Mac/Audirvana Plus issues

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  • mahlerei
    Full Member
    • Jun 2015
    • 357

    Mac/Audirvana Plus issues

    I've been running Audirvana Plus on Snow Leopard for a few years now but had to upgrade to Lion yesterday as another important piece of software I need is not supported by the earlier OS.

    Upgrade went smoothly enough, but listening to music on my Audiolab M-DAC I've noticed some drop-outs. That happens if I play a disc via iTunes too.

    I'm using the latest version of Audirvana in Direct, Exclusive & Integer Mode 1. One thing I have noticed is that although the volume control is set to DAC only the iTunes control is still active (deactivated in Preferences pane). Woula reinstall of Audirvana be in order or does the issue lie eslewhere?

    TIA for any tsuggestions.
  • french frank
    Administrator/Moderator
    • Feb 2007
    • 30514

    #2
    Nice to see you back, mahlerei :-) . Um, 'upgrade to Lion'?
    It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

    Comment

    • mahlerei
      Full Member
      • Jun 2015
      • 357

      #3
      Originally posted by french frank View Post
      Nice to see you back, mahlerei :-) . Um, 'upgrade to Lion'?
      I know, I know, these things are never hassle-free are they? Hoping there's a quick solution as I have reviews waiting...

      Comment

      • Dave2002
        Full Member
        • Dec 2010
        • 18048

        #4
        Originally posted by french frank View Post
        Nice to see you back, mahlerei :-) . Um, 'upgrade to Lion'?
        Not quite sure how you managed to upgrade to Lion. Did you keep the upgrade files for Lion? You could try a further 'upgrade' to Mountain Lion, which I have found to be OK, though I still keep one machine with Snow Leopard as that was the last version which would run some software. Maybe that (ML) would fix the problem, and it's not too dissimilar to Lion.

        I've so far avoided Mavericks, Yosemite, and may also avoid the next version which is expected soon, but mrs d managed to get yosemite on her machine - and it does seem to have settled down.

        I think I can still access the install files for all versions from Snow Leopard onwards.

        Was there a reason for not going straight to Yosemite?

        Comment

        • Anastasius
          Full Member
          • Mar 2015
          • 1860

          #5
          You could always partition your hard drive (assuming it is large enough) and load different versions of OSX. Then when you wanted to use that particular program that is not supported by later versions of the OSX then you simply boot into Snow Leopard etc.

          Incidentally I'd not heard of Audirvana and so many thanks for that
          Fewer Smart things. More smart people.

          Comment

          • richardfinegold
            Full Member
            • Sep 2012
            • 7749

            #6
            Just curious about the pending reviews for the OP. We're the recordings in question supplied as downloads only, or were CDs supplied?

            Comment

            • Dave2002
              Full Member
              • Dec 2010
              • 18048

              #7
              Originally posted by Anastasius View Post
              You could always partition your hard drive (assuming it is large enough) and load different versions of OSX. Then when you wanted to use that particular program that is not supported by later versions of the OSX then you simply boot into Snow Leopard etc.
              Anastasius

              That's a really interesting idea. Presumably you have to use Boot Camp to do that.

              I was never particularly fond of Boot Camp - but it does work, and it's possible to run Windows as well in case anyone really wants that. On older machines I thought Boot Camp slowed things up at startup, but on a new SSD based machine or a Fusion Drive based machine it might work rather well.

              Another way to run different OSs is to use a virtual system such as Parallels - though I've never quite got round to fully committing to that. I did have the VMWare package running one time, but never really used it much. As an alternative to Boot Camp for (occasionally) running windows it was OK. I'm told that Parallels is better.

              I did try VMBox (free) and ran several OSs simultaneously, including running (I think) a YouTube video within Linux in the virtual system. However VMBox as it comes does not support a large size display. I think it can be configured to do so, but it's a bit of a headache for that. As a demonstration of VM feasibility it's OK.

              However, for our OP's purposes, probably putting any extra level of complexity on top of Mac OS X is likely to degrade rather than enhance the performance of Audirvana, which I believe tries to strip out/inactivate a lot of the OS functions in the interests of getting close to a dedicated audio machine. The Boot Camp approach should work with Audirvana I think.

              How much disc space would be needed for (say) boots into Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion and perhaps also Yosemite - and maybe even a new version of Windows?

              Comment

              • mahlerei
                Full Member
                • Jun 2015
                • 357

                #8
                Thanks for all your replies. I have been told by the M-DAC's designer that this is an Apple bug that they don't seem interested in fixing. I'm a bit sceptical, so will do some more research. Lots of disk space so Boot Camp is an option.

                Richard, we're talking downloads rather than discs.

                Audirvana is otherwise a terrific media player and sounds superb. Lots of user tweaks, too.

                Edit: found a number of posts that suggest Audirvana Plus has issues with anything beyond Snow Leopard, so it seems JohnW may be right about those bugs. Annoying to say the least...
                Last edited by mahlerei; 27-07-15, 14:22.

                Comment

                • richardfinegold
                  Full Member
                  • Sep 2012
                  • 7749

                  #9
                  Originally posted by mahlerei View Post
                  Thanks for all your replies. I have been told by the M-DAC's designer that this is an Apple bug that they don't seem interested in fixing. I'm a bit sceptical, so will do some more research. Lots of disk space so Boot Camp is an option.

                  Richard, we're talking downloads rather than discs.

                  Audirvana is otherwise a terrific media player and sounds superb. Lots of user tweaks, too.



                  Edit: found a number of posts that suggest Audirvana Plus has issues with anything beyond Snow Leopard, so it seems JohnW may be right about those bugs. Annoying to say the least...
                  Can you add XLD to your OS? It's a free media player for Macs. It sounds pretty good to me but I don't do many downloads. Never compared it to Audirvana but the price is right...

                  Comment

                  • Anastasius
                    Full Member
                    • Mar 2015
                    • 1860

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
                    Anastasius

                    That's a really interesting idea. Presumably you have to use Boot Camp to do that.

                    I was never particularly fond of Boot Camp - but it does work, and it's possible to run Windows as well in case anyone really wants that. On older machines I thought Boot Camp slowed things up at startup, but on a new SSD based machine or a Fusion Drive based machine it might work rather well.

                    Another way to run different OSs is to use a virtual system such as Parallels - though I've never quite got round to fully committing to that. I did have the VMWare package running one time, but never really used it much. As an alternative to Boot Camp for (occasionally) running windows it was OK. I'm told that Parallels is better.

                    I did try VMBox (free) and ran several OSs simultaneously, including running (I think) a YouTube video within Linux in the virtual system. However VMBox as it comes does not support a large size display. I think it can be configured to do so, but it's a bit of a headache for that. As a demonstration of VM feasibility it's OK.

                    However, for our OP's purposes, probably putting any extra level of complexity on top of Mac OS X is likely to degrade rather than enhance the performance of Audirvana, which I believe tries to strip out/inactivate a lot of the OS functions in the interests of getting close to a dedicated audio machine. The Boot Camp approach should work with Audirvana I think.

                    How much disc space would be needed for (say) boots into Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion and perhaps also Yosemite - and maybe even a new version of Windows?
                    Not at all. Disk Utility to do the partitioning. Then in System Preferences, you can select the startup disk you want to boot into at next restart eg Mavericks if you are currently using SL. Or at restart you hold down the Option key (IIRC) whereupon you are given a picture of each bootable disk aka OS version and you scroll along to get the one you want. No Parallels needed. No Boot Camp.

                    It's all built into that rather good operating system called OSX!!
                    Fewer Smart things. More smart people.

                    Comment

                    • Dave2002
                      Full Member
                      • Dec 2010
                      • 18048

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Anastasius View Post
                      Not at all. Disk Utility to do the partitioning. Then in System Preferences, you can select the startup disk you want to boot into at next restart eg Mavericks if you are currently using SL. Or at restart you hold down the Option key (IIRC) whereupon you are given a picture of each bootable disk aka OS version and you scroll along to get the one you want. No Parallels needed. No Boot Camp.

                      It's all built into that rather good operating system called OSX!!
                      Interesting. Thank you.

                      If you do that, and there are updates to any of the OS versions, do they get updated automatically to the right partition?

                      I'm still wondering how much space is needed for the boot versions of, say 4 or so systems.

                      Could it be safer to use an external drive (slightly slower perhaps) to hold the multiple OS versions?

                      Comment

                      • jayne lee wilson
                        Banned
                        • Jul 2011
                        • 10711

                        #12
                        Originally posted by mahlerei View Post
                        I've been running Audirvana Plus on Snow Leopard for a few years now but had to upgrade to Lion yesterday as another important piece of software I need is not supported by the earlier OS.

                        Upgrade went smoothly enough, but listening to music on my Audiolab M-DAC I've noticed some drop-outs. That happens if I play a disc via iTunes too.

                        I'm using the latest version of Audirvana in Direct, Exclusive & Integer Mode 1. One thing I have noticed is that although the volume control is set to DAC only the iTunes control is still active (deactivated in Preferences pane). Woula reinstall of Audirvana be in order or does the issue lie eslewhere?

                        TIA for any tsuggestions.
                        Hey Mahlerei.....

                        I've used Audirvana+ 2.0.1 since August 2014 to play hi-res and lossless files via USB-Asynchronous to the T&A Dac 8, using Mac OSX Mavericks 10.9.5 with the T&A software. I have hog-mode set to extreme & use both Integer 1&2. I use this Amarra/Sonicstudio disabling app too.....
                        http://www.sonicstudio.com/amarra/howtobuildaserver.php. I don't suffer any dropouts, but....

                        When I first used it, once or twice I heard a crackle, call it dropout if you like, during playback. Happened with JRiver too. I guessed this might be auto alerts/updates so switched off the wireless function. Problem solved. I always switch that off now for playback. It might help you. Early on, I did suffer gross distortion on music file playback and discovered via T&A that Mac security updates could do this & necessitate an uninstall/reinstall. That worked too.
                        No further problems and yes - Audirvana's a great player, if a little clunky if you want to make playlists. BUT, big but... I DON'T use it in conjunction with iTunes, which I hate and gave up on years ago. Chuck-it-out!
                        D'you have the Audirvana converter set to Applecore or izotope? Izotope here.
                        You checked this FAQ? http://audirvana.com/?page_id=1277#toggle-id-3

                        (Incidentally, when listening to the few Proms life has allowed me this year, I suffered dropouts (even on BT Infinity via ethernet, for god's sake!) when accessing them direct from the R3/HDs home page etc. BUT when I accessed the Proms page & live HDs window through JRiver (JRMC 19), the problem went away...)
                        Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 28-07-15, 04:02.

                        Comment

                        • mahlerei
                          Full Member
                          • Jun 2015
                          • 357

                          #13
                          Hi Jayne

                          I haven't graduated to 2.0, but the version prior to that one worked very well for me. I am on an oldish Mac (2008) and have had no issues until that infernal upgrade to Lion yesterday. Back to Snow Leopard and all is (nearly) right with the world.

                          Any good downloads to recommend for possibe review? Neschling's new Respighi pretty good, ditto Kantorow's Liszt concertos and the Tischenko sonatas. Ohlsson's Debussy/Prokofiev/Bartok in pipeline; all I can say is that it's well up to the standards of the house.

                          Edit: Jayne, I decided to trial Audirvana 2.1.1 and i'm much impressed by the improved interface. However, and this is a real surprise, I was still getting drop-outs. Then I turned off Bluetooth, Airport Express and selected Extreme option for Audirvana priority. Hey presto, no more drop-outs. Sonically this is probably the best version yet; Ohlsson's Prokofiev Op. 2 sounds superb. Fingers crossed...
                          Last edited by mahlerei; 28-07-15, 22:33.

                          Comment

                          • Anastasius
                            Full Member
                            • Mar 2015
                            • 1860

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
                            Interesting. Thank you.

                            If you do that, and there are updates to any of the OS versions, do they get updated automatically to the right partition?

                            I'm still wondering how much space is needed for the boot versions of, say 4 or so systems.

                            Could it be safer to use an external drive (slightly slower perhaps) to hold the multiple OS versions?
                            The OS will only make an update request if you have booted into it. It has no knowledge of other OS's in other partitions.

                            I can't really advise on sizing. The actual OS's run surprisingly leanly. Mavericks, for instance, is more than happy with 10GB. It's all the applications that are the killer, IMO.

                            'Safer' I don't think is an issue ...just take normal backup precautions.

                            My iMac currently has SL, Mavericks and El Capitan. I cannot remember the last time I booted into SL and so it may well go. EC is a beta but I've not ad the time or incentive to play around with it although there were enough 'goodies' to entice me to load it up and try it as I recall (but long forgotten and so cannot have been 'Must-Haves').
                            Fewer Smart things. More smart people.

                            Comment

                            • Dave2002
                              Full Member
                              • Dec 2010
                              • 18048

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Anastasius View Post
                              The OS will only make an update request if you have booted into it. It has no knowledge of other OS's in other partitions.
                              OK - that sounds hopeful.

                              I have one machine with SL. I don't want to update it to Yosemite and lose the SL. How do I get Yosemite on to it as a separate partition?

                              Do I (somehow) duplicate my SL into a separate partition, then update from that one to pull the Yosemite over?

                              One of my friends/colleagues has all the OS install files from Lion upwards. Perhaps one way is to get the .dmg file for (say) Yosemite, then make sure it installs to its own partition. I really don't want to lose that SL capability at present. I'm just not sure how these things work. Is there an option in the install process to put on to a specified partition which is not the one actually active at the time?

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