Hello
I connected my Holo Cyan 2 DAC to a NUC.
It was recognized immediately by the app. In the DAC settings, it offers three levels for ALSA playback optimization: Standard, High, or Extreme.
Which one should I choose?
Thanks for your help.
I’ve been quite happy with Extreme. You can either pick one and go with it, or try them all and see if you like one better.
I have just been playing with the ALSA settings. Those are available when you use Audirvana Core, since ALSA refers to the ‘Advanced Linux Sound Architecture’.
I don’t know what the settings ‘standard’, ‘high’ and ‘extreme’ do technically, nor do I have any knowledge of how the ALSA software framework is utilised by Audirvana. Maybe @Antoine , someone from Audirvana can explain this?
To my ears, standard sounds (the default setting) sounds like the least interference with the signal. Resulting in a more open sound, with finer etched details in notes. It seems ‘high’ and ‘extreme’ do something to the sound. It results in a more ‘grippier’ sound, but at the cost of details in the high-mids and highs and at the cost of transparency of the sound.
Here’s how Claude AI describes what Audirvana’s optimization setting does with MacOS, which comes from a BSD heritage. It sounds reasonably accurate to me. I’m supposing something very much analogous is true of the ALSA optimization for Linux.
This is macOS-specific and deals with CPU priority rather than the audio stream itself. It lets you manage the priority level given to Audirvāna over processor access, and it’s configurable directly from the audio settings. It also disables background processes that could interfere with playback timing.
I do use DietPi, but I guess it works the same. I have used my ears and the reported findings are as they are, using an USB connection from a Raspberry Pi4 to a high quality preamp with DAC from a german manufacturer.