I’m looking to choose a music player to organize my lossless music library, which primarily includes FLAC, WAV, and AIFF files, along with some MP3s. I’ve read that Audirvana offers high-fidelity sound by focusing on three key areas: audio flow control, noise reduction, and DAC (digital-to-analog converter) adaptation. Is this accurate? Most of my music is ripped from CDs, with some sourced from vinyl, as I have a passion for analog sounds. I am particularly interested in learning more about the DAC aspect. I would appreciate any advice you can offer.
To my thinking (and I’m simply a long time user, not a developer, so the Audirvana folks are certainly better sources), it isn’t so much DAC “adaptation” as sending the data in a way that allows most DACs to function at optimum.
First is that Audirvana is a “memory player.” The data file, with whatever processing you choose, is stored in memory before being sent along to the DAC, rather than simultaneously with the computer’s processing of the file. This allows for lower CPU activity while the file is playing.
Second is that the file can be sent in “integer mode,” the native data mode of many DACs, rather than the “floating point” mode usually sent by computers.
Finally, for many DACs Audirvana allows for use of upsampling in the computer rather than the DAC, which permits use of more sophisticated filters and modulators. This has been measured to result in lower noise and distortion figures (though whether the reduction is audible is a matter of discussion - the noise and distortion most DACs ordinarily produce is already quite low).
That’s what I can think of. Others may have more information for you.
Welcome…
You will find this primary design dogma to be true (from “About”)
Our mission
We make great sound accessible by turning one’s computer into a high performance digital source. Our only purpose is to preserve the integrity of digital music and maintain absolute transparency during playback from a computer, server or NAS. We get rid of the ‘invisible’ noise of the hardware electronics, avoiding all unnecessary conversions and processing – source of jitter and interferences – which result in audible noise and distortion as they are amplified through each component of the audio chain.
Your playback system configuration plays into the ultimate quality of sound you will be auditioning… we don’t listen to the ‘digital bit-signal’ we listen to the ‘analog’ waveform interpretation of the digital-audio signal presented to the output circuitry of the DAC… The path those electrical signals that represent the bit-signal that was lifted from the storage medium, where this is the only state of the digital-audio signal that physically exist as encoded bits (ones and zeros) is subject to a myriad of influential potentials that will affect the quality of the digital-audio signal that eventually gets presented to the output circuitry of the DAC… The goal is to mitigate or eliminate those influential potentials, both in the digital domain and the analog domain.
The primary decision regarding the DAC will be centered around how the platform handles different digital-audio formats (multi-bit LPCM and 1-bit DSD) and your experience with either or both… As @Jud alludes, many users apply up-sampling to lower-resolution PCM files, so to realize the full potential of lower bit-depth and lower resolution files by virtue of the process… Some like both Jud and I modulate (up-sample) all PCM signals to DSD sample-rates so to present a signal to the output circuitry of our DSD-centric DAC’s that is closest to an analog waveform, among other technical signal related improvements…. Not all DAC’s that support DSD provide an unfettered 1-bit signal path to output… These DAC’s decimate DSD signals and subsequently present a multi-bit PCM signal to their output circuitry.
*The highest form of digital-audio encoding today is found in the high-resolution 1-bit PDM (DSD) recordings both native and those transfers from analog sources (archives).
The amalgamation of your system components may not favor digital-audio playback if you have designed it around analog source playback, so some changes may be in order… The electronics and electro-mechanical and acoustical environment in which you employ Audirvāna, will be intrinsic to your appreciation of the sound-quality served to them.
30 day free trial of Audirvana… What’s not to try?
If you already have an analogue centric kit you should end up with an analogue sound…
For instance, I have a tube preamp in my signal chain which imparts a more analogue sound to the rest of my kit… I also have a digital room correction plugin as well as a warmer sounding EQ plugin within Audrivana’s internal signal path…
The “DAC aspect” is nothing more than some pre configured settings for certain brands to make Audirvana function best with that particular DAC or brand. In most cases that means: working without hassle.
As far as ‘does it sound digital or analogue’ (which I find very inadequate words to describe sound, but that as a side note), I have some reading material for you: To the Core: what determines the sound of software? - Alpha Audio
As others have said before: why don’t you just try it in your setup and see if it fits your needs? There’s a trial period for free.
Do you believe the computer platform and the software player/audio-engine, in concert with the DAC, have no influence on the quality of sound in the final audition of a digital-audio encoding?
Just so I can fully understand your perspective, what do you believe represents a “bit” in a digital-audio code signal?
The article you linked here barely touches on some aspects of system design and digital-audio reproduction, and does not address differences in DAC design and function… The article only focuses on Linux based operation on different and limited computer platforms using Linux, that are not vertically designed to be DAC platforms, this is backyard hobbyist Do it Yourself.
It does not address the flow of digital-audio signals through any given computer platform and system topology and the flow of digital-audio signals through a well designed DAC platform topology… At best it only gives one a narrowly focused comparison of Linux based hobbyist platforms and how they behave under the limited subjective conditions that were being experimented with.
The topic of electronics/mechanical design influences on digital-audio signals is not so trivial… It demands a deeper understanding of the fundamental computational operations of the host platform and software synergies, the electronics and mechanical architectures/topologies of the entire amalgamation of component platforms, and the environment in which they operate.