Audirvana 3.1

[jos]

39 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

3.1 works flawlessly here so far. And I think this is an experience shared by the majority of users.

For me too!

[jos]

Today I installed the first High Sierra Update and a new A+ update, version 3.1.5. 

Both seems to be more stable, especially after installing the update for High Sierra's new/better file system.

[jos]

I tot t

5 minutes ago, jimdukey said:

 Just got AV+ 3.15/Sierra, is getting low-level crunchy distortion on Mytek 24/192/DSD Dac.

Never happened on earlier version, all settings the same.

Lights going into red.

Doesn't happen on HQ/Mytek.

 

I got this low level distortion too, but after the Sierra update and a new/fresh sync it seems to disappear. But I do have a new problem and that is that some settings disappear in Audirvana, and have to start again.

[jos]

3 hours ago, jimdukey said:

Hi, I'm already on Sierra.

What is  "new/fresh sync?"

I'll try it!

In the preferences -> library map, you can delete the old one and make a new one.

It will take some time depending on the size of your library.

It is advisable to delete all the present files first, which you can find in the Audirvana Plus database file location .

You can find this location in Library map too.

Good luck!

[jos]

13 minutes ago, Nico said:

Same here with Mytek 24/192 DSD DAC: Rare distortion and clicks when sample rate changes. Never happend in earlier versions of A+.

I have more or less the same findings. I guess Damien is already working on it, but perhaps High Sierra is te source, or Damien need to catchup a little. Sorry for my English.

[jos]

7 hours ago, infonut said:

I have Roon installed and was considering replacing it with Audirvana.    Since installing Audirvana, Roon won't play through my dac and I can't compare the two.    Did you have a way to shut off or remove the exclusive access that Audirvana has to be able to play Roon?

As far as I known you have to qiuite/stop A+ completely before you can listen to an other player. My experience: if you like meta data, take Roon and if you like music, take Audirvana.

[jos]

9 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

I installed the last update, 3.15, and it happens randomly that all preferences are reset to the initial settings, the preferred doc in Audio system, the Advanced parameters in Izotope settings in Audio filters, the volume control type and the Max volume level in Audio volume, the Audio units and the database file location in Library ... that is very annoying, I'm back to version 3.14

 

Yes, it’s a problem other people have too, see above, but I’m sure Damien wil solve this in a new release coming soon, so I will wait for that.

[jos]

59 minutes ago, OldBigEars said:

 

I'm new to Roon, after being with A+ since 2012.  Too early for a conclusive view, but I'm leaning strongly towards Roon in my system - for the superior sound quality I'm experiencing.  I'm not really interested in the metadata, but it's there anyway.  I've dicked around so much with the Isotope filters on A+ over the years - thought I had it all sorted.  The tone I'm getting with Roon seems to suit my equipment very well.  But I'll let you all know in a month or so.

Thanks for your reply and I will look forward to hear your experiences with both players. I tried Roon quite a long time ago and I didn’t like the interface at all (I am old fashioned). I also use pure Music as a player, but most times I use A+. I never used Isotope filters, or so. In the past I used iTunes Equalizer, but after selling my Elac speakers and buying Revel F208 speakers, I noticed that I didn’t need to change anything to better the sound.

[jos]

1 hour ago, OldBigEars said:

 

I absolutely hated the Roon UI when I first downloaded it.  I still prefer the simplicity of A+.  But I'm getting more accustomed to how the Roon app works, like you do.  The main point for me is SQ.  I need to give this a little longer....I'm shaking off a cold and it's playing havoc with my hearing - which is not ideal for making evaluations of audio gear, is it?  Up 'til now, with ears slightly blocked, I'm favoring Roon.

Yes, you should take your time to find out what is best for you with the gear you use. I play my music mostly random and I sync my music with iTunes, so A+ is fine for me. However, the consensus is that A+ is the better sounding app and Roon the better overall database. My next step will be a better DAC.

[jos]

18 minutes ago, damien78 said:

Your preferences file may have been damaged, and thus explains the issue. The most likely cause for this is if you had two instances of Audirvana Plus (e.g. different versions) running simultaneously.

You can try deleting it: com.audirvana.audirvana-plus.plist

It is located in ~/Library/Preferences

To access ~/Library with the Finder, use its Go menu. While pressing the alt/option key, its Library command is revealed. Select it.

Be sure to reboot before launching again Audirvana Plus to get the preferences cache reloaded by macOS.

Done, and loaded Audirvana Plus. Keep your license code ready to enter it again and go further;  don't sync, if this is what you using and define all your preferences again.

[jos]

48 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

 

Thank you Damien, but the behavior is the same, randomly A+ loose all the parameters. If I select again the right database file location all the customized parameters came back again

I think you are looking for the wrong file. It’s not the database file, but another file (.plist) on an other location, as you can read in the mail from Damien above.

[jos]

29 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

 

I deleted the com.audirvana.audirvana-plus.plist file, then restarted the Mac. The behavior did not changed, all parameters are set to "factory value" included the database file location. This happens randomly.

When it happens, if I change just the database file location A+ is forced to restart and all the customized parameters are back again

I guess this is a specific problem for your situation. You could ask for support by the Audirvana support site. When I starten to solve this lookalike  problem, I deleted all the files at the database location and build a new one by starting a fres sync.

 

I wish you good luck!

[jos]

1 hour ago, Rezseeker said:

With Onyx finally available for High Sierra, I just tried Direct Mode. Funny thing is I now find Direct Mode a bit more harsh and less detailed. I now prefer it off

Since  Apple making it difficult to use Direct Mode in recent OS's, maybe Damien just tweaked A+ so the software sounds best without it. It would make sense rather than make everyone jump through Terminal hoops for the best sound.

I think Damien should remove this option from the preferences menu.

[jos]

9 hours ago, copy_of_a said:

pretty bad suggestion if you think about users with older OS X versions (Mavericks, El Capitan...) or those who do replace the audio kext file.

 

If at all the setting maybe could be hidden in some kind of „expert settings“ section in the prefs to make life easier for new users...

If it is not supported by the operating system anymore, you can’t go on supporting it forever. People have to move on...

[jos]

12 hours ago, jimdukey said:

AV+ 3.1.5 doesn't work for me on Mac/Sierra.

What's involved with getting a refund/credit?

You should ask for support first.

[jos]

56 minutes ago, damien78 said:

This is exactly what is done in 3.1.5: Direct Mode option is hidden when it is checked to be not available.

So users on Sierra or HighSierra who have patched the kext still see the option.

I didn't notice this new feature, very nice!

[jos]

6 hours ago, Strelow_CN said:

I do appreciate this forum very much, reason why I come here frequently. Since I started using 3.1 I am experiencing constant crashes while streaming from Tidal. When streaming from NAS, Audirvana is perfectly stable. I checked the Audirvana site to find out if there is any communication channel to send a crash report, but could not find it. Sending the reports to Apple has not helped so far. Would anyone know how to get this to Damien? He is always so attentive to his customers, which is quite unusual in the general software industry. Apart from the crashes, sound is great, with a Mac Mini feeding a Hegel H160 using ethernet. Thank you, guys, for your lively and instructive posts. And special thanks to Damien for making such an awesome software available.

Go to the Audirvana Plus site, register and ask for support. You really don’t have to wait here for support.

[jos]

20 minutes ago, copy_of_a said:

the redesigned interface looks really nice!

 

I don’t like the dark color. It seems to be modern, but I really don’t like it!

[jos]

5 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I am worried that trying to support the two different operating systems will make both less than they could be if Damien stuck with just Apple.

Agree!

[jos]

23 minutes ago, Charente said:

Maybe the background can be set to light or dark as with some other players ? I'm OK with the dark one, particularly at night.

Yes, let hope so. That should not be so difficlult.

[jos]

Today I did a new sync with iTunes, after loading some new albums in iTunes, and got an not so old A+ problem back again:

 

When I initiate syncing the preferences did go back to standard settings; I am using a large font so I could notice this immediately.

After that I have to pare the remote app again.

 

Another problem I sometimes have is that A+ is playing another song than displayed. It's not a big problem because I play my music mostly random.

 

Nog a big fuss, but perhaps useful information for Damien in his search to make everything working perfect.

[jos]

19 minutes ago, jos said:

Today I did a new sync with iTunes, after loading some new albums in iTunes, and got an not so old A+ problem back again:

 

When I initiate syncing the preferences did go back to standard settings; I am using a large font so I could notice this immediately.

After that I have to pare the remote app again.

 

Another problem I sometimes have is that A+ is playing another song than displayed. It's not a big problem because I play my music mostly random.

 

Nog a big fuss, but perhaps useful information for Damien in his search to make everything working perfect.

Right now, I got this problem again out of the sky, I think. Perhaps it has something to do with autodetect MQA devices, but I'm not sure. 

[jos]

Hello everyone, I have a question:

 

I just bought the new Chord Qutest DAC ? and I discover I don't have the use the upsample nor the oversample possibility's A+ has to offer, and everything is working fine (Chord is doing his own upsampling). Now to my question: this DAC is capable of 512 native DSD playback, but A+ is not seeing this possibility, so I have configure this by hand, I assume. Does someone know which settings I should use?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

gr. Jos.

[jos]

12 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

 

The same with  my M2Tech Young DSD, you have to set DSD manually (Native DSD Capability: DSD over PCM standard 1.1)

 

Thanks, Stefano! But I don't see DSD512 is lighting up, only DSD64, DSD128 and DSD 256. Is there a reason for that?

[jos]

8 minutes ago, RunHomeSlow said:

 

No 512 on Mac...

 

15 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

I’m sorry jos, I cannot help you on this ... hope someone else on this forum will explain this problem

RunHomeSlow,

 

You are right indeed, there is a need for a driver to do that and there is no driver for Mac, only for Windows. It's clear now, thank you both! It is not really a problem for me, because I converted all my files to ALAC, including DSD files using DSDMaster.