2. digital
  3. 118951-10

Mac Music Software Frustration

Hi Folks,
I use a MacBook Pro laptop to play hi-res and other music files through my rig, via a Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 and a Musical Fidelity M1 DAC. My software situation is something of a mess right now and I am eager for your advice.
I have Decibel, which was the first player I got but I haven't used it in awhile.
Most of the time I've been using Audirvana 1.x, which works great in iTunes integrated mode. I'd had Audirvana generate proxy files in iTunes for my hi-res files, which worked just fine. I especially liked being able to control the iTunes/Audirvana combo via the Apple iOS "Remote" app on my iPhone.
I recently "upgraded" to Audirvana 2.x, which has been a big disappointment to me. I don't detect any improvement in audio output quality, and the Audirvana iOS app is a mess; very slow to load playlists and frequently becoming unresponsive to input.
I finally broke down and bought Amarra during a recent sale. I hate the kludgy, non-Mac compliant interface. That would be fine, but waiting several minutes for large playlists to load is maddening for software that's this expensive. 
Finally, I just downloaded the demo of Pure Music. It sounds quite good, but of course doesn't know what to do with the Audirvana proxy files in iTunes.
So... I’m wondering what my fellow Mac users are doing for a Mac-based hi-res server solution. I'd like to find something that works smoothly and sounds great and be done with it.
Thanks in advance!!

rebbi
8 responses Add your response
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Rebbi,
I think I opened iTunes and scrolled albums looking for any with .flac etc. and deleted them there, answering "yes" when asked if I want to delete the files as well as removing them from the iTunes library.
Some were missed and whenever I get a playback error or see dups in A+, I check metadata for the song. If the file location is in my main iTunes folder, then I know it's a proxy file that is safe to delete.
Hope that helps,
Spencer
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
Hi, sbank,
What was your workflow for deleting the Audirvana 1.x proxy files?
Thanks!
rhanson739
269 posts
 
I've long used PureMusic with iTunes on my headless Mac Mini, with great results.  I've tried Amarra and Audirvana, but kept coming back to PureMusic, even though PM has a rather dated interface.

Lately, though, I've been leaning in a new direction: Roon.

During my trial of Roon, I was less than impressed with the sound quality, even though it's passing 'bit perfect' to the DAC.  As it turns out, the upsampling I've been using with PureMusic is producing the sound that I like. (We surely should not devolve into a pedantic bit-perfect versus upsampling discussion.)

The solution to the Roon situation is that they will soon be integrating with HQPlayer, which many consider to produce the best sound. I've run HQP standalone, and it truly does do a a great job. Problem is, its interface is not very intuitive, but I get the sense that the Roon-HQP interface will take away that issue.

If you have not tried Roon, I would heartily recommend it. It provides a seamless interface between Tidal and your library, whether it be in iTunes or in a typical file structure.
zephyr24069's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
zephyr24069
1,243 posts
 
To the OP: You did not say if you were ripping to Apple Lossless or some other format....

My setup;
2 year old MacBook Pro, 2.7Ghz (Quad) Core i7, 16GB RAM, 500GB SS Drive...
OSX El Capitan 10.11.2
iTunes Native with Audirvana 2.2 (was using 1.x)
Latest TEAC USB HS AUDIO (async, 192Khz) driver loaded
Connect to my Esoteric D-02 DAC
Everything ripped as Apple Lossless
Great results, sound, etc...

Only pet-peeve: Have to re-sync library in Audirvana 2.x (and 1.x) after every change in iTunes....

(I don't like iPhones and never have....I stick with the MacBook for everything) 
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Hi Rebbi,
I was also using A+ 1.x iTunes integrated mode with proxy files for flac, hirez etc.
Yes, it is some work, but I find that A+ 2.x (especially 2.4) sound MUCH better in non-iTunes integrated mode. That means no proxy files. Everything will play straight thru, flac, dsd, etc. Therefore after adding the flac/dsd/wav folders to your settings for A+ library folders to sync, the result will be duplicates where you previously created proxy files pointing to iTunes. Those proxies will need to be deleted from A+ to get rid of the dups.
An awkward transition for sure, but sonically worth it. The new interface is being upgraded regularly and Damien monitors the threads on computeraudiophile for issues and suggestions. Cheers,
spencer
ml8764ag's avatar
ml8764ag
502 posts
 
I just moved from Pure Music to jriver...very pleased. I tried all the others.  I really disliked audiavana...very clunky...and somehow harsher.   I know this is heretical for this site...but I actually like the subtle surround settind....and the other Dsp features like night mode and adaptive volume.   To top it off...jriver's about half as expensive as PM.  Oh, and Jr also has volume leveling!  I'm just sorry I recently paid to go to the latest version of PM.

The only negative I've  noticed about JR is that it consumes more cpu...and you need to be mindful of getting the right balance with buffer settings etc.
rebbi OP
1,326 posts
 
I've been doing just that recently! Thing is, I think I like the sound of Pure Music and Amarra the best, and I'm wondering how I can get those to work well for me.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,217 posts
 
Why don't you go back to using the earlier version of Audirvana?  You liked how it worked and don't like anything else.
Log in to respond
More to discover
80x80
Esoteric Grandioso K1XSE
80x80
EarMen Tradutto
EarMen Tradutto
80x80
RME ADI-2 DAC