Lou

Hi Damien, Any news on 1.3.9.9 release. I really love the sound of Direct Mode, but the iTunes integration and stability issues are a bit hard to live with. Thanks, Lou

Thanks for reply sidssp. I believe that is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't understand the header about "Bridge Devices" so I left these settings alone. I will try a few delay settings over next few days to see how it goes. In case someone with McIntosh C48/50 reads my original post, I think I stand corrected on integer mode support. I can see "Int" in the Audirvana Display Window, however, earlier in this thread Damien described it as a "Green Int" indicator. On my TV connected to the Mac, it looks white, but when I remote into the Mac from my office computer it looks green. So I guess if I see it at all, it means integer mode is supported? This leads me to believe that the biggest impact on SQ is Direct Mode, at least in my setup.

I am new to A+, and this is first post on CA although I have been reading threads for some time. On the weekend, I downloaded the beta version of Aurdirvana with Direct Mode, and WOW, what a difference. Everything I play seems to have added depth and fullness, and the shrill glare, that I thought was just the tweeters of my Focals, is now all but gone. Very Impressive!! I have tried just about every program available for Mac (including Audirvana without Direct mode), and couldn't really say that I heard a difference over Itunes. Now, after reading this thread, I think the reason why I couldn't hear a difference is that both my DACs (W4S DAC-2, and McIntosh C48 built in DAC) do not support Integer mode. So now I am left questioning "if Direct Mode can make such a difference, what would be the additional benefit of Integer mode?... not that I am ready to buy another DAC just yet". The only issue I have is stability with my McIntosh C48 DAC (which is my preferred DAC due to space limitations). Any program I have tried, that does sample rate switching without a pause or delay, causes problems. I have now seen some very weird behaviour in the two days of playing with Audirvana Beta... track indicator showing playing one song, but another previously selected track actually playing, pressing stop either in Itunes Remote or on Audirvana desktop does not stop play, frequently having to power cycle the preamp in order to reestablish communication, having to close and reopen Audirvana to get it to work. I realize this is a Beta release, but not sure that my problems would be solved without ability to add a delay when changing tracks, especially when changing sample rates. I do notice that if I ALWAYS stop a song (or let it play to end) before selecting another, then things are more stable. So, my question to Damien, who appears to read and respond to this thread, is: can you implement a selectable delay for changing tracks and/or sample rate. Some of the other products have such an option, but they do not have the incredible sound!!! Cheers, Lou