As much as I’d like to try Audirvana Plus on Windows, I’ve spent lots of time with no success on my up to date Win7 Pro x64. It installs but can’t run with this log:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: AudirvanaPlus.exe
Problem Signature 02: 1.0.1.1025
Problem Signature 03: 5b48e5a1
Problem Signature 04: PresentationFramework
Problem Signature 05: 4.7.2558.0
Problem Signature 06: 59d41ae6
Problem Signature 07: 2f7
Problem Signature 08: f
Problem Signature 09: System.IO.FileLoadException
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 79ef
Additional Information 2: 79efc95c85a776cdea0ccc77722885c3
Additional Information 3: 50c2
Additional Information 4: 50c205b0b5dc9f0126628bdf81835edc
Yes sorry that was a typo I wasn’t looking at the screen at the time (writing on another PC).
Was able to get everything installed and running and supporting MQA on my iFi Nano iDSD BL Renderer. The big problem that needed solving was a full Win10 update that took a full day (6GB+ other downloads for security). Once I was up to date on Win10, the NET 4.7.1 said it was already a later version. When I looked at the version in the Registry it was actually not quite up to that rev but listed there as 4.7.02xx.
I ran the Audirvana setup anyway and it was happy with my environment. I have the latest iFi HD+ driver installed but the only 2 choices Audirvana gives me is WASAPI and ASIO. On JRiver I have to use the “Direct Mode” driver to allow the BL’s DXD upsampling (Yellow LED) to work properly. This is for non-MQA PCM and does sound good.
The Audirvana WASAPI choice for iFi did not render MQA, only ASIO. But on ASIO, PCM tracks without MQA are not upsampled by the BL to DXD. I see Audirvana can upsample too but am not using that this time because I thought it might break MQA. I’m playing MQA tracks as digital audio files, not streaming TIDAL or anything else.
I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to access the iFi HD+ Direct Mode via Audirvana as I do on JRiver. That lets me also use DSD bit streaming for my DSF and DFF masters.
The iFi DAC is a MQA Renderer (not a full decoder): this means it needs to received a MQA audio signal whose first unfolding has been done by the software player.
That’s where Audirvana Plus makes it, thanks to its embedded MQA decoder.
Please note that because ASIO only lists drivers, not devices, there is no way to detect an ASIO driver has a MQA capable device connected. Thus when playing in ASIO, you need to manually set the iFi DAC capability to “MQA Renderer” (in the audio settings page of Audirvana Plus).
The iFi implementation is limited to 192kHz in WASAPI mode, but in ASIO, you don’t have this limit, so you have access to all its sample rates (up to DSD256 and 384kHz when the iFi MQA firmware is installed, or DSD512 and 768kHz with the previous firmware).
Audirvana Plus automatically detects a MQA file, and when connected to a MQA Renderer (or decoder), it automatically disengages any upsampling to preserve the MQA signal so that the connected MQA (like the iFi) can properly render it.
So, with “MQA Renderer” set for your iFi DAC, don’t hesitate to enable upsampling in Audirvana Plus, to PCM power of 2, or DSD.
I was clear on the Renderer vs Full Decoder DAC, but some great add’l. info here -thanks so much. Limitations on unfolding for WASAPI was never pointed out anywhere I’ve been til now. Good to know. I started with the Meridian Explorer 2 in early 2016 which is still 192k limit as far as I know. The iFi Renderer wasn’t my first choice over a full DAC Decoder but full DXD was important so I’m adapting the rest. It turns out iFi is an excellent PCM DAC as well as MQA and DSD. Quite a great package for sure.
Absolutely great to understand the upsampling better too. Many thanks! Will be digging in with my ears. I’ve used DSD128 upsampling with Onkyo’s HF Player on iPhone + OPPO HA-2 and like it a lot for all PCM.
I also used the Pioneer XDP-100R (til it died) and OTG to HA-2. The XDP said it was playing with MQA decoding, and also set for DoP upsampling. I’ve never understood whether it’s possible for MQA to be decoded (not MQA core via software, just hardware DAC) then the result upsampled to DSD and sent to another DAC like the HA-2. Is that even possible? I got incredible results in my OPPO PM-1’s with that setup but never clear on what was happening.