Audirvana for Lion vs ITunes.

Bigfishhk · « **on:** 5 May 2012, 03:48 pm »

apologies if this subject has been broached before.

I am going to take the plunge on a new MacBook pro or a Mac mini.

I have tested Audirvana plus with iTunes integration on a snow leopard Mac book pro. Sounded great.

Unfortunately Lion does not support Integer which is big part of SQ of Audirvana, so my research suggests.

My question is -

has anyone compared ITUNES or another player vs Audirvana on a Mac running Lion?

Ie stay with Audirvana, even without Integer, on new MacBook running Lion? Or migrate to another player such as ITunes, pure music etc?

Appreciate some feedback on this as will affect my purchase.
Thanks
Tom

coverto · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 May 2012, 04:35 pm »

Audirvana beats iTunes on both my Lion-loaded Mac Mini and MacBook Pro, and sounds best on the Mini.

Tyrro · « **Reply #2 on:** 5 May 2012, 05:59 pm »

Audirvana Plus will soon have a Direct Mode which will do the same as Integer mode, so you'll still be able to use it in Lion.

Here's a quote from Audirvana developer:

Quote

Direct mode for 1.4

Few details on direct mode:
It'll bring what integer mode was delivering, and even more, that is bypass the unneeded processing of the signal (mixer, format conversion, ...) as I detailed in my paper on integer mode.
It should work, but I can't give any guarantee as of today, on all the integer mode capable devices (mainly the driverless USB devices, and the few Firewire like the MH ones).

Damien

trianglezerius · « **Reply #3 on:** 5 May 2012, 06:40 pm »

Have you looked into BitPerfect an add-on for Itunes?

Tyrro · « **Reply #4 on:** 6 May 2012, 12:12 am »

Another great player, but also promises Integer Mode playback support only in upcoming Mountain Lion, it currently doesn't work in Lion (integer mode that is).

Quote from: trianglezerius on 5 May 2012, 06:40 pm

Have you looked into BitPerfect an add-on for Itunes?

wilsynet · « **Reply #5 on:** 6 May 2012, 09:40 am »

I've owned Amarra, Pure Music, Fidelia, BitPerfect and Audirvana Plus.

I prefer Audirvana Plus over the rest, and (to me) has the best balance of features, stability, and sound quality.

Audirvana is one of the new kids on the block, and may be missing some of the features people want, but the author is hard at work adding features at a rapid pace.

Bigfishhk · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 May 2012, 02:15 pm »

Quote from: wilsynet on 6 May 2012, 09:40 am

I've owned Amarra, Pure Music, Fidelia, BitPerfect and Audirvana Plus.

I prefer Audirvana Plus over the rest, and (to me) has the best balance of features, stability, and sound quality.

Audirvana is one of the new kids on the block, and may be missing some of the features people want, but the author is hard at work adding features at a rapid pace.

I am loving it too though I haven't tried the others. Hopefully when I get my new macmini, the developer will have improved its performance re Lion. Obviously having the program reliant on snow leopard and integer is problematic.

I believe new Mac line up in June or July which is when I will make my purchase.

I had considered buying a squeezebox touch but from what I have been reading, neither the software or the hardware config beats the Mac, though this is of course subject to lots of debate! However the pure flexibility of the Mac re software seems to me a good way forward rather than sb touch. It also has USB out to my Dac which touch doesn,t.

Btw is anyone using ITunes with Lion and getting audiophile SQ?

bixby · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 May 2012, 07:06 pm »

Another vote for audirvana plus. Running with new mini and lion. Sounds freaking great when you tweak the mini. And yes I have heard all the others, slight preference for snow leopard on systems that can do integer mode.

Http://digitalaudiodirections.blogspot.com