Mac mini slowness playing 24bit/352.8kHz DXD track

Connection with external Audio Devices
#1

I have several DXD (32-bit/352.8kHz) tracks from TRPTK which I’m able to play without issue on my 2018 i3 Mac mini. However, there is an older 24-bit DXD file that causes a spike in Audirvana’s CPU usage and causes the UI (both Mac app and iOS remote) to be unresponsive for 30+ seconds.

Æon Trio ‎– Elegy

Any idea why the 24-bit tracks are causing Audirvana to become unresponsive (for up to a minute), while the 32-bit tracks play without issue?

FYI: the 24-bit tracks are FLAC files, while the 32-bit ones originally were WAV (that I converted to AIFF).
I’ll try converting the 24-bit FLAC to AIFF to see if that makes a difference.

Also… my Mac mini i3 (2018) only has 8GB RAM, which is less than ideal (but I intend to upgrade to 32GB RAM soon).

UPDATE: after converting the 24-bit/352.8kHz FLAC files to AIFF, the Mac mini plays them somewhat better, but there’s still a noticeable slowdown in UI on the Audirvana Mac app and iOS remote app. I’m unclear on why the 32-bit D D files play without issue, but these 24-but DXD files do not

#2

Hello @NoneIsTheNumber,

When Audirvana freeze, does Audirvana crash in the end or not at all?

#3

Audirvana UI is unresponsive. Activity Monitor app shows Audirvana as not responding. However, Audirvana does not terminate execution… it eventually resumes normal behavior.

The increased CPU usage when playing the 24-bit tracks (as opposed to the 32-bit ones) is confounding. It’s certainly not expected.

I’ll try playing the same 24-bit DXD tracks on my other Mac (2019 16-inch i9) to see if Audirvana behaves the same. Also. I’ll try playing the tracks without the external DAC connected, allowing Audirvana to downsample to what the Mac can play they it’s speakers.

#4

When Audirvana is not responding, can you force it to quit? It will produce a report, copy all of the content in it and send it to us at [email protected] so we can take a look at it.

#5

Where do I find the log file produced when force quitting Audirvana?

#6

Are you on MacOS Catalina or on a older version than Catalina?

#7

I’m running Catalina.

#8

It may be more convenient to reproduce the issue and copy the content in the hang report to send it to us.

#9

OK. So after force quitting, I should be able to find the a report in the Console app?

#10

No, a window will appear and you will have an option to see all of the content of it.

#11

Although I notice a brief beachball cursor when playing the first track (either FLAC or AIFF) of a 24-bit DXD file on my Mac, it resolves itself after 300 seconds or so. The CPU % for Audirvana jumps over 100%, and the UI is unresponsive (with Activity Monitor saying Audirvana is not responding).

After the problem when playing the first track, I’m able to skip around the album and play tracks without any significant issue.

However, when I launch the iOS remote Audirvana app, Audirvana on my Mac immediately becomes unresponsive. The “now playing” screen on iOS Audirvana shows “Loading…” for 20 seconds or so. When I use iOS Audirvana to switch to the next track, the Audirvana Mac app becomes unresponsive. It takes several minutes for Audirvana to respond to the iOS request to change tracks.

I’d like to submit a Force Quit log, but cannot find one. Should I force quit using the Activity Monitor app or via the Apple Menu’s “Force Quit…”?

#12

Yes please, this is how you will have the possibility to have the report.

#13

I don’t see an option to generate a log file when force quitting a process in Activity Monitor (on Catalina).

Should I Run Spindump to generate some kind of log?

By the way… I upgraded my Mac mini RAM to 32GB and the UI is still very slow when I launch the iPhone app after playing my 24-bit DXD file. The Mac CPU usage is high when playing the file, but its UI only becomes unresponsive when I launch the iPhone app. The iPhone app talks a long time (>45 seconds) to display the track info.

So the scenario seems to be the combination of 24-bit DXD playback (either FLAC or AIFF) and the iPhone app. My Audirvana Mac app consumes a large % of CPU when playing the track, so it’s unable to respond in a timely manner to the iPhone apps request.

#14

NoneIs TheNumber, my late-2012 Mini i7 can play 24/352.8 AIFF tracks without prompting a spike in CPU usage, or a slowdown in the app or the iOS remote app. Are you running sample rate conversion, or any plug-ins on the DXD files?

#15

I’m not performing any rate conversion, as far as I know.

I’m able to play 4 TRPTK albums that are 32/352.8 WAV, but I’m having issues with one of (perhaps their only) TRPTK’s 24-bit DXD albums.

Today’s test was to remove all ID3v2.4 metadata from my AIFF; the album is Elegy by Æon Trio. I thought that maybe some unicode characters were contributing to my slowdown… but no, that doesn’t have any effect.

When viewing Activity Monitor, I can see Audirvana “hang” several times when playing. It’s very odd…but it appears there’s something specific to encoding of these tracks that exposes some issue in Audirvana. However, there’s always the possibility that it’s a config issue on my end. But I see the same results from both my Macs.

#16

There might be something wrong with the 24/352.8 download of Elegy by Æon Trio. I have that album in 24/192 (and reviewed it for All About Jazz). The 24/192 version plays without any problems.

You should contact TRPTK and send them one of the files to test. It’s a superb recording that should be heard at the highest resolution your system can play.

#17

Can you click on the X button while Audirvana “hang”?

image

#18

While the issue is worse after launching the iPhone app, I still see slowdown after playing the first 24-bit track off this album. Weirdly, after a few minutes, I’m able to switch between tracks without much delay in playing or UI slowdown. Note: this was with the tracks I converted to AIFF.

After selecting "Audirvana (not responding) and clicking the X, I see the dialog box with Force Quit and Quit buttons. Clicking Force Quit terminates Audirvana. While I haven’t before had an option to view/save a log file, I did just see a dialog with the “Problem Report for Audirvana”

#19

Below is the URL to the one Problem Report I was able to generate:

Google Drive copy of “2021.01.19 07.56 Problem Report for Audirvana.txt”

#20

Thank you for the report, we will take a look at it as soon as possible.