Audirvana Plus 3 (official thread)

[watercourse]

12 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

While I think the regular license validation issue may have been blown a bit out of proportion here (my guess is that it is a non issue to more than 80% of the user base and I don't believe Damien has any incentive of spying on us), I must admit I'm personally struggling to understand WHY the software needs to do the regular checks, with a business model that is based on a one off purchase. 

 

The rationale for regular checking is obvious in a subscription model, but here the entire purpose of this completely escapes me. 

Same here.

My best wild ass guess is that it has something to do with what seems to be the focus on streaming as a core function of A+ v3 compared to previous versions.

[Jud]

19 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

The rationale for regular checking is obvious in a subscription model, but here the entire purpose of this completely escapes me. 

 

What I read in Damien's post is that it prevents the wide distribution of "cracked" license keys, automating what must surely be a laborious process of tracking down identical keys presented by multiple users.

[Frojo]

51 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

The rationale for regular checking is obvious in a subscription model, but here the entire purpose of this completely escapes me. 

Perhaps a check needed for Qobuz/Tidal subscriptions, which are embedded in V3.

 

[rickca]

42 minutes ago, Innocent Bystander said:

Can you confirm if that is a new feature with v3, not documented by Damien? I can't find a feature for doing that with 2.6: My albums are all sorted in genre folder/artist folder/album folder on a drive in my MacMini, and A2.6 doesn't segregate by my genre choices, and splits, say, the Beatles into 3 bifferent artists, 'Beatles, The', 'Beatles' and 'The Beatles' according to the metadata, ignoring the fact that I have single folder for 'Beatles'.

It is definitely not a new feature in V3, it was introduced long ago in V2.  I found the following statement in the A+ User Manual:

 

Some audio files may be missing album metadata information.  They are grouped by folders into albums that use the folder name as title, and the folder parent name as artist name. This enables all to use all the display, navigation and search features with them.

 

So it looks like this feature may only support a two level directory structure artist\album.  

 

I will have to leave your questions about how to handle genre and sorting to other CA members and Damien.

[pl_svn]

8 minutes ago, Frojo said:

Perhaps a check needed for Qobuz/Tidal subscriptions, which are embedded in V3.

 

 

no: all you get if not connected is "Can't login to Qobuz/Tidal" but A+ still works flawlessly with local files

[Frojo]

3 minutes ago, Frojo said:

Perhaps a check needed for Qobuz/Tidal subscriptions, which are embedded in V3.

 

p.s.   a warning to potential Qobuz 'free trialists'- i followed the links from Audirvana for the free trial, subsequently signed in (providing my payment details) and was charged the subscription immediately. I noticed this charge within two days and contacted support to cancel the subscription and request a refund- they refused on the basis that i had previously had a free trial within the last six months. This restriction is not documented anywhere and it was not challenged at 'sign up'.....very poor customer service.

[Frojo]

4 minutes ago, pl_svn said:

 

no: all you get if not connected is "Can't login to Qobuz/Tidal" but A+ still works flawlessly with local files

Agreed, but how do Qobuz check your subscription?

 

[Jud]

On 4/13/2017 at 9:18 AM, damien78 said:

I moved to a license number key scheme that is the one to which users are used to.

 

Except the few softwares that want to be hacked and stolen in a few minutes, all commercial softwares use a server validation mechanism.

Some vendors have even moved to a subscription model, something I’m not willing to do as I think (maybe I’m wrong) you prefer to fully own your own copy of Audirvana Plus and give you the choice to get the benefits of the next major version though a paid upgrade, or remain with the current one.

 

The need to check on regular basis the server is meant to check if a license has not been burnt because it has been widely shared by someone who thought software developers effort should not be rewarded, though they would not think to steal the expensive hardware they have bought.

All the various app store, and popular applications use such a server validation model. FYI, Adobe and Microsoft have seen a real decrease in piracy rate after implementing such mechanism.

 

If you want to know why the server validation was implemented, here you are.  (The bolding is mine.)

[Innocent Bystander]

17 minutes ago, rickca said:

It is definitely not a new feature in V3, it was introduced long ago in V2.  I found the following statement in the A+ User Manual:

 

Some audio files may be missing album metadata information.  They are grouped by folders into albums that use the folder name as title, and the folder parent name as artist name. This enables all to use all the display, navigation and search features with them.

 

So it looks like this feature may only support a two level directory structure artist\album.  

 

I will have to leave your questions about how to handle genre and sorting to other CA members and Damien.

Thanks rickca. Unfortunately it is a significant ongoing problem to me - another example is having more than one versions of an album (e.g. in different resolutions, or remasterings) - when saving them each album is its own folder, the name altered simply to show the difference (e,.g appending the resolution, or mastering date etc), but A+ can't differentiate and mhen you go to play one the others appear in the play queue, going track 1, track 1, track 2, track 2 etc, requiring manual identification of which is which and removing from the queue before starting play.

[rickca]

The support in A+ for folder navigation is certainly very rudimentary.  I think it was just meant as a transitional thing to tide people over until they got their metadata in good order.  I found it helpful at the time it was introduced.  

[Jud]

42 minutes ago, Innocent Bystander said:

Thanks rickca. Unfortunately it is a significant ongoing problem to me - another example is having more than one versions of an album (e.g. in different resolutions, or remasterings) - when saving them each album is its own folder, the name altered simply to show the difference (e,.g appending the resolution, or mastering date etc), but A+ can't differentiate and mhen you go to play one the others appear in the play queue, going track 1, track 1, track 2, track 2 etc, requiring manual identification of which is which and removing from the queue before starting play.

 

What I do with this (and I appreciate this may not be the way you like to do things) is use the track list rather than the album list and place those criteria (resolution in my case, resolution and date in yours) relatively high in the sorting order, right after artist and album.

[Supperconductor]

@damien78 I've done a clean install of macOS Sierra and reinstalled A+ 3.0.5 and still cannot playback any DSD content to my Light Harmonic Geek Out 1000 (1V5 firmware). I see the lights on the DAC indicate that it is switching to  DSD mode, then A+ says "device stopped" and the DAC crashes - it has to be unplugged and replugged to get it working again (PCM only in A+).

 

DSD did work just fine and still does with HQ Player (trial copy of latest version). Log from A+ is attached.

 

A+_V3.log

[Innocent Bystander]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

 

What I do with this (and I appreciate this may not be the way you like to do things) is use the track list rather than the album list and place those criteria (resolution in my case, resolution and date in yours) relatively high in the sorting order, right after artist and album.

Thanks, Jud. I can do nothing to resolve the very great frustration of having all my classical and non-classical albums all muddled up when trying to browse,  when my first decision would be to choose what genre I fancy listeming to, and multiple names for artists and composers, and some albums simply invisible, however your tip does help,with that particular problem, which is something at least!

[Jud]

Just now, Innocent Bystander said:

Thanks, Jud. I can do nothing to resolve the very great frustration of having all my classical and non-classical albums all muddled up when trying to browse,  when my first decision would be to choose what genre I fancy listeming to, and multiple names for artists and composers, and some albums simply invisible, however your tip does help,with that particular problem, which is something at least!

 

I don't even eff around with genre, having found, as you say, that it's a horrible muddle, metadatically speaking.  I was not willing to work hard enough to get it changed to my liking for all my music.  I think this means people who depend on genre will either have to do a lot of metadata work or wait for a version of A+ that uses folder structure.

[watercourse]

Just now, Jud said:

 

I don't even eff around with genre, having found, as you say, that it's a horrible muddle, metadatically speaking.  I was not willing to work hard enough to get it changed to my liking for all my music.  I think this means people who depend on genre will either have to do a lot of metadata work or wait for a version of A+ that uses folder structure.

 

I can attest to having done, and continuing to do, a lot of metadata work to use the genre category. But once done, it works like a charm and I use it all the time without issue.

[Jud]

23 minutes ago, Supperconductor said:

@damien78 I've done a clean install of macOS Sierra and reinstalled A+ 3.0.5 and still cannot playback any DSD content to my Light Harmonic Geek Out 1000 (1V5 firmware). I see the lights on the DAC indicate that it is switching to  DSD mode, then A+ says "device stopped" and the DAC crashes - it has to be unplugged and replugged to get it working again (PCM only in A+).

 

DSD did work just fine and still does with HQ Player (trial copy of latest version). Log from A+ is attached.

 

A+_V3.log

 

Not Damien, and I don't know whether this has anything to do with it, but do you have "No forced upsampling" set?

[Jud]

6 minutes ago, watercourse said:

 

I can attest to having done, and continuing to do, a lot of metadata work to use the genre category. But once done, it works like a charm and I use it all the time without issue.

 

Curious, what are your genres?

[Innocent Bystander]

3 minutes ago, watercourse said:

 

I can attest to having done, and continuing to do, a lot of metadata work to use the genre category. But once done, it works like a charm and I use it all the time without issue.

That is all very well - and fantastic that you kave been able tondo it), but I have neither the time nor the patience, and would lose the will tomliv trying to go through it all to make it work perfectly with metadata: it just isn't worth it.

 

If A+ won't improve to work with folder/fie structure then good as it is I will have to find something else: quite apart from being annoying and frustrating for me to use, since I switched to A+ from a Naim streamer my wife simply hasn't bothered to play music because it is too much of a faff, which is a great shame.

 

Please Damien, if you're reading these posts please advise us whether and if somwhen you're likely to add this facility.

[Gonzbull]

I'm in full support of Damien and what he deems necessary in protecting his IP. I've seen older versions of A+ available for download on torrent sites. 

Most  of the software I use have way more cumbersome methods of protection than A+. Ever heard of Pace iLok? This brought my studio to its knees when they screwed up an upgrade to their system. I couldn't use my audio plugins for more than a week which ment I couldn't work for that time! 

[watercourse]

28 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

Curious, what are your genres?

Actually, in my case it was going back to my 20,000 or so ripped .wav files a few times circa v2 to make sure that it worked with A+. Even though it had worked with previous A+ versions, as well as Kid3, some fields (genre, multiple discs, song artist) just did not translate. And to make sure they never caused me problems again, I converted all .wav files to flac.

@Innocent BystanderNot to diminish your desire to stay away from metadata tinkering, I eventually simplified my genre classifications (e.g. all classical albums are now "classical" rather than "piano", "concerto" or what have you) so that I could finish it without losing my mind and/or eyesight. It took weeks and was no fun. Luckily, since then, my rips using XLD have all "stuck" moving from 2.6 to 3, and continue to behave.

[Supperconductor]

44 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

Not Damien, and I don't know whether this has anything to do with it, but do you have "No forced upsampling" set?

Yes 'No forced upsampling' was selected and (strangely) this time DSD files were playing converted to PCM, even though 'DSD over PCM 1.0' was selected.

 

So I switched both of the options to something else and then back to same as above, and tried playing same files. This time, A+ said it was sending as DSD and the DAC crashed as before. I'm wondering if there's some contradictory info in the preferences file. Looks like a sqlite DB file, will have to investigate further until @damien78 can chime in.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Giacomino]

19 hours ago, Gonzbull said:

Sono in pieno sostegno di Damien e quello che ritiene necessario per proteggere il suo IP. Ho visto le vecchie versioni di A + disponibile per il download su siti torrent. 

La maggior parte del software che uso hanno metodi molto più ingombranti di protezione di A +. Mai sentito parlare di Pace iLok? Questo ha portato il mio studio in ginocchio quando hanno incasinato un aggiornamento al proprio sistema. Non ho potuto usare i miei plugin audio per più di una settimana che tati non ho potuto lavorare per quel tempo! 

 

Exactly, in fact on torrent sites there are versions 3.0.4 and other Audirvana.
Damien Support for the work you pay for.

[watercourse]

OK bug report:

I have a smart playlist sorted by genres, and like to play back in random order. However, in both 3.0.4 and 3.0.5, I am finding that when selecting a track from the Play Queue to view its metadata, the metadata panel does not show the information for the selected track. So the metadata panel is not syncing with the Play Queue.

My best guess is that the metadata appears to be synced to the Smart Playlist primary sorting fields rather than what the actual Play Queue is displaying.

[watercourse]

OK, more bug report info for @damien78:

In any playlist, if I am listening via random playback, and want to look at metadata for track #10 of the random sort, it displays the metadata for track #10 as it was added to the playlist, rather than the 10th track of the random playback order.

This happens with manual as well as smart playlists.

 

Can anyone else reproduce this problem?

[bottlerocket]

Re: the phone home license issue (non-issue for me).     Maybe a compromise is to require some number of successful checks (say 10) prior to making a permanent association between user and license.