[puresilence]

Awesome! Don't want to use fluke, so it's time to convert my music to ALAC. This'll take a while...

 

[bixby]

 
Quote:

BitPerfect has been released in the app store:
 
link

anyone know if it will ever get a volume control?
 
And about the 64 bit requirement, does anyone know if it works with a 2008 macbook with duo core processors?  That model does not boot into 64 bit mode.

 

[iamoneagain]

Quote:

 


anyone know if it will ever get a volume control?
 
And about the 64 bit requirement, does anyone know if it works with a 2008 macbook with duo core processors?  That model does not boot into 64 bit mode.

 
You can try asking these questions in this other thread that's all about BitPerfect.  Think it already has volume control but I've never used it, so developer can better answer your questions.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/553416/audirvana-alternatives
 
 

 

[agentsim]

Quote:

 


anyone know if it will ever get a volume control?
 
And about the 64 bit requirement, does anyone know if it works with a 2008 macbook with duo core processors?  That model does not boot into 64 bit mode.

I think a 2008 macbook with a core duo processor is fine, you don't need to boot into the 64-bit kernel, only be able to run 64-bit programs. I think the app store will warn you if your computer is not up to spec.
 
BitPerfect already has volume control. There are actually 2 volume controls, one in the menu which is available if your DAC supports volume control, this control is bit perfect and thus preferred. Alternatively, you can change volume with the slider in iTunes, but that is not bit perfect and might degrade quality. A future version will improve the iTunes volume control to increase quality, but for now, it is not an ideal solution.

 

[bixby]

Let me rephrase my concern about the volume control.  Will it ever have a volume control that is in increments that may be useful when playing through a normal dac directly into  a power amp?
 
#1  It seems to prefer a dac with a built in digital volume control- I'd say 95% of all dacs in use lack this feature.
 
#2  The volume control on the beta from a few days ago at least, is the itunes volume control and that will blast at just 1/8 of an inch from the full left hand setting (or lowest setting), so really not useful even though when running regular itunes the volume can be around 50% and still useful in my system
 
Has anything changed in the version on the app store?
 
thanks for the link to the other thread, I 'll try to get caught up there.

 

[agentsim]

Quote:

Let me rephrase my concern about the volume control.  Will it ever have a volume control that is in increments that may be useful when playing through a normal dac directly into  a power amp?
 
#1  It seems to prefer a dac with a built in digital volume control- I'd say 95% of all dacs in use lack this feature.
 
#2  The volume control on the beta from a few days ago at least, is the itunes volume control and that will blast at just 1/8 of an inch from the full left hand setting (or lowest setting), so really not useful even though when running regular itunes the volume can be around 50% and still useful in my system
 
Has anything changed in the version on the app store?
 
thanks for the link to the other thread, I 'll try to get caught up there.

The iTunes control blasting is worrying. Normally it is at 100%, I'd say you need to control volume from the amp in that case. It is possible to use BitPerfect as a "pre-amp" by doing volume control with iTunes, but like you're seeing that will depend on your system, and I think the lower the volume in iTunes, the more likely you'll get a degradation in sound quality.
 
The dithered volume control will help with sound quality, but not will volume level on the output, so I guess the answer is no... you need to use the volume control on your amp, it is just too powerful.

 

[bixby]

 
Quote:

The iTunes control blasting is worrying. Normally it is at 100%, I'd say you need to control volume from the amp in that case. It is possible to use BitPerfect as a "pre-amp" by doing volume control with iTunes, but like you're seeing that will depend on your system, and I think the lower the volume in iTunes, the more likely you'll get a degradation in sound quality.
 
The dithered volume control will help with sound quality, but not will volume level on the output, so I guess the answer is no... you need to use the volume control on your amp, it is just too powerful.

great idea, but power amps usually do not have volume controls, and mine is no exception.  All attenuation must be done upstream.  I wonder why the itunes control works with plenty of attenuation range while bit perfect seems to not.  I'll try to test it later today again to see if I missed something.
 
 
 

 

[agentsim]

Quote:

 

great idea, but power amps usually do not have volume controls, and mine is no exception.  All attenuation must be done upstream.  I wonder why the itunes control works with plenty of attenuation range while bit perfect seems to not.  I'll try to test it later today again to see if I missed something.
 
 
 

BitPerfect is using a simple %tage attenuation, perhaps iTunes is using an non-linear attenuation. To be honest I never really played with it much, but now that you point this out, I'll see if I can make BitPerfect match iTunes in terms of volume control.

 

[n0ah]

Are there any Cog users in here? I've only had a mac for about a month now and it was the first alternative to iTunes I found and have stuck with it. Just wondering if anyone's had any problems with it or have upgraded from it and for what reasons. Other than no album art I haven't found anything wrong with it. I'd also like to be able to bind rewind and fastforward keys at 5 seconds each to my arrow keys if anyone reading this knows how.

 

[bixby]

 
I just had a chance to test Bitperfect again with my system and determined that while the volume is not blasting when set at the small width of a mouse pointer above zero it is indeed quite different than when using itunes as the player.
 
To refresh, I run my computer to a dac that does not have digital volume control built in directly to a power amp.  In this case I must rely on whatever software program to apply the attenuation for the system.  In this case the volume control in the bitperfect drop down menu is not active and you need to rely on the itunes volume slider.
 
I used my trusty RS decibel meter with it set to slow response and “c-weighting” in order to get an average db reading for the test.
 
I used a white noise file recorded at a reasonable level for the first test.
 
% of volume slider bar           Bitperfect                    itunes
 
75%                                         79 db                           73 db
 
50%                                         74 db                           65db
 
25%                                         68 db                           57 db
 
12.5%                                      61 db                           54 db
 
This not very scientific since getting the slider to be in the exact position each time is not probable, but you can see there is a non-linearity when comparing the two at lower volumes.
 
EDIT:  It was accurate for the white noise test since I slid the volume control into position then played bitperfect then disabled bit perfect and played itunes.  I meant it was not accurate insofar as the later test with the Beatles cut, where getting it back to the roughly 25% position was all that was possible.
 
As a quick check I tested a bit of music the 24 bit Abbey Road album cut Oh Darling by the Beatles.  This is not recorded as hot as most of today’s music, but is recorded a bit more loudly than the test tone file.
 
25%                                         84-87 db                      74-76%
 
I think for folks that use a program's volume control, this 25-50% area might the area to address.  A true dithered volume control would be the best solution, but even the loss of some bits down around 25% would probably not be audible in most cases.
 

 

[agentsim]

Thanks for all the detail. I don't think the volume control fix will make it into the next version (that's being beta tested now) but it'll make it into the one after. I'll PM you with a link to a test version in the next few days so that you can confirm that the fix works properly.

 

[bixby]

Quote:

Thanks for all the detail. I don't think the volume control fix will make it into the next version (that's being beta tested now) but it'll make it into the one after. I'll PM you with a link to a test version in the next few days so that you can confirm that the fix works properly.

indeedy, I would like to test, thanks

 

[gogogasgas]

OK, I am only slightly up to speed in this thread (page 23, to be precise). So I am going to assume that no one has asked the following question...
 
Is there a music player available for Mac that handles DSD files ? (note: not SCAD discs or files) I am thinking of gettting a [size=inherit]TASCAM DV-RA1000HD[/size] which can record in both 24/192 and DSD. Although I can just store the files on my Mac and then access them by importing the files onto the Tascam's internal hard drive, it would be good to have the convenience of a player for the Mac.
 
Would it be preferable to stick with PCM rather than DSD?
 
Also, for the PCM 24/192 recording, the Tascam records in Wave files. Is this a problem for any of the players mentioned in this thread? Are Wave files undesirable from an audio quality point of view (I don't care about album artwork).
 
 

 

[agentsim]

Quote:

Is there a music player available for Mac that handles DSD files ? (note: not SCAD discs or files) I am thinking of gettting a [size=inherit]TASCAM DV-RA1000HD[/size] which can record in both 24/192 and DSD. Although I can just store the files on my Mac and then access them by importing the files onto the Tascam's internal hard drive, it would be good to have the convenience of a player for the Mac.
 
Would it be preferable to stick with PCM rather than DSD?

 
I don't know much about DSD files, but what I do know is Pure Music supports them in the latest version... I don't think any other players can claim that bragging right.

 

[gogogasgas]

Thanks for the tip Agentsim. I've sent Pure Music an email for further info. Up until about page 23 of this thread, which is where I'm up to reading, the Pure Music player was not very popular with users/posters. Does PM 'tamper' with the sound before giving it over to the DAC?