Specs For Pc

Using a intel nuc with i5 to upsample to dsd 256.It does play but it shows around 97% proccessing power.It shows the same if droping to dsd 128.Both cause fans to run full speed.Wondering what type of PC people are using ?

Hi @Jason_Pasosky,

Which i5 CPU are you using?

It is a I5-6260U.

Ok, and when you take a look at the task manager under the performance tab, can you send a screenshot when you have your CPU peak?

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Also I think it’s a good idea to check cpu and ram when starting Audirvana (in settings).

For example I have less than 10% CPU and around 20% RAM usage.

I use upsampling and 4 vst plugins from Goodhertz. I have only 8 gb RAM DDR3 and an i3 6th gen. And a buffer of only 1536 mb. Kernel Streaming Extreme. And guess what: works/sounds AMAZING. I agree I made some optimizations and I use ltsc 1809 but anyway you have a better machine, so should work well imo.



Even after I stop muisc cpu will stay @ 100% until I close Audrivana

So what i have noticed is the cpu will drop down to about 8 % about half way through a song then when next song starts does same thing back up to 100 cpu then drops at about 2 minutes into song

This is the behaviour I think. Yes, when I play a song the cpu goes around 60% and after some seconds (20 or 30 max?) back to a low level. But this is not a problem for me since the system is stable and my cpu fan is relatively quiet. I upsample to “max frequency” (32/384 in my case). I don’t like dsd sound (with my dac?). Too artificial, less natural, less analog. Like listening music in a mall. Sounds good but no emotion. I can upsample to dsd 64 and 128. If i do this my cpu will be around 80-85 % for a few seconds. But still not a problem since no crash or fan noise.

I see the same thing on my PC, but I noticed that it depends on the audio buffer size in Audirvana. The shorter the buffer, the shorter the high CPU time. I have a NUC in a fanless case, so I have no fan noise, but I see a temperature spike to around 70-80 degrees celcius the first 10-20 seconds at the start of each track (upsampling to DSD256). After that it drops and is normal.

I noticed the same. It also seems to be linked to the kind of upsampling. PCM upsampling spikes the CPU less than DSD upsampling. No upsampling almost gives no spike.

@Jason_Pasosky : try to experiment with the combination of buffer-size and upsampling. It will probably differ from computer to computer. But in your case I would lower the buffer size in Audirvana first. See if that helps. If that does not help enough: lower the upsampling rate (or disable upsampling).

In general: DSD upsampling is quite CPU intensive on any computer. PCM upsampling is less CPU demanding. I notice that in other programs (Foobar, Roon, JRiver etc.) on my system too.

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Can you click on the Processes section while you start playing a song?

As soon a start to play jumps pc to 100% cpu

I understand this but would like to see it in your processes.

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