Audirvana Plus 3 for Windows (Official Thread)

[n2it]

I am new user - I use Windows for playing audio - haven't ever tried the mac version.  I am pretty value focused and looking for something that doesn't cost year after year like Roon.  Also trying out TIDAL right now - free for 3 months, so wanted to see how this integrated - and also wanted to hear MQA first hand.  I currently use mostly foobar to listen with a topping NX4 DSD on latest Windows 10.  Foobar does DSD OK, but doesn't do a good job upsampling or anything complex.  I'd say this 1.0 version of Audirvana is not quite ready for primetime. 

 

DSD Upsampling:

• After switching from ASIO to WASAPI, I am now stuck in DOP mode (no option to change in ASIO audio screen).  It was sort of working at first.  Now I can't use DSD512 at all b/c it is stuck in DOP mode.  
• When upsampling to DSD512 was working, when going from Flac (tried 44/16 and 176/24) to DSD - the DSD64 file was played fast.  Had to stop and start and then played normal.  When going from DSD64 file to flac - it played the flac really slow.  Doesn't happen at upsample to DSD256 or 128 but ...
• If upsampling to DSD256 - there is a lot of noise before the track plays, if upsampling to DSD128, there are clicks.
• WASAPI only showed support for DSD64 and forced me to use DOP.  Likewise ASIO mode does not seems to allow DOP (but that is not a big deal for me)
• I was interested in trying upsampling - I am usually one for leaving it at the native sampling / format (call me a bit of a skeptic on upsampling), but wanted to try it and hoping for a better implementation  

Other issues or complaints:

• My music library is totally out of order.  I have multiple library directories so it seem to order artist by library and then name.  I would think it should be by artist name only.  Also no concept of grouping by album artist (that I can see ) - or anyway for me to create a custom grouping.  The searching does work pretty well, but sometime I want to browse and not search.  
• Can't add TIDAL songs to playlist (either native or TIDAL) - I drag it into the playlist but it doesn't show up.
• When playing a playlist, and you add a song to the playlist, it will not play until stop the song, you exit out of the playlist (e.g. go to library) and then go back into the playlist.  Ideally it should 
• At first, I was getting click sounds when switching from one TIDAL (MQA) song to another (e.g. playing track 9 and switch to track 1), but can't seem to duplicate that right now
• Some minor UI issues - nothing big enough to mention now

That's what I found in my first 15 minutes of testing.  I am sure the DSD stuff can be eventually sorted out and I can deal with that - using native format instead of upsampling is fine.  Right now the lack of ability to create a custom album list (or even just have it by album artist/album) is a deal breaker for me - not sure if that sort of functionality exists in the Mac version, but it seems to me that is needed for a minimum viable product.

 

I hope my feedback helps.  I'll be happy to try any workarounds and also retry once some of these things are fixed.

 

[n2it]

On 7/16/2018 at 1:29 PM, Screwdriver said:

Sorry if this sounds like I am being a jerk, and I really do hope this works out in the long run....and I might even check it out down the road. But there is no way this should have left beta.  Running JRiver ASIO with no DSP's etc, sounds exactly the same, yet JRiver is heads and tales more functional as an audio player. I cannot even make sense of how Audirvana sorts files except that it looks at my two separate audio folders under the parent Music, sorts them individually and then sorts the contents. Even that sort makes zero sense.Then there is not even a simple way to sort when viewing the artists. Jriver, Foobar, MusicBee, Roon all sort correctly.

 

And the kicker in all this....it crashes every singe time I close the program.

 

Here is the main thing. I have six days left in my trial. There is zero chance I would pay for this now in it's current state and I am not willing to pay to take a chance that this will be a suitable player for me in the long run. I just feel this is basically a pay to beta test program.

 

I am leaning this way.  It seems to have a lot of potential, but I was hoping that there would be some concession on price until it becomes useable.  At this point, I don't have much incentive to be a beta tester.  I'd probably buy it right now if it was around $40 ?

[n2it]

1 hour ago, Screwdriver said:

First off....sorry for sounding like a jerk in some of my earlier posts.....

 

Anyhow, just installed again and most  of the issues I had have been fixed. Sorting is correct and Audirvana sees the whole folder/sub folders the same and sorts the way I would expect. Program is now snappy and it does not freeze whenever I close it. Database rescans are quick.

 

Actually, I have to give the developers props for quickly fixings these issues. This is a night and day different experience than I had three weeks ago.

 

Thanks!

 

If it matters, to me it seemed like you were giving honest feedback.  I was in the same boat that you were - it really wasn't quite ready for prime time.  Glad to see it is progressing rapidly and thanks for giving an update.  I may have to try it again on my quest for a better player.  I still need to take some time to install on my Mac to see its long term potential.  

 

It's nice to see how responsive Damien is - responsiveness from the developer is certainly a factor in my decision making process.