Rentier capitalism… It is just a small enterprise wich try to survive on a “marché de niche”… Like other hifi constructor, it’s craftmanship…
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It’s still rentier capitalism, based on the collection of rent.
like your salary… They are paid for their work and you can choose to pay or not…
I choose not to. I also do not earn a salary. You assume a great deal.
I concur.
With AS, on my LS35As the difference is not glaring but it is there, while on my ESL2812s it is quite noticeable.
At times, you can almost follow some conversation in the background. The lady is clearly more interested in the chap that talks to her than in the music…
With the streaming of audio signals, it is not just a matter of what bits are transmitted, but also their timing. Those digital bits are sent as analog wave forms that alternate between two voltages, representing a “1” or a “0”. Ideally, the transition between the two voltages should be instantaneous. In reality, however, the wave form at these transition points is not vertical, but steeply sloped. When the wave crosses a certain threshold level, the bit is recognized as having been received and can be processed. However, electrical noise in the computer also sends out small electrical waves, and wave heights are additive. As a result, these noise waves can slightly raise or lower the level of the digital audio wave and can slightly speed up or delay a bit’s recognition. This causes some bits to be slightly too close together or too far apart, timewise. So, when your DAC chip uses the stream of bits to reconstruct the analog wave form, the points on the wave end up a little bit to the left or right of where they should be, causing a loss of clarity. That’s why Audirvana has provisions in the SysOptimizer to shut down other processes, such as Spotlight indexing, to minimize the electrical noise. That’s why the assumption that “bits are bits” and “all bit-perfect players should sound the same” breaks down. This is how a guy who designs DACs explained it to me. Its probably over-simplified, but it makes sense to me.
Thanks to convey this to us, and thanks to that DAC designer for mastering his domain so well as to be able to explain things in an approchable fashion.
I suppose he did not reply to your questions with a geeky “It’s too complicated, you wold not understand”
Thank you for the excellent explanation.
I knew SysOptimyzer reduces the noise of the computer, but did not make the logical link with the effect it could have on Bit-perfect mode.
Unfortunately for some of us on Big Sur, SysOptimyzer doesn’t work with AS. I don’t know why, but the issue was not resolved yet. Until the issue is not resolved, it will be impossible for me to make an educated judgement on the sound quality of AS.
Are you using a Mac?
Yes. I am using a Mac, and SysOptimizer works just fine. You just need to know where to look for it. At the bottom left of the AS screen, you will see an icon that looks like a two-way speaker. Click it and then go to the Audio tab. Then scroll to where you see a rectangle labeled, “Computer”. In the upper right of that rectangle, you will see a gear icon. Click that for settings related to the computer, such as turning off Time Machine and Spotlight while playing music.
The problem is otherwise. The installation of SysOp fails and I get an error message.
Here’s a post with screenshots by a user who has the same problem. We are waiting already two days for Damian to fix this issue:
I get the same as Doudou
Enable sysop and click restart all services I get this error
and then after choosing to install and entering my password I get this error
Actually what happens is this:
If I stop the playback and launch a new track, I get immediately the window “Need to install SysOp”. I allow the app to install SysOp and provide my password. But right after that I get an error 4 message, telling me SysOp could not fully install.
It happens each time I try to play a track after the playback was stopped.
This is clearly not a mac setup for music only 
Even with SysOpt on with a setup like that, you will not see a difference.
you might have more problems as it could shut down some apps working
Teams, Outlook, Safari, Mail… Close everything and just listen to music…
you won’t see any difference with SysOpt on…
But i know it as to be arrange for people who have that bug
Peter Green is good
I can quit all my apps to listen to the music, but I can not kill macOS processes that run in the background (such as Spotlight and Timemachine) that SysOp prevents from running.
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Tell me after that bug is corrected that you can hear a difference
SysOpt on or off, normal or extreme… All song are played from loaded in memory,
my old MacMini late 2012 is at 98% of the time not working (my local files).
My time machine is off by default, i do time machine when i want
I’ll check what you say when the bug will be fixed.
Nevertheless, on Mac there’s no other player who stops the OS processes apart Audirvana. And this feature is one of the arguments of Damien to distinguish Audirvana from the other players.
I checked already AS and compared it with the others players that I have. So I have my opinion about its SQ. But I would like to hear it at the optimal conditions that are recommended by its developer.
I am using new Mac Mini with the new M1 , Apple, chip. I am also using it as a dedicated music server and rarely use any other software on it. SysOptimizer works fine for me, so I suspect that you have Macs with Intel chips. I hope Damien fixes this soon.
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Yes, my two MBP are with intel processors. (I still have even a G4 PowerBook that works fine.)
Do you have the possibility to compare the sound of AS on your M1 Mac Mini to the sound of AS on an intel Mac?
I think you earn money for your work, but if property is theft why earn a software 
Amarra Luxe has ‘exclusive access’ mode…
Exclusive access is something else.
Audirvana and many players have it too.
With this mode, your player takes an exclusive access to the sound playback of the computer. The other applications can play sound. For instance, if play an album with Amarra to your DAC, you cannot play music on Youtube in Safari.
SysOtymizer is something else. With it, Audirvana prevents macOS to execute some background operations (like Time Machine and Spotlight…) in order to reduce the noise of the computer and to send more pure Bits to the DAC.