Optimal Audio Filter Settings for Audirvana Plus?

[chilest]

Hi all:

I finally got around to downloading Audirvana plus and I am wondering if there is any consensus on the optimal settings for the audio filter settings when using iZotope 64-bit SRC? I have a MacBook Pro feeding a Weiss INT202 via firewire in turn feeding a Bryston BDA-1 DAC. As an aside, I do not think I can use Integer mode with this set up.

 

Nonetheless, I must admit I am a bit confused with the steepness, filter max length, cutoff freq. anti-aliasing and pre-ringing settings. I have an Ayre 7eMP CD player with a minimum phase filter upgrade and surprisingly for red book CD playback, it beats my Weiss-Bryston DAC set up when playing a similar CD ripped to the hard drive at 16 bit/44.1 kHz. I assume this is due in part to the minimum phase filter on the Ayre. That said, I am leaning toward setting the pre-ringing to min. phase. As for the other setting, not sure, need some advice to initially set things up and then tweak later.

 

As always, thanks for the great advice.

Tom

 

[DM]

that Ayre 7eMP CD player beats Weiss-Bryston DAC set up when playing a similar CD ripped to the hard drive at 16 bit/44.1 kHz.

 

IMHO, the Bryston is not really in the same class as the Ayre. Also no matter what filter you use in Audirvana Plus, Bryston will add it's own filter via the Crystal CS-4398 DAC. Adding two digital filters in the chain may not be a good idea for sound ...

 

You may need a better DAC to best your Ayre on 16/44 stuff.

 

[elcorso]

You can't play on Integer mode with the Weiss, there isn't firewire drivers Integer capable available for this DAC. I think the Bryston neither. It's a shame since Audirvana Plus is a champ under Integer mode (to my ears).

 

But you can use the iZotope 64-bit SRC, you can find explanations for each one under the Menu/Help/User Manual

 

Here is the explanation behind the parameters, from iZotope manual:

 

Steepness: steepness of the transition band of the lowpass filter. Higher steepness will reject unwanted frequencies but cause more ringing in the time- domain and a higher CPU load

Max filter length:Controls the the memory (and CPU usage) used by the resampling filter. Default value (500k) should be sufficient for most applications. Can be increased for getting vey high quality output for very high sample rates (e.g. DSD downsampling)

Cutoff:cutoff frequency is computed by multiplying the Nyquist frequency by the value of the cutoff scaling parameter. Larger values of cutoff scaling offer a flatter pass-band, while smaller values offer better aliasing suppression

Anti-Aliasing:the amount of suppression in the lowpass filter’s stop-band. Any frequencies in the stop-band which are not fully attenuated will result in aliasing, which is when these unwanted frequencies are mapped to different frequencies and mixed into the output. Use higher values for better quality and use lower values to minimize CPU load.

Pre-ringing:All lowpass filters are characterized by the amount of ringing they introduce into their output. The steeper the filter, the greater the amount of ringing. There are two general types of ringing: pre-ringing and post-ringing. Pre-ringing will smear transients earlier in time, while post-ringing will smear transients later in time. This control allows users to select pre-ringing, post-ringing, or anywhere in between. A value of 1.0 produces a linear phase filter with equal pre- and post-ringing. A value of 0.0 produces a minimum phase filter which offers no pre-ringing but has non-linear phase distortion which can be objectionable. Setting intermediate values allows a continuous tradeoff between pre-ringing and post-ringing and allows users to linearize phase in the pass-band as much as possible.

 

I guess there is not a general consensus regarding optimal settings since it is user taste & music gear chain dependant.

 

Roch

 

[damien78]

As a matter of personal preference, I tend to use a value between 0.7 and 0.8 (0.73 currently).

This is the tradeoff I found experimenting. Though, as usual, it is also a question of taste...

 

All other values to max quality, as the algorithm is so efficient the computation will always be 3-4x faster than realtime.

 

Damien

 

[57gold]

The default ones for all but PreRinging? If not, what do you recommend we try for the others?

 

Thanks Damien, great product keeps on getting better. I am very much enjoying iTunes Remote on iPad I use to control a headless Mini. Screen sharing worked but was less than easy to use.

 

Been using the new MyTek DSD 192 DAC and if you can find one in Paris to try, think you will dig it and it is reasonably priced.

 

[LBob]

I agree with Damien. I set the value at .7 and found it made a substantial improvement.

 

[Naun]

I just began playing with the filter settings and am quite excited about what I'm hearing. In particular, early digital recordings can be made to sound much more listenable by tweaking the settings. The only problem, I suspect, is that I'm going to find that different settings work best for different recordings. Has anyone else had that experience?

[poordac]

I agree with Damien. I set the value at .7 and found it made a substantial improvement.

 

Try listening to the Beatles Revolver album to decide how much ringing you like!

 

I am getting a decent sitar effect at .78 for Pre-ringing.

 

I have tones of ram 24 GB so I set it to 1 billon instead 0f 500 thousand. I'm still only using 11 percent of the CPU.

[poordac]

Try the EQ!

After much listening to mostly apple lossless files I was finally brave and tried the EQ!

Now I can't live without it. :-)

 

If you notice the EQ sliders are enclosed in a blue boundary box. In this mode any one slider moves all the sliders, so with every frequency selected We achieve master volume control. Practice dragging across linking and adjusting groups up and down.

 

With this setting I can turn up the amp on the speakers to 50 % ( ROKIT8 and UD-H01 DAC via XLR. ) Tweeters on full and Base turned down.

Finally I am going to uncheck ( real time AudioUnits control and setup ) to protect my speakers and to limit adjustment from prying hands.

[jhwalker]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10602[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10599[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10600[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10601[/ATTACH]

Try the EQ!

After much listening to mostly apple lossless files I was finally brave and tried the EQ!

Now I can't live without it. :-)

 

If you notice the EQ sliders are enclosed in a blue boundary box. In this mode any one slider moves all the sliders, so with every frequency selected We achieve master volume control. Practice dragging across linking and adjusting groups up and down.

 

With this setting I can turn up the amp on the speakers to 50 % ( ROKIT8 and UD-H01 DAC via XLR. ) Tweeters on full and Base turned down.

Finally I am going to uncheck ( real time AudioUnits control and setup ) to protect my speakers and to limit adjustment from prying hands.

 

I've also had pretty good results with EQ. I have developed presets for each of my main headphones:

 

 

Keeping it subtle is key but at this low level, it just helps even out some perceived irregularities in response.

[poordac]

It's a very powerful EQ.

[poordac]

If you have to add EQ you might as well get volume for free!

[poordac]

As speakers are broken in I am releasing the base a bit. It's more of a flow now than a thump.

Not using any EQ now. I'm listening to sacd based flac files now so I don't need lots of EQ. As well there's external eq with 3 or 4 settings on the speakers for both the woofer and the tweeter.

The base is on 2 and the tweeter is on 3. My speakers are in the corner and they never go more than 5-6 notches loud.

[poordac]

still .79 on the pre ringing ( sounds good ? )