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BitPerfect (was: Audirvana Alternatives)
Jun 8, 2011 at 7:28 PM Post #31 of 801
New version (0.16) available here.
 
Changes Include:
  1. Increase minimum seek amount (prevents iTunes causing hiccups) to 3 seconds. Seeking by less than 3 seconds is ignored.
  2. Fix display of integer mode support in preferences
  3. BetterSound no longer prevents iTunes from quitting
  4. Option to upsample to max ability of DAC (upsample checkbox only, vs, 2x / 4x)
  5. Option to start iTunes on startup
  6. Option to increase buffer size
  7. Fix possiblity of no sound when Integer mode is selected but device does not support it
  8. Option to respect per-track volume adjustment from iTunes
  9. Fix no output after rapidly switching tracks
  10. Remove 1 second delay before starting playback, playback now starts ASAP.
  11. Fix potential hang when changing tracks
 
Unfortunately it looks like sound check isn't feasible in the near term. iTunes does not make that available via the scripting API. The best I can do is to respect the volume adjustment settings.
 
As always, let me know what you think...
 
Jun 12, 2011 at 5:24 PM Post #35 of 801
I can't keep the icon there if BetterSound is not running.
 
I can add a menu option to turn BetterSound "off", in other words, not only stop playing music give control of the sound device back to the system. Would that be useful for you?
 
Jun 13, 2011 at 1:17 PM Post #38 of 801
New version (0.17) available here.
 
Changes Include:
  1. Do not apply sample rate conversion (even as a no-op) unless it is required (for CoreAudio files, FLAC version coming soon)
  2. More aggressive compiler optimizations (for the geeks among you; -O3, -flto)
  3. Prefer Integer output even if non-mixable
  4. Minimize thread locking overhead (only the CoreAudio lock is used, it doesn't get any faster than this!)
  5. Use manual memory management instead of garbage collector
  6. Optimize audio output function
 
As you might have guessed, the theme here is performance, which I'm hoping translates into better sound quality. There is very little in the way of detailed discussion about what makes audiophile quality players sound better, but it seems most people agree on maximum efficiency, especially in the audio output function(s).
 
I've made some general improvements in performance as well as specifically targeting the functions that write data to the sound device. The result is, BetterSound now matches Audirvana in audio output efficiency and both programs are about twice as efficient as Pure Music 1.8 (I haven't checked Amarra or Decibel). Let's see if that makes a difference!
 
Please let me know your findings!
 
Jun 14, 2011 at 9:29 PM Post #40 of 801
It works perfectly for me. I haven't even had any difficulty with BetterSound crashing when editing album metadata and artwork during playback, an problem which appeared in previous versions for me. Sounds great too, better than 0.16 if I remember correctly.
 
Jun 14, 2011 at 11:02 PM Post #41 of 801
@Doug: If you run "Console", on the open "User Diagnostic Messages", you should see some entries for BetterSound. If you can PM me the contents of one or two of the most recent ones I can diagnose the crash.
 
@goldmbe: I'm glad it is working well for you, especially that you find an improvement in SQ... my efforts were not for naught! :)
 
Jun 17, 2011 at 11:41 PM Post #42 of 801
New version (0.18) available here.
 
Changes Include:
  1. Further improvements to audio output function
  2. Option to use device's maximum buffer size
  3. Set reasonable default preferences
  4. Fix FLAC playback crash
  5. Fix FLAC playback stopping
  6. Menu option to enable/disable BetterSound
  7. Option to update track position in iTunes
 
I've had a report from an owner of a much higher end system than mine that BetterSound is now at least as good as Audirvana. According to him, it has a clearer more detailed sound and improved imaging. On my limited setup I can no longer tell the difference.
 
Let me know what you think!
 
Jun 18, 2011 at 2:12 AM Post #43 of 801
I'm giving this a shot. I like not having a UI at all.

What I think would be good is if much of the functionality in SoundSource is included so I don't have to have two menus up there, including being able to switch some of the features on and off directly.
 
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