Audirvana

[Bosley]

I use Tidal to source my music and play it through a MacBook / usb link to 2Qute / Naim Nait XS / Spendor bc1's. Over the last couple of weeks I have been using Audirvana to access Tidal and I have come to the conclusion that there is a definite improvement in the quality of what I'm hearing, particularly detail and clarity. I've checked my settings in Tidal and they are on hi-fi so why the difference?

[struth]

Dunno but it sounds a fair bit better. I use this most of time.

[Sherwood]

I use Tidal to source my music and play it through a MacBook / usb link to 2Qute / Naim Nait XS / Spendor bc1's. Over the last couple of weeks I have been using Audirvana to access Tidal and I have come to the conclusion that there is a definite improvement in the quality of what I'm hearing, particularly detail and clarity. I've checked my settings in Tidal and they are on hi-fi so why the difference?

AV doesn't just play back the digital files (local or online) but also processes them before sending them to a DAC. Yes, it sounds excellent but at present the Windows version is just too buggy!

Geoff

[struth]

AV doesn't just play back the digital files (local or online) but also processes them before sending them to a DAC. Yes, it sounds excellent but at present the Windows version is just too buggy!

Geoff

Mine seems to have settled down now. not had any issues for a while. i found what was causing the issues with the nwtworking, and it was the adaptor settings in windows. it has to be clear of other users before switching on av. then it works just fine. things like VPN's etc have to be disabled etc, at least temporarily

[Bosley]

The mac version seems to be more stable, but crashed once when using search. I have avoided the updates though. Is there the same improvement with quobus?
BTW another thing I have noticed is that good recordings (as in well produced with minimal dynamic limiting) stand out even more. eg War on Drugs Pain or Robert Francis - Mescaline just a couple that made me realise there something different.


Mine seems to have settled down now. not had any issues for a while. i found what was causing the issues with the nwtworking, and it was the adaptor settings in windows. it has to be clear of other users before switching on av. then it works just fine. things like VPN's etc have to be disabled etc, at least temporarily

[AJSki2fly]

The mac version seems to be more stable, but crashed once when using search. I have avoided the updates though. Is there the same improvement with quobus?
BTW another thing I have noticed is that good recordings (as in well produced with minimal dynamic limiting) stand out even more. eg War on Drugs Pain or Robert Francis - Mescaline just a couple that made me realise there something different.

I recently downloaded Audirvana to trial it on my MAC in anticipation of possibly using it with a Beresford SEG. Most of my music is ripped from CD's as wav or m4p files, or they are FLAC, I have some mpeg and aac, both so called lossless which they are not. So far I have found that there seems to be an improvement on replay through Audirvana compare to iTunes, I have compared the same tracks in different formats, using both. Bearing in mind that this is straight out the the headphone socket and then into my systems passive-pre amp then this is quite impressive. I would expect a significant improvement going out the usb and into the Beresford SEG to my system.

[struth]

yup a big improvement using wasapi out of usb to a dac. upscaling is another improvement it can do from the dac screen

[Sherwood]

I recently downloaded Audirvana to trial it on my MAC in anticipation of possibly using it with a Beresford SEG. Most of my music is ripped from CD's as wav or m4p files, or they are FLAC, I have some mpeg and aac, both so called lossless which they are not. So far I have found that there seems to be an improvement on replay through Audirvana compare to iTunes, I have compared the same tracks in different formats, using both. Bearing in mind that this is straight out the the headphone socket and then into my systems passive-pre amp then this is quite impressive. I would expect a significant improvement going out the usb and into the Beresford SEG to my system.

I used AV with an Rpi/Digione and Caiman SEG. I set up AV to upsample to DSD. It takes a fair bit of processing power, but my system was able to reliably upstream to DSD128. The SQ on both local flac files and on Tidal streams was outstanding (with Tidal MQ files being especially impressive).

My trial of AV hs now ended but I intend to purchase it once some of the bugs have been sorted in the Windows version and once the Android app in up and running.

Geoff

[struth]

I used AV with an Rpi/Digione and Caiman SEG. I set up AV to upsample to DSD. It takes a fair bit of processing power, but my system was able to reliably upstream to DSD128. The SQ on both local flac files and on Tidal streams was outstanding (with Tidal MQ files being especially impressive).

My trial of AV hs now ended but I intend to purchase it once some of the bugs have been sorted in the Windows version and once the Android app in up and running.

Geoff

Still using mine upscaled to 32/192 to my older rpi 2b. Still it sounds great

[Manicatel]

Ive been using Audirvana for a good few years now with my MacMini. I’ve been streaming with Tidal for about a year. The integration of Tidal has worked very well for me, I doubt I will be changing from Audirvana any time soon.
What it does, & how it does it, I have no idea. I’ve tried others such as Pure Music & Amarra, but Audirvana worked best for me.

[mikmas]

I bought into Audirvana a few years back and agree that it is indeed a noticeable improvement on iTunes native playback ... which is a bit pants really...

As I understand it, AV over-rides the Mac's inbuilt audio gubbins and uses its own audio codec which accounts for the improvement but to be fair to iTunes it lacks all the additional bells and whistles such as CD ripping, file conversion options and data tagging. Having experienced the total wipeout of some of the other 'free' media utilities that made the MacOS such a really useful platform (such as iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD) I am grateful that iTunes has survived as a relatively useful programme.

What surprise me is that Apple haven't bought AV out yet and incorporated it - they are usually quick off the mark to swallow up anything that swims in their waters ....

[Pepperamip]

Apologies if this basic question but I'm streaming spotify premium through a Chromecast audio into my caiman seg. I would like to try Tidal > Audirvana but only have the Chromecast and a android box. Would I need to introduce a suitable pc/mac for this?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[struth]

Apologies if this basic question but I'm streaming spotify premium through a Chromecast audio into my caiman seg. I would like to try Tidal > Audirvana but only have the Chromecast and a android box. Would I need to introduce a suitable pc/mac for this?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

yes, you need a computer to run the program

[Pepperamip]

yes, you need a computer to run the programThanks. RPI3 on the list too now :)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[struth]

audirvana is a mac program but a new version for windows10 is now out too. ive been sending the music from pc to an rpi with great success. the windows program is improving and another update was added recently. its similar to roon i guess, in that it unfolds mqa in tidal and does similar things to roon

[Primare]

I'm using Audirvana+ and MacMini as a transport. I like very much this combination. Listening HiRes files up to DSD128.
But I have some issues. Sometimes Audirvana unite two completely different albums into one if they have the same title. Did somebody have the same problem?

[struth]

Not had that Ivo. had some issues with tags and especially album art but have been sorting them in jriver as they appear. Most are no pic appearing and had to reload and rename folder.jpg, even if its already called that. Mine is the slightly buggy windows version tho.

[Liffy99]

I am using Qobuz as my streaming source into a RPI3/ Allo digione, cotrolled by Squeezepad on my Ipad.
Have been considering Audinirvana but one thing has stopped me trying.
Using a plugin to LMS ( on my Mac) I am able to stream Qobuz through the above setup. However the interface is basic - I can choose next or last track, play and pause etc and search the library and playlists. But, if I hear a track I like in a playlist, I cannot save it or tag it in anywhere. I have to wait until I go to my Mac and use the Qobuz web interface to manage playlists.
AV said the ability to tag or save tracks to playlists via the Ipad would be coming. Has it ?
Anyone know any more ?

[Alp]

Thanks. RPI3 on the list too now :)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Although Audirvana is not available on RPI3, my simplistic understanding of it is that it up-samples the music (no doubt using a proprietary algorithm). While my Caiman SEG was away getting an upgrade I played about with SOX up-sampling in Picoreplayer with my old RPI3 and an Audiophonics ES9023 Sabre DAC. Using the "Goldilocks" example from Archimago (http://archimago.blogspot.com/2018/01/musings-more-fun-with-digital-filters.html) I certainly got an improvement in the sound from 44.1KHz material up-sampled to 96KHz. I tried it with the SEG when I got it back but the same settings arguably degraded the sound. If you have PCP it might be worth a try to see if it helps with your DAC.

Has any one else tried SOX up-sampling and had good results?

[Sherwood]

AV is not available on the RPi but can be used with an Rpi very well. Just select the Rpi as preferred output device on the AV menu (uses PnP).

I don't think that the SEG can deal with DSD directly (I may be wrong) but my Rpi/Digione certainly can. Tried several upsampling options and settled on DSD128. Sounds fantastic. Very analogue into SEG with new Dorado power module!

Geoff

[struth]

Although Audirvana is not available on RPI3, my simplistic understanding of it is that it up-samples the music (no doubt using a proprietary algorithm). While my Caiman SEG was away getting an upgrade I played about with SOX up-sampling in Picoreplayer with my old RPI3 and an Audiophonics ES9023 Sabre DAC. Using the "Goldilocks" example from Archimago (http://archimago.blogspot.com/2018/01/musings-more-fun-with-digital-filters.html) I certainly got an improvement in the sound from 44.1KHz material up-sampled to 96KHz. I tried it with the SEG when I got it back but the same settings arguably degraded the sound. If you have PCP it might be worth a try to see if it helps with your DAC.

Has any one else tried SOX up-sampling and had good results?

used sox with volumio2.. sounds good to me.. actually it is moode i think altho volumio possibly use it to.. same control levels so probably is

[AJSki2fly]

AV is not available on the RPi but can be used with an Rpi very well. Just select the Rpi as preferred output device on the AV menu (uses PnP).

I don't think that the SEG can deal with DSD directly (I may be wrong) but my Rpi/Digione certainly can. Tried several upsampling options and settled on DSD128. Sounds fantastic. Very analogue into SEG with new Dorado power module!

Geoff

Completely agree

[Sherwood]

Thanks. RPI3 on the list too now :)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

You may find an Rpi and audio board for sale on this forum. Several members (including myself) have bought more than one Rpi, moving up through the price range as they go along. If you post a WTD add you should be able to get a complete Rpi setup in a case for around 50 quid to see if RPi streaming is for you. :wave:

[Bonky]

I've just bought the A+ for use with my iMac and 2 Beresford DACs (one connected from the headphone socket to the DAC; the other is streamed via ethernet).

Any recommended settings under 'preferences'?

Thanks.

Richard.

[Sherwood]

I've just bought the A+ for use with my iMac and 2 Beresford DACs (one connected from the headphone socket to the DAC; the other is streamed via ethernet).

Any recommended settings under 'preferences'?

Thanks.

Richard.

I am not familiar with the Mac version or the processing power of your Mac. On my Intel NUC with i5 processor and 16gb of DDR4 ram I can upsample to DSD 128. DSD 256 works but is a bit glitchy. To my ears, the DSD 128 setting sounds very analogue and bass in particular seems deeper and more textured than without upsampling.

[struth]

Not been using the dsd feature. just upscaling to 32/192.. that uses well over a gig of memory and about all i can spare if i want to use pc for anything else like browsing etc. It handles that tho... Ive got 6gb of ram and i5 processor. As yoiu say is sounds very good both on main system and even on my headphone system.

[Edward]

I tried AV a while back but did not find the sound appealing. I probably did something wrong. But, given that you guys speak so highly of it, I may give it another go. From a technical point of view does anyone know what AV does that is different to say Roon, JRiver or Tidal?

These days I basically just use Roon and upscale to 24/384 and output to a NOS dac (yeah yeah I know a contradiction there but sounds good).

[Bonky]

Thanks everyone.
Richard/bonky