On a Mac, does Audirvana Sudio have better sound quality than Audirvana 3.5?
it is free to try…
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it’s different. Especially if you upsample using r8brain. It is more transparent. I am unsure if I am losing anything yet in the fullness of sound. I seem to be getting more bass and hearing nuances in music I had heard but not as much. Just the dilemma of whether that’s better or not, when you have got used to something haha!! I’m not disappointed, let’s put it that way and it has annoyed me, as I was hoping to hate Studio to not pay subscription and stick with 3.5. So it’s played a curve ball.
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How do you upsample using “r8brain”?
It’s very personal and debatable.
Different ears and different equipment may produce different results.
For my taste 3.5 sounds more engaging and rich.
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Thank you. r8brain improves the sound indeed. 
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I tried Roon trail against new Audirvana, Studio tonight, the sound of Roon has natural richer sound and better sound stage! Audirvana EQ is very overrated indeed! plus less features than Roon.
My system is Mac mini M1, connected to Denafrips Pontus 2 dac via Curious evolved USB , XLR out to Hegel H390, speakers Dali Epicon 6 speakers. I will be buying Roon subscription… Ps do not oversample in any software.
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I tried to install Roon several times, the last of them yesterday, when I was looking for a replacement 3.5
Neither he nor the braking HQP (Desktop + Server) is in any way superior to Audirvana 3.5
The best player for SQ- Amarra Luxe.
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Amarra Luxe is very good indeed. When I tried it I liked the sound, but was annoyed with bugs on macOS, so I did not buy it.
Try HQPlayer alone, without Roon. Be sure, it is well configured, because it’s a hell of a complex software.
Yes, Amarra has some annoying things when creating a library and playlists, but the need to run two HQP Desktope and Server applications with the library at once removed HQP as a candidate to replace Audirvana.
Moreover, the sound quality without upsampling does not exceed 3.5 at all and is even inferior in stage space.
Mac mini 2018- Unison Research SH- HD800.
The whole interest of HQP is in the high quality of its upsampling and in its convolution settings. If you don’t use them, there’s no point to use this software.
I am using exclusively native RedBook, no oversampling.
Give it a try with DSD files.
It would be interesting to understand if there was any placebo effect for those who upgraded from 3.5…
If comparing bit perfect, direct playback algorithms between 3.5 and Studio, can @Damien comment if there was a change?
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Logically, in Bit perfect both apps should have sound the same.
Thanks, then I stay with 3.5.
Matt
Matt !! Wake up…
How do you know VoyagerDude is right ?
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I did preface my personal opinion with two disclaimers.
Everyone should try and come to their own conclusion.
There are others who are reporting the same sound signature.
After all these reports I have zero interests to even try Studio.
This one month trial is nothing more than beta testing.
IMO, it is not a finished product.
Edit: Maybe it is different sounding for Windows?
Matt
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