Drew

Please can anyone suggest an application or method which can rip an audio dvd which just contains UNIX executable files ending in .AOB and .VOB. Nothing I have seems willing to look at them. I would have thought I should be able to unpack them to get the important bits out but, so far, no joy. The tracks are 24/192 HDAD two channel. I want to get 24/192 AIFF files. Cheers. Drew

Intrigued. Unlucky for me and a's like me that it was announced at 0500 hrs :0(

Hi Julf, I must admit that, though the power supply is limited, that had not occurred to me. I am, sadly, stuck with one double socket for everything: Mac, amps, DAC and REL. No choice unless I rewire back to the board which, if it was my house, I would do. I must say I am very curious as to why it is only on the right channel...

I should have added that if I change the coax to optical the noises all but disappear. I say "all but" as I hear tiny hints of noise, though it is rare and hardly noticed. However, I favour the sound of the coax over toslink...

I have a Musical Fidelity V-Link II which has a problem. A big problem. All music sounds like well used vinyl in the right hand channel with the crackling and popping which the introduction of the V-Link induces. I have read much on the web and in most cases, where crackling and popping occurs, people are naming the V-Link as the thing which cured it - ironically. Most general forum chat points at the level of power available in the USB bus and others refer to adjusting the size of buffer allocated to Core audio. In the case of the former I have tried the V-Link connected direct to one of the three USB sockets on the back of my late 2009 Mac Pro. The other two sockets are used for (a) The mouse and keyboard and (b) attaching my camera when I download pictures. Otherwise there is nothing else using USB. In the case of the latter, I have no idea how to adjust the Core Audio buffer. I have moved the USB plug to one of the front facing USB sockets and switched Fidelia to hog mode and this has had the effect of very very slightly diminishing the crackling and popping but it is still very annoying. As I say, like listening to abused vinyl but, strangely, just in the right channel. It also occurred when I was watching a movie in iTunes and, if anything, it was worse. I have checked all the connections on the high quality audio grade cables, I have made sure the V-Link is not near a strong field and I have checked all the settings in Midi Setup and Sound Prefs. All to no avail. I have an enquiry out to the company from whom I bought the V-Link but no reply yet, so I am clutching at straws at the moment. The improvement in terms of sound stage and control of the worst exesses of my system / music means that I have no desire to relinquish the V-Link unless I have to. If anyone has any ideas why a USB to SPDIF converter might be doing this I would welcome comment. I read of someone getting a powered USB hub and curing similar problems but I am loth to introduce yet another box into the path unless it is known to cure the problem and not create others. In which case, are there audiophile grade USB hubs around? Thanks for reading - Drew Fidelia/Pure Music on late 2009 Mac Pro 2.66/8GB to V-Link to Beresford Caiman DAC to power amp etc.

I feel a certain culpability, for contributing to a train of discussion which seems to be getting quite grumpy. I can see that any developer of software is going to be sensitive to what they may perceive as negative if not denigrating remarks about their creation. A creation which is probably a major passion, if not the developer's livelihood. But, that said, I see no reason to stifle open discussion about alternatives. Nor, indeed, should we be reticent about giving our opinions, even if subjective or dependent on variables which might make them unreliable guidance for everyone. The distillation of a wealth of shared information and opinion benefits everyone; enthusiasts and developers alike. Testing different combinations is what many of us want to do and doing so while participating in a public forum will hopefully yield good feedback whether for betas or alphas. So why so coy about mentioning names? Twilight? I cannot see what one is to infer from "Less Is More" other than an acceptance that there is a body of opinion based on the notion that the straighter and simpler the path, the more accurate the sound is going to be. Insofar as the risks of introducing extraneous factors are probably reduced. I am not sure I can hear any difference between the Pure Music settings I have when I toggle this feature but I suppose it is good to have a reference point if one is going to make adjustments, using the features available. Of greater significance, for me was my following the suggestion that I move my music onto another drive. The logic of this would seem to be to try to isolate the disc reading from other processes which the computer may be engaged in (?). However, the deterioration in sound which resulted prompted an immediate reaction and my library is back on the principal disc again. An example of the empirical benefits of experimentation in the familiar realms of computer voodoo! If one thing is certain, it is that the ground is always going to keep shifting and so the audiophile is undoubtedly going to always have a quest. Or at least an enquiring mind and I hope lively debate and the sharing of experience and information will persist. I hope the desire for bit perfection will feed back into the music industry. As to the topic, I have not moved very far from where I was last time I was writing here, through pressure of work mostly, I am happy to say. On the whole I am very much enjoying the PM demo (currently listening to the second half of Ce soir lá by Lo'Jo as I type - sgreat) but I have fallen into the way of listening to a more Classical programme in Play, so I have not actually got around to comparing apples with apples, if you see what I mean. This is perhaps in some ways a happy arrangement as I am loth to relinquish iTunes, because of the central part in plays in other things and I find ordering the popular : classical separation is actually easier with separate applications than with rebooting with different playlists with iTunes Library Manager. I have 10 days of demo left to do some proper listening and testing, so I had better get my skates on :0] Drew

I am glad you told me about that Clay as I did not know there was anything smaller than mini. The control of security and the measured out access per dollar seems a little offputting, though some may say this represents better opportunity for people with different needs. Certainly I mourn the loss of the cut down 2D versions of certain CADD applications which are otherwise out of my reach but that is another story. My impression of Amarra Junior is that it is very smooth and musical. I wondered for a moment if it was playing some familiar tracks a tiny tiny tiny bit slow, such was the impression I got. Read into that what you will. I shall give it a good airing but I would not want to have an application which does not give me access to the full range of my hi res music, so it is somewhat academic. Thanks for the heads up. Drew

Clay, I agree, it is all very interesting and rather fun experimenting. So long as the music is rewarding and it does not become a frustration; I know more experienced ears than mine to have gone very red with chasing after elusive excellence, fleetingly glimpsed and lost in all the tweaks. Indeed I remember well how things were in the 70s and 80s and all the daft and not so daft things we tried - out but that is off topic :0) I think your one word attribution for the two I have listened to seems fair. I am still listening to the PM demo as it is nicer than listening to iTunes. It may be quite telling that I have been listening to my "classical" library on Play and my popular music library on iTunes. Here's to the next beta! Drew

OK earther; suitably chastened...

I definitely like Play. To listen to at least :0] I have spent some time listening to the latest unstable version, compared to PM in default and toggling Less Is More and following the guidance in the User's Guide. They are certainly different but I think I am getting more information from Play and Play is easier on the ear. PM seems to emphasize some things but, on the whole, is not impressing me as much. I will fiddle with it a bit but I think Play is going to remain my preferred player for now, despite its foibles. What I am struggling with is the information that it is felt in some quarters that PM is better than a certain very very expensive player, which I have not yet listened to. I know it is all so dependent on many variables and I will keep an open mind. I have been having some problems with Play just jamming up completely with hi res files and some of my vinyl rips but I gather the next version will deal with these problems. The metadata thing with AIFFs is not bulletproof either but I am enjoying listening to my music all over again, which is always a good sign.

I am currently using Play with my Mac Pro 2.66 quad 6GB and I have the midi settings at full bore, which I assume means everything except the highest res music is upsampled, which I gather is supposed to be a "bad thing", given the numbers of people who write about manually adjusting the settings. My library covers a wide range of different qualities of music and I do not have the patience to keep changing the midi settings. Play sounds so much better on my system than iTunes I am disposed to stick with it and hope that it becomes a bit more stable for those of us with large bodies of music in AIFF. Stephen tells me it is. However however, I am tempted by the idea of Pure Music latching on to the existing iTunes library and interface but I am not sure what else Pure Music does, in terms of what it has that makes a sonic difference, other than changing the settings automatically. The price of about $130 would seem affordable if there is going to be a striking benefit and I am toying with the idea of downloading a trial, assuming that if one decides not to avail oneself it is easy to revert. I would like to know a bit more about what it is that Pure Music does and how. The information I am able to access on their web site is minimal. Thanks. Drew OSX 10.6.4, iTunes/Play 0.3.1b, Mac Pro 2.66 quad, optical to Beresford Caiman, adapted Electrocompaniet 25s, REL Strata/adapted SL6s

(extract from OSX 10.5.6 topic) I am on the bottom rung of this improvement ladder and I am still working in iTunes and 16/44.1... I am also just using the internal DACs on the G5 and on the CD deck. From the G5 I am plumbed in with a high quality cable from the minijack to the RCA/Phono input on my Musical Fidelity PreAmp ( with monitoring running back into the mic input ). I also have the CD deck and Elite Townshend Rock turntable running into the PreAmp and the split line out goes to a REL sub bass and a pair of bridged Electrocompaniet power amps and thence to the main speakers. This means I can switch between vinyl, CD or computer with relative ease. I would also like to know if there is a place I can go to read up on how to progressively tweak and upgrade on a limited budget. As far as I can tell, iTunes will always downsample to 16/44.1, so I am not sure how to get around this. It may seem like a very fundamental question but how to I play back 24/88 music as part of a whole collection which includes 16/44? And how should I set up for optimum input from vinyl? As well as listen to vinyl through the phono stage I rip favourite irreplaceable vinyl and would like to know if there is a resource herein where there is a guidance on set ups and configuration of Macs for musical playback at sonically superior levels. I can recommend Sound Studio or Wire Tap Studio for ripping and Max for converting. To answer the question, I am listening to vinyl a lot more of late because of the playback glitch which hiccups through all music coming from the G5 (see post 24 in OSX 10.5.6 on Home page from which this was adapted) which is driving me nuts.

Excuse me jumping in here as a newbie but I was given this web site as a possible source of help for this very problem : hiccups at random intervals which seem to have increased markedly in recent weeks, possibly since upgrading to 10.5.6. These tiny dropouts have been around and noticeable on more than one PPC Mac here for a while and I had thought they were a processing problem, related to the dynamic of the track in question. I have tried a few ideas for fixing but to no avail.<br /> <br /> However, unusually in the context of this posting, I am on the bottom rung of this improvement ladder and I am still working in iTunes and 16/44.1... I am also just using the internal DACs on the G5 and on the CD deck. From the G5 I am plumbed in with a high quality cable from the minijack to the RCA/Phono input on my Musical Fidelity PreAmp ( with monitoring running back into the mic input ). I also have the CD deck and turntable running into the PreAmp and the split line out goes to a REL sub bass and a pair of bridged Electrocompaniet power amps and thence to the main speakers.<br /> <br /> The glitches only occur on playback from the G5 and I am tempted to think that the severity or frequency is diminished when playing from CD but I am not putting money on that one just yet, more comparative tests to do.<br /> <br /> The G5 is a 2.3 Dual with 4GB of RAM and while I am playing music I am sometimes doing other things but not processor-hungry stuff as a rule.<br /> <br /> If anyone has any good ideas about how to deal with this I am very keen to hear as it is spoiling my listening enjoyment considerably.<br /> <br /> I would also like to know if there is a place I can go to read up on how to progressively tweak and upgrade on a limited budget. As far as I can tell, iTunes will always downsample to 16/44.1, so I am not sure how to get around this.<br /> <br /> I also rip favourite irreplaceable vinyl and would like to know if there is a resource herein where there is a guidance on set ups and configuration of Macs for musical playback at sonically superior levels.<br /> <br /> Thanks.<br /> <br /> Drew