AyreWave- A New OSX Audio Player Released AT RMAF

[church_mouse]

In Play I used the breakdown of music to Artist, or Album, or Genre, or Composer - I messed with the Tags a little on some music so that it would fit within this structure, or be easy to find within this structure (especially useful was the Composer category).

 

In AW I can see my FLAC folder on my external hard-drive and my rips are by Artist, within that I then have my albums, within that I then have my track numbers, within that I have my track itself. So, as an example of some of the added complexity I now seem to face with AW, setting up an evening's playlist of say a selection of Vaughan Williams pieces could mean my now having to go to through 4 or 5 different Artists, because I ripped using the Orchestra and Conductor for the Artist, whereas in Play I simply went to the category Composer and made my selection.

 

I seem to have made things even harder for myself when ripping by using a folder structure broken down to track number - not a problem when using Tags, but not useful in AW.

 

If I am using AW incorrectly then please feel free to correct this self-diagnosed idiot asap, because I do like listening to music using AW.

 

 

[wgscott]

I suspect the gui is just a primitive version of what is to come. In any case, can you open up Play to see the library and then drag and drop from that window into AyreWave?

 

[Bob Stern]

You can assign a keyboard shortcut to run CG's AppleScript from within iTunes:

1. Save the AppleScript as a compiled script (.scpt extension) rather than as an application.

2. In the Finder, open the iTunes folder within your user Library folder (~/Library/iTunes/)

3. Create a new folder within that folder and name it Scripts.

4. Put your compiled script (or a copy) in that folder.

5. Assign a keyboard shortcut to the script using OS X Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts.

 

I uploaded a copy of CG's AppleScript that's already saved in .scpt format. I also modified it to eliminate nested tell's that seem improper and to eliminate an unnecessary "try" statement.

 

[docmark]

I'm using AW with my MacBook Pro & a Weiss DAC202. Initially I thought AW sounded shrill, but after more listening, that's not really the case. I also have the full versions of Amarra & Pure Music. Amarra is a pain at times, I feel, not only because of the draconian requirement of a dongle in order for it to work, but also with the equalizer function, where minute changes can lead to a completely different sound, and not necessarily for the better. We'll see what changes are coming from Sonic Studio. With regard to Pure Music, I quite like the sound & have been doing most of my listening with it. However, that may change - I'm starting to like the sound of AW, and this is only a Beta version.

 

[Lars]

You had me worried when you stated that AyreWave sounded shrill given that you have a great system. I'm glad that it's sounding better to you docmark.

 

[church_mouse]

Nice idea, but I can find no method of linking between Play and AW.

 

[CG]

"I uploaded a copy of CG's AppleScript that's already saved in .scpt format. I also modified it to eliminate nested tell's that seem improper and to eliminate an unnecessary "try" statement."

 

You might find that these improper and unnecessary statements are needed for some system configurations and to minimize collateral damage from some (unintentional) user errors.

 

But, this script was a suggestion. I don't use AyreWave this way, but thought that others might.

 

[CG]

"Applications providing services are queried periodically"

 

Extra process activity has been suggested by several folks to have negative affect on the sound quality of any playback application. So, all these extra features may be trade-offs for best sound.

 

Of course, everybody has different desires for their listening experiences. That's part of what makes this a hobby and why there is no one right answer or universal winner for any audio product.

 

[CG]

"Since it does not play in conjunction with Itunes, what are the options for remote control?"

 

I use a VNC application on my iPod Touch.

 

[wgscott]

You are right. I falsely assumed if you could drag and drop from iTunes, you could do that from any other player. I am wrong.

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

"Extra process activity has been suggested by several folks to have negative affect on the sound quality of any playback application. So, all these extra features may be trade-offs for best sound."

 

I hope Stephen doesn't make trade-offs of unnecessary features against best sound.

 

clay

 

 

[wgscott]

The "services" menu should not be confused with "extra services" which aren't really relevant on OS X. One could look at "Activity Monitor" or better, just keep an eye on CPU with menu meters.

 

I would be absolutely shocked to find that this thing runs any spurious process or thread that consumes an appreciable amount of CPU, let alone degrades the audio.

 

I can max out both processors doing calculations with loads of disk i/o, and it doesn't mess up music a bit. Granted I haven't done that on my home stereo Mini, but on my iMac, while wearing headphones. If there was any issue, I would have detected it.

 

[Bob Stern]

@CG: Thanks for developing the AppleScript. It was especially generous for you to expend time on a script that you didn't intend to use yourself!

 

The nested tell's I referred to were a tell targeting AyreWave inside of a tell block targeting iTunes. I merely separated the tell blocks. I didn't change the commands.

 

The only "try" I eliminated was surrounding the "display dialog". I did not remove your error checking, i.e., for an empty selection in iTunes.

 

What is the reason for the "try"? Are you trying to automatically dismiss the "display dialog" window after a period of time? The way to do that is by appending "giving up after N" to the display dialog command, where N represents time in seconds.

 

[Richard Dale]

 

I added an 'Add To Playlist' service to Play which would use the iTunes pasteboard type to load an album into Play. Unfortunately, it didn't work. As far as I can see, iTunes doesn't correctly set up the pasteboard when you select the cover image of an album. That is why none of the other services work either, even though they appear in the services menu when an album is selected. I've attached a patch with the code anyway, in case I did something wrong and someone might know how to fix it.

 

 

 

Here is some debug output from running iTunes where it says 'Pasteboard contained types ()' - ie nothing at all.

 

 

 

 

$ /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes -NSDebugServices org.sbooth.Play

...

Play/Add To Playlist (org.sbooth.Play) is disqualified because none of its send types dyn.agu8yg55wqzkgc65yqzvg82pwqvdg22p0r73fk8puqyuda8b0he5xkr3zg3cu are not conformed to by any of the Carbon copy types public.utf8-plain-text, com.apple.traditional-mac-plain-text, public.file-url.

Play/Play Selected File (org.sbooth.Play) has been approved by default, as it does not contain any required context.

2010-10-18 13:38:30.820 iTunes[7437:903] Pasteboard contained types (

), but service expects types (

"public.utf8-plain-text",

"com.apple.traditional-mac-plain-text",

"public.file-url"

)

 

 

So I think the reason that Play and AyreWave don't have services for integrating with iTunes, is that it doesn't work and they have to use the scripting api instead to get the current album imported. I don't think my comment about applications providing services periodically is correct. That's how it use to work in OpenStep if I remember correctly. I think in Mac OS X, the application Info.plist files, which contain service definitions, are all read when you log in, and so there shouldn't be much of a runtime overhead to servicess.

 

 

[cfmsp]

"Wonderful liquid midrange. Huge soundstage. Absolutely non fatiguing."

 

AW is definitely non-fatiguing. Yesterday I had a headache all day - from being sick - yet I was able to listen to music with nary a thought about turning it off.

 

as for "liquid" midrange, I've never been one to use that term in the audiophile sense. In my industry, financial services, the term liquid means "readily convertible to cash". I'd say that the AW midrange (and the application overall) is "liquid", in that sense.

 

As for soundstage, I'll agree with you, and note that yesterday I was captivated by the sound even when sitting outside the speakers (yet near one of them).

 

clay

 

[findog3103]

A basic question: what specifically in technical terms makes AyreWave better than iTunes for playback?

 

Thanks.

 

[Lars]

"A basic question: what specifically in technical terms makes AyreWave better than iTunes for playback?"

 

AyreWave is bit perfect when playing back different files with different sampling rates. iTunes requires that you close the program, adjust the Audio/Midi setting, and restart iTunes if playing files with different sampling rates.

 

AyreWave can play back with total Memory- that is, it can load your entire file into memory before playback and play from memory. This results in less computer activity. iTunes will load portions of your file into memory and play that way. Memory playback reduces processes in the computer.

 

AyreWave can play back in hog mode. This allows AyreWave to have exculsive control of your dac. Again, less computer activity.

 

AyreWave can play back in hardware integer mode. Again, this is a more direct path to your device driver.

 

Since I am not a technical person, I have tried to explain all of this in as simple language as I can understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[satbaba]

I've tried AW in my system.

excellent bass

huge soundstage

but, a little less airy

 

[Guest Claude]

Wonderful! I totally agree. I would have payed the same big bucks I did for full amarra.

In Germany we use the term liquidity (Liquidität) which basically has the same meaning. My industry is not really financial but I work as a business consultant. I myself am sick right now. Thats why I hang around here right now.

Havnt been to this forum in a long time. What a treat. Have one look, download a great player for free and enjoy music.

You were a beta tester? Tell the guys to charge some money for this great effort. Not much, but enough to cover expenses. ;-)

Greetings from Berlin

Claudius

 

 

[cfmsp]

Agreed with Lars' comments, which I'll build on.

 

I'm only slightly more technical than Lars.

 

 

"AyreWave is bit perfect when playing back different files with different sampling rates. iTunes requires that you close the program, adjust the Audio/Midi setting, and restart iTunes if playing files with different sampling rates."

 

As to bit-perfect playback, AyreWave does not (allow the opportunity to) manipulate the bits through use of a volume control - it's volume control only works with DACs that can accept a digital signal for controlling voluime in the analog domain (such as Wavelength's Proton), as far as I know.

 

 

"AyreWave can play back with total Memory- that is, it can load your entire file into memory before playback and play from memory. This results in less computer activity."

 

Memory playback minimizes hard disk access (i.e., activity) during playback. As an example, we know that hard disk access makes audible noise when in operation. This noise is an indication of it's processing footprint. There are other (noise-generating) aspects of the processing footprint, such as: mechanical (including vibrations), A/C, EMI, RFI, etc.

 

Many have noted improvements when replacing their HD with a SSD. Memory playback is a further refinement (of this principle) in that, in addition to eliminating processes attendant to hard disk access, it also eliminates the processes to access the SSD (during playback).

 

"AyreWave can play back in hog mode. This allows AyreWave to have exculsive control of your dac. Again, less computer activity."

 

Hog Mode prevents interrupts (and other simultaneous, competing processes) related to the audio output path.

 

On a related note, some have noted improvements in sound quality by eliminating unnecessary processes within their computer, and/or renicing (changing priorities) so that audio processes are always highest priority. HOG mode is an extension of this sort of tweak.

 

 

"AyreWave can play back in hardware integer mode. Again, this is a more direct path to your device driver."

 

This eliminates processing which is not necessary for bit-perfect playback, e.g. conversion of every sample from integer to float and then back. Integer mode is needed to reduce the dependence on (i.e. bypass) CoreAudio to the extent possible, given that CoreAudio functions require floating point variables (for much of it's processing).

 

AyreWave is the first player to (publicly) offer Integer mode, to the best of my knowledge.

 

This could be the one of the primary reasons it sounds better than other players, although I personally preferred it's sound to all others before integer mode was implemented.

 

A couple of things to keep in mind with these sorts of (seemingly) minute changes.

 

1) They are cumulative, in that each particular one might not be (as) noticeable on it's own (i.e. by DBT, or similar), but the overall impact (of several changes) is more easily distinguishable.

 

2) They are not likely to be noticed in an non-optimized system.

 

Once we optimize our environment by eliminating things such as unnecessary background processes and hard disk accesses, the impact of the few remaining individual noise-generating aspects are more noticeable.

 

A high resolution system is also required, with minimal existing A/C noise-related issues, in my experience.

 

 

The theory is that the cumulative effect of the additional processing (likely) increases the amount of RFI, EMI, A/C noise, etc., which, in turn, (potentially) degrades the sonics by (presumably) impacting the analog circuits in the DAC, and even other analog gear in close proximity. These 'noises' can reach the DAC via A/C circuit, airborne, or via the digital cable connecting computer to DAC.

 

clay

 

 

[gdeangel]

I installed AyreWave today and spent a couple of hours listening to music with this player. What a great sounding player!

 

My current player is Pure Music, so I spent some time comparing the same songs with both players, and definitely prefer the sound of AyreWave.

 

I think this just may become my default player.

 

Please just keep the price of the production version reasonable (unlike Amarra).

 

 

 

[Charles Hansen]

A lot of people have been asking about pricing for AyreWave. Please note that the current free version is a beta and it will expire, I believe in February of next year. That is mostly to keep unfinished software off the market and causing a support headache for Stephen Booth.

 

When it is ready for sale, I think that Stephen is looking at something at $100 or less. Perhaps much less. But that's up to him. Gordon Rankin (Wavelength) and I (Ayre) have made suggestions and loaned Stephen equipment to ensure compatibility, but we haven't paid him any money, so we don't have any say in how it will be marketed or priced.

 

[zerung]

Ah!the penny has dropped on the naming of the software.

 

Hope the pricing is as noted, not in the rarified world which some software are selling at. Snake oil and all that, even I will shell out for AW at sub $100.

 

 

[Andrew S.]

Well to my ears it is pretty ordinary.

Amarra kills it IMHO.

 

[CG]

On the expiration date for this beta version of AyreWave, directly from Stephen:

 

"It has a hard-coded 1/1/11 expiration date, but is otherwise fully

functional."

 

That's for this beta version. There may be more depending on how many faults are found.