Audirvana Studio

[bnbayer]

1 hour ago, bobbmd said:

 totally disagree--i personally/subjectively feel JRiver sucks to put it mildly and bluntly especially one sanctimonius(SIC)/conceited  individual not to mention its format setup usability and cost for every new update-- haven't used it in years--BUT again just my opinion which usually means nothing

I think you misread the comment. It did not in any way praise or recommend JRiver. It merely pointed out, factually, that they now seemed to be the only player that accepted the users metadata tags without "improving" them.

[Mike Rubin]

44 minutes ago, bnbayer said:

I think you misread the comment. It did not in any way praise or recommend JRiver. It merely pointed out, factually, that they now seemed to be the only player that accepted the users metadata tags without "improving" them.

Bingo. 
 

Thanks.  You beat me to this.

 

I subscribe to Roon, despite hating most of it, because it has virtues.  I subscribe to Audirvāna, despite its instability, because it has virtues.  I also upgrade JRiver annually, despite thinking it could be better, because it has its virtues, especially for library curation.

 

Odd that the poster complains about JRiver’s upgrade cost, given that you can upgrade it for five years at Roon’s annual price and two years at Audirvāna’s.  That’s an especially ironic comment at the current cost of a Roon lifetime sub, as you could upgrade JRiver for the rest of your and your children’s lives for that amount. 

[bobbmd]

Sorry I probably overstepped on this one just had several really bad experiences with JRiver over the years I apologize if I offended anyone and the responses were well said— I will try to keep my feelings out of print and should have left it with the disagree icon

[twist222]

On 6/29/2021 at 7:32 AM, bnbayer said:

Yes, that's my concern. They've announced a price of USD $69.99, but this Canadian price is actually 25% higher - about USD $86.33 -  They appear to be using an exchange rate that is nearly 20 years old.  (https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/daily-exchange-rates/)

 

Of course, there is no reason for them to even consider the exchange rate. Just make all sales in US Dollars, and let the credit card take care of exchange. Audirvana get their money in US$, and users pay the credit card in their local currency.

 

(If they are charging tax, they are also wrong. Downloads from foreign companies do not attract tax or duties in Canada.)

 

 

Same problem in Australia. The amount Audirvana are charging for a studio subscription in Australia is significantly higher than the cost if I paid in $US and let the credit card take care of the exchange rate. For me it’s a deal breaker. Not because of the extra $ but because it doesn’t feel equitable. Sorry, but I don’t want to support a company who operates like that. 

I am surprised at Audirvana operating in this way. From what I have read about Damian it is not the way he operates. Almost makes me wonder if Audirvana has a new partner who operates in a different way. 
 

[jdtitman]

Let me say this about Damien and Manuel, how they treat their users can be pretty low. You are aware of my posts on the forums and the frustration that me and others felt with them. Their refusal to communicate was especially aggravating and disappointing. Damien decided he didn’t want to read any posts that criticized him or the way he does business. So he locked me out of the forums 10 days ago and refuses to speak with me. Unprofessional? Yes. Childish? Absolutely. Rude? Without a doubt. I wish him the best, but he continues to alienate loyal users. 

[Jud]

Damien locks vanishingly few users out of the forums, including many people who are strongly critical.  Context for the prior post.

[twist222]

7 hours ago, Jud said:

Damien locks vanishingly few users out of the forums, including many people who are strongly critical.  Context for the prior post.

Thanks for the comment on the Audirvana forum. I never posted over there so have little knowledge about their forum. On a related matter do you know why Audivana is charging a higher $ rate for countries outside the US ? Particularly as they are based in France ?

Regards Mark

[Jud]

2 hours ago, twist222 said:

Thanks for the comment on the Audirvana forum. I never posted over there so have little knowledge about their forum. On a related matter do you know why Audivana is charging a higher $ rate for countries outside the US ? Particularly as they are based in France ?

Regards Mark

 

Sorry, I have no idea. Wish I had an explanation for you.

[Chesty]

3 hours ago, twist222 said:

Thanks for the comment on the Audirvana forum. I never posted over there so have little knowledge about their forum. On a related matter do you know why Audivana is charging a higher $ rate for countries outside the US ? Particularly as they are based in France ?

Regards Mark

 

As a previous Audirvana user, I thought I only had to pay US$50, but it actually cost me US$60 in Hong Kong.  Some entity presumably ripped me off somewhere along the food chain.

[bnbayer]

2 hours ago, Chesty said:

As a previous Audirvana user, I thought I only had to pay US$50, but it actually cost me US$60 in Hong Kong.  Some entity presumably ripped me off somewhere along the food chain.

The price for previous users in Canada is also about $62 USD.

[bnbayer]

OK, here's a real-life example of how Studio is "recovering" data to "correct" the user's tags. Two albums by the same artist, each as displayed in the mini-player in A+ 3.5 and in Studio. These are local files, not streamed, and as always I have edited the metadata for accuracy and consistency before adding the files to my library.

 

First, Vilde Frang's debut album from 2009 on EMI Classics (now Warner Classics). The first image is A+ 3.5, using my metadata tags from the file:

 

The next is from Studio, using "recovered" metadata. Note the name of the orchestra has been changed, the conductor's name is truncated, and the soloist isn't mentioned at all:

 

Which info is correct? Well the orchestra's name was originally "Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Et cetera" but it was changed a quarter century ago to WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln. This recording was made more than a decade after the name change. But you don't need to know that: just read the cover - the Art Director will have carefully checked the artists' contracts to be sure they used the correct name and spelling on the cover and in the booklet.

 

Now here's Frang's 2016 Warner Classics album, first on A+ 3.5 using my metadata from the file:

 

And the improved metadata from Studio. Note that the soloist has been eliminated, and a second conductor has been added to the first:

 

Which one is correct? Eliahu Inbal was the conductor of this orchestra from 1974 until 1990. This recording was made in 2015 (released in 2016), and Maestro Inbal had long moved on. He had nothing to do with this recording. But you don't need to know that: just read the cover.

 

Which data is correct? It's easy really: which matches what's on the covers?

 

Even easier: Just use my metadata.

[One and a half]

22 minutes ago, bnbayer said:

OK, here's a real-life example of how Studio is "recovering" data to "correct" the user's tags. Two albums by the same artist, each as displayed in the mini-player in A+ 3.5 and in Studio. These are local files, not streamed, and as always I have edited the metadata for accuracy and consistency before adding the files to my library.

 

First, Vilde Frang's debut album from 2009 on EMI Classics (now Warner Classics). The first image is A+ 3.5, using my metadata tags from the file:

 

The next is from Studio, using "recovered" metadata. Note the name of the orchestra has been changed, the conductor's name is truncated, and the soloist isn't mentioned at all:

 

Which info is correct? Well the orchestra's name was originally "Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Et cetera" but it was changed a quarter century ago to WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln. This recording was made more than a decade after the name change. But you don't need to know that: just read the cover - the Art Director will have carefully checked the artists' contracts to be sure they used the correct name and spelling on the cover and in the booklet.

 

Now here's Frang's 2016 Warner Classics album, first on A+ 3.5 using my metadata from the file:

 

And the improved metadata from Studio. Note that the soloist has been eliminated, and a second conductor has been added to the first:

 

Which one is correct? Eliahu Inbal was the conductor of this orchestra from 1974 until 1990. This recording was made in 2015 (released in 2016), and Maestro Inbal had long moved on. He had nothing to do with this recording. But you don't need to know that: just read the cover.

 

Which data is correct? It's easy really: which matches what's on the covers?

 

Even easier: Just use my metadata.

Thank you, this post convinces me not to bother with Studio, like you , metadata is corrected for every album, if the data is overwritten by the player software, there's more work to correct which it shouldn't have been in the first place.

[Russell_L]

This is a pretty egregious example.  But as I mentioned earlier, while this is really aggravating, it's really just an aesthetic thing for me, as I have no difficulty finding anything I want to play and I know who the artists are.  Nevertheless, I hope Damien implements an option to NOT display the added MusicBrainz metadata (or just not have it "analyze" the files altogether).

[Russell_L]

7 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Thank you, this post convinces me not to bother with Studio, like you , metadata is corrected for every album, if the data is overwritten by the player software, there's more work to correct which it shouldn't have been in the first place.

 

There's no metadata to "correct", as the new info does not overwrite your local music files (unless you change the appropriate setting in Preferences).

[jdtitman]

16 hours ago, Jud said:

Damien locks vanishingly few users out of the forums, including many people who are strongly critical.  Context for the prior post.

11 days. He’s pouting. 

[Jud]

28 minutes ago, jdtitman said:

11 days. He’s pouting. 

 

Considering you've now posted twice in a separate forum about it, accusing him of "pouting" appears to be projection on your part.

[bnbayer]

22 minutes ago, One and a half said:

if the data is overwritten by the player software, there's more work to correct which it shouldn't have been in the first place

I should have specified: it doesn't overwrite your data in your files. It just displays this incompetent stuff on screen. It's already a problem for classical music that Audirvana almost never displays the complete field of either artist or title as it is. Since Studio puts its garbage data in front of the real data (ie, at the beginning of the field), you will only see the silly stuff, and not the correct stuff.

 

Here's what it's trying to display: Studio's opinion first, then my metadata. Of course, usually you're only going to see about the first third of this, or less:

[jdtitman]

15 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

Considering you've now posted twice in a separate forum about it, it accusing him of "pouting" appears to be projection on your part.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it. 

[bnbayer]

34 minutes ago, Russell_L said:

I have no difficulty finding anything I want to play and I know who the artists are.

You might be younger than me! My memory isn't as reliable as it was... But with classical music, it can get harder. For instance, I know I want to play Vilde Frang's recording of the Korngold, but I need to be reminded who the conductor and orchestra accompanying her on that disc were. And with a couple thousand classical albums, plus thousands more I worked on in some way during my career, I don't remember them all. Or I think I have something, then realise I had worked on the release 30 years ago but never brought a copy home...

[One and a half]

11 hours ago, bnbayer said:

I should have specified: it doesn't overwrite your data in your files. It just displays this incompetent stuff on screen. It's already a problem for classical music that Audirvana almost never displays the complete field of either artist or title as it is. Since Studio puts its garbage data in front of the real data (ie, at the beginning of the field), you will only see the silly stuff, and not the correct stuff.

 

Here's what it's trying to display: Studio's opinion first, then my metadata. Of course, usually you're only going to see about the first third of this, or less:

I understand now, thanks for the clarification. 

[JoeWhip]

Been busy with some other stuff the last couple of days but noted this morning that my iPad updated to the new remote app so I downloaded Studio. Been listening tonight and am quite happy with the boost in SQ. Will have to subscribe. Oh well.

[jdtitman]

It’s taking quite awhile to wade through all the bugs, but they’re slowly but surely getting there. 
 

Audirvana Studio will never match Roon in benefits and features, but as a low cost alternative it’s equal to iTunes. 

[bobbmd]

just my 2 cents on the cost of STUDIO-- I got charged 53$ by something called PADDLE for my US subscription anyone know why? i live in USA and have had A+3.5 and all prior versions of A+3.5 since 2013. there is no US or NYS tax as Audirvana has no presence in NYS-- 6% tax to whom PADDLE??

[Mike Rubin]

46 minutes ago, bobbmd said:

just my 2 cents on the cost of STUDIO-- I got charged 53$ by something called PADDLE for my US subscription anyone know why? i live in USA and have had A+3.5 and all prior versions of A+3.5 since 2013. there is no US or NYS tax as Audirvana has no presence in NYS-- 6% tax to whom PADDLE??

The rules regarding taxation of internet sales have gotten more complicated and the existence or absence of a physical nexus no longer resolves the issue.  See, e.g,., 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/states-with-internet-sales-tax

 

[Chesty]

1 hour ago, Mike Rubin said:

The rules regarding taxation of internet sales have gotten more complicated and the existence or absence of a physical nexus no longer resolves the issue.  See, e.g,., 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/states-with-internet-sales-tax

 

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was charged US$60 in Hong Kong (also by something called PADDLE), and there is no sales tax in Hong Kong.