Audirvana is an user friendly audio player that is capable to import your iTunes music library, but can also scan specific folders and automatically integrate any new tracks. The player offers support for editing the track’s metadata, helps you create smart playlists, is processing the audio with 64bit precision to provide the best quality possible, and much more. The latest tweets from @Audirvana. As every Audirvana users already know, you can’t launch Audirvana software manually. Not even clicking on executable file in Windows Explorer so Fidelizer not being able to launch Audirvana is common issue shared with all launcher software. Startup from App Settings will do. Audirvana Plus, the hi-fi software player acclaimed worldwide, now comes to PC users. The audiophile music player is now available with its new interface for Windows 10. Paris, July 19, 2018—Audirvana, maker of Audirvana Plus, the reference hi-fi audio player first made for Mac users, announces the commercial release of the highly anticipated Windows 10.

Today I received a message from my ex-client’s colleague after my appeal to PayPal support is over.

Audirvana Review

DEAR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
it’s amazing what methods the asian colleagues can be persuaded to use.
due to your displeasing behavior against our esteemed colleague XXXXXX (head of purchasing department, authorized signatory of our partner company), we have also deleted you from our distribution list. to date, we have been able to prevent 27 customers from purchasing the software fidelizer and have supplied them with software elsewhere. we sold audio switches from a european company to 49 other people. who knows how they will act in case of a warranty claim?
for the first quarter of 2021, we have received pre-orders from our professional musicians for 116 audio workstations in the high-price segment. we will also do without your software for these computers.
best regards
XXXXXXX XXXXXXX

It seems they’re trying to cause damage to Fidelizer’s reputation as ex-client threatened me before so I believe proper explanation is required to avoid future confusion about this case. It all started from that client asking about Fidelizer Pro software as below.

Hello,
before buying the Fidelizer Pro i have some questions:

– is the fidelizer pro compatible with audirvana, it is an microsoft modern app and unfortunately no msi package or normal exe? (program path “c:program fileswindowsappsaudirvana …”)

– will the fidelizer be installed or can i run the exe from any directory? how is the fidelizer ideally installed, on drive c:program files (x86) or on an usb-stick? are certain rights required?

– the fidelizer is probably hardware bound (guid, sid etc.). Does an image work as backup (paragon or acronis – backup and restore is done on the same computer of course)?

thank you for answering my questions. many greetings in advance from southern germany

And this is my answers to his questions prior to his purchase

Thank you for your interests in Fidelizer Pro software. Yes Fidelizer Pro is compatible with Audirvana. It can improve Windows multimedia platform itself so Audirvana will gain benefits from this and get recognized as audio application.

Fidelizer Pro also work as part of system automatically with default configuration. You can setup Fidelizer Pro, restart and program will perform optimizations automatically. You can run software package again to make changes and restart.

As for license key, it’s hardware bound to important hardware information such as processor and NIC component on motherboard/PCI. For Storage/RAM/VGA and other miscellaneous stuff, it shouldn’t affect the key. 🙂

Regards,
Keetakawee

As every Audirvana users already know, you can’t launch Audirvana software manually. Not even clicking on executable file in Windows Explorer so Fidelizer not being able to launch Audirvana is common issue shared with all launcher software. Startup from App Settings will do.

Fidelizer will optimize Multimedia runtime platform and Windows itself making all applications and audio outputs sounding better. Even Internet Explorer outside Fidelizer can sound better. Media Player Application was implemented for convenience to launch software after optimizations.

However, he wasn’t pleased with Audirvana not being able to be launched by Fidelizer. He sent two messages and opened a dispute in PayPal while I was sleeping. There was no room for discussion before opening a dispute but I still hoped to resolve his issue to maintain good product support.

I tried to explain the situation to him that they are compatible and don’t need to be launched by Fidelizer to get better sound. I also shared testimonials and information how Audirvana can still gain benefits from Fidelizer optimizations but he escalated the case even before I finish writing back to him.

According to terms and agreement clause 5 stating “Refund of a product will be available if the product fails to work after all support and troubleshooting.”, he escalated the case without waiting for me to provide my support and troubleshooting so he broke terms and agreement.

Audirvana Vs Roon

That left me no choice but to conclude that he’s not willing to resolve the case with me at all. So I informed him about product support termination like this. He still got working license over there so he can still use it despite the outcome.

It seems you already escalated the case so I shall terminate all product and support for you. You won’t receive future product updates and support despite the outcome.

Regards,
Keetakawee

He forwarded my message to PayPal. I don’t know what he wrote to them but I provided all related evidences I have to PayPal and also sent my message to them too since I already delivered working product to him.

Despite the evidence I provided to prove that product was working as described, the case was decided on buyer’s favor for the first time because the buyer stated they never received the item, and the proof of delivery details provided could not be verified.

I let my guard down. I didn’t include proof that I delivered product to him and his response about receiving it because the claim was product not as described. It never crossed my mind that buyer can win by default without proof of delivery provided.

I tried to appeal sending PDF files of delivery message and client’s message about delivered software to PayPal. The appeal wasn’t accepted. I tried to explain to PayPal one last time that judging on this reasoning is not logical and acceptable.

Fortunately, there’s staff who found it strange for that the case was closed because of invalid proof of delivery when buyer was complaining about compatibility issues of the app that they purchased. He re-escalated the case and was decided on seller’s favor.

To Mr. ex-client if you’re reading this, I’d like to inform you that you may keep Fidelizer Pro 8.6 installed on your computer but you won’t receive further updates and support from me because you broke terms and agreement as I explained in this article.

Things could have turned out differently if you allowed me to work on the case. I could help supporting your business better like I did for other clients who work in music industry and partners. It’s a real shame and hope we both get a good lesson from this.

I intended to release 8.7 update with Audirvana update after new year because I had tight schedule before visiting parents in Christmas but this incident made me realized it should be resolved in 2020. Now Fidelizer 8.7 can launch Audirvana and happy listening. 🙂

Audirvana Plus, an audiophile music player for the Mac, has now been released for Windows.

Audirvana was developed in France by Damien Plisson, originally as an open source project (you can still get this here but it has not been updated since 2012). The description there still applies: “No equalizer, no trendy special effects, just the music”. Both Mac and Windows come with music players bundled with the operating system – in Apple’s case the mighty iTunes – but the issue which Audirvana addresses is that these players are about convenience and features as well as sound quality.

Another problem is that the sound system in a modern operating system is complex and needs to support every kind of application while from the user’s perspective it should “just work”; and this can mean compromises, such as resampling or normalizing the audio. This does not matter in most circumstances, but if you want the best possible sound and spend money on high-res downloads or streaming, for example, you want bit-perfect sound.

This perhaps is a good reason not to play music directly from a PC or Mac; but the counter-argument is that using your existing computer reduces the box-count (and expense) of streaming, and that the flexibility and processing power of desktop computer is handy too.

So what does Audirvana offer? The Windows version is still to some extent work in progress and not yet as full-featured as the Mac version; however the developers are promising to add the missing pieces later. However the product is already a capable player with the following key features:

1. Wide range of supported formats including AIFF, WAVE, AAC, MP3, FLAC, Monkey Audio APE, WavPack, Apple Lossless, DSD (DSDIFF including DST compressed, DSF, and SACD ISO images).

DSD support works whether or not you have a DSD DAC. If you have a DSD DAC, you get full native DSD. If you do not, Audirvana will convert to hi-res PCM and it still sounds good. You can control how the DSD is converted in settings, such as the amount of gain to apply (without it, DSD files will sound quiet).

Here is a DSD file playing on a non-DSD DAC:

2. MQA unfolding whether or not you have an MQA DAC. The way this works is similar to DSD. If you have an MQA DAC, the decoding will take place in hardware. If you do not, Audirvana will process the MQA track in software. For example, I have a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz MQA-encoded FLAC that plays in Foobar 2000 as a 16/44 file, downloaded from here. In Audirvana though, the same file claims to be 24-bit/352.8 kHz track.

That resolution is not genuine; but what matters is that MQA decoding is taking place. If the file is played through an MQA-capable DAC like the Meridian Explorer 2, I get a green light indicating MQA decoding on the DAC. If I play the “original resolution” version, I get a blue light indicating “MQA Studio”. WASAPI and ASIO support. WASAPI is the native Windows standard which enables bit-perfect output and is aimed at professional audio engineers. ASIO is a standard with similar features developed by Steinberg.

3. A library manager which performs well with large numbers of tracks. I tried it with over 50,000 tracks and it was perfectly responsive. It uses the open source SQLITE database manager.

4. Hi-res streaming via Qobuz, HIRESAUDIO or Tidal. There is no support for the likes of Spotify or Apple Music; I guess these are not the target market because they use lossy compression.

Not available yet, but coming, is a remote app for iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch), audio effects via VST plugins, and kernel streaming output.

The Audirvana User Interface

Audirvana is delivered as a download though it is a click-once application which means it updates semi-automatically, prompting you to update if an update is available. The user interface is, from the point of view of a Windows user, rather quirky. There is no menu or ribbon, but by clicking around you can find what you need. Some of the settings are accessed by clicking a gearwheel icon, others (such as the per-device options shown in the illustration above) by clicking an arrow to the right of the device name. There is also a compact view, obtained by clicking a symbol at top left, designed for playback once you have lined up the tracks you want.

The current version seems unreliable when it comes to showing cover art in the library. Sometimes cover art shows up in the mini view, but not the full view.

Audirvana For Mac

Searching the library is quick, but because the user interface is fairly blocky, you do not see many results on a page. An option just to show details in a list would be good (or perhaps it exists but I have not clicked in the right place yet).

I can forgive all this since despite a few annoyances the user interface is responsive, the search fast, and playback itself works well.

Audirvana App

Sound quality

How much impact does the music player have on sound quality? This is difficult to answer definitively. On the one hand, the amount of distortion introduced by a sub-optimal player should be negligible compared to other sources of distortion. On the other hand, if you have gone to the trouble and expense of investing in hi-res downloads, streaming or DSD, it must be worth ensuring that every link in the chain does justice to those sources.

It is true that on Windows, with its enthusiastic technical audiophile community, most of what Audirvana does can be achieved with free players such as Foobar 2000 or VLC. There is also the excellent JRiver as an alternative paid-for player, though this lacks software MQA decoding (appreciating that not everyone likes or needs this).

How Much Is Audirvana

That said, the uncomplicated user interface of Audirvana Plus is great for audio enthusiasts who would rather not spend too much time fiddling with settings or plugins. Support for the iOS remote app is an unfortunate missing piece at present, and Android users miss out too.

The Windows version needs a bit more work then (I also encounted some unpleasant noises when trying to adjust the volume within the application), but it does enough right to justify its relatively modest cost, and the bugs will fixed. Head over to the Audirvana site for a free trial.