Kuja

Hello! I have installed SnakeOil OS on my old 5i5 NUC's SSD and it worked beautifully. Yesterday I have decided to upgrade the NUC's BIOS (it is a long story why) and I have discovered that the SnakeOil OS suddenly would not boot any more! In BIOS, in both UEFi and Legacy boot sections, there are no bootable drives listed. Entering F10 boot selection shows no bootable drives. I have tried all possible BIOS settings (secure boot is disabled, etc.), but no luck. I have decided to reinstall it, booted install iso from USB flash drive, went through the whole install procedure, everything seemed fine, but upon reboot I'm still getting the message: "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device". Any ideas?

@WRWSTD is right - you should not hear any difference, when the Forced Upsampling is set to "None". What you are playing with are the iZotope SRC (Sample Rate Conversion) settings. With forced upsampling set to none, there is no sample rate conversion, the iZotope SRC is not active, so the settings that you are playing with will have no influence on the sound. The only other case the SRC will be active, is when you are playing the files that have higher resolution than what your DAC or output device supports - for example playing 24/192 files on a 24/96 DAC. In this case iZotope SRC would perform downsampling. From Audirvana manual, page 37: Sample Rate Conversion Sample Rate Conversion happens when - The audio device does not handle the audio track sample rate - Upsampling is forced.

...There are lots of posts like this from professional audio users: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22506466#22506466 Why audio sounds different in the Mountain Lion over 10.6 Hi I just upgraded my system OS 10.6.8 to the latest 10.8.4, and I found that audio on the 10.8.4 sounds different. I did some tests and I can say that audio when listening on the 10.8.4 has less bass content and the hi-mids are more agressive. I running the audio studio on my Mac Pro and this was a big dissapointment for me. Also I rendered audio file from Logic Pro 9 on the both system and they are the same, but when you listening on the 10.6.8 it sounds correct while on 10.8.4 sounds different. I have the same audio drivers from RME Fireface 800 on both systems. In tests I used identical Logic arrangement file on both systems. I just don't like the sound on the new system at all. It is worse than it was on the 10.6.8. I switched to the Snow Leopard again and I regret that I puchased your latest OS. Why it is done? Apple? https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=9250295&postcount=24 I find this very interesting. I'm not one for jumping on to these sorts of bandwagons - and certainly never get into the discussions about DAWs sounding different , etc etc - but now I wonder.I am building up a 10.8 drive to prepare for my transition in the studio from 10.6.8... Clean install,... But as I add plugs and Vi's into the new system- i.ll fire up one of the DAWs to visage what I've done so far... Have PT10, LP9 and X, DP8.... Tested some audio in DP and LPX and from my mix position... where I sit for hours a day,,, something didnt sound right.,, mixes that I had been working on... Sounded maybe a bit thin... ... So I decided to google and boom... Right to Gearslutz. - While I am not adding fuel to the fire- it's ironic that I felt something was off.FYI - I'm running a MoTu pCI424System with a 2408mkIII, 2x24ios, and a 308.Thinking that is this really were an issue - there would be a serious outcry about this.,,,Lets keep this conversation going. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/prorecordingworkshop/osx-lion-10-7-sound-quality-vs-snow-leopard-10-6-t4268554.html#p2516 16 Nov 2011, 09:14 #1 I bought a new computer that came with OSX Lion installed and immediately heard something weird with the audio. It is hard to describe, I can only describe it as brighter and a little phony sounding. It can be confusing at first because sometimes brightness is perceived as "better" but it is more of a technical issue than just a simple sonic preference. I then did some tests switching Snow Leopard and Lion Printing the identical files as well as listening. Lion was definitely the issue. The issue happens with any audio software that I used with Lion and was not isolated to any particular software. The problem was most problematic when recording. I really gave Lion a try but it became even more apparent while mastering that its a problem. At this point I find it unusable for mastering and staying with Snow Leopard.

Ok, whatever! ...But this old newsletter could be interesting, coming directly from the maker of professional audio software. Does this mean that some differences in Core Audio or in the ways how OS X handles audio over USB CAN exist? https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=8104091&postcount=42 Well everyone dismissing the OP may just eat their words.From NI horses mouth: Quote: Dear Native Instruments user, This newsletter provides important information about the compatibility of Native Instruments hardware products with MacOS 10.8, as well as with the current-generation MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models equipped with USB 3.0 ports. Due to USB audio driver issues present in recent versions of OSX, some NI products will experience a degraded audio signal when used with OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion" on any Apple hardware. The same issue occurs with the current-generation MacBooks under 10.7 using USB 3.0. Specifically, the following NI products are affected: AUDIO 2 DJ / AUDIO 4 DJ / AUDIO 8 DJ AUDIO KONTROL 1 GUITAR RIG MOBILE GUITAR RIG SESSION KORE 1 RIG KONTROL 2 / RIG KONTROL 3 TRAKTOR AUDIO 2 TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 Native Instruments has provided beta drivers* for these hardware devices to make them fully compatible with the newest Apple technologies. If you own one of the affected devices and run the latest MacOS version 10.8, or have a MacBook with USB 3.0, you can download and install the beta drivers from our unprotected drivers and updates page.... Best regards, The Native Instruments team Not sure what it means but I won't be upgrading until NI can come up with a non-beta driver for my laptops Audio10.Also RME were fairly slow in upgrading the Fireface 400 driver to Lion so I'll be waiting for them as well

How exactly digital audio is working? Apple Core Audio seems to have lots of components in different layers, so could it be possible that some changes were introduced in newer OS X versions that could cause differences in SQ? Yes, there are different modes, direct, integer, etc, with shorter path to the audio hardware, but still, differences in SQ exist between Audirvana, Amarra, HQPlayer... There are lots of discussions on this forum regarding differences in SQ between different players or even SQ differences between different versions of the same player. These differences are also imagined? If different playback software can sound different, could there be some differences between different versions of various audio components in different OS X versions? I never wrote "different" so many times in my life!

I apologize, english is not my native language, so I didn't know what "point update" means. Google has remedied that now! In the majority of cases I was not updating existing OS X installations, I was installing them starting from scratch on empty HDDs, using OS X Install app files from the Apple store. I don't know what are the differences in USB kernel extensions between Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan (these are the OSX versions that I have tried). Can you post some links to these detailed changelogs? I have tried to find them some time ago without success. Hardly, since I did not expect anything. When I first noticed this, I was just updating my Mini to the then new OS version, and I got very surprised that, out of the blue and totally unexpected, the sound quality was much worse after the update. I never thought that something like that would be possible just because of the OS upgrade, but you live and learn. It was complicated to blind test myself, so I have tested my unsuspecting friends and family. After OS X upgrade to Mavericks, on her first listen my wife commented that her favorite album (Avalon by Roxy Music) sounds weird, and she asked me if I was playing some different version of it (I was not). In many occasions over time, I was switching different OS X versions while playing some music for my "audiofool" friends, not telling them what exactly I was doing, and all of them have noticed the same differences, without me telling them what to look for. You can believe my experiences or not, I can't change anything about that. But I'm not the only one, there are pro users who are using OS X for recording or postproduction, who have noticed the same thing. ...And there are others who are ridiculing them, so there is nothing new under the sun.

As I have already said (twice), there are no specific drivers provided by the manufacturer of my USB audio device. It is plug and play, supported directly by the Mac OS. So if the playback software and all of the settings are identical, the different OSX versions are responsible for SQ differences? I have a dual boot MacMini with two different OSX versions, that I can switch to and from at any time, so I'm not speaking from some distant memory. The playback software and audio settings are identical in both OSX versions that I'm using. Different OSX versions do sound different in my case. Mountain Lion 10.8.2 (and 10.8.3) is noticeably better sounding than all of the newer OSX versions that i have tried. Maybe this is hardware specific, maybe some audio devices that are using their proprietary drivers (not relying on OSX inbuilt USB audio support) are working fine with the latest OSX versions (or their drivers are "tuned" to newer versions).

These discussions are rare, and people who have heard differences between OSX versions can get ridiculed. https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/854185-10-8-4-sounds-different-10-6-8-a.html https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=9513576&postcount=165

The OSX version is the only difference (the drivers are part of the OS). Now I have two HDDs in my dual boot MacMini. El Capitan for work, ML 10.8.2 for music. With the same versions of playback software (Amarra and Audirvana) installed, there is a significant difference in sound quality between the two OS-es.

In my case there is a significant SQ difference between different OSX versions: This is why I'm still using Mountain Lion 10.8.2. Even 10.8.5 sounded worse in my case. I'm using a USB Audio Class compliant device (M2Tech HiFace Two), so maybe this is the reason - no drivers from device's manufacturer, just different OSX versions having different versions of USB audio libraries.

It works now! The problem was in my active extension cable with USB repeater. I was using it because my MacMini is away from my hifi equipment rack. When I moved my Daphile PC close to my DAC and plugged the HiFace directly without the active extension cable, it started working. I never thought that this could be the problem, since HiFace works perfectly connected to my Mini with that cable. Thank you all, and I'm sorry if I have wasted your time.

I have wiped/cleared the drive and did the fresh install, this time with the integrated audio chip disabled in BIOS, just in case that there was some audio device conflict during the first install. Nothing has changed, I still have no output from my HiFace. PS I have tried limiting the HiFace to 44100 as suggested by Triplefun. /usr/bin/squeezelite -b 3072:4096 -R -u vME:::28 -m 5a:0b:ac:d6:80:53 -c pcm,flac,mp3,ogg -r 44100,48000,88200,96000 -d all=info -f /run/spacd/c/1/l/0/squeezelite.log -N /mnt/hdd/system/spac/M2Tech USB Audio 1.0/device0/squeezelite.name -s 127.0.0.1 -o hw:1,0 -a 100:3:24_3:1:0 -p 45 [13:23:43.871647] stream_init:290 init stream [13:23:43.878980] output_init_alsa:909 init output [13:23:43.879094] output_init_alsa:951 requested alsa_buffer: 100 alsa_period: 3 format: 24_3 mmap: 1 [13:23:43.879225] output_init_common:410 supported rates: 96000 88200 48000 44100 [13:23:43.890753] output_init_alsa:967 memory locked [13:23:43.891340] decode_init:152 init decode, include codecs: pcm,flac,mp3,ogg exclude codecs: [13:23:43.981058] output_thread:716 open output device: hw:1,0 [13:23:43.981144] alsa_open:389 opening device at: 44100 [13:23:43.981592] alsa_open:460 opened device hw:1,0 using format: S24_3LE sample rate: 44100 mmap: 1 [13:23:43.981701] alsa_open:551 buffer: 100 period: 3 -> buffer size: 4410 period size: 1470 [13:23:43.982175] load_vorbis:300 loaded libvorbisfile.so.3 [13:23:43.982237] register_vorbis:329 using vorbis to decode ogg [13:23:43.983300] alsa_open:568 unable to set hw params: Input/output error [13:23:44.041823] load_flac:266 loaded libFLAC.so.8 [13:23:44.041919] register_flac:294 using flac to decode flc [13:23:44.041939] register_pcm:468 using pcm to decode aif,pcm [13:23:44.072914] load_mad:383 loaded libmad.so.0 [13:23:44.073003] register_mad:412 using mad to decode mp3 [13:23:44.111971] load_soxr:268 loaded libsoxr.so.0 [13:23:44.112066] resample_init:361 resampling sync recipe: 0x36, flags: 0x00, scale: 0.89, precision: 28.0, passband_end: 0.00000, stopband_begin: 0.00000, phase_response: -1.0 [13:23:44.112363] slimproto:824 retrieved name M2Tech USB Audio 1.0 from /mnt/hdd/system/spac/M2Tech USB Audio 1.0/device0/squeezelite.name [13:23:44.112456] slimproto:849 connecting to 127.0.0.1:3483 [13:23:44.114376] slimproto:882 connected [13:23:44.114481] slimproto:893 local player [13:23:44.114501] sendHELO:124 mac: 5a:0b:ac:d6:80:53 [13:23:44.114521] sendHELO:126 cap: Model=squeezelite,AccuratePlayPoints=1,HasDigitalOut=1,HasPolarityInversion=1,Firmware=v1.8+ (Daphile),ModelName=SqueezeLite,MaxSampleRate=96000,wav,aif,pcm,flc,mp3,ogg,loc [13:23:44.397472] decode_flush:224 decode flush [13:23:44.397568] output_flush:423 flush output buffer [13:23:44.406045] process_setd:430 set name: M2Tech USB Audio 1.0 [13:23:44.406322] process_setd:437 storing name in /mnt/hdd/system/spac/M2Tech USB Audio 1.0/device0/squeezelite.name [13:23:48.983443] output_thread:716 open output device: hw:1,0 [13:23:48.983610] alsa_open:389 opening device at: 44100 [13:23:48.984165] alsa_open:460 opened device hw:1,0 using format: S24_3LE sample rate: 44100 mmap: 1 [13:23:48.984264] alsa_open:551 buffer: 100 period: 3 -> buffer size: 4410 period size: 1470 [13:23:48.986297] alsa_open:568 unable to set hw params: Input/output error

I have disabled the integrated VIA audio chip in BIOS. Now I have only one device under the audio device settings. The kernel audio driver parameters module option has disappeared. I still have no sound!

It seems that I took the screen snapshot after some additional fiddling. I have checked again, and the devices do match in the settings and in the log. [11:58:46.190786] output_thread:758 open output device: hw:1,0 [11:58:46.190963] alsa_open:431 opening device at: 44100 [11:58:46.191508] alsa_open:502 opened device hw:1,0 using format: S24_3LE sample rate: 44100 mmap: 1 [11:58:46.191608] alsa_open:593 buffer: 100 period: 3 -> buffer size: 4410 period size: 1470 [11:58:46.193314] alsa_open:610 unable to set hw params: Input/output error BUT!!! The interesting thing is that under "kernel audio driver parameters" (whatever that is ) "module" is snd_via82xx, even the actual device is disabled! The player output is set to M2Tech HiFace: How do I change the output module to M2Tech?

Here are my settings: