Glitch, Skipping, within a song

Hi everyone, I tried reaching out to customer support, had a few exchanges, but now I’m waiting for additional support. I figured maybe I’ll try here.

I’m only streaming Tidal.

Some songs playback totally fine, and other songs have the problem where during playback:

  • A split second gap/silence, followed by the song resuming either a second ahead, or a second behind.
  • No gap, but the same problem with the song suddenly going a second forward or back. Or maybe a second of the song is just gone.

Either way, I would say it happens on about 30% of the tracks.

This problem happens if I use my external DAC, my integrated amp’s DAC, or just the computer speakers.

I have upsampling turned off, and other than that, haven’t changed any default settings that I can recall.

I have a Macbook and an iMAC, with the same problem happening on both.

Anyone else having this problem? The Audirvana was running perfectly fine for ages, I didn’t change my audio chain at all, and then suddenly this problem happened maybe a week ago.

Any help would be awesome. Thanks everyone!

  • Jason

What macOS are you running? Are you using SysOP? Make sure your notifications, screen saver, and other system-level A/V operations etc, are disabled that may interrupt the signal… Check your router settings and make sure it’s optimized for streaming and if you have simultaneous multiple devices operating wirelessly on your home-network, make sure you have enough bandwidth to handle the demand. Check your grounding scheme for your playback system… your entire system is at the mercy of ground differentials that can migrate if you are not vigilant in this regard… all your A/V components should reside on a common ground-path… Outside of obvious playback system gremlins you may want to analyze the TIDAL feed and experiment with your memory setting in the device set-up in Audirvana.

Hi there, thanks for the response :slight_smile:

I’m running 11.2.3 for Mac OS - the most recent one. I’m also using ethernet directly from my router. For the memory allocation, I’ve set things at numerous points. I’ve uninstalled the software, reset the modem, all that stuff too. My computer and amp are all running on the same ground-path to my knowledge.

The glitch that happens is easy to replicate. Let’s say there’s a song and the error happens at 1:00 in the timecode.

If I stop the song. And change a setting, or let’s say switch from my external DAC to my computer speakers, and I hit play again, the error will happen at exactly 1:00 again.

If I reset my computer completely, and play that song, the error might move from 1:00 to any other point in the timeline. Or it might play without any problems. Until I inevitably hit another problem.

If I use the Tidal app, or stream 4k video, or play a game, my internet has always been rock solid.

It’s weird because nothing in my audio chain has changed.

The tell-tale is that the hiccup happens at about the same time in the playback or changes after resetting your computer… You have to ask yourself why others (like myself) don’t have this problem on basically the same system (MacBook Pro, macOS 11.2.3)… If you are using “integer mode” try disabling it… However, it seems that there is something interrupting the data-flow to the computer… If you have a NAS, networked receiver or networked player, it could be in your router… ask yourself “what changed” in my network recently… It seems unlikely that Audirvana is causing the hiccup…

I’ve posted a description of my system configuration and some relevant comments in this related thread:
https://community.audirvana.com/t/songs-stop-playing-seconds-from-the-end-the-definitive-edition/24033/10

First, thanks so much for responding to this thread - your time is appreciated. :slight_smile:

I’ll try integer mode turned off, but I’m not optimistic since during my testing I also turned off Exclusive Mode, and the problem still happened.

It’s not my receiver, because this problem happens no matter what.

USB to DAC, USB to receiver, no USB and using just my iMac speakers.

Like you, I thought it could be my network, even though it’s perfectly smooth for all other applications and also when I run tests for speed, reliability, packet loss, etc. (for example, I have measured download speeds of over 200)

But it’s not my network because I tried using an entirely different network and the problem still arises. And it’s not my iMac because it happened on my Macbook Pro.

You mentioned in the other thread that you don’t stream music, and I think maybe that’s the issue. I only stream Tidal. I think there’s some kind of issue happening between Tidal and Audirvana.

(when I use the Tidal app everything runs flawlessly)

Yep… It seems there is a problem with streaming services… The question comes to my mind is, "why the hiccup/interrupt happens at the same point in the playback? …I’ve run into stuttering when using two AU plugins simultaneously when up-sampling 352.8kHz files to DSD128, that I’ve not yet resolved (not a high priority) not much insight from from Damien 3 on this one at this point…

The predictability of these things is the clue… seems there are buffering issues… In your case, why would there be predictable interrupts if there are no other macOS system-level operations (notifications, screen-saver, etc) inducing them, and why are some folks having streaming issues, relative to those folks streaming content that are not having problems on similar systems? What is the corollary in the systems that are having streaming issues and what percentage of users are not having problems with streaming from TIDAL, etc… You stated that this just cropped-up…If there was no update to Audirvana that may have instigated this issue, then, was there a macOS update that caused this to appear…? If everything was as it was, before this issue cropped-up, it certainly is a mystery if it happens on every track, on different files you are streaming… Why would Audirvana now interrupt the data-flow, and If it’s randomly occurring, why would Audirvana now randomly interrupt the data-flow?

"the question comes to my mind is, “why the hiccup/interrupt happens at the same point in the playback?”

Yep, it’s a mystery.

Just so I can clarify, it happens only at the same point until I shut down Audirvana. So if I’m playing a track, encounter an error, then stop, maybe change a setting, then hit play again the error will happen at the exact same spot.

If I shut down Audirvana completely, and play the same track, it won’t be in the same place. And it might not happen at all. But eventually, within 4 or 5 songs it’ll happen without fail.

" You stated that this just cropped-up* …If there was no update to Audirvana that may have instigated this issue, then, was there a macOS update that caused this to appear…?"

It’s very possible, yes. There could have been a MacOS update that isn’t playing nice with Audirvana streaming Tidal.

When I reached out to customer support, they responded very quickly. We had a few exchanges, but now I haven’t heard from them in days.

If they said they are aware of the problem, and they’re working on, it would be totally fine. My concern is that this problem is somehow unique to me (though I think that might be unlikely since I’ve changed computers and networks with the same problem).

Hopefully they’ll get back to me soon to confirm it’s an issue they’re working on.

(I also think that if someone plays music and it’s just on in the background while they clean the house or something, and they’re not paying attention they might not notice. But if you’re actually listening to the music, or say in front of your speakers while browsing the web, such as in my case - you’d notice for sure)

Thanks again for chiming in :slight_smile:

1 Like

I am experiencing the same thing.
Just started happening in the last week or so.
I had not changed any settings.

Like you, I can reliably reproduce the problem at a certain point in a track that is streaming from TIDAL. I will need to see if this is happening on my locally-stored tracks.

Hi Jagan!

I’m sorry that you’re encountering this problem…but selfishly I’m glad I’m not alone! :wink: Just meaning that since we’re both having this problem, then likely others are as well, and therefore at least it’s a problem on Audirvana’s side and not ours.

When I first contacted them I had a series of responses, then less, then none in days. To be honest, I’m not really happy with their response to this situation.

If they were to say, “Sorry, there’s a problem, we’re fixing it on our end, thanks for your patience, etc” then I would be okay with that. But when you spend $100+ on a product, you do deserve a bit more of a response. They would ask me a question, I would answer right away, then wait days for another email with another question, which I would answer, then wait days again.

So I’m just not using the app anymore - just streaming directly off Tidal. I’ll give it a bit more time before just abandoning Audirvana completely - it’s really a shame.

2 Likes

Hi Jason,

I’ve got the same problem and feelings too. Few days ago a song skipped at the same places after many restarts/database maintenance in Audirvana, but not in Tidal. I’m running Windows, so it won’t be Mac related. Freezes, crashes, glitches are on everyday basis, so I started to regret my 100€ for such a buggy software.

Andras

Hi Andras, I hope Audirvana fixes the problem. I’m sure a lot of people are having issues with it. Aside from the money, it’s also costing us time because they’ve been so quiet on the issue. If they just said, “Hey everyone, the issue is on our end, so don’t worry about spending your time trying to fix it and we’re working on it” that would be ideal.

Maybe offer us the chance to download an older version of the software so at least it could be usable.

And just for anyone else reading this who might have this problem: I would suggest to not waste your time in the extremely off chance there’s something you’re doing “wrong”.

I’ve used multiple computers, different networks, different DACs, etc, etc and the problem always happens.

I have the identical problem.
Will there be an update to fix the problem?

Hello @Jason1978,

First of all we would need to see your configuration to understand why you have your issue. To do that, reproduce the issue and right after you reproduced it, we would need a copy of the “Debug Info”? You can get it in Audirvana Settings>General>Debug Info

Note: By clicking on the Debug Info button, Audirvana automatically copies all its content, all you have to do is paste it in response to this message

Thanks for your response; it’s greatly appreciated. Here is the debug issue that I captured right after the error happened.

Please note that my DAC is the ifi iDAC2, but this problem happens across multiple DACs, no external DAC, different computers, different networks, etc.

The track played, the error happened, I waited a few seconds and then hit pause and went to debug.

Audirvana Mac Version 3.5.44 (3574)
macOS 11.3.0 with 8192MB RAM

Registered to Jason

SIGNAL PROCESSING:

Polarity Inversion:
	Globally: OFF
	Per track: ON
Effects plugins NOT ACTIVE

UPSAMPLING:
SoX not in use
SoX filter parameters
Bandwidth at 0dB = 98.6997
Filter max length = 30000
Anti-aliasing = 100
Phase = 66

AUDIO VOLUME:
Max allowed volume: 100
Replay Gain: None
SW volume control: OFF

LIBRARY SETTINGS:
Sync list: 0 folders
iTunes/Music library synchronization: last synchronized on Wed May 29 12:42:08 2019

Library database path: /Users/jasonherda/Music/Music/Atoms for Peace/AudirvanaPlusDatabaseV2.sqlite

ACTIVE STREAMING SERVICES
TIDAL: Connected as HIFI

=================== AUDIO DEVICE ========================

CoreAudio audio path, buffer I/O frame size: 512

Max. memory for audio buffers: 6304MB

Local Audio Engine:
Exclusive access: Enabled
Integer mode: Disabled

Preferred device:
iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio Output
Model UID:iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio:20B1:3008
UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:iFi (by AMR):iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio:00000000:1

Currently playing in standard 32bit float mode
Device: 2ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Signed Float, 8 bytes per frame 44.1kHz

Active Sample Rate: 44.1kHz
Hog Mode is on

Bridge settings:
Sample rate limitation: none
Sample rate switching latency: none
Limit bitdepth to 24bit: OFF
Mute during sample rate change: OFF

Selected device:
Local audio device
ID 0x2d iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio Output Manufacturer:iFi (by AMR)
Model UID:iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio:20B1:3008 UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:iFi (by AMR):iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio:00000000:1

8 available sample rates up to 384000Hz
44100
48000
88200
96000
176400
192000
352800
384000
Audio buffer frame size : 27 to 4096 frames
Current I/O buffer frame size : 512
Volume Control
Physical: No
Virtual: No
MQA capability
Auto-detect MQA devices: No
Not a MQA device, user set to MQA Renderer
DSD capability: DSD via PCM 1.0
Device audio channels
Preferred stereo channels L:1 R:2
Channel bitmap: Ox3, layout:
Channel 0 mapped to 0
Channel 1 mapped to 1

Audio channels in use
Number of channels: 2
Use as stereo device only: No
Simple stereo device: Yes

1 output streams:
Number of active channels: 2, in 1 stream(s)
Channel #0 :Stream 0 channel 0
Channel #1 :Stream 0 channel 1

Stream ID 0x2e 2 channels starting at 1
16 virtual formats:
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 384kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 352.8kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 192kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 176.4kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 96kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 88.2kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 48kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Float 44.1kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 384kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 352.8kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 192kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 176.4kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 96kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 88.2kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 48kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 44.1kHz

16 physical formats
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 384kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 352.8kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 192kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 176.4kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 96kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 88.2kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 48kHz
2 ch Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 44.1kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 384kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 352.8kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 192kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 176.4kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 96kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 88.2kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 48kHz
2 ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32 little endian Signed Integer 44.1kHz

Local devices found : 3
Device #0: ID 0x3d Built-in Output Manufacturer: Apple Inc. Model UID: AppleHDA:130 UID: AppleHDAEngineOutput:1F,3,0,1,2:0
Device #1: ID 0x30 TE7022 Audio w/ SPDIF Manufacturer: GFEC ASSP Model UID: TE7022 Audio w/ SPDIF:1852:7022 UID: AppleUSBAudioEngine:GFEC ASSP:DigiHug USB Audio:14600000:2,3
Device #2: ID 0x2d iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio Output Manufacturer: iFi (by AMR) Model UID: iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio:20B1:3008 UID: AppleUSBAudioEngine:iFi (by AMR):iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio:00000000:1

UPnP devices found : 0

Before you have done the update to 11.3, did you had this issue?

I don’t think so. I’ve had Audirvana for a while and this is honestly the first time I’ve had this problem. Is there a way for me to get a version of 11.3? I’m happy to test it out and report back to everyone else on this thread.

Oh sorry, I misunderstood.

I got MacOS versions confused with Audirvana.

Yes, prior to MacOS 11.3 I had the problem.

In this thread there is a Windows PC user who also experienced this issue, so I don’t know if it’s a MacOS problem. He also streams via Tidal - like me.

I only stream via Tidal.

Does it occurs only with MQA tracks?

Sadly, it happens across the board. The track where it occurred above I don’t think was an MQA track.

If you would like any more information, please let me know.

Is there any chance that I can download an older version of Aurdirvana. It’s just that I paid $100+ for a piece of software that is unusable.