Audirvana Plus 3 (official thread)

[buonassi]

20 hours ago, jamesg11 said:

What “special firmware”?

iFi requires a slightly different firmware if you want to take the iDAC2 to 256.  Out of the box it handles 128.  The firmware is readily available on their site and flashing is easy with their software tool.  

[jamesg11]

Ok, thanks, using an idsd micro ...

[rodrigaj]

Question:

Is there any advantage to having SYSOPTIMIZER "on" when running A+ 3.2 on a network?

 

Problem:

SYSOPTIMIZER hangs up occasionally. A+ Remote offers no way of dealing with SYS OPT. I have to go to my mac mini located in my server room and click on a SYS OPT dialog box.

 

I would like to turn it off if it doesn't help an network connected computer.

[bnbayer]

6 hours ago, rodrigaj said:

Question:

Is there any advantage to having SYSOPTIMIZER "on" when running A+ 3.2 on a network?

 

Problem:

SYSOPTIMIZER hangs up occasionally. A+ Remote offers no way of dealing with SYS OPT. I have to go to my mac mini located in my server room and click on a SYS OPT dialog box.

 

I would like to turn it off if it doesn't help an network connected computer.

I can't answer your main question, but to save a few steps you can VNC in to the Mini from whatever iOS device you're using with A+ Remote.

 

I also find that a restart of the A+ computer (I normally never turn it off) will get rid of those SYS OPT errors for a month or two. (They only seem to pop up when it's been a long time since a restart, and once they start, they come up all the time.)

 

Brandon

[rodrigaj]

@bnbayer

I'm relatively new to A+ and A+ Remote.

How do you "VNC in to the Mini from whatever iOS device you're using with A+ Remote."?

 

[Jud]

3 hours ago, rodrigaj said:

@bnbayer

I'm relatively new to A+ and A+ Remote.

How do you "VNC in to the Mini from whatever iOS device you're using with A+ Remote."?

 

 

Two different things, VNC and A+ Remote.

 

VNC apps (not A+ or A+ Remote) provide a virtual/remote desktop on your IOS device, other computer, etc., that allows you to do whatever you need to on the Mini remotely.  If you're interested you'll want to look into VNC apps.

[bnbayer]

3 hours ago, rodrigaj said:

@bnbayer

I'm relatively new to A+ and A+ Remote.

How do you "VNC in to the Mini from whatever iOS device you're using with A+ Remote."?

 

By "using with A+ Remote", I meant install VNC on the same device so it's to hand. It's not something you do with the A+ Remote app. (Sorry for confusion.)

 

You'll find a number of VNC apps on the App Store. I'm using VNC Viewer (which was free) and it seems fine, but I haven't tried the others. They let you see the screen of your Mac Mini on your iPad or iPhone (bigger screen is better!) and control it. A little awkward for anything complicated, but if it's just to click OK on a dialogue box or something like that it's easy enough.

 

 

[rodrigaj]

@Jud @bnbayer

 

Thanks for the clarification. I'll look into VNC Viewer.

 

Anyone else have insights into my original question? :

Is there any advantage to having SYSOPTIMIZER "on" when running A+ 3.2 on a network?

 

[buonassi]

10 hours ago, rodrigaj said:

Is there any advantage to having SYSOPTIMIZER "on" when running A+ 3.2 on a network?

 

FWIW, I actually can't tell a difference when this is enabled or disabled, and I run from mac to a regen to DAC. Then again, I don't have time machine enabled on my Mac in the first place.  This is probably the biggest CPU culprit under sysoptimizer, but that's just a guess on my part.

[diecaster]

15 minutes ago, buonassi said:

 

FWIW, I actually can't tell a difference when this is enabled or disabled, and I run from mac to a regen to DAC.

 

Then confirmation bias is at play here. Why? Because all the SystemOpitimizer settings do is attempt to prevent the music feed from being interrupted by other tasks. If there are no interruptions, there is no sound difference. In other words, there can be no sound improvement so you can't be hearing what you think you are hearing.

[buonassi]

probably, you are right, yup.  And that's precisely why I dont bother turning this feature on.  

[Jud]

4 minutes ago, diecaster said:

 

Then confirmation bias is at play here. Why? Because all the SystemOpitimizer settings do is attempt to prevent the music feed from being interrupted by other tasks. If there are no interruptions, there is no sound difference. In other words, there can be no sound improvement so you can't be hearing what you think you are hearing.

 

Very alert - but he said he heard *no* difference.  So your own expectation bias was powerful enough that you understood him to say the opposite of what he in fact wrote.

[diecaster]

Lol....I did not see the "'t"!!! Too funny....

 

My apologies to @buonassi for my reading comprehension problem.

[rodrigaj]

I turned SYSOPTIMIZER off.

 

From the Audirvana+ forums it seems to be a buggy "feature".

 

In any case, I've had no interruptions so it will remain off.

 

[jimdukey]

OK, I'll bite!

What problems can S.O. cause?

Either on a network, or simple usb or firewire connection?

[rodrigaj]

36 minutes ago, jimdukey said:

OK, I'll bite!

What problems can S.O. cause?

Either on a network, or simple usb or firewire connection?

 

Problem:

SYSOPTIMIZER hangs up occasionally. A+ Remote offers no way of dealing with SYS OPT. I have to go to my mac mini located in my server room and click on a SYS OPT dialog box.

[jimdukey]

Sounds like you are on a Network.

Hangs up means dropouts or stopping?

I have had the occasional Drop-out on A+.

Firewire/Mytek mostly. No Network Play. 

I added to the buffer, but they still happen.

So maybe That's from the S.O.

I try unchecking it.

Thanks!

[jimdukey]

I'm having an A+ Weekend, so to speak!

Here are Screenshots of of the Audio Filters Prefs.

Are these the Default settings?

I'm on Mac/Sierra/Mytek 192/DSD Dac.

Also use Lampi Euforia.

Is there any documentation of what to listen for when adjusting the Sliders?

TIA!

 

[rodrigaj]

2 hours ago, jimdukey said:

Sounds like you are on a Network.

Hangs up means dropouts or stopping?

I have had the occasional Drop-out on A+.

Firewire/Mytek mostly. No Network Play. 

I added to the buffer, but they still happen.

So maybe That's from the S.O.

I try unchecking it.

Thanks!

 

I am on a network and Sysopt fails to work randomly. A dialog box comes up on the computer that is running A+ telling you that you have a sysopt error. A+ just sits waiting for you to click "OK".

 

Meanwhile, you are sitting in another room with A+ Remote watching A+ trying to load the next track. 

 

A+ Remote should at the very least notify you that A+ needs your attention. The whole experience feels like a work in progress.

 

The easy solution was to just quit using SYSOPT.

 

Other than that, A+ is reliable - no dropouts, going up to DSD128.

[Jud]

9 hours ago, rodrigaj said:

I turned SYSOPTIMIZER off.

 

From the Audirvana+ forums it seems to be a buggy "feature".

 

In any case, I've had no interruptions so it will remain off.

 

 

Never have had a problem myself, but experiences can vary among users in different situations, obviously.

 

Since my old laptop works rather hard to do the DSD256 upsampling  I want, it's nice to be able to have it concentrate its efforts on A+.

[buonassi]

17 hours ago, diecaster said:

My apologies to @buonassi for my reading comprehension problem.

 

ahhh, no apology necessary!  

 

3 hours ago, jimdukey said:

Is there any documentation of what to listen for when adjusting the Sliders?

 

no official documentation, but there has been many a post about them.  It would probably take me just as long to find them as to type up a quick guide.  If I have time, I'll try and create a post that I bookmark so I can easily ref in the future.

 

First, you have to make sure you are using upsampling in the first place.  Having "none" selected does nothing, so you shouldn't hear any difference (though at least one person has claimed that you can).  The key to adjusting all these sliders is to build an interpolation filter that you will like more than your DAC's interpolation filter.  It's a good place to start by understanding your DAC, and how it handles oversampling based on the sample rate it's sent.  Some DACs will bypass their own interpolation filter if their highest sample rate is fed to them.  Others will continue to oversample even from there.  So understanding your DAC is a prerequisite.  

 

Second, you should have a precursory understanding of the Nyquist theorem, low pass filtering, and aliasing, in general - though it is not necessary to hear the effects of these filter changes.  Linear phase vs minimum phase filters and how they affect ringing is another topic that is related to these settings so, again, is probably a good thing to have at least a rough grasp on.  But I understand that not everyone is interested in the science behind it, and may just want a quick guide that will help them play around.  This was my approach initially, but I do regret not reading up on the concepts first.  Just my experience, but I'm a weirdo. 

 

If @Jud has any bookmarks handy, i know he's typed up quick guides for these settings in the past, and may be able to point you there.  I'll try a search as well and see if I can find a tutorial.  If not, I'll give a quick rundown on each slider and what it does.

 

 

 

 

[buonassi]

here's at least one thread that give a few suggested settings:

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/29516-audirvana-how-to-select-izotope-settings/

 

Here's an older one.  The first 3 pages give you graphs that correlate to filter setting changes:

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/15051-izotope-src/

 

[RunHomeSlow]

 

2 hours ago, rodrigaj said:

A dialog box comes up on the computer that is running A+ telling you that you have a sysopt error. A+ just sits waiting for you to click "OK".

 

Close A+

Try deleting the preferences of it, go there:

 

Apple hide the Home Folder in User Library at some time depending on OS System... When you have clicked your Home Folder, and cannot see the Library Folder in there, just do a ''cmd J'' to show the folder settings preferences and see at the bottom... click Show Library Folder and then you'll have access to the rest forever.
 
Go to the Main Library Folder... PrivilegedHelperTools folder...
Trash All the files in that folder from A+ (that folder install SysOptimizer)
Go to the Main Library Folder... LaunchDaemons Folder...
Trash All the files in that folder from A+ (SystemOptimizer and prefs files)

 

Restart Mac, Restart A+... play a song it will reinstall SysOpt and see if you get the error again.

[jimdukey]

OK, so they are just for upsampling?

I usually do.

Today I was listening to the original Format.

I don't know any Theory.

I had moved the Sliders in both, wasn't sure I had moved them back properly.

So, assuming I'm listening to PCM upsampled to DSD 128, are they in Default position?

I want to start from the right place.

 

[RunHomeSlow]

The pics above were default... for izotope you just have to move the slider from best to faster to best to make it default again, sox i can’t remember