Thread: Audirvana Plus with iTunes Integration

I have a question regarding what is being displayed in the user interface screen of Audivrana. On the lower left side just above the timeline it indicates the file type, bit rate and sampling frequency of the file (I.e. AIFF 16/44.1 kHz. On the lower right side it displays DAC 24/96 kHz. What is this telling me? I would see the first display as the information of the file being played but what does the second indicate? I don't use Upsampling in Audivrana. My DAC is Upsampling but I thought it did 24/192 kHz. This difference between the two displays is only present on 16/44.1 kHz files. Any high resolution files (24/96 kHz etc display the same in both areas.

Is it Audivrana or my DAC that transforms this from 16 to 24 bit?

Originally Posted by mwheelerk

Seemingly no problem with the upgrade to iTunes 10.6.

10.6.3 actually

Originally Posted by mwheelerk

I have a question regarding what is being displayed in the user interface screen of Audivrana. On the lower left side just above the timeline it indicates the file type, bit rate and sampling frequency of the file (I.e. AIFF 16/44.1 kHz. On the lower right side it displays DAC 24/96 kHz. What is this telling me? I would see the first display as the information of the file being played but what does the second indicate? I don't use Upsampling in Audivrana. My DAC is Upsampling but I thought it did 24/192 kHz. This difference between the two displays is only present on 16/44.1 kHz files. Any high resolution files (24/96 kHz etc display the same in both areas.

Is it Audivrana or my DAC that transforms this from 16 to 24 bit?

Damien will correct me if I'm wrong, but usually, the display indicates the maximum sample rate your DAC can read, os if it says 24/96 that is the maximum your DAC ca do the way you connected it. I don't know your DAC well, but many DACs do up to 192 on SPDIF, but not via USB.

If you check Audirvana's preferences, you'll find which sample rates your DAC currently accepts (they are highlighted green).

It is your choice whether you have the upsampling done by Audirvana or your DAC. You can set the AudioFilter settings in the preferences accordingly. Here you can force upsampling, in this case Audirvana does in one go while preparing Memory Play using it's Izotope engine (you can even play around with some more sophisticated parameters), or you can set it to no up sampling, in this case the bitstream is given directly to your DAC in e.g. 16/44 and the upsamping would happen there. I'd try out both and see what sounds better.

Originally Posted by bottlerocket

Audivarna displays what the DAC is set to on the right side (facing the screen). Since the software sets the sample rate to match the input file, the sample rate should match the input file's resolution which is on the left side. The word length will always be whatever you set the word length to be in the Audio Midi program as none of these software players change the word length.

I have Audio Midi set to 24 bit and leave it there. My player software (Audivarna) automatically changes the sample rate to match the input file (e.g 44.1, or 96 etc). As a result, when I play a 16/44.1 file, I see 16/44.1 on the left (the file's native resolution) and 24/44.1 on the right (what the DAC is receiving).

I think this is the answer. I will check when I get home but I think I set Audio Midi to 24 bit (following some long ago instructions). As I said when playing 16/44.1 kHz I do see that on the left and 24/44.1kHz on the right. When playing 24 bit files (24/88.2, 24/96) I see the same figures on both sides.

Has anyone anything to say about the "white noise" problem that has been mentioned above in some cases???

Originally Posted by invstbiker

Somebody out there had an advanced paramaters setup for Audirvana Preferences

Of course I don't know where you found it. But Headfonia had something about settings

See: Audirvana Free and Audirvana Plus

Originally Posted by invstbiker

Somebody out there had an advanced paramaters setup for Audirvana Preferences, steepness, filter, cutoff etc and I'll be darned if I can't find those parameters, which on my MacBook Pro sounded really good. I need them again.

Anyone can help?

thx in advance-steve

Think maybe you are referring to this:

http://www.ayre.com/pdf/Ayre_MP_White_Paper.pdf

Originally Posted by dave_kiwi

Think maybe you are referring to this:


Ayre_MP_White_Paper.pdf

What does this white paper on digital filters have to do with advanced paramaters setup for Audirvana+ audio player?

Originally Posted by jf4828

Hi,

I moved from Squeezebox to Audirvana after noticing a huge sq improvement using W4S DAC2/Linkwitz Orions. Being new to Audirvana, I have a few questions:

1. Why does Direct Mode fail on my system? BTW, W4S has a proprietary USB driver.....

Joel

The current W4S USB drivers do not support direct mode or integer mode. You can use a audiophilleo or off ramp converter connected to the W4S to take advantage of direct/integer mode.

Originally Posted by Sumflow

What does this white paper on digital filters have to do with advanced paramaters setup for Audirvana+ audio player?

Alot actually, as the advanced parameters are actually filter settings. Given that the original link was referenced in this thread maybe around pages 9 to 13, I thought I would help you out. Maybe not so good an idea?

If you actually look at the peferences, you will see third tab is called "Audio Filters" -- a small clue.

If you actually read through the paper you will see that they talk about "Pre-Echo", and if you look at the preferences you will see a "Pre-ringing" pretty much the same thing. The paper even talks about "minimum phase" / "linear phase", which are used in the "Pre ringing" slider settings.

Not that hard to apply what they are talking about in the paper to Audirvana Plus.
Suggest you go back and read posts 296 to 301 in this thread.

Consider the advanced parameters as describing one digital filter - thus when the white paper talks about steepness ( 6 dB vs 100 dB) this corresponds to the steepness slider ....

The cutoff freq is a function of the sample rate of the track being played - so in the white paper they use 22kHz, which is the Nyquist frequency of Redbook CDs, and thus equals 1 in the "cutoff freq" slider of the preferences. But as Audirvana can play at different sample rates, it makes more sense to describe the "cut-off freq" in terms of Nyquist frequency.

If you read the Audirvana Manual (under help), page 16 also describes the advanced parameters as well.

Originally Posted by dave_kiwi

If you read the Audirvana Manual (under help), page 16 also describes the advanced parameters as well.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by jf4828

Audiophilleo is interesting. What differences did you notice going that route vs W4S direct usb? The DAC2 was such a huge improvement for me that I can't imagine it getting much better

I thought the same about the W4S USB connection. I then came accross some other forum post about people raving about the difference and found some reviews on this setup with the Audiophilleo.

It basicly lifts another veil off the music. More detail, wider and deeper soundstage and blacker background. I believe this is due to the lower jitter that the audiophilleo clock delivers. Adding the audiophilleo 2 and putting a preamp back in the system are the two biggest tweaks i have done to my system since getting the W4S Dac 2. If you are using the Dac 2 as a preamp you are missing out on a lot! I ran it this way for the first year - while it sounded good addong a preamp and running the DAC in Fixed mode added Slam, impact and presence.

On some setups, iTunes has some issues for being controlled by another application.
One thing you may want to try is to unselect the option to "Disable completely iTunes playback" in the itune spanel of A+ user prefs. This should help for the iTunes hangs.

Damien

Feature request... Could you update the Play Count and Last Played time in iTunes? I use it to keep my smart playlists fresh.

Originally Posted by VandyMan

Feature request... Could you update the Play Count and Last Played time in iTunes? I use it to keep my smart playlists fresh.

Sure, and it is now done
It'll be in the next 1.4 beta (upcoming 1.3.9.4).

Damien

I have lost my map for getting to 1.3.9.4. Damien please provide me with a link to update. Sorry for my confusion.
Best,
Richard

Originally Posted by REShaman

I have lost my map for getting to 1.3.9.4. Damien please provide me with a link to update. Sorry for my confusion.
Best,
Richard

It's linked in the first post in this thread, reproduced here for convenience:

http://audirvana.com/?page_id=4

or direct link to the download page:

http://audirvana.com/?page_id=216

Originally Posted by REShaman

I have lost my map for getting to 1.3.9.4. Damien please provide me with a link to update. Sorry for my confusion.
Best,
Richard

At audirvana.com, click the link for the blog. Then find the May 29th blog entry with the sentence "It is available for download here," where here is a link. Click it and you'll be taken to the download page.