Do you have the latest update? I'm on 1.08b, IIRC - it was extended past Jan1st until the end of March, I think.
The early ones were unstable IME, but better now. The most irritating thing is the tracks not loading in order. I hear Audirvana is very nice now but I've not tried that.
You were right of course - the current version is 1.09b, and very good it is too. I have had one crash, when trying to load up a half hour long 24/96 piece, but nothing since. Though it has told me it crashed on last use twice now when it didn't - I let it send the report anyway.
I emailed Stephen Booth to discuss the crackling issue & the crash - he was most quick to respond - if you ever have a problem with AW it's worth getting in touch with him. I still have the logging software he had me install when the Beresford played up with AW, so I had lots of log files to send him. He is the second person to propose the HiFace may be clipping into the DAC.
I installed Audirvana last night, which is the real reason for this post, and quite honestly I felt it didn't really compete with AW. In the tonal & textural stakes it initially impressed me, but after a few minutes it sounded rather forced, exaggerated, to me at least. And it wasn't really much cop with timing. All in all, it is a noticeable improvement over iTunes (in spite of my perception that it is almost coloured somehow), and I like some of the preferences options. It certainly is a very worthwhile player, particularly as it is free ware, but at this point in time I still favour AyreWave & am planning on buying it.
Hmm. I'll give Audirvana a go sometime. The developer's stated intention to integrate it with iTunes libraries is a significant carrot to me, but I'll soon drop it if it messes with timing.
Timing is no worse than - in fact, possibly a little better than iTunes, which in itself is better than CD - just AW makes a better more fleet-footed job of it imo.
Thanks for the info on this guys, I've just downloaded it and transferred my entire iTunes library into it - will report back when I've had an ecoutez.
I like the fact that it will replay with the same sample rate as the track was originally ripped.
Well, that didn't take long - it's definitely an improvement. Just a couple of tracks played so far, one of which is Treasure Island off the Mary Black Holy Ground album, there's a Tenor Saxophone solo which via AyreWave has much more rhythmic content - the player's accenting against the beat and it's sounding a good deal more interesting, it's lit the music up quite nicely.
Glad you like it Richard. It's very basic - I won't go away fromi Tunes as a library, but I'll always drag 'n drop to AW. I am surprised there is a difference in character on 'bit perfect' players; that's three now! (AyreWave, iTunes & Audirvana)
I'm certainly very happy with it Alan, had a couple of drop-outs but only for a tiny fraction of a second. What has puzzled me though, is that although it plays the original sampling rate of the ripped track on the HD (be it 44.1 or 48 in my case), the HiFace will only output that freq to the Dac. Even if I go into the MIDI control panel and set the HiFace to 96k (the most the Dac will accept) as soon as I change tracks in Ayre Wave, it reverts to that track's own sampling rate - according to the lights on the front of the Dac.
However...If I let the album run its course ie don't flit between tracks myself, it will 'hold' the 96k rate.
Bottom line is that Ayre Wave's sound on its own (ie without HiFace) through USB is slightly better than iTunes with the HiFace in the system. Using the HiFace with Ayre Wave and it's just fantastic - if only I could get it to hold the highest samlping rate. Or have I missed something in the AW preferences pane??
Have I missed something? I thought the HiFace wasn't designed to upsample, so if you have a 44.1 file, that's what the HiFace will transmit to the DAC.
But won't AyreWave adjust the sampling rate according to the track? Gromit seems to want his computer to up-sample for him so he has the highest sample rate all the time (my apologies for speaking for you Richard - I hope I got that right?)
It's entirely possible I've got the wrong end of t'sitck here - sorry! I now realise the fact that I can set the Hiface to '192' in the midi settings doesn't mean that this is the rate that's leaving the USB socket. This would explain why, when setting it to 192, there is no sound at all - the Mac can't go that high. I'm presuming that the Hiface driver/software has that in there as a settings option, regardless of whether the hardware can be set to it or not.
It will however now allow me to use 96/24 out via USB - something which wasn't possible without the Hiface as the Macbook will only output up to 24/48 (I think), with the optical out (which sounds worse) going to 24/96.
Your MacBook can handle higher res files than that - I'm not sure off-hand what the highest is.
But you need to start with a high-res file for the HiFace to transfer it straight through to the DAC. Otherwise you need something to fiddle with the digits and the HiFace isn't that thing.
But won't AyreWave adjust the sampling rate according to the track? Gromit seems to want his computer to up-sample for him so he has the highest sample rate all the time (my apologies for speaking for you Richard - I hope I got that right?)
AyreWave will play the track according to its sampling rate. Then the HiFace or its driver will not do anything to the sampling rate as it does its USB to S/PDIF thing.
I've had a chance to compare AyreWave with Audirvana, and have come down firmly on the side of AyreWave (you win @Alan!). Audirvana sounds both granular and less focused, and while Audirvana sets up a believable stereo image, AyreWave fills the entire room with an acoustic (or an illusion of one) and places performers and instruments within it.
It's a great shame, because Audirvana is nicer to use, IMO.
But looks like when the time comes, I'll be buying AW.
Or Decibel? - Taken from Computer Audiophile today:
Submitted by Charles Hansen on Sun, 01/09/2011 - 12:26. Joined: 06/06/2009 .:. Offline .:. Comments: 71 I'm far from a Mac expert
I know that you can boot into 64-bit mode by holding down certain keys. I don't know if that makes any difference in the way AyreWave works (or sounds).
My understanding is that the current version of AyreWave requires Snow Leopard (10.6.x) because CoreAudio is 64 bits, allowing for double-precision floating point calculations. This ensures that 24- or even 32-bit files will be bit-perfect at the output to the playback device.
I hope that helps, and I hope that it is at least somewhat close to being correct. Stephen Booth is the expert on all of this, but he will be moving soon to take a new job. I think he is going to try and wrap up AyreWave to sell before he moves. There will likely be a name change to "Decibel". I don't know what the price will be. I am pretty sure that it will be under $100, but that is just a guess.
Judging from what I'm hearing Alan, 100 bucks will be an excellent buy. The difference between AW and iTunes is not subtle. I hear exactly what you mean when you say that somehow AW just sounds 'right'. So much more fluid, adaptable - musically - and less harsh, less hemmed in.
Done a couple of 24/96 tracks from HDTracks today - it's been an eye-opener.
Hi Keith - sadly it's the DacMagic which won't accept the 192 signal, the most it'll take on an incoming stream is 96; set the HiFace pane audio midi to 192 and there's just silence. 128 setting is funny though - it plays at quarter speed.
Anyone tried the latest Pure music 1.72a ......its a corker !
Friends use Ayrewave or Audirvana / Amarra which ive tried but i prefer PM as it sounds excellent through my firewire dac and is extremely stable through i-tunes interface which i just love using.
PM is what I was considering before AyreWave came along, as it is reasonably priced. The only measure of PM or Amarra's superiority seems to be personal preference anyway.
I think Keith is going to do me a demo of Amarra, so I'll probably try the Pure Music demo then too.
I would like to use the iTunes interface, and to be honest I do. I simply drag the album I want across to AyreWave. Not a very tidy solution though, it would be better if it were integrated.
I tend to agree with you on the personal preference issue - If it wasnt for the fact that bare i-tunes sounds inferior to most music apps available i wouldnt bother with anything else as the layout cant be bettered imho but with PM i dont even notice its running now.
I agree with Scotty regarding the running of PM, it seems very stable and certainly integrates with Remote and ITouch control much better than Amarra. But the latest Amarra sounds really good to me. I've had good support from Rob and I'm hoping the 'integer mode' release will level things again.
But for now, it's Amarra 2.1.1 for me, despite the fact that I'd rather have better integration with Remote and a less clunky way to play gapless albums. Now I have the hang of it though it's not a major inconvenience and the sound is very involving.
Tell him I can forward mine to you if he likes - my amp has decided to go on sick leave as of tonight. I'll not have much use for it for a week or two now
It's been through three fuses & not stayed on long enough to connect the speaker cables. I just finished moving the whole system into a new cabinet, so perhaps the move upset it. The odd thing is there were no noises or smoke or fireworks of any kind.
We had a most unusual set of power cuts here during the snow - on & off every 5 second for over three hours. Unfortunately no-one was here at the time!!! So maybe the cows have come home to roost...I am awaiting a diagnostic reply from the good doctor.
I just got replies - I'm off to see him tomorrow. It will only be the second I've met him - the first was for only 5 minutes. I have to say - Richard - as mr NVA - has always been spot on with looking after his customers & his gear.
Comments
The early ones were unstable IME, but better now. The most irritating thing is the tracks not loading in order. I hear Audirvana is very nice now but I've not tried that.
I emailed Stephen Booth to discuss the crackling issue & the crash - he was most quick to respond - if you ever have a problem with AW it's worth getting in touch with him. I still have the logging software he had me install when the Beresford played up with AW, so I had lots of log files to send him. He is the second person to propose the HiFace may be clipping into the DAC.
I installed Audirvana last night, which is the real reason for this post, and quite honestly I felt it didn't really compete with AW. In the tonal & textural stakes it initially impressed me, but after a few minutes it sounded rather forced, exaggerated, to me at least. And it wasn't really much cop with timing. All in all, it is a noticeable improvement over iTunes (in spite of my perception that it is almost coloured somehow), and I like some of the preferences options. It certainly is a very worthwhile player, particularly as it is free ware, but at this point in time I still favour AyreWave & am planning on buying it.
I should get a marketing position or something...
I like the fact that it will replay with the same sample rate as the track was originally ripped.
I've also got more solid bass too.
Je suis un convert.
only for a tiny fraction of a second. What has puzzled me though, is
that although it plays the original sampling rate of the ripped track on
the HD (be it 44.1 or 48 in my case), the HiFace will only output that
freq to the Dac. Even if I go into the MIDI control panel and set the
HiFace to 96k (the most the Dac will accept) as soon as I change tracks
in Ayre Wave, it reverts to that track's own sampling rate - according
to the lights on the front of the Dac.
However...If I let the album run its course ie don't flit between tracks myself, it will 'hold' the 96k rate.
Bottom line is that Ayre Wave's sound on its own (ie without HiFace)
through USB is slightly better than iTunes with the HiFace in the
system. Using the HiFace with Ayre Wave and it's just fantastic - if
only I could get it to hold the highest samlping rate. Or have I missed
something in the AW preferences pane??
It will however now allow me to use 96/24 out via USB - something which wasn't possible without the Hiface as the Macbook will only output up to 24/48 (I think), with the optical out (which sounds worse) going to 24/96.
Submitted by Charles Hansen on Sun, 01/09/2011 - 12:26. Joined: 06/06/2009 .:. Offline .:. Comments: 71
I'm far from a Mac expert
I know that you can boot into 64-bit mode by holding down certain keys. I don't know if that makes any difference in the way AyreWave works (or sounds).
My understanding is that the current version of AyreWave requires Snow Leopard (10.6.x) because CoreAudio is 64 bits, allowing for double-precision floating point calculations. This ensures that 24- or even 32-bit files will be bit-perfect at the output to the playback device.
I hope that helps, and I hope that it is at least somewhat close to being correct. Stephen Booth is the expert on all of this, but he will be moving soon to take a new job. I think he is going to try and wrap up AyreWave to sell before he moves. There will likely be a name change to "Decibel". I don't know what the price will be. I am pretty sure that it will be under $100, but that is just a guess.
Done a couple of 24/96 tracks from HDTracks today - it's been an eye-opener.
vb Keith.
vb Keith.
(:|
The '2L' stuff from Scandinavia looks nice, if a bit pricey.
Does it ask you to send a crash report to SBooth when you re-start it? I assume you've tried a fresh-install?
Now, what was that sage piece of IT advice that the experienced professionals like to give?...Oh yes, "let's turn it off & try re-booting"!
I'll find Stephen's email address & send it to you forthwith.
:">
I haven't tried mine since Sunday night, even then only for about 10 minutes. I hope it's fine.
:-@
I think Keith is going to do me a demo of Amarra, so I'll probably try the Pure Music demo then too.
I would like to use the iTunes interface, and to be honest I do. I simply drag the album I want across to AyreWave. Not a very tidy solution though, it would be better if it were integrated.
But for now, it's Amarra 2.1.1 for me, despite the fact that I'd rather have better integration with Remote and a less clunky way to play gapless albums. Now I have the hang of it though it's not a major inconvenience and the sound is very involving.
Steve
We had a most unusual set of power cuts here during the snow - on & off every 5 second for over three hours. Unfortunately no-one was here at the time!!! So maybe the cows have come home to roost...I am awaiting a diagnostic reply from the good doctor.