Audirvana Plus 3 release date came and went...

[Guest ClassicalGuy]

As an Audirvana user, I was greatly awaiting version 3 to be released. After CES and the promises of better Tidal integration and MQA decoding, I couldn't wait for the 'end of January' for version 3 to be released so I could see if the improvements were as good as they said. Yet, here we are on February 1 and there's no sign of a release. Audirvana's blog still says the end of January, but it also hasn't been updated for weeks.

 

I've looked around the internet as much as possible but couldn't come up with any answers, hopefully, someone out there has a better idea of what's going on.  

[Tobes]

According to the FB page on 26/01 Damien said it was going to be "a couple more weeks".

[Guest ClassicalGuy]

@Tobes Ah, thank you very much! I didn't see anything on Twitter, but never thought to look on FaceBook!

[Egres]

Also when Audrivana 2 was released people where disappointed in delays and the forums where full of vociferous complaints that it hadn't been released yet. When it was released the same posters were complaining about bugs. Best to wait till all bugs have been flattened.

[a.dent]

18 hours ago, Egres said:

Also when Audrivana 2 was released people where disappointed in delays and the forums where full of vociferous complaints that it hadn't been released yet. When it was released the same posters were complaining about bugs. Best to wait till all bugs have been flattened.

 

Exactly. Look at the problems Roon 1.3 has had even with a large team of developers. Damian working by himself must really be under the pump.

Patience is a virtue even though I have none.

[aechmea]

I have you're dollops of patience, Arthur/Andrew.  I am still on v1.5.  It does exactly what I want.  Besides, I can't run anything much newer because even my most recent Mac uses OSX10.6.8.  That does all that I need, too.

 

I worked in corporate IT for 25 years and at one stage my department had the final veto on new/changed software going into 'production'; procedures were in place and hoops had to be jumped through.  It seems that many of today's programmers would not have kept a job in our organization at that time.

 

Congrats to Damian that he is taking the time to get it right first time.

[Tobes]

Release date for Audirvana 3 " in a few days now..." according to Damien on the FB page.

[Munce31]

On 18/02/2017 at 11:12 AM, Tobes said:

Release date for Audirvana 3 " in a few days now..." according to Damien on the FB page.

 

Yep, and even that has came and went.. 

 

I really want to give this MQA a go through Audirvana 3, which apparently will do the MQA decoding prior to sending to the DAC.

 

I hope the upgrade price is reasonable.

[Rai]

Version 3 is finally out and about  ...well actually we're up to 3.01 already . 

 

As mentioned the software will perform the first MQA unfold... depending on album, playing Tidal I've seen a max of 24/96 with my non-MQA capable DAC. 

[Tobes]

Putting MQA aside, I was looking forward to hearing whether A+3 would catch up to the SQ of the Roon/HQP combo.

I like the simpler operation of A+3 compared to Roon/HQP (fewer button presses required for basic playback operations) and being a single app it's less laggy than Roon/HQP.

However with preliminary listening I think Roon/HQP still has the SQ advantage. This is without any upsampling/DSD conversion with either app - i.e. HQP used with none/none filter options.

Roon/HQP seems to provide more complex tonal qualities making music sound more involving.

How/why this would be the case is the frustrating question. I would prefer to use A+3 and dump Roon/HQP.  

[Rai]

Are you running A+ in direct mode? If you're on Sierra to achieve this you'll need to revert back to a previous version of ioaudiofamily.kext thanks to good old Apple. 

[Guest thathifiguy]

33 minutes ago, Tobes said:

Putting MQA aside, I was looking forward to hearing whether A+3 would catch up to the SQ of the Roon/HQP combo.

I like the simpler operation of A+3 compared to Roon/HQP (fewer button presses required for basic playback operations) and being a single app it's less laggy than Roon/HQP.

However with preliminary listening I think Roon/HQP still has the SQ advantage. This is without any upsampling/DSD conversion with either app - i.e. HQP used with none/none filter options.

Roon/HQP seems to provide more complex tonal qualities making music sound more involving.

How/why this would be the case is the frustrating question. I would prefer to use A+3 and dump Roon/HQP.  

 

I recently went back to Audirvana 2.6 after using Roon for the past six months and I felt it was quite the opposite.

 

I'd almost given up on computer audio, thinking I'd be better off going to a second Bluesound Node 2 instead, but after hearing Audirvana again, I think I've changed my mind!

[MooneeBeach]

14 hours ago, Rai said:

Version 3 is finally out and about  ...well actually we're up to 3.01 already . 

 

As mentioned the software will perform the first MQA unfold... depending on album, playing Tidal I've seen a max of 24/96 with my non-MQA capable DAC. 

 

Edited March 11, 2017 by seaninbrisbane
found it!

[MooneeBeach]

If I'm not interested in MQA or streaming are there any other significant features in V3?

Edited March 11, 2017 by seaninbrisbane

[Rai]

Apart from MQA, the main chnage is advertised as being optimisation for sound quality improvement.

[Tobes]

11 hours ago, Rai said:

Are you running A+ in direct mode? If you're on Sierra to achieve this you'll need to revert back to a previous version of ioaudiofamily.kext thanks to good old Apple. 

 

Yes A+ in direct mode - still using El Capitan.

 

11 hours ago, thathifiguy said:

 

I recently went back to Audirvana 2.6 after using Roon for the past six months and I felt it was quite the opposite.

 

I'd almost given up on computer audio, thinking I'd be better off going to a second Bluesound Node 2 instead, but after hearing Audirvana again, I think I've changed my mind!

 

I prefer A+ to using the built in Roon player.

However using Roon with HQPlayer gives me the best SQ from computer audio (so far).

A+ still sounds better than everything else I've tried. 

[MooneeBeach]

14 hours ago, Rai said:

Apart from MQA, the main chnage is advertised as being optimisation for sound quality improvement.

Maybe not worth the upgrade cost - unless it's a noticeable improvement.

[Tobes]

5 minutes ago, seaninbrisbane said:

Maybe not worth the upgrade cost - unless it's a noticeable improvement.

 

Apart from the better SQ and MQA unfolding feature, I've noticed that Tidal folders with lots of albums load a lot faster - otherwise it seems pretty similar  to 2.66. 

However, this is the first iteration of A+3 and what you're paying for is the further development and enhancements that will come over the lifespan of A+3.

Personally I think the upgrade cost is pretty reasonable - especially compared to US$119 per year for Roon. 

[Rai]

Yeah I agree. Its good to support Damien for ongoing development and incremental improvements. 

[Tobes]

On 12/3/2017 at 1:35 AM, Tobes said:

 

Yes A+ in direct mode - still using El Capitan.

 

 

I prefer A+ to using the built in Roon player.

However using Roon with HQPlayer gives me the best SQ from computer audio (so far).

A+ still sounds better than everything else I've tried. 

 

I've done some more listening to A+3 since my comments above - and I feel that a revision of my assessment is in order. There's little doubt in my mind that A+3.01 shows improvements in clarity and transparency over the previous 2.66 version.

In comparison to A+3, Roon/HQP sounds a bit more upfront in perspective with a warmer/fuller but beautifully detailed sound - which perhaps benefits some material.

However my current feeling is that A+3 is more transparent than Roon/HQP. Who knows, maybe restarting my Mac shook something out or cleared some cache info with how A+3 is handling data. 

In any case I now find A+3 to have the upper hand in SQ.

Note again that I'm comparing these players in passthrough mode without any volume controls/upsampling/filters etc.

 

Of course A+3 is bargain priced compared to Roon/HQP which is a very expensive combo player at more than A$340 together - and that only gives you a 1yr subscription of Roon.

This makes A+3 no-brainer IMO, unless you're totally in love with Roon's interface/features (which I'm definitely not) - or must have the HQP upsampling filter options etc.

[Tobes]

Have now done some extended listening to A+ through my Harbeth speakers (previously using headphones). I'm pretty excited about the SQ I'm getting!

 

I cancelled my Roon membership this morning. Enough said.

[Guest thathifiguy]

52 minutes ago, Tobes said:

Have now done some extended listening to A+ through my Harbeth speakers (previously using headphones). I'm pretty excited about the SQ I'm getting!

 

I cancelled my Roon membership this morning. Enough said.

 

Might have to upgrade now myself! Has there been any visual updates with this new version, allowing for it to display a bit better? Or is it all just sonics?

[Tobes]

No, the interface is pretty much the same - probably overdue for some improvement.

I find the sonics to have an airy transparency and clarity that sets it apart from the previous 2.66

[soundfan]

I'm tempted to pick up a s/h mac just so I can purchase and use this program. 

Never owned an Apple computer.

 

[Astrolug]

I've got A+3 running and agree it is a step up in sound quality - more immediate, detailed. 

I'm getting occasionally dropouts that didn't happen with earlier versions, but only in the first few minutes of play - then it beds down nicely. Glad it has come.