Need suggestions for Audirvana+ 3

[Scar972]

I've been a iTunes user for years and recently downloaded Audirvana+ 3 and immediately noticed how different it sounds compared to iTunes. The sound is noticeably sweeter with Audirvana like it has been EQ'd. This is great for some music but not all, and it lacks a little sparkle IMO.

My question is, how can I get Audirvana to sound more....open, balanced, more sparkle?

[Jud]

54 minutes ago, Scar972 said:

I've been a iTunes user for years and recently downloaded Audirvana+ 3 and immediately noticed how different it sounds compared to iTunes. The sound is noticeably sweeter with Audirvana like it has been EQ'd. This is great for some music but not all, and it lacks a little sparkle IMO.

My question is, how can I get Audirvana to sound more....open, balanced, more sparkle?

 

Your rig (system), sir?

[Scar972]

MacBook Air, A+ -> Ayre QB-9DSD USD Dac -> Audio Valve preamp -> D'Agostino Classic Stereo amp -> Magico V3 speakers

 

My other sources includes a NOS Ultra-Fi Dac-41, vinyl rig, cd player, reel to reel decks, cassette, etc. Thank you!  

[Jud]

OK.  The Air may not have the oomph to upsample with A+ to DSD64, and DSD128 or DSD256, which the Ayre doesn't do, probably would sound better anyway.  And the Ayre filtering will likely sound better to you if you want "sparkle," so no particular reason to try upsampling to PCM rates with A+.  (The filtering Ayre uses in its D/A conversion cuts very little, which allows a lot of high frequency energy through - probably sounds "sparkly.")  So you will probably just want to use A+ "straight."

 

Are you on Sierra or an earlier OS?

 

Edit: Also, are you still using iTunes to organize your music files?

[Scar972]

The Ayre does do DSD64, and can now do DSD128 with the latest firmware but that's beside the point.

 

What you're saying makes a lot of sense, so now how do I use the A+ "straight"? what must be changed in the A+ settings?

If I remember correctly I'm using Yosemite

No not using iTunes to organize music files

 

Thank you for your help! 

[wwaldmanfan]

Audirvana v3.xx is about as "sparkly" as it gets without adding coloration. If anything, users have been complaining that it sounds too revealing on the high end, compared to the previous version.

Using it straight means to disable the iZotope upsampling. Just go into Audio Filters preferences, and click "none".

[Scar972]

Yes, I've read one post here complaining of the top end being too revealing.

We all have different system, ears, and preferences. What I want A+ to do is not to eq/filter the signal in anyway, and send it to my DAC "straight" if possible.

I'll try changing the Filters to "none" and report back.

Thank you!

 

[Jud]

56 minutes ago, Scar972 said:

The Ayre does do DSD64, and can now do DSD128 with the latest firmware but that's beside the point.

 

What you're saying makes a lot of sense, so now how do I use the A+ "straight"? what must be changed in the A+ settings?

If I remember correctly I'm using Yosemite

No not using iTunes to organize music files

 

Thank you for your help! 

 

OK, actually as wwaldmanfan says, all you need to do to make sure there isn't any upsampling being done by A+ is set the upsampling preference to None.

 

Now, it's been forever since I looked at the default settings, so I'll just tell you what I think you may want to have selected in the Preferences.  I don't know which tabs these will all be on, so just look at the various Preferences tabs until you see them.

 

- Start with Exclusive Mode, Direct Mode, and Integer Mode all checked.  Listen with Integer Mode 1 first; if you like it, fine, if not, try Integer Mode 2.

 

- Check all the SysOptimizer stuff.

 

- Set A+ priority to Extreme.

 

Try toggling Direct Mode and the Integer Modes on and off if you don't hear what you like at first.

[Scar972]

Ok, so I checked the settings and "Converter" was set to iZotope, "Force Upsampling" was at None.

Changed the Converter to the only other option being Apple CoreAudio, and I'm now getting a sound I'm more used to . I think the iZotope setting could be beneficial for me as I feel it's better with certain type of music, nice to be able to go back and forth.

I really appreciate the help from both of you!

My only other issue is to get the A+ remote to connect more consistently