I am wondering why did you choose Audirvana ?
There is so many other players free and paid choices !
I am not interested about negative opinions !
We know about all kind of glitches etc.
But you are here reading this posts, so you have interest in Audirvana progress or recent changes from Version 3.5 to Audirvana Studio.
I am here because I couldn’t find on planet earth any universal software that would play all kind of popular these days music formats.
Any player can play Flac, Wav files
More advanced programs can play DSD, DXD, Monkey Audio etc
I know only 3 apps that can play SACD ISO : Audirvana, Jriver Media Centre and free Foobar 2000
Jriver and Foobar can not unfold and play MQA
Not too many choices left
Actually only one that I know of is Audirvana !
It is chewing SACD ISO like butter !
It is playing MQA CD rips no problem.
It sounds great with cheap IFi Zen Dac, installed on older computer with only 8 GB of RAM
For you maybe there is something more important than Audirvana support for those kind of files that I am getting excited about ?
Maybe I am wrong and I don’t know about some application that is playing without converting, extracting SACD ISO to DSF and also playing MQA
Please let me know !
Why do you like Audirvana ?
What is your positive opinion about this software ?
I am happy that I can play those mentioned formats within one application.
In this section only positive feedback please !
I think we have zillion complaints on this forum and that’s why I am interested in honest good word !
Thank you !
Good Health to Everybody !
Actually, there’s no player that provides full satisfaction regarding the various music formats.
Audirvana plays all the formats you mentioned, but it does not support a very useful format which is DSF-WV, while Foobar, JRiver, HQPlayer , Roon and even VOX or Collibri, all support it very well.
SSD drives are still very expensive, so I converted progressively during the last years my DSD files to DSF-WV, and with Covid-19 confinement I had plenty of time to finish this annoying job.
So I don’t care anymore about SACD ISO. And I don’t care at all about MQA as I’m not a Tidal subscriber.
As Audirvana 3.5 does not support DSF-WV, I did not upgrade to it and remained with Audirvana 2.5. I keep using Audirvana 2.5 with an old Mac.
Now a days, I play most of my music with HQPlayer and JRiver.
I’ll give a try to Audirvana Studio, but I don’t have the impression that DSF-WV won’t be supported.
I don’t pay Toshiba a subscription fee to play my Vinyls nor to Sony to play my SACDs. So I won’t play Audirvana subscription to play the rips of my music, except if this software surprises me by an exceptional sound quality and functionalities.
Thank You !
I am glad that I started this topic.
Already I learned from you about DSF-WV format that is useful to save some space on still expensive SSD drives.
I do not care about size of my files.
I do not have time to convert SACD ISOs , I want to play them way they are.
Same as playing original SACD
I would rather burn those ISOs to DVDs and play them on blue ray player which is recognizing them as original SACD
List of compatible Blue Ray players with SACD R ISOs it is easy to find on the web.
I have 3 Sony Blue Ray Players that play SACD Rs burned to DVD media.
Than you can sell your original SACDs
No compressions for me but it is interesting to learn that people using those methods.
I keep my old PC in different room than I am actually listening to music so all those files are stored on cheap 10 TB external HP usb 3 drive.No problem with computer or hard drive noise.
I would like to build silent pc using one of HD Plex cases and than SSD drives are needed. But like you mentioned the are still expensive.
I am running Windows 10 pro on SSD drive but storage is mechanical.
I would have to at least try to use that format that you are using just to know how it is working and sounds etc. I like native DSD , no conversion to PCM but everybody is different, otherwise would be boring if we all like the same soup !
Best Regards !
I am using 3.5 version and also no interest in built in streaming capabilities and other fancy graphics etc. I am going to stay with 3.5 as long as possible.
I tried Roon few times and I am using Foobar and Jriver but Audirvana is my favorite sounding app.
What you are saying about SACDs and Blue-Ray players is very interesting.
Actually DSF-WV files are not PCM. They are DSF files that are just compressed. It allows you to save about 40-50% in storage space.
When a compatible player plays these files, it decompresses them and you hear a DSD flux just as with an uncompressed DSF file. (Its quite analogue to FLAC compression vs WAV).
At home, I can use a mechanical hard drive, if I want, and still have all my original ISO files and DSF files on a 10 TB mechanical HD.
But in my professional activity, I’m often away from home for several weeks and sometime for a month or two. I listen than to my music with a MacBook Pro and a USB DAC and I my music files are stored on an external 2 TB SSD drive. So, DSF-WV format is very useful for me.
So far Audirvana is running on Windows for me but Fathers Day is coming soon and I heard that new Mac Mini M1 is a possibility.
My daughter is using Mac Book Pro and iPhone but I never used Mac but always want Mac Mini. With this new M1 chip I think it is time to try.
I was reading some posts somewhere and somebody was claiming that Audirvana on Mac sounds better and other post that Windows is better ?
Where is the truth ?
All the best !
This is coincident but I am away from home from time to time also for 2 to 3 months and my source of music is LG G6 Plus with Quad Dac and microSD card and Sennheiser HD 598 SR headphones.
Always I have wi fi internet at work so I can listen to Spotify when I am away.I tried few times Tidal and Qobuz but Spotify huge library is holding me with that service and soon Hi Fi better quality is coming.
At home I am using HD 6XX and old HD 500 with my computers.
Thanks !
Well I’m an iPhone user. I can play with it H-Res files with my DAC, but its storage is limited, and the iPhone can’t be used with SD cards.
So I use my MBP, most of the time, with iFi micro iDSD Black Label DAC and Audeze LCD-2 headphones.
I prefer to listen to my own albums than to streaming services. But I listen sometime to last.fm.
Apple Music is coming with Hi-Fi and there are indications that it could stream even Hi-Res files. This could be a game changer for me. If that happens I may subscribe to Apple Music.
It is faster for me to play SACD ISO using Audirvana or Foobar or Jriver on Windows PC thru Ifi Zen Dac Ver 1 to amp than to find the disc, load to blue ray player and than realize that : No I can not listen to this music today I have to change to something else.
With PC using either Gizmo app on Android phone and Jriver, it is much faster to change or to find something. Gizmo app is working 100 %, not like our host software remote ha ha.
Foobar 2000 controller app for Android is working perfectly also.
It’s the same for me. I have the SACDs, but since I ripped them all, I do not listen to them any more very often. I use JRiver, Audirvana or HQPlayer to listen to the DSF files or to the DSF-WV files. I also don’t buy any more new SACDs very often. When it’s possible, I prefer to buy the DSF files of the albums.
I still listen from time to time to my vinyls. But since I ripped them too, I listen more often to the ripped files.
HQ Player is the one that I didn’t have chance to try out because I can not install it on my "vintage " pc’s.
My computers do not support SSE 4.1 instructions and HQ Player not even starting.
Now I have 4 computers based on same motherboard Asus P5K, 8GB Ram which is max for that ancient generation. Processors Intel Q6600. Technology from 2006-2007.
Other Players working fine.
What is your opinion about HQ Player ?
I forgot to mention that Audirvana connection (streaming) to DLNA devices around the house is working ok. I tried to stream to also old WD TV media player connected to AV reciver and it worked no problem.
I was sending sound also to another computer where Jriver Media 26 was open and it played in Jriver app !
Jriver was configured to work as a server.
I was very surprised !
How it is possible to do this ? but it worked. Very strange.
To do this I was using Audirvana app on my Android phone.
I wish that audirvana is supporting Chromecast.
With Roon or even free VLC Player I can send audio to Chromecats Audio Dongle or Chromecast TV.
But I am glad that DLNA is working fine.
I am seeing today new announcements going on Audirvana main website about new Studio Version.
I don’t blame them that they going towards subscription platform.
Everybody did this long time ago.
Roon recently added option of monthly payments. Before was offered lifetime and yearly payments only.
I am sure that it is difficult to get all the time new clients. Subscription based business is giving them more comfort and financial stability.
And all clientele is going nuts. Why ? What for ? I do not like it. I am leaving and so on.
Slowly everybody will get use to it or learn how to configure Foobar 2000 ha ha !
You ask what I think about HQPlayer. Well, it offers the best sound of all the players I ever tried.
It has also many settings to get the best out of your audio equipment and acoustical environment. Once I found a setting that I like, I stopped playing with it because the possibilities are endless.
However, HQPlayer has a problem. It has no library management.
It works fine when it’s coupled with Roon, if you set Roon to serve only as a library manager and let HQPlayer do the playback. I was seriously attempted to subscribe to Roon only to have it as a library manager for HQPlayer. But finally I didn’t. I would have liked Audirvana to support HQPlayer.
As HQPlayer does not have a library management, I use it only when I want to listen to a given album. As I listen a lot to classical music, it’s not a big issue. I don’t need playlists: I drug and drop the files of a symphony, for instance, or an opera, and let it play.
The remaining of the time, I listen to my music with Audirvana or JRiver.
When you’ll get a new computer, give HDPlayer a try. You can try it for free during a month.
Regarding the subscription of Audirvana Studio, time will tell if Damien did the right choice. In my opinion, competing with Roon will not be easy for several reasons.
First, Roon has many partnerships with hardware makers. This is a good reason for many people to subscribe to it.
It also offers a very pleasant user experience with excellent library management and links to instructive databases. There are people who love that and who are ready to pay subscription for it.
It also has a lot of functions that Audirvana doesn’t have. And it can also offer an excellent sound quality when it is coupled with HQPlayer.
In my opinion, subscription is not the only way Damien could have chosen. If he could have made Audirvana sound better and better, he could have sold new version of the player for much higher price. When it comes to sound quality, I don’t mind to pay more. And I’m sure there are plenty of customers like me.
Maybe Audirvana studio will surprise us all with an outstanding sound quality. In this case, I will consider subscription. But if it’s not the case, I will stick to the Audirvana version I has. I don’t need subscription player to listen to radio…
You say that otherwise people should learn to configure Foobar. I don’t think so. There are other players in the market, once Audirvana is not supported by your OS. (Amarra and JRiver are very decent players.)
JRiver as a server is still a very good option. DLNA is a viable protocol depending on both the server and renderer implementation. It gets a bad press from some because of some dodgy implementations at either end.
JRiver is solid , sound & stable. It has been around for well over 10 years and its audio side sees little change, primarily because its all there nothing left to change. The other major element to Jriver is their agile approach to programming. Ask for something , if its doable then its done within days and released. They even ask for Feature Request that will take “a day to do” . They release almost weekly (certainly fortnightly / monthly).
I am looking forward to Audirvana Studio if it can emulate this agile behavior , that certainly seems to be the “plan”
Whilst you don’t want negative comments , I really don’t get on with the Audirvana UI, I have a big library with many Artists , finding them is painful on occasions and the search while it works is split over Local & Tidal, Roon integrates these 2 views again something to emulate.
I actively use Roon & JRiver and very occasionally Audirvana, i simply don’t find it as comfortable as the other 2. The formats mentioned don’t worry me I have virtually nothing other than FLAC and MP3. DSD is zero in fact although it would be fine through JRiver I just never went that route.
My PC/Server, a bog std “Tower desktop”, is located in a study away from my listening room and is fairly beefy i7- 7700, 16 GB RAM, 250 Gb SSD 2 x 4Tb HDD
Good idea for a thread , a bit of positive may help at the moment.
Thank you very much for your excellent review of HQ Player !
One day hopefully I am going to build silent PC or get Mac Mini M1 and try to use Roon with conjunction of HQ Player. Apparently new Mac mini is running silently even when rendering video edits. To play music files it shouldn’t have any problems.
I tried to use another free little program on Linux Zorin Lite and Windows 10
Audacious, unfortunately isn’t available for Mac.
I was looking for modern audio software that would run on very old computers like Pentium 4 with Ram not more than 1 GB and no Pea instructions processors.
Audacious was working on newest version of Linux Zorin Lite playing radio streams all kind of formats including Flac MotherEarth radio station.
Why to throw away old PC if it is running Linux for old hardware with ease.
Perfect to play radio streams.
Thats why I am not interested in those radio stations built inn Audirvana and Roon
Roon has one kind of on demand radio station that is playing same MQA encoded music from little jazz concert. I found only this feed to be interesting.
I like to find on the web my own addresses of radio streams and use either VLC or Audacious to play them.
Very useful website with links to radio streams and other stuff : https://www.24bit96.com/
I am interested to play good sounding streams usually modern jazz like this 256 kbps Mp3 stream
https://motherearthradio.de/ which is playing high quality 24 bit Flac 24/7 and music is coming apparently from vinyl sources. Every 10th track is classical music being specially played for you !
Foobar, Firefox browser or special windows app with link to download is listed on radio station website containing only one page, but very useful and simple same as current version of Audirvana.
No fancy feathers
I think we providing here lot of useful info on this forum you and me !
it feels good to share this kind of findings.
I am going to post here some info about solving difficulties to play within Audirvana
rips from very good sounding MQA Cds which are already popular in Japan and believe me they sound great, very deep and dynamic.
Audirvana is playing them and Roon as one piece album no split between tracks.
Where Roon is playing them right away but they have to be kind of renamed using simple tool app downloaded from official MQA website in order to play these rips in Audirvana.
App is free to download and require only register with that website.
I guess already I finished here already MQA CD playing topic here in Audirvana.
Thank you !
I introduced aurdirvana at one time in a hi-fi audio internet cafe and joined more than 100 people. But I can’t recommend it anymore. This is because the A/S service is like a dog. Jriver is better if it’s the same service as it is now. It is much more stable and the sound quality is good.
Dogs do not abandon their young. But audirvana abandoned 3.5 like that…LifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelongLifelong
Using Audirvana Mike I have the same observations as you !
But I am trying to be positive because I like music and technology and progress that is being made by all this I believe hard working people.
I started to listen to music that contained pops and clicks and mono tape hiss.
One day I told my friend standing beside brand new turntable, that some day will be something that will play music with no pops and clicks.
I didn’t have any idea what it would be but I had that big dream that few years later came thru around !983- 1984 first cd disc was played. I couldn’t believe ?
Now we playing from cloud etc.
Jriver is my favorite interface app in audio mode only switchable in upper view menu.
In option settings it is very easy to turn DSD capability.
It plays DSD and SACD iSO no problem. No MQA opposite to Audirvana.
Free sample tracks of DSD and DXD and MQA and other formats you can download from
This is best legal source of Hi res formats that I know.
Very well organized with lot of great recordings.
No illegal info on this forum. Lets keep it clean !
Audirvana is playing them no problem no need changing and adjusting any settings like Jriver.
J river needs some experience.
Audirvana is simple ready to go easy package with excellent sound.
And again Roon do not play SACD ISO
Jriver do not play MQA
Audirvana is playing them no problem.
If you are serious audiophile I would recommend to try to play those formats downloaded from that mentioned website.
To play DSD files and MQA is needed for your experience on the subject of hi res formats.
In my opinion DSD sounds more natural and analog.
It is closest digital format with very dynamic sound of your vinyl collection magnified tremendously .
Nothing wrong with Flac and hi rates DXD etc but DSD is a KIng in my opinion.
By the way DSD which is basically SACD is being provided as multichannel on many titles but you need home theater system at least 5.1 and Multichannel SACD player or SACD compatible blue ray player or DVD player.
Multichannel DSD playing from SACD it is crazy experience.
I have 2 Sting SACDs and they shine in multichannel. Some other recordings are ok but those that your jaw is dropping is not so many.
You are right to be angry, I was very angry when Adobe started first to provide Subscription scheme.
We hate those changes !
Everything is subscription based and Jriver is providing new versions also every year and you have to pay every year for upgrade.
I am using Jriver also and every year I have to pay to upgrade to new version and to play audio files I do not need those upgrades because they are addressed always towards playing by Jriver Videos and other video related improvements.
If you look on those new version info What’s New ? There is nothing mentioned about audio formats and sound quality etc.
Everything about easier user experience and video playing
.
Jriver is the same paid service but they are clever to present those hidden price hikes. You don’t see them clearly like in Audirvana.
Do not get blinded about Jriver Lee !
Take it easy