Studio will not allow playing with Exclusive Audio Access Off

[cgatesman]

I’m on macOS 12.2 evaluating Audirvana Studio. When playing music (connected to DAC), playback will stop when I click on the Exclusive Audio Access lock button. It will always lock when I start playback. I want the option to be able to play without exclusive access. Is this not possible? I even turned off Exclusive Access toggle in the settings on the Output Device section assuming this is a global setting that makes it always on.

Is this behaving the way it’s suppose to and I don’t understand this feature??

[cgatesman]

So I think I have this figured out, but I don’t think the way it is presented in the app is quite right.

When I have Exclusive Audio Access enabled in the Output Device settings, it behaves as expected always having exclusive access to the DAC. When I disable this setting, it does not have exclusive access and behaves similar to any other audio application.

Where the confusion lies is with the lock at the bottom of Audirvana. I had the assumption this provided a temporary way of disabling exclusive audio access. However, it ALWAYS locks when playing, and if you unlock it, it ALWAYS forces playback to stop. I don’t see the point in this control. What am I missing?

I’m not sure if it’s quite right, but I found that even though it is showing exclusive access on when playing,

[Jacob]

The ‘lock’ is actually a stop button. As long as the lock is active and the exclusive access is enabled, the device is locked by Audirvana.

If exclusive access is not active, the functionality of the lock no longer works and it has become a normal stop button.

When the lock is active, it is also not possible to change the playback settings in Audirvana.

Once you know it, it works fine.

[cgatesman]

This makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!