Audirvana Plus 3.5

[Jud]

1 hour ago, mvneufeld said:

I have heard that software volume control and ReplayGain both degrade the audio quality - any opinions out there on how much they degrade it, and which of the two has the greater impact? Has anyone ever objectively measured the effect of either on the quality?

 

Just curious. While I want the best quality I can get, I'm also drawn to the convenience of both features. 

 

Replay gain, I don't know. Software volume control, these days with very good ones quite possibly less than most hardware volume controls.

[Jud]

9 hours ago, Uni said:

Thanks what about integer mode ?

 

I *believe* integer mode is a Mac driver mode for a directly connected DAC. So it would not be available with streaming. Let's see if that's right.

[Jud]

2 hours ago, damien78 said:

Audio data is always sent in integer format over UPnP.

 

Yes, I wondered if that was the reason my DACs are shown as 32/768 when connected locally, 24/768 when going through the streamer.   

[Jud]

I have a master folder (Music) with artist subfolders, album subfolders below that. Another subfolder below Music is DSD, with its own artist and album subfolders.

 

No duplicates.  So I can't say what's causing it for you.

[Jud]

On 4/22/2019 at 4:35 AM, Innocent Bystander said:

Has v3.5 added the ability to browse and search by file structure, a facility that sadly has been missing to date?

 

if not, does anyone know why it seems to be such an elusive goal?

 

This feature, which I have highlighted before and others have on the A+ forum, would nicely complement the metadata-based library function. It would open A+ to enjoyable use by those with extensive collections having missing, incomplete, inconsistent or incorrect metadata, with neither the time nor energy to go through and add/correct the data on hundreds of albums, instead wanting to use all too precious time to simply listen and enjoy music.

 

You can effectively have something like that if you use the Tracks or Albums view and have File Location as your first sorting criterion.  (If you have duplicate hi res and Redbook recordings and want those separated, use Sample Rate and Bit Depth as the next two.)

[Jud]

2 hours ago, Innocent Bystander said:

1) Does that view start at the highest level and allow drilling down to where the albums are (e.g. if there are folders for each artist,  each containing the individual albums as folders, can it show the artist level, then when one is selected show the albums in it? 

 

It will group tracks or albums according to your indexing criteria. So if your first criterion is file location, your second is artist, your third is album, and your fourth and fifth are sample rate and bit depth, then your albums will be grouped by file location (alphanumerically) first, by artist within that file location, by album within that artist, and by sample rate and bit depth within that album.

 

So no need to select and then drill down levels, it’s all laid out for you in the order the albums appear when you open Audirvana’s album view.

 

Don’t know the answer to the rest of your questions because that’s not how I currently have my sorting criteria arranged.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, zacster said:

except still no H for hi-res

 

This is Windows, let me check Mac tomorrow.

 

[Jud]

14 minutes ago, jorgitok said:

What is the safest way to install the new version 3.5?. I read quite a few comments about the need after installing the new version of bugs and to delete preferences, etc,

Before installing the new version, should I delete the old one, but how about the preferences? Or should I delete the old after the new?

Thanks for any help

Jorge

 

Why not try installing the new one without deleting the old, and if you run into problems you can always delete preferences then. Remember you will need to re-enter your license key after deleting preferences.

[Jud]

8 minutes ago, Zinc said:

 I just installed Audirvana 3.5.

What happened to the converter (i.e. SOX, izotope, apple core)?

 

Speaker icon on lower right brings up page with device settings, including upsampling. (Or actually brings up device dropdown, and from there you go to the page with upsampling settings.)

[Jud]

26 minutes ago, Zinc said:

 

I still don't see the converter options (izotope, sox etc.), I think it's only SOX now is that right?

 

If you have a 3.2 license, you get iZotope as an option.

 

On the device page you don’t see upsampling options until you choose upsampling (think it’s all the way at the bottom, not able to look right now).

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Brito said:

 

 

I'm also not seeing these options, is it because I don't have any library, but am only streaming from Qobuz?

 

No.

 

Read further in the thread where I told Zinc how to find these settings.   

[Jud]

3 hours ago, Brito said:

 

Yes, I had seen your reply. But my upsampling option is deactivated and I cannot activate it. 

 

Try manually entering your DAC’s capabilities in that same page. (Unless you've already done/tried that.)

[Jud]

5 hours ago, Zinc said:

Am I going insane...?

 

I tried 3.5 with Sox and 3.2.16 with Applecore audio, I found AppleCore Audio brighter and clearer. Sox and Izotope sounds more veiled/darker?

 

Whatever you like is fine. That's why there are options.

[Jud]

On 4/24/2019 at 9:01 PM, Jud said:

 

This is Windows, let me check Mac tomorrow.

 

 

Same with Mac:

 

 

[Jud]

@bobbmd, I would have responded, but @AnotherSpin is doing a great job.  

[Jud]

27 minutes ago, JoshM said:

Apologies if I’ve missed it, but have there been announced changes in terms of audio processing with 3.5? Anyone have any subjective thoughts on sound version previous versions?

 

Finally, both 3.5 and older versions can be installed simultaneously, correct?

 

First question: After people, including me, said they liked the sound of 3.5 better, Damien said this was not coincidental. So not announced, but confirmed.

 

Second question: Yes.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, JoshM said:

Speaking of direct mode, is there any chance @damien78 of it returning to Mac without the work-around?

 

I’d been able to successfully do the workaround in the past, but when I upgraded to Mojave I couldn’t get the workaround to work even after three tries. 

 

Direct Mode is a DAC driver. Drivers touch the kernel. Apple prohibits this except for developers whose drivers are specifically permitted to do so. Therefore the only way to re-enable Direct Mode without the workaround is for enough people to write to Apple and ask them to allow it that they include Damien on the list of developers allowed to write drivers.

[Jud]

5 minutes ago, JoshM said:

 

Thanks for clarifying. Is there a consensus on whether DM is worth it, in terms of sound quality? Also, are (good) Mojave instructions for the workaround available anywhere? 

 

On the first: Well, I like it.   

 

On the second: @RunHomeSlow, I believe, had a very thorough set of instructions.  Hope he can point to them or make them available in this thread again.

[Jud]

Deleted - answered by Bob.

[Jud]

Have you done database maintenance and/or deleted your old preferences?

[Jud]

13 hours ago, OldBigEars said:

Damien - this is exactly why I stopped using A+.  Complete, stress-inducing BS.

 

Your failure to retain any possible identifiers that would prove you actually purchased the product is someone else's "BS" that they should straighten out? And it has anything whatever to do with why you stopped using it? C'mon.

 

Apologies in advance for causing what will probably be an argument in this Audirvana thread. My fault, and *not* attributable to Audirvana or Damien.

[Jud]

10 hours ago, fourstrings1891 said:

That has unfortunately been the case for a long time. New versions/functions are rushed out before being thoroughly tested. 

 

So you're aware of the amount of testing done.  Please tell me how many people tested the private and public beta versions for how long a period then.

 

The number of variations of hardware and software environments the player must work in is uncountable.  It would be mind-boggling if there weren't any situations where things might go wrong that were not discovered during the extensive beta testing.  It happens to major corporations with hundreds of developers, and it surely happens in a program with a single main developer.

 

Should you be happy with bugs? Of course not. Help fix them by providing good, thorough bug reports.

[Jud]

6 hours ago, Deedle said:

 

Hello.  I also have a Schiit DAC and am reading that it is best not to send anything to it upsampled.  Native is best.  Let it do the work that the upsampling software would do.  Not an expert on this business but am trying to get a grip on it.  So, I don't upsample either and thus the Izotope settings (and Sox) don't apply as I understand.  Cheers

 

Schiit is quite proud of their upsampling filters. But you can try both external upsampling with Audirvana and internal upsampling with your DAC if you care to, and see what sounds better to you.

[Jud]

8 hours ago, copy_of_a said:

As a long time user of Audirvana I would expect that an update doesn't change the processing order ... but I somehow felt something changed and this is why I've asked Damien. 

 

Hi c of a - Was it simply an unconfirmed feeling, or was there something more concrete?

[Jud]

2 hours ago, RunHomeSlow said:

Speaking for me, copy_of_a as always been very responsive and help full with plugins choices and upsampling in A+ for details about Izotope, may times he helped people here and other threads...

 

+1

 

2 hours ago, RunHomeSlow said:

He is too big now to be little 

 

Always a balance.  Additional developers like to be paid.   So how much do you want to spend for Audirvana?