I am using Audirvana for a few months now & I am generally satisfied with the experience. I am always on the lookout for ways to optimize my setup and get the best possible sound quality.
This is my setup information.
Computer= MacBook Pro (2019) with 16GB RAM
DAC= Schiit Modi 3+
Amp= Schiit Magni Heresy
Headphones= Sennheiser HD650
Speakers= KEF LS50
Which Audirvana audio settings optimize sound quality the most? I am also looking for suggestions regarding the alternatives for upsampling. I have a USB connection to my DAC. Is this the best option or should I think about other kinds of connections? Have you found any other pieces of gear or accessories that significantly improve the sound quality. This might apply to power conditioners, USB filters or any other improvements.
I have check this: https://community.audirvana.com/t/audirvana-studio-vs-audirvana-sound-sf-cpqquality/29948
Thank you in advance for your help I want to diving deeper into the world of high quality audio with your guidance.
Hi, being relatively new as well here I am not the best person to give you the ultimate tips and tricks. But in general this will boil down to personal preferences.
I personally have upsampling activated (SoX because r8brain causes issues on my laptop). Max 2x… If you want this, just try what in your setup sounds best to your ears.
I have tried some plugins for equalizer as well, and that’s a world that is complicated. I have not found an option yet that sounded convincing enough to keep it. So for now I listen to Audirvãna with only the upsampling. There are videos on ‘How to’ on Audirvãnas website on this matter, which you may find helpful.
Others can tell you a lot more about options and best setup, as they have far more knowledge on the matter.
But bear in mind they do not have your ears and taste. So in the end it will all be ip to you.
Hi,
the quality of your usb signal is important, and the output of your laptop is not. To improve the quality of my system I’m buying a streamer and I’m going to connect it to AS with UPNP. You can follow my post here: https://community.audirvana.com/t/advice-for-purchasing-streamer
The reason to provide the debug information here, is so we can see your current Audirvana configuration settings, so to help optimize these in the context of your current playback component amalgamation capabilities… There are fundamental electro-mechanical and RF/EMF mitigation best practices that you can apply to get the most from your playback components and the system architecture in the context of your playback scenario. Outside of these fundamental criteria, any component related recommendations are subjective in nature.
The Audirvana team has provided an online ‘Help/User Guide’ which is found in the ‘Settings’ pop-up windows at the top-right of the windows. This will give you insights as to what the settings implement and affect…
The Room is very important… Bass, wide band absorbers and diffusers along with DSP Room Correction will make a big difference… Toss in a little EQ to taste and your on your way to audio nirvana…
Hi,
I don’t know the DAC nor the Amp you are using but the speakers and the Headset are certainly not the culprit if you experience a poor sound quality.
If I were you, I will try another DAC. The one you have could certainly be replaced by something better.
Maybe you should consider an integrated Amp with a DAC inside and a possibility to make a network connection between the MacBook pro and the DAC.
On my side I’m using the Yamaha N-2000A which is a good choice I think. But there are less expensive solutions I think.
I’m not sure you can really improve the sound quality by a tweaking of AS, but I’m not an expert in that field.
Try not upscaling - seemed to add more of a veil to the sound than improvement but maybe compare. Use Kernel mode and compare DAC input bit depth. Switch between 24 and 32bit and see if this changes the sound and what sounds better. 32 bit in my setup made notes sound like they were plucked accentuating T and S sibilance. Some ideas to try YMMV.
The only thing changing in the file being upsampled is the dynamic-range of the signal and the Nyquist frequency of the resulting file… The original encoded bits are unchanged and the sample-rate is increased by adding zeros to the bit-stream… Any other subjective assessments of contextual sound-quality are typically associated to system level DAC/filter elements and component/ aggregate system topologies that induce noise-related jitter.
I want to diving deeper into the world of high quality audio with your guidance.
