almost immediately, A+ shut down on my mac-mini. I thought it might be due to the upgrade, but when I went back to 2.6.2, the same thing happened (my A+ remote was working fine with 2.6.2 a few days ago).

 

After it shut down the first time, I rebooted my mac-mini and tried again. Same thing, as soon as the A+ remote tried to connect, A+ shut down. I checked the App store for an A+ remote update, and sure enough there was one, so I downloaded it and updated. I rebooted my mac-mini again, clicked on the A+ remote on my iphone, and A+ shut down again.

 

Anyone else having this problem?

[odelay]

I had a very similar problem ... I say 'had' - as this issue is no longer occurring..

 

When I opened the iOS app, A+ on the mini would crash... Not every time, but most times... Sometimes only crashing whilst browsing the library via iOS (on ipad mainly, but happened at least once on iPhone too).

 

It may have started happening with the 2.6 betas - can't remember. Thought I'd posted something on that back then... but don't think anyone else had that issue?

 

I imagined it was A+ update that solved it. Maybe it was after a clean install of A+> (It was still happening with the latest iOS version). But really not sure why it seems to work now.

 

Really hope it sorts itself out for you too soon.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[audiocanyon]

It's snowing here today, maybe that's it... :-) Ok, thanks. Good to know it's not just my system. Hopefully it will leave as mysteriously as it arrived.

[odelay]

That could be it!

It hasn't been snowing here for a while... Hope you don't have to wait until Spring before you can listen to music... [emoji848]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

[Gonzbull]

 

I think I found a bug. My audio setup uses an Aggregate Device in OSX.

A Lynx PCIe card + Aurora Converter and a Dangerous Music Source DAC as one device.

A+ used to work fine before the latest update. Now I get this error.

I need to keep this setup as it's a working studio machine so I hope Damien is able to solve this.

 

I should add that no other audio applications are running when A+ is open.

[One and a half]

Downloaded 2.6.3 and did not setup the library, previously 2.5.4 hung often when updating at start....

 

So 2.6.3 paired with Playback Designs MPD-3 using the native drivers on Mavericks. Files are on a NAS. If an album is dragged and dropped from the one sample rate all is good. Ahh, but don't expect to add say a Redbook album followed by a DSD, then back to redbook. Hang time. Really problematic excessive delays, the NAS too slow?

 

Tried again with a PC containing music library and played over the network. Fared a little better, but the transition between sample rates, on pick and choose selection are very ordinary and often hangs, doesn't matter which fs is chosen.

 

Sound Quality is OK'ish, but not making A+ a go to player, due to reliability. Marking calendar in June 2017 for a re-visit. Really tempted to get that A10 or T1, just getting a little tired of p*ssing with temperamental software, and this includes HQPlayer & JRiver.

[Pineshack]

Anybody else having serious tag issues with this update? I've had a whole bunch of stuff disappear. For example, my entire Billy Joel collection is gone. There are 11 albums in there, which used to previously be fine, but now only one shows up. A lot of other stuff has had the title tag disappear. This is stuff that was previously fine. And for the record, the tags are perfectly fine in every other app I can find.

[pl_svn]

Anybody else having serious tag issues with this update? I've had a whole bunch of stuff disappear. For example, my entire Billy Joel collection is gone. There are 11 albums in there, which used to previously be fine, but now only one shows up. A lot of other stuff has had the title tag disappear. This is stuff that was previously fine. And for the record, the tags are perfectly fine in every other app I can find.

 

look among "Various Artists" stuff: 1/5 of my albums, all properly tagged, are there since 2.6

[Pineshack]

look among "Various Artists" stuff: 1/5 of my albums, all properly tagged, are there since 2.6

Oh, I didn't even know it did that. I just thought I had some stuff accidentally tagged "Various Artists". Sadly, still no Billy. He doesn't even show up in the Artists lists anymore. I can only find him by searching, and then only two of 11 albums show up. I'm just going to go back to JRiver again for a while. Audirvana sounds a bit better, but the interface infuriates me.

[Jud]

Must say I'm quite happy with the sound. The interface is working fine too. Maybe it's due to the fact that I tend to use the track rather than album listing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[DonaldM]

The same goes for me: happy with the sound and the interface is working fine, both in iOS and OSX. Although I nearly exclusively use album listing. Maybe I do not have any tagging issues as I carefully and very consistently tagged all my albums.

The only issue I sometimes have is that after adding a new album A+ does not sync completely (some tracks do, some do not); deleting the album from the folder to the trash and then via CMD-z reinstalling the album in the folder again, cures it.

[pl_svn]

Maybe I do not have any tagging issues as I carefully and very consistently tagged all my albums.

I do carefully... no, wait... *maniacally* tag all my albums (using Yate) before placing them on the NAS and importing in A+ and this is what I'm seeing since 2.6 (just a fraction of what's in-between my "Various Artists" albums. Mis-sorted ones are not even in alphabetical order):

 

 

so, as tagging *should* not be the culprit here... I *think* A+ is still taking into account something from file path (folder structure/names)

 

or, maybe, A+ reads "Composer" tag and sorts an album among "Various Artists" if/when tracks are by different composers

[pl_svn]

or, maybe, A+ reads "Composer" tag and sorts an album among "Various Artists" if/when tracks are by different composers

 

no, this is not the case: just seen among mis-sorted albums "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid" which has Bob Dylan set as "Artist", "Album Artist" and "Composer" for all of its tracks

 

[watercourse]

Oh, I didn't even know it did that. I just thought I had some stuff accidentally tagged "Various Artists". Sadly, still no Billy. He doesn't even show up in the Artists lists anymore. I can only find him by searching, and then only two of 11 albums show up. I'm just going to go back to JRiver again for a while. Audirvana sounds a bit better, but the interface infuriates me.

 

Your frustration is understood. I recently checked out Jriver again and was impressed with library management, but missed A+ sonics.

 

Also, I couldn't figure out how to have playlists with mixed formats (dsf and pcm), and had to listen to one or the other, and then manually switch playback of file types in Jriver. User error perhaps, but A+ is better in file handling as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[tipunch]

Merry Christmas and thank you Damien,

The 2.6.3 version SQ is very very good!!

@Dyson

What do you think?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[Pineshack]

There seems to be an implication here that my tags are at fault, but I can assure that is not the case. These are tags that work perfectly in every other program. The ones currently in question also worked perfectly in Audirvana until this most recent release. Now I have many artists that have simply disappeared and are not listed in the artist list. I have artists where only some of the albums now appear, like for example the Beatles, where only The White Album is listed out of the whole folder of many albums. I like that album, but I'd like to listen to others as well. Then there are the songs where the tag is there, but the title has now disappeared.

 

I'm fed up with this. Reading and sorting metadata is a solved problem, and yet Damien doesn't seem to be able to manage it. Every new minor point release brings new regressions. For every problem he solves, he creates three new ones. He charges a lot for this software, so it should work a hell of a lot better than it does.

[Jud]

There seems to be an implication here that my tags are at fault, but I can assure that is not the case. These are tags that work perfectly in every other program. The ones currently in question also worked perfectly in Audirvana until this most recent release. Now I have many artists that have simply disappeared and are not listed in the artist list. I have artists where only some of the albums now appear, like for example the Beatles, where only The White Album is listed out of the whole folder of many albums. I like that album, but I'd like to listen to others as well. Then there are the songs where the tag is there, but the title has now disappeared.

 

I'm fed up with this. Reading and sorting metadata is a solved problem, and yet Damien doesn't seem to be able to manage it. Every new minor point release brings new regressions. For every problem he solves, he creates three new ones. He charges a lot for this software, so it should work a hell of a lot better than it does.

 

I can certainly understand how frustrating this is. For whatever reason, the changes Damien's made don't seem to have broken things for me.

 

UIs are very much "horses for courses," I think. Many people find JRiver's UI to be excellent, while I've never been able to come to grips with it. Doesn't mean at all that their UI's bad, just that it doesn't conform to my way of thinking and working with my music collection.

 

The only software I've personally found that seems to automagically get compilations, albums with guest artists, etc., anywhere near correct without user intervention is Roon; but much of the rest of their way of organizing music isn't intuitive for me (it is to a *lot* of other people, though), and if you want to talk about cost, A+ will cost you about as much as 9 months of a Roon subscription. Particularly considering its incorporation of one of the best SRCs around (iZotope, the cheaper version of which runs several hundred dollars), I don't personally think A+ costs that much. On the other hand, if it doesn't work for you, then of course it's going to feel like an unwarranted expense.

[Pineshack]

I can certainly understand how frustrating this is. For whatever reason, the changes Damien's made don't seem to have broken things for me.

 

UIs are very much "horses for courses," I think. Many people find JRiver's UI to be excellent, while I've never been able to come to grips with it. Doesn't mean at all that their UI's bad, just that it doesn't conform to my way of thinking and working with my music collection.

 

The only software I've personally found that seems to automagically get compilations, albums with guest artists, etc., anywhere near correct without user intervention is Roon; but much of the rest of their way of organizing music isn't intuitive for me (it is to a *lot* of other people, though), and if you want to talk about cost, A+ will cost you about as much as 9 months of a Roon subscription. Particularly considering its incorporation of one of the best SRCs around (iZotope, the cheaper version of which runs several hundred dollars), I don't personally think A+ costs that much. On the other hand, if it doesn't work for you, then of course it's going to feel like an unwarranted expense.

 

Okay, fair enough. I think I'm going to just put this software aside for awhile, though. I'm not expecting it to do anything complicated, and the fact that it can't manage basic functionality like reading perfectly good tags is frustrating to me beyond any minor advantages it offers in terms of sound quality.

 

I'm not holding JRiver up as the be-all-end-all. Lord knows it has its own issues, and it looks like a Windows program to boot. It works, though, in basic ways and doesn't make me mad and waste my time every time I use it. Frequently, I just want a player that will play music while I try to get some work done, and with Audirvana I inevitably end up getting so distracted and annoyed trying to get it to work that I lose a significant amount of focus. Audirvana is a liability.

 

Edit: So after I wrote this, I fired up the trial of HQPlayer and was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound listening to Peter Gabriel. I heard things I hadn't heard before. To be fair, I decided to see how Audirvana compared, and . . . Peter Gabriel is missing from the artists list -all 15 albums have gone missing. So long, Audirvana. I'll check back around version 3.0 or 4.0. Maybe by then Damien will have spent some of those $80 licensing fees on some programming books.

[jhwalker]

Okay, fair enough. I think I'm going to just put this software aside for awhile, though. I'm not expecting it to do anything complicated, and the fact that it can't manage basic functionality like reading perfectly good tags is frustrating to me beyond any minor advantages it offers in terms of sound quality.

 

I'm not holding JRiver up as the be-all-end-all. Lord knows it has its own issues, and it looks like a Windows program to boot. It works, though, in basic ways and doesn't make me mad and waste my time every time I use it. Frequently, I just want a player that will play music while I try to get some work done, and with Audirvana I inevitably end up getting so distracted and annoyed trying to get it to work that I lose a significant amount of focus. Audirvana is a liability.

 

Edit: So after I wrote this, I fired up the trial of HQPlayer and was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound listening to Peter Gabriel. I heard things I hadn't heard before. To be fair, I decided to see how Audirvana compared, and . . . Peter Gabriel is missing from the artists list -all 15 albums have gone missing. So long, Audirvana. I'll check back around version 3.0 or 4.0. Maybe by then Damien will have spent some of those $80 licensing fees on some programming books.

 

I respect your experience, but I think your being a bit harsh here.

I use four different players on a regular basis (through no real preference of my own, just that each does certain functions better than another), and each one of them "sees" / parses my library differently. For example:

 

 

• JRiver sees 95,681 tracks, 1,602 DSD
  
• iTunes sees 95,399 tracks, all PCM of course
  
• Roon sees 98,329 tracks, 1,498 DSD
  
• Audirvana sees 95,843 tracks, 1,597 DSD
  

Not sure what the difference is, but I've never actually noticed any specific albums / artists missing from any one collection, so I suspect it's primarily older files that are not tagged consistently (I didn't get really good at metadata until 2-3 years back). From the above, it appears JRiver and Audirvana are almost identical in the way they handle it.

[fragoulisnaval]

I am using A+ on my Mac mini for my headphones and MUSIChi (Windows) for my main system

 

With MUSIChi, I never had any kind of problems when updating.

 

Reading this thread, I am stuck with 2.5.3 for a very long time I'm afraid....

[PGRPGRPG]

Just released 2.6.3 that brings the fix for the album artist computation from tracks artists for albums imported from iTunes

 

Merry Christmas,

Damien

 

Hi Damien and all,

I've just updated to 2.6.3 and am facing a new issue. Impossible to sart reading albums or tracks due to Sysoptimizer needed to be reinstalled (takes 1 minute before prompting) . Id did it several time, but this request comes back each time. The sysoptimizer tool seems not able to register within the application.

I've tried to destroy all Audirvana former installation and do a clean one with 2.6.3, but same behavior again.

Any idea how to sort this out?

Sound is very good, but it is disappointing to update final versions with this kind of incident. I never faced a single issue with 2.6.2. Might it be because I'm still on El Capitan ? If no answer, If someone can post a Link for 2.6.2, I'll reinstall it.

Thanks a lot.

[pl_svn]

 

• JRiver sees 95,681 tracks, 1,602 DSD
  
• iTunes sees 95,399 tracks, all PCM of course
  
• Roon sees 98,329 tracks, 1,498 DSD
  
• Audirvana sees 95,843 tracks, 1,597 DSD
  

Not sure what the difference is, but I've never actually noticed any specific albums / artists missing from any one collection, so I suspect it's primarily older files that are not tagged consistently (I didn't get really good at metadata until 2-3 years back). From the above, it appears JRiver and Audirvana are almost identical in the way they handle it.

Roon stacks duplicate albums (eg different resolutions or editions of a given one)

that's most likely why the total you get is the lowest one

when this happens you will see a grey "Show Other Versions" button (in album's detail view )