Audirvana Plus 3.5

[mikeypas]

Hello all,

I am running MacOS 10.9.5 on an older iMac just for audirvana purposes

i am running A+ 3.2.15 with direct mode (no need for the fix)

 

my question is it worth upgrading the macos to 10.11 to be able to install audirvana 3.5?

i understand I could use the fix for direct mode, but I’m using 10.9.5 because it seems anything past that and the iMac becomes so slow it’s almost unusable. 

 

Is is there that much of a significant sound quality increase from 3.2.15 to 3.5 to merit updating the OS in your opinion ?

 

[mikeypas]

Just got a new dac Topping D50.

My question is regarding the volume control.  On my old dac Ifi iDSD nano, I set it to volume DAC ONLY, kept it at full volume, then adjusted the volume on my headphone amp.

 

Now, there doesn't seem to be an option for DAC ONLY with audirvana 3.5 (or I simply cannot find it). I have found the setting for software volume control and left that off.

 

However, either way, it seems that I am able to use the software to control the volume. When I start playing a DSD64 file, the dac displays 2.82Mhz 1 bit (that is when the volume in audirvana is at 0db). If I change the volume in Audirvana, the dac displays PCM 176.4khz 24bit.

 

Is there a way to disable the audirvana sound so that it is controlled entirely by the DAC (like the idsd nano?). I tried versions 3.2 and 3.5 with same result.

[mikeypas]

1 hour ago, MemoryPlayer said:

Audirvana menu, audio settings, last control is for disable software volume control!

 

 

Yes as I indicated I already tried that. 

With the other dac, the volume control was greyed out. With this new one, even with the software volume disabled, it’s always still adjustable. 

[mikeypas]

For me, even if disabled software volume control, it’s not greyed out. And if it’s anything other than 0db, I get no sound at all. If I put it back to 0db, I get sound again. 

 

The dac also changes displays. When at 0db it correctly displays dsd64 for example. But if the volume is changed in audirvana, it changes to PCM and the sound is either absent or distorted. 

 

 

 

[mikeypas]

1 hour ago, stefano_mbp said:

If you are playing dsd files, upsampled or not, you can’t use sw volume control in Audirvana at all

Until 3.2.16 there was a pop up that explained this

 

Good to know!

so it appears there’s a bug that disabling software volume in preferences doesn’t actually always disable the software volume. There’s no difference if that option is disabled or enabled. The software volume is always available. 

 

Any chance of weighing in Damien?  

[mikeypas]

Me too!!

[mikeypas]

1 hour ago, bnbayer said:

 

I'd like to be able to disable volume control by Audirvana in an absolute way: disabled no matter what (except me enabling it in preferences).

 

Me too!! 

[mikeypas]

3 hours ago, damien78 said:

 

If you have not enabled SW volume control in Audirvana audio settings, then Audirvana is not performing any volume control.

If you still have a volume slider, then this means your DAC is offering a volume control. If you want to bypass this one as well, then move the slider to 100% (0dB) in Audirvana.

 

This makes sense. But why is it then, if I move the volume slider from 100% in Audirvana (SW volume *not* enabled), that the DAC changes resolution (from DSD64 to PCM), and sometimes I get no output at all. It seems like it must stay on 100% (0db) for it to work properly.

It would be nice indeed to have an option to disable that audirvana volume slider even if the dac offers so-called volume control, because it doesn't seem to function properly.

 

The reason for this is if I accidentally hit the volume up or down button on the keyboard, it kills the music and I have put it back to 100% (0db) for it to work. Even better, the keyboard volume up and down can control the system built-in sound (speakers), and audirvana sound controlled solely by the dac.

 

 

[mikeypas]

4 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

try to disable the keyboard control options (Preferences/Miscellaneous)

 

Ugh, why didnt I think of that? Thanks Stefano, thats helpful!

 

[mikeypas]

Been having a lot of fun with Audirvana, running super smoothly.

Aside from some library issues, (which I won't get into since I dont have a large library, so I can easily overcome it)

The only thing that kind of bugs me is when I go "miniviewer" mode, the upper right button that will make the album cover full screen, two problems

1) it doesn't seem to remember if its full screen size or not, always have to make it full screen each time I change tracks

2) very hard to get the stop, play, track button and slider to appear and dissapear. often times when i go to move the track forward, the bar dissapears. if i move the mouse down to the bottom it reappears, but then dissapears before i get to the track bar. then other times, its hard to make it dissapear, and view the album cover. i have to move the mouse all over the screen until i hit a spot that makes it dissapear.

 

anyone have this experience or can reproduce this issue?

 

thanks

[mikeypas]

Hi! New problem here, occurred suddenly today, without any changes that I’ve made to my knowledge. Audirvana 3.5.13 was running fine, then today, suddenly crashes immediately on startup. Even before audirvana page is loaded. It is immediate.

I updated to 3.5.14 thinking that might help, still same behaviour.
I trashed all the prefs, cache, launchdaemons etc., as instructed on the forums and reinstalled. Same behaviour

I’m on imac macOs mojave 10.14.5, 24gb of RAM.

Again, to my knowledge, it was working fine yesterday, and suddenly today, crashes immediately after clicking on the icon.

Here is the crash report:

Process: Audirvana [626]
Path: /Applications/Audirvana.app/Contents/MacOS/Audirvana
Identifier: com.audirvana.Audirvana
Version: ???
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: Audirvana [626]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2019-07-13 01:53:54.345 -0400
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.14.5 (18F132)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 09E5A248-D393-4ED9-2A0F-6B376BD5EAAF

Time Awake Since Boot: 37 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0

Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (Code Signature Invalid)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Reason: Namespace CODESIGNING, Code 0x1

kernel messages:

VM Regions Near 0 (cr2):
–>
__TEXT 0000000100000000-0000000100c14000 [ 12.1M] r-x/rwx SM=COW

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 0x000000010df96000 _dyld_start + 0

Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
rax: 0x0000000000000000 rbx: 0x0000000000000000 rcx: 0x0000000000000000 rdx: 0x0000000000000000
rdi: 0x0000000000000000 rsi: 0x0000000000000000 rbp: 0x0000000000000000 rsp: 0x00007ffeefbffbf0
r8: 0x0000000000000000 r9: 0x0000000000000000 r10: 0x0000000000000000 r11: 0x0000000000000000
r12: 0x0000000000000000 r13: 0x0000000000000000 r14: 0x0000000000000000 r15: 0x0000000000000000
rip: 0x000000010df96000 rfl: 0x0000000000000200 cr2: 0x0000000000000000

Logical CPU: 0
Error Code: 0x00000000
Trap Number: 0

Binary Images:
0x100000000 - 0x100c13f27 + (0) <84A97B15-178A-3697-ADF4-C8BD2B80B101>
0x10df95000 - 0x10dfff6ef + (655.1.1)

External Modification Summary:
Calls made by other processes targeting this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by all processes on this machine:
task_for_pid: 2
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0

VM Region Summary:
ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=13.0M resident=0K(0%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=13.0M(100%)
Writable regions: Total=8444K written=0K(0%) resident=0K(0%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=8444K(100%)

                            VIRTUAL   REGION 

REGION TYPE SIZE COUNT (non-coalesced)
=========== ======= =======
STACK GUARD 56.0M 1
Stack 8192K 1
__DATA 852K 4
__LINKEDIT 532K 2
__TEXT 12.5M 2
shared memory 8K 2
=========== ======= =======
TOTAL 77.9M 12

Model: iMac17,1, BootROM 166.0.0.0.0, 4 processors, Intel Core i5, 3.2 GHz, 24 GB, SMC 2.33f10
Graphics: kHW_AMDRadeonR9M390Item, AMD Radeon R9 M390, spdisplays_pcie_device, 2 GB
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1867 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x484D54343531533642465238412D52442020
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 8 GB, DDR3, 1867 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x48363431475536374733313836470000
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1867 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x484D54343531533642465238412D52442020
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 8 GB, DDR3, 1867 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x48363431475536374733313836470000
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x14A), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.61.2 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1305.8)
Bluetooth: Version 6.0.12f1, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1
Network Service: Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD SM0256G, 251 GB
USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus
USB Device: My Book 1230
USB Device: 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
USB Device: 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
USB Device: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
USB Device: LE850G
USB Device: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
USB Device: D50
Thunderbolt Bus: iMac, Apple Inc., 28.1

[mikeypas]

Quick question,

the majority of my library is ISO files of DSD albums.

I realize that within audirvana, you cannot edit the metadata

Unfortunately, this produces many duplicate albums, which I have no way of fixing.

Also, for some reason, sometimes that album shows incorrect metadata.

For example, if you look at the photo, I have KING CRIMSON with the correct album art.

Next to it, I have MYSTERIES OF BULGARIAN VOICES with the incorrect album art (that of King Crimson). In the metadata of the mysteries of bulgarian voices, it lists King Crimson as the artist. No idea why, and I can't edit it or change the artwork.

 

 

1) Is there a way that I simply don't know of, to correct the metadata from DSD ISO files ?  (and no, I do not wish to convert each album)

2) for future updates of audirvana, I would like to request that metadata be stored in a separate file, readable by audirvana, so that we can edit this? [i've read that this is called sidecars?]

 

thanks for any help

[mikeypas]

Had quite the troubleshooting experience last night.

Turned on the DAC and attempted to play DSD music from audirvana. The dac was not reporting the correct DSD and no music. Swapped out the headphones, tried resetting the dac, played around with USB cables (I recently added another external USB HD so thought maybe somehow it was that).

 

Anyway, after a long time, I realized that the volume bar in audirvana was not at maximum. Even though I set the preference to DAC ONLY for the volume adjustment in preferences, that volume bar is still moveable. I also set it up so that keyboard volume adjustements were off. With apple mouse, if you move over the volume bar, and scroll up or down, it will move the volume bar. you don't even need to click.

 

With this dac, (Topping D50), if audirvana volume is not at maximum, it won't play any DSD files. Even PCM was not at the right bitrate.

As I have mentioned before, when the dac is the sole controller of the volume, not software, there shouldn't be any volume bar at all.

 

Damien, would you consider implementing this change? DAC only for volume = no volume bar in audirvana.

 

 

[mikeypas]

5 hours ago, bnbayer said:

But then, presumably, they wouldn't set the audio preferences to "Software Volume Control = OFF"

 

This is exactly my point - for those DACs that require software control, there is that option. But for those that put DAC only (or software=OFF), then why would there be a need for a volume bar in audirvana?

It's a shame that my DAC acts stupid when audirvana's volume is not set to max, and although I never intentionally change the volume, it does end up happening quite often. Like i said, even touching the mouse without clicking can change the volume bar.

 

 

[mikeypas]

I've been experiencing a very weird problem on my imac (late 2015), macos 10.14.6, audirvana 3.5.19

 

Sometimes, and without any specific action taken, when listening to Audirvana, the imac screen will start to flicker. 

At first I thought it was a hardware problem, almost like a loose connection. I can usually still see whats on the screen, but depending on the flickering, it can be unusable.

 

Even if I close audirvana, it takes a reboot to fix the problem. And when I am using the computer but audirvana is not open, it never happens.

 

It seems like moving the mouse may trigger the flickering to get worse when it is happening, but even leaving things alone the flickering continues until the computer is restarted.

 

I know this is very weird, but if anyone has any ideas?

 

I am using a Topping D50 dac connected via USB.

 

Thanks

 

 

[mikeypas]

On 9/23/2019 at 5:16 PM, mikeypas said:

I've been experiencing a very weird problem on my imac (late 2015), macos 10.14.6, audirvana 3.5.19

 

Sometimes, and without any specific action taken, when listening to Audirvana, the imac screen will start to flicker. 

At first I thought it was a hardware problem, almost like a loose connection. I can usually still see whats on the screen, but depending on the flickering, it can be unusable.

 

Even if I close audirvana, it takes a reboot to fix the problem. And when I am using the computer but audirvana is not open, it never happens.

 

It seems like moving the mouse may trigger the flickering to get worse when it is happening, but even leaving things alone the flickering continues until the computer is restarted.

 

I know this is very weird, but if anyone has any ideas?

 

I am using a Topping D50 dac connected via USB.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Sorry for bumping my own post

Nobody else is experience screen flickering with Audirvana?

I would have thought it was a problem with my imac, but it only occurs when audirvana app is running.

I have attached a short .mov of it happening. I tried to show it happens even if I switch to another app, but of course this behaviour wasnt seen when i was filming.

 

Note: still happens even after audirvana closed, needs reboot to solve.  at the time, my dac was not turned on, so don't think it has to do with dac. if i vnc from another mac, i don't see any flickering, so its somehow tied to the imac?

 

Any and all suggestions are welcome

[mikeypas]

Narrowed the flickering issue down to a library issue.

Something in my library is causing the screen the flicker, and stay that way even after audirvana is closed.

Maybe its an accent or symbol or some glitch in the artwork, but theres no way for my to try to find it

I tried removing the library and using a smaller library on my local HD, and the problem didn't appear.

 

Any ideas how to track down the offending album ? Its a very annoying problem because have to restart the system each time this happens.

 

Thanks

[mikeypas]

12 hours ago, michelangelo said:

@ Mikeypas: I also had this problem with my iMac (late 2015, 24GB Ram, MacOS 10.14.6). This happens when lists or covers are scrolled quickly.
Since I use Audirvana only in iTunes Integradet mode, I do not notice how many times it occurs.
Unfortunately, the synchronization of the rating stars and the play counter between iTunes and Audirvana is very unreliable.
However, this is very important for me to use with other devices (iPhone, iPod ...), because I have many smart playlists.
Also the import of playlists in Audirvana that I have exported from iTunes still does not work. (Audirvana Mac Version 3.5.20)

 

Thank god someone else has also experienced this, I thought I was going crazy!

I also thought it was due to scrolling too quickly, in fact, thats how i try to replicate and reproduce the problem.

I also tried scrolling really slowly, and eventually it also happened. Making me think it was perhaps a particular album entry that was causing the problem. However, its impossible to track it down.

 

I don't use audirvana to play any of my itunes library (separate library, audirvana is mostly DSD albums).

Any advice on how to fix this issue? As soon as it happens, I need to restart the computer to fix, gets really annoying

 

 

[mikeypas]

11 hours ago, RunHomeSlow said:

when it is happening, remove a letter from your music folder mine is like A to Z (26 folders). Then sync it to see if it disappear. Then try removing another...

Thanks for the suggestion. Obviously this one is much tougher to do with larger library, also the "folder names" do not always correspond to what appears on audirvana (iso file name). The poster above you (michaelangelo) inferred that the problem occurs while scrolling too quickly, which definitely is also consistent with my experience. 

[mikeypas]

Reading the preceding posts regarding memory allocation, I was just curious to understand the behaviour of the memory allocation and the estimated time values.

If I slide the memory allocation bar to the right, I am allocating more memory to Audirvana, and the time underneath increases. That makes sense. However, as I keep sliding the bar to the right, the time value will go back to zero and start all over. As I am increasing the memory allocation, why would the time go back to zero?

 

I have included a video file to show what I mean.

 

[mikeypas]

Very general question:

On the Audirvana main page (library), it is very very slow to scroll the albums, and I get the spinning beach ball very often. If I am listening to music, it cuts out every now and then when it loads the albums / spinning beach ball.

 

I could live with it if it was only on Audirvana startup, but it happens consistently every time I am scrolling the library.

 

For me, it is the most annoying problem with Audirvana. Yes, there are feature requests I would like to see, and tweaks here and there, but this really makes it difficult to use Audirvana.

 

Is there anything I can do?

 

Audirvana version 3.5.40

MacOS 10.15.7

iMac Late 2015, 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, 24GB RAM

Audirvana stored on SSD, music files on external HDD (usb 3.0)

 

I have tried usual troubleshooting: rebuild database, defragmemt

I have about 320 albums, mostly DSD

I have 13GB  allocated in Audirvana for pre-load, exclusive access, large core i/o , integer mode all set to ON

 

Any suggestions would be of great help. I would just like to be able to scroll the albums I have without it pausing every second and stopping the music currently playing.

 

Thank you!

 

[mikeypas]

On 10/12/2020 at 12:11 PM, jos said:

Everything, hardware and so on, seems to be fine, but this is certainly not normal. You could try to copy a part of your music files to to your computer and then only scan those files and see if the problem persists. In your situation I would prefer to have a NAS with my music files on it. Good luck!

It turns out it was the artwork images in my music library folders. Some of them were quite large 20-30mb each, which made Audirvana super slow. I've reduced the artwork to 100kb - 1mb each, and it seemed to have resolved the issue.

Thanks for your input!