# BitPerfect (was: Audirvana Alternatives)



## agentsim

Hi Gurus,
   
  I've just discovered Audirvana, the OSX audio player. Compared to iTunes I'm noticing a definite improvement in SQ but a definite regression in convenience 
   
  Being an audiophile, SQ trumps convenience, but it would be nice to have both. Can you recommend any OSX players with similar SQ that include organizational features equivalent or superior to iTunes?
   
  Thanks!


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## WarriorAnt

.


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## Currawong

I think he means the first post of my thread listening all the current players here: 
   
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/539740/mac-os-x-music-players-alternatives-to-itunes/


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## agentsim

Thanks for the link. I guess I should have posted my question in that thread, but I was specifically interested in players with similar audio quality to audirvana.
   
  After checking out the other thread, it seems there is Pure Music and amarra. I just tried Pure Music, sounds pretty good. Being a developer, when I saw how it worked (just loading iTunes and intercepting playback events) I decided to take a stab at doing it myself and saving $CAD 132. If it works out, I might throw my work up on the App store for a buck or two


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## WindowsX

Go back to Windows 7 SP1 and use Fidelizer. Even foobar2000+wasapi can ourperform Audirvana with Fidelizer alone in normal OS.


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## agentsim

Here's the "beta" of my music player, BetterSound. So far no flac support so you'll have to transcode to Apple lossless (m4a) to try it. I'm hoping to add flac support this weekend. When you run the app, it launches iTunes, you then play a track in iTunes and it plays through BetterSound, kind of like Pure Music does. Since this is a beta, most of the settings are defaulted to what seems to sound best, so there isn't much to play with. There is no UI, except for a preferences dialog where you can choose the output device.

 Quality-wise I think it is comparable to Audirvana. I'm pretty sure I need a DAC or amp to hear any difference between the two (I'm using the line out on my Macbook Pro). I can clearly hear differences between BetterSound/Audirvana and iTunes, but not between BetterSound and Audirvana. I'm guessing Audirvana probably has the edge, it certainly has many more features and options, but I think I've distilled out the most important ones, like exclusive mode, and made them the default in my app.
   
  Notable features/behaviour:
   - Exclusive access mode. BetterSound will *only* open the device in exclusive access mode.
   - Any upsampling/downsampling is done via CoreAudio with the best possible settings and 2x/4x ratios (no 44.1 to 96, instead 44.1 to 88.2).
   - Use max bit depth is a bit of a hack, it is there to support DACs that only have limited output bit depths. For instance, the Classé CP-800 only support 24-bit, so all 16-bit files need to be output in 24-bit. In a future version I'll probably get rid of this option and be more clever about choosing bit depth, unless you guys report improved SQ.
   - It uses two 128M buffers for smooth playback. 128M is good for about 3 minutes of 32/96.
   - The sound device is configured to use its maximum buffer size.
   - Gapless playback is possible, there is a 1 second delay between iTunes playing a file and BetterSound responding. That said, that also means BetterSound has only 1 second to buffer enough of the next track to ensure gapless playback. This works just fine when playing from the hard disk, but I'd imagine it would be problematic over wireless networks.
   
  Notable missing features:
   - BetterSound only supports stereo tracks (I think!) and stereo output devices (for sure!). Furthermore, the output device has to be a "simple" stereo device. BetterSound should hide ineligible devices from the list on the preferences screen. If this doesn't hiding doesn't work, the audio output can be totally garbled. I'd suggest turning the volume way way down and  then slowly turning it up that way you don't risk your ears or your equipment.
   - BetterSound does not mute iTunes, so if you play through the default device, you might hear a short blip from iTunes before BetterSound takes control. I'll probably get around to fixing that this weekend.
   
  Let me know if you try it!
   
  In case you missed it above, here's the link (head-fi won't let me make attachments ) https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bzete4H47vr1YTdjODExMzUtZjFkZC00N2IxLTg1MzgtODA5YmRlM2E3NGQ4&hl=en_US&authkey=COyqkqsO.


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## DougofTheAbaci

So how exactly does BetterSound work? I mean, do I just open it up when I'm using iTunes and let it run in the background? If so, that sounds great.
   
  Nevermind. I downloaded and started it up. Noticed a nice update in audio quality coming out of iTunes about a half a second after it started.


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## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> So how exactly does BetterSound work? I mean, do I just open it up when I'm using iTunes and let it run in the background? If so, that sounds great.
> 
> Nevermind. I downloaded and started it up. Noticed a nice update in audio quality coming out of iTunes about a half a second after it started.


 


  Yeah, the half-second delay is due to the way BetterSound works. It hijacks the output device once it starts playing, but there is a delay, so you hear iTunes for a bit first. I've got a few ideas about how to fix that but there are some higher priority bugs that have been brought to my attention


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## agentsim

New version (0.12) available here.
   
  Special thanks to DougofTheAbaci for the status bar and application icons! Also thanks to Doug and goldmbe for their feedback.
   
  The new version includes:

 BetterSound is now an "agent" application, it only appears in the status bar on the top of the screen (suggested by Doug.)
 Status bar and bundle icons (courtesy of Doug.)
 The bit depth is now intelligently selected. There is no need for "force max bit depth" unless it improves SQ somehow.
 BetterSound stops playback and relinquishes exclusive control of the audio device when iTunes exits.
 iTunes is muted on startup and unmuted when BetterSound exits. This masks the half-second of audio coming from iTunes before BetterSound takes over.
 Systems with only 1 output device will now switch tracks automatically at the end of each song. The track switch supports gapless playback.
   
  As always, let me know your questions/comments/requests/rants/raves/bug reports etc...


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## DougofTheAbaci

Ooo, have I got an interesting bug for you!
   
  OK, so, if BetterSound is running and iTunes is open but muted HTML5 videos on YouTube won't play. Here's how to recreate:
   
  1. Open iTunes and BetterSound
  2. Either uninstall Flash or use a plugin (like ClickToFlash) to temporarily disable it
  3. Go to YouTube.com in Safari and click a video
  4. Watch it preload but never play, even if you toggle pause/play or use the seek function
   
  My guess is you're hijacking QuickTime to do the controls, right? I think it's overriding all instances of QuickTime, or something to that effect.


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## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Ooo, have I got an interesting bug for you!
> 
> OK, so, if BetterSound is running and iTunes is open but muted HTML5 videos on YouTube won't play. Here's how to recreate:
> 
> ...


 

 Thanks for the bug report. Can you check if you have only 1 output device? Run "Audio Midi Setup", all the devices with speakers on the left are output devices. If you have more than one when BetterSound runs one of the other should get the two system default sound icons next to it.
   
  My guess is, you have only 1 output device, so BetterSound hogs it. Now, when you try to play video, it is up to the video player to decide whether to play with no sound or not. Having done some video player coding I can tell you that is not an obvious choice. The speed of the video is often synced in someway to the audio playback, so it is quite possible that the browser just doesn't want bother playing the video if there is no sound.
   
  If I'm right, installing soundflower or plugging in a DAC would allow video to play with sound going through some other device.


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## DougofTheAbaci

Yep, only one output device. I'll give Soundflower a look.


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## agentsim

New version (0.13) available here.
   
  Changes (bug fixes and minor improvements) include:

 Fix crash when switching track in some cases.
 Last 4 seconds of last song in the playlist are lost.
 Fix slight hiccup when changing playback buffer.
 BetterSound will stop playback in iTunes when it exits. This prevents iTunes suddenly playing when you were probably expecting silence.
 Increment play count in iTunes when there is only 1 output device.
 Stop playback at the end of an iTunes playlist (also relinquishes control of the output device.)
 Added "Stop" option to status bar menu.
   
  Next up integer mode and FLAC support.


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## goldmbe

Can't wait for the next version. Keep up the good work!


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## agentsim

Thanks for the interest goldmbe... just for you, here's 0.14, starring FLAC support.
   
  New version (0.14) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 FLAC support, see notes below for caveats.
 More precise volume control (100 steps vs 20). Makes the OSX volume control GUI behave weirdly, but IMHO is worth it.
 Some refactoring to set the stage for integer mode (the checkbox in preferences does nothing, yet.)
   
  FLAC caveats. FLAC support was finished about 15 minutes ago... so I haven't properly tested it yet. There are a few things to be aware of.

 You need to install Fluke (http://code.google.com/p/flukeformac/).
 Fluke can cause iTunes to hang if there is no available output device, so if you have only 1 output device, install soundflower or something.
   
  As always, if you give it a try, let me know. I'd love to hear from you, even if it is bad news


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## DougofTheAbaci

1) If you start BetterSound after iTunes starts you need to stop BetterSound and select a new song before music will play.
  2) All UI-based volume changes, whether on the OS-level or through iTunes are ignored.
  3) iTunes track-seeking still doesn't work.
   
  Right now you're kind of straddling this line between passive enhancement of iTunes audio and a dedicated playback program. I really think you need to choose one or the other because the middle is causing a number of problems with usability.
   
  Personally, I think the issue with the volume isn't acceptable. Ideally, I'd like to be able to turn it off outright. There are already ways in OS X itself to change the volume by more than 20 steps even if you don't count simply dragging the volume controller. What's happening now breaks all but one of the ways in which you change volume in OS X and that way is buggy.
   
  I'd rather see BetterSound go the direction of an entirely passive system that merely enhances system audio. All the complaints I've ever heard about iTunes have been it doesn't support some format and the sound quality is horrible. There are plugins for dealing with the various formats issue but nothing that really deals with the audio quality issue as I've seen. Rather than fighting iTunes I'd rather see BetterSound augment it to make it better, but that's just me.


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## agentsim

Track seeking and volume control via iTunes are now on my TODO list.
   
  I'm not sure what problem you're seeing with volume control. If BetterSound is playing through the default output device, then the volume control keys will control a secondary device and BetterSound will control the default device, otherwise only the default device's volume will be changed (by BetterSound.) Since I'm not understanding this problem you'll have to be more specific for me to fix it.
   
  Issue 1 is a non-starter unfortunately. The problem is, BetterSound needs to be told what to play by iTunes. I suppose I could try and make it detect what is currently playing, even seek to the correct part, but it won't be seamless, so I haven't bothered. This is tied into the idea of BetterSound being a passive program that enhances all sound. To do this, I would have to implement BetterSound as a virtual sound card (like Soundflower.) While possible, I don't think it would yield higher quality sound for 2 reasons:
   
  1) BetterSound would have no control over how iTunes decodes audio. If iTunes chooses to downsample your 24/96 track to 16/44.1 (which it does if your output device is set to 16/44.1) then BetterSound would have no say in the matter. iTunes will not intelligently change the output settings on your device and BetterSound could not know that there was a problem.
   
  2) 90% of the increase in sound quality comes from having exclusive control of the sound device. This has to be requested by the program playing the sound. I believe the improvement is due to exclusive mode bypassing the system mixer. Even when only 1 stream of audio is playing, the mixer still does it's thing, degrading quality. If BetterSound were implemented as a sound driver, it would not be able to require iTunes to output in exclusive mode, so multiple audio streams would still have to be mixed together.
   
  I believe it is for the above 2 reasons that applications like Pure Music and Amarra are both implemented as dedicated playback applications driven by iTunes, just like BetterSound is now.
   
  Longer-term, I'm planning on writing a music library manager driven by the BetterSound output code, but that is a long way off. Hence my aim for now is to get workable integration with iTunes in the same way that Pure Music and Amarra do.


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## DougofTheAbaci

Right now, with BetterSound working, the volume control item in the menu bar has no effect on system volume.
   
  With the first issue, I don't think people would expect it to be seemless. However, it's better than it doing nothing, from a user's point of view. People who don't know how to deal with it are going to think it's broken. A solution should be implemented if only to save you the dozens of support e-mails when this becomes popular.
   
  Is there a way to keep the control part of the interface as passive? That might solve the volume control issues. One thing that seems a little strange, if I quit BetterSound having changed the volume, it appears to go back to the volume it was before.
   
  If your aim is for integration than it should be as seamless as possible, no? Ideally, from a user's perspective, they should launch BetterSound and it should just sit in the background as if it wasn't there at all, the only noticeable difference is a slight pause when it first starts and then improved sound quality afterwards.
   
  The sound quality part is a definite improvement. I've yet to purchase the AMP/DAC I'm saving for but BetterSound is already a great improvement. My music sounds warmer and more alive through my headphones.
   
  The problem I'm having is I'm constantly having to quit and open the app because of the UX bugs.
   
  It might be worth your time to implement the ability to enable and disable BetterSound from the menu item without quitting it. That'll help in the future if users come across applications BetterSound doesn't play well with but that they need to use for a short period of time. Bonus points if it could be tied to a key-command or only enabled when iTunes is playing.
   
  [edit:]
   
  Hmm. Here's another weird bug. If you change the star rating of a song while it's playing the song restarts.


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## goldmbe

Thank you, agentsim!
   
  It's great that you're making BetterSound compatible with FLAC. Although most of my files are Apple Lossless, I do have a significant number of FLACs that I haven't got around to converting with XLD yet.
   
  My LD DAC_I only seems to run in integer mode when connected via USB - even though I use toslink from my iMac, I will try out integer mode over USB once it becomes functional (next version?).
   
  I will eagerly await version 0.15


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## agentsim

@Doug: I'm almost done with volume control and seek using the iTunes control. The UI integration is pretty seamless. I've also changed the way BetterSound gets notified of changes by iTunes, instead of waiting to be told what happened, BetterSound polls iTunes a few times per second to find out what is going on. This approach fixes the weird bugs like songs restarting when you star them.
   
  @Goldmbe: I'm starting on Integer mode now, I'm glad you'll be able to test it. I'm hoping to have a build with Integer mode by the end of the weekend. I don't have an Integer mode DAC, so I have to wait for the week-end to test/dev using a friend's DAC


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## glt

agentsim:
   
  Even though I use iTunes for Windows, I congratulate you on your efforts. I'll try to get a hold of a Mac to use your software.


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## agentsim

New version (0.15) available here.
   
  Changes Include:

 Poll iTunes state to respond to UI changes quickly, instead of waiting on notifications.
 Obey volume control from iTunes.
 Seek via iTunes, very fast for Apple Lossless, not so great for FLAC.
 FLAC was playing left channel out of both left and right speakers.
 Changing rating no longer restarts playback.
 Integer mode (experimental, untested).
 Device/Stream info option in the menu for helping me with device specific bugs.
   
  The "Sound Check" button is not hooked up yet. I'm looking into options for user selectable sample rate converters for the next build, other than libsamplerate, libfsrc and SoX, let me know if you have any suggestions/requests.
   
  @Doug: This should improve iTunes integration significantly. Let me know what other suggestions you have in that regard.
  @goldmbe: Integer mode is enabled. Very experimental since I haven't got an integer capable device. If it doesn't work, email me the contents of the "Device Info..." output preferably while sound is playing (if possible.)


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## Kuglopf

Thanks Agentsim*
   
  "BetterSound" is exactly what I was looking for.
   
  It is so disappointing that itunes does not sound better...
  Aurirvana is fine, but the integration with itunes is not user-friendly.
   
  So far I do good experiences with BetterSound.
  I appreciate the itunes volume control on version .15 and the better responsiveness to itunes commands.
  I have some problems with Soundflower, which sometimes hanged up with color wheel.  I removed it. I son't need it at it is possible to select the audio output from BetterSound.
  With version .15, I had twice a similar problem with iTunes. I tried to reproduce the bug and I find the manipulations leading to itunes's crash, I will let you know.
   
  I look forward to seeing the next versions.
   
  All the best
   
  Kuglopf


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## DougofTheAbaci

Seek works (yay!) and rating a song no longer restarts it (double-yay!) so great job there.
   
  Issues still to fix:
   - Play position isn't updated during playback in iTunes (this translates to other programs such as Bowtie and similar iTunes controllers)
   - Cross-fade doesn't work (low priority as it's a nice thing to have but not really required, just another seamlessness thing)
   - System-level volume menu bar item has no effect on sound volume
   
  One thing I have to say is BetterSound is really friendly in terms of system resources. I'm hitting around 1% of CPU usage (Intel Core i7 2.93 Ghz) and around 140 MB of RAM. My guess is this would actually run well on older Macs and lower-end Macs without any noticeable hit on the system, which is great. Given the quality increase I half expected to see it using half my processor but it's not. It did grab 100% of one of my cores when it first started up but that only lasted for a few seconds.


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## agentsim

@Kuglopf: Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming  If you find the cause of the hangs, be sure and let me know.
   
  @Doug: Item 1), this is an iTunes "bug". If there is no output device iTunes can use (BetterSound has hogged the default device) then iTunes doesn't update the play position. Not much I can do there... Item 3) is a similar kind of thing. Once BetterSound hogs the default output device, no other system process can control it in any way, that means no volume control outside of BetterSound (keyboard shortcuts) or any other kind of control. I'll consider making hog mode optional, but be warned, an playing audio without hog mode will not sound much better than iTunes.
   
  I'll add cross-fade to my TODO list


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## DougofTheAbaci

Could you create a dummy output device or in some other way trick it? Heck, you could have it playing through BetterSound and iTunes with the iTunes stream muted, or would that not be possible?
   
  As for the UI control, since BetterSound is taking control of all audio playback would it be possible to do what you're doing with iTunes's volume controller only with the system-wide one with some sort of listener or by pinging it the way you are iTunes for star ratings? Or is that just something you can't touch at all?
   
  Hmmm. OK, so out of curiosity what is it exactly that iTunes does that you're stopping it from doing with BetterSound? I can definitely tell a difference but I'm not entirely sure why there is one.


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## Kuglopf

I have identified three issues.
  1) It is not possible to qui iTunes while BetterSound is open, because it will re-launch iTunes. Workaround : I need to first quit BetterSound otherwise.
  2) I am note able to listen to the iTunes store "preview clips" or to any steamed content. Workaround : I fist need to qui BetterSound before playing streamed audio in iTunes.
  3) I still have a (serious) compatibility issue with SoundFlower. When I start my session, I can listen to sound from other applications, e.g. Safari, which is sent by default to Soundflower 2ch and routed to "Built-in Output". If I listen to any application via SoundFlower and then I quit them and I listen to iTunes (with BetterSound), then SoundFlower is mute. If I quit BetterSound + iTunes, and I open any other application, it does not produce any sound. I have to close my session and to re-open it to be able to hear anything via SoundFlower.
   
  Thanks for checking whether they are already known (I guest the second one is not surprising) and, where appropriate, to fix them...
   
  K
   
  P.S. My config : an intel imac with system 10.6.7, connected (mini-jack) by optical cable to a musical fidelity V-DAC, connected to a NAD amplifier.


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## agentsim

@Doug: If I create a dummy output device it would be the same thing as Soundflower (but with more bugs 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





). As for muting iTunes, that is possible, but most of the increase in SQ comes from BetterSound having total control of the output device. I'll see about hooking into the system volume control, but I don't have high hopes.
   
  As for what iTunes does that BetterSound prevents, well BetterSound prevents iTunes from playing anything at all. iTunes does a few things wrong, notably, it does not select the correct bit depth and sample rate for the track being played. However, IMHO the single biggest improvement is hog mode (exclusive access). iTunes will never hog the output device. IIRC, without hog mode, all the sound you play through the device goes through some kind of system-wide mixer (mixing multiple output streams together). It goes through the mixer even if there is 1 output stream and that mixer is what degrades the quality, not iTunes per se.
   
   
  @Kuglopf:
   
  1) Thanks for the bug report, will be fixed in the next release.
  2) You're right, this one isn't surprising, the output device has been hogged.
  3) Is BetterSound configured to go through Soundflower, built-in output or the V-DAC? I'll look into this some more, my hunch is that you've found a Soundflower problem, but I can't be sure yet.


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## goldmbe

agentsim, I cannot get integer mode to work at all. BetterSound hangs whenever the integer mode box is checked and I try to play a track. I have to manually force quit in Activity Monitor. If you want the device info I'll PM it to you.


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## Kuglopf

Quote: 





> @Kuglopf:
> 
> ...
> 
> 3) Is BetterSound configured to go through Soundflower, built-in output or the V-DAC? I'll look into this some more, my hunch is that you've found a Soundflower problem, but I can't be sure yet.


 
  BetterSound goes through built in output. As the V-DAC is connected via toslink, it does not appear as an identified output. If I connect via USB, it is recognised, but its bit depth limited to 16.
   
  thanks
   
  k


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## agentsim

New version (0.16) available here.
   
  Changes Include:

 Increase minimum seek amount (prevents iTunes causing hiccups) to 3 seconds. Seeking by less than 3 seconds is ignored.
 Fix display of integer mode support in preferences
 BetterSound no longer prevents iTunes from quitting
 Option to upsample to max ability of DAC (upsample checkbox only, vs, 2x / 4x)
 Option to start iTunes on startup
 Option to increase buffer size
 Fix possiblity of no sound when Integer mode is selected but device does not support it
 Option to respect per-track volume adjustment from iTunes
 Fix no output after rapidly switching tracks
 Remove 1 second delay before starting playback, playback now starts ASAP.
 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...


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## glt

Only works with 10.6.x and above? (Did not work on a 10.5.8 machine)
  Thanks


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## agentsim

Yep, Intel 64-bit Macs running OS X 10.6.


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## goldmbe

agentsim, would it be possible to create an option to keep the BetterSound icon in the menubar all the time instead of disappearing upon exit?


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## agentsim

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?


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## goldmbe

Yes, that would actually be very useful. So, BetterSound could continue to run but I would be able to choose when it would hog my output device and when it wouldn't, correct?


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## agentsim

Yep, that's what I was thinking. I'll add it to my todo list.


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## agentsim

New version (0.17) available here.
   
  Changes Include:

 Do not apply sample rate conversion (even as a no-op) unless it is required (for CoreAudio files, FLAC version coming soon)
 More aggressive compiler optimizations (for the geeks among you; -O3, -flto)
 Prefer Integer output even if non-mixable
 Minimize thread locking overhead (only the CoreAudio lock is used, it doesn't get any faster than this!)
 Use manual memory management instead of garbage collector
 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!


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## DougofTheAbaci

It keeps crashing on me after a few seconds of playing. I'm using the bog-standard setup of iTunes > BetterSound > my headphones.


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## goldmbe

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.


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## agentsim

@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!


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## agentsim

New version (0.18) available here.
   
  Changes Include:

 Further improvements to audio output function
 Option to use device's maximum buffer size
 Set reasonable default preferences
 Fix FLAC playback crash
 Fix FLAC playback stopping
 Menu option to enable/disable BetterSound
 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!


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## Currawong

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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## tom2011

what is SQ


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## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





tom2011 said:


> what is SQ


 

  
  Sound Quality.


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## DougofTheAbaci

The only thing that's really standing out for me right now is the problems relating to volume control. To be honest, I'd almost like to see the ability to take volume control away from BetterSound since I personally find it more of a hinderance than a benefit. Plus, the argument could be made that most audiophiles have AMPs and DACs where they can more easily fine-tune the sound levels.


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## bulmanxxi

Thanks for yet another alternative.  No chance to test SQ yet.  Is there a way to built in the Updates through the app itself, so that it would update on startup or periodically?  The volume seems quirky to me as well.  When the keyboard volume controls are used, it changes with a delay and seems like it adjusts once, and then repeats the adjustment again.


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## clams

Is there a way to enable flac playback with this?


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## agentsim

FLAC support is provided via Fluke (or any other iTunes Flac importer).


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## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





bulmanxxi said:


> Is there a way to built in the Updates through the app itself, so that it would update on startup or periodically?


 


  I believe the intent is to get this in the Apple store and if memory serves you leave all the updating to Apple on that. If not, maybe Sparkle would be a good idea? I know a few other apps that use it to good effect.


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## bulmanxxi

Does it work with Movies in iTunes?  It seems to just hang iTunes with movie playback.


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## WarriorAnt

Ok I'm a little bit late to the party and I don't understand what is happening.  There is no User Interface?


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## agentsim

Quote:


bulmanxxi said:


> Does it work with Movies in iTunes?  It seems to just hang iTunes with movie playback.


 

 Hehe... I totally forgot iTunes plays movies! I'll fix this in the next version, for now, you can use the menu option to disable BetterSound while you do non-music related things.
  
  Quote: 





warriorant said:


> Ok I'm a little bit late to the party and I don't understand what is happening.  There is no User Interface?


 

 There is a user interface, it is just a menu item on the top right of your screen. From there you can configure BetterSound and do some other simple tasks.


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## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> I believe the intent is to get this in the Apple store and if memory serves you leave all the updating to Apple on that. If not, maybe Sparkle would be a good idea? I know a few other apps that use it to good effect.


 

 Yes, the goal is to get this on the App Store and updates will be taken care of that way. For now, I intend to post new versions to this thread.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> Ok I'm a little bit late to the party and I don't understand what is happening.  There is no User Interface?


 


  It's meant to be mostly automatic. You can play with some basic settings via the menubar item but for now that's kind of it.
   
  One bug I have to report is remembered playback positions. For example, if you start listening to a podcast with BetterSound off, stop and come back later with BetterSound running, it will start the podcast over from the beginning.
   
  Another bug is the seek function in iTunes causes the playback position to display wrong. Basically, click halfway through a song and it plays from there, but it looks like the song is starting at the beginning.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> It's meant to be mostly automatic. You can play with some basic settings via the menubar item but for now that's kind of it.
> 
> One bug I have to report is remembered playback positions. For example, if you start listening to a podcast with BetterSound off, stop and come back later with BetterSound running, it will start the podcast over from the beginning.
> 
> Another bug is the seek function in iTunes causes the playback position to display wrong. Basically, click halfway through a song and it plays from there, but it looks like the song is starting at the beginning.


 

 I see now!  there is a little icon up in the top bar for control.
   
  Yes I see what your talking about.  I noticed those same problems when I tried to A/B the sound.


----------



## agentsim

I read through all the past comments about volume control and I think I understand the problem you guys are reporting.
   
  The menu item for volume control isn't working, but it "remembers" the position you set it to. Unfortunately this seems to be a bug with that volume control, the same thing happens with Audirvana and other hog mode enabled players. Ideally Apple should disable the icon when it is not controlling any device. I can't remove volume control from BetterSound since no other program can control volume when BetterSound is running.
   
  My plan to improve this is two fold:

 I will improve the keyboard volume controls. I just found out there is a fine-grained keyboard volume shortcut in OSX (option+shift+volume). I'll make BetterSound adjust volume just like OSX does so that the GUI lines up with the key presses.
 I will add a volume slider to BetterSound, ideally to the menu item directly, failing that as an option that can bring up a volume control window.
   
  Let me know if you think these steps will fix, or at least mitigate the problem.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> One bug I have to report is remembered playback positions. For example, if you start listening to a podcast with BetterSound off, stop and come back later with BetterSound running, it will start the podcast over from the beginning.
> 
> Another bug is the seek function in iTunes causes the playback position to display wrong. Basically, click halfway through a song and it plays from there, but it looks like the song is starting at the beginning.


 

 Thanks again for the bug reports. I don't use iTunes for podcasts so I'm not familiar with the remembered position thing, I'll look into that. As for seek, I'm sure that's my fault


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

What you lay out would definitely be acceptable for me. Personally, I'd prefer the a choice between the fine-grained volume control and the "normal" method simply because when I'm using my headphones I don't mind the difference in noise change.
   
  Has anyone else noticed that every once and a while you'll just kind of suddenly get a very loud sound? It's the sound you get when you change volume. You won't really hear it when you are changing the volume but then, randomly, you'll just hear a loud blip noise. Kind of weird and it hurts my ears at times. Anything that can be done about that?


----------



## agentsim

Wow, I've never noticed that, I'll keep an ear out for it though.


----------



## bulmanxxi

Is the volume control dithered?  With my HRT Streamer II for example, Audirvana automatically removes the volume slider.  Seems removal of the volume control and leaving it either to iTunes or the external DAC/AMP maybe the better option and in line with the minimalist UI approach.
   
  Support for sound other than music would be great.  What about support for non-iTunes streaming (browser, Pandora, etc.) audio?  No one has figured that yet - PM has a plug-in but it is a real pain to use and doesn't seem to affect/improve SQ.


----------



## agentsim

The volume control is provided by the hardware device, so I don't think I have any control over whether it is dithered or not. A quick check of Audirvana's code confirms that I'm doing essentially the same thing, neither of us are doing any dithering. Since I haven't tried this on a great many devices, I haven't come across the scenario of having no hardware volume control, but I like the idea of simply removing, or disabling, the control.
   
  As for leaving volume control to iTunes, this isn't inline with having a high fidelity player. When you adjust volume in iTunes, it is a software adjustment. This works by changing the bits of the audio stream, compromising bit-perfect output. While it will probably still sound pretty good, it is always preferable to use hardware controls.
   
  Due to the way BetterSound works, I don't think support for other sources of sound is feasible. BetterSound is really just a music file player which happens to be told which file to play by iTunes. Making this work for movies would be near impossible, unless I code a movie player too! Almost all movies have low bit-rate compressed sound, so it isn't really worth while. In principle it would be possible via browsers and such, in practice it isn't since the browser is generally not playing a file (it is streaming music) and it is not sending system wide notifications of what it is doing (sort of what I'm relying on with iTunes.)
   
  The way PM does this is (I think - haven't really looked into it yet) is with a virtual sound device, kind of like Soundflower. This would allow the PM engine to get sound from any program and play it through PM, but there is a major problem with this. A great part of the improvement in sound quality comes from having one program, playing one audio stream having complete access to the output device - hog mode. As soon as you have to mix streams of sound from different programs the sound quality is affected, that might explain why SQ through PM's plug-ins is not great.


----------



## krismystic

Hello, agentsim.
   
  I'm using Mac mini Core Duo 1.83GHz and Snow Leopard.
  And I could not run BetterSound...
  The Finder shows circle and slash over the BetterSound icon.
  BetterSound does not support Core Duo Macs?


----------



## agentsim

BetterSound requires Snow Leopoard and a 64-bit CPU. Is your machine 64-bit?


----------



## krismystic

Oh, it's very sad...
   
  My Mac mini does not support 64bit Kernel...


----------



## bulmanxxi

@agentsim
   
  Re: movies - in that case, just making sure the app doesn't hang iTunes should be sufficient, i.e. other than when playing a music file, the app should be "off" along with hog mode, i.e. the app should only hog the audio only when playback through iTunes is actually "on".
   
  iTunes volume should always be at max.  But for external devices without their own volume control, i.e. HRT Streamer II, what options are there for volume control through the system other than iTunes?  I've resorted to using an analog volume control plugged at the HRT Streamer II output to exclude iTunes volume from affecting SQ.  Thus, volume control for such devices is completely unnecessary.  Likewise, for devices with built-in volume control, i.e. Leckerton UHA-4 for example, volume control through the computer is also unnecessary.  Seems like the only time, volume control outside of iTunes and through the computer hardware is for listening through headphones (or the built in speakers or headphone out to speakers (most likely such speakers would still have their own volume control) plugged in the headphone out of the mac.  Perhaps, the app can check for what device is being used and only provide volume control access in such instances.
   
  This may be too complicated but couldn't the streaming source be buffered at certain intervals and each buffered "piece" be treated as a separate file for playback through the app?


----------



## iamoneagain

Not have any luck with this. Don't get any sound output.  See the icon on top and the sound icon on the track in iTunes, but no sound. Not until I quit BetterSound do I hear anything.  Think I got it to work for a second.
   
  I'm using Toslink to a DAC, so not sure what my settings should be.  Any help would be great.


----------



## agentsim

That's exactly what I was thinking for the movies problem also.
   
  If the HRT streamer has no hardware volume control then you are stuck with either software volume through iTunes or some kind of attenuator plugged into the HRT. I agree that volume control for such devices is superfluous, so I'll disable volume control when such a device is plugged in. When the device has built-in volume control, like via a volume knob on the device (like Leckerton case), it is quite possible that the computer has no access to that volume control, in which case, the volume within BetterSound would be disabled also.
   
  So yes, the idea is volume control in BetterSound should only work if the device provides volume control to the computer. This should already be how it works and the new slider widget will just be an alternative to the keyboard shortcuts.
   
  A streaming source can be buffered for sure, but the real issue is that the browser doesn't tell you what it is doing, so it isn't possible to use the BetterSound technique. Even if you could, you will find that most video players don't work when they don't have access to the sound device, which means streaming audio on the browser might work, but streaming video would be broken. So BetterSound will be limited to enhancing iTunes for the foreseeable future.


----------



## bulmanxxi

How about an iPhone app?


----------



## Currawong

I don't get the music position updating in iTunes with the latest of both pieces of software. Any suggestions? It does cause a problem as I can't pause and resume in the middle of a track.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





currawong said:


> I don't get the music position updating in iTunes with the latest of both pieces of software. Any suggestions? It does cause a problem as I can't pause and resume in the middle of a track.


 


 When you have only 1 output device, iTunes doesn't update its position since it isn't playing anything. The latest version has the option to update the track position in iTunes, is that option selected?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





bulmanxxi said:


> How about an iPhone app?


 

 Dunno, I haven't checked to see if equivalent APIs are available for iPhone.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

For the iPhone you'd need to create an entirely new music app. As far as I know there's no plugin scheme and iOS doesn't have real multitasking.


----------



## iamoneagain

Wouldn't the regular Remote app work with this?  Since it's just feeding off what iTunes is playing anyway.  I can't really try it out since I'm still having problems just getting sound but at least found somewhat of a workaround and very happy with the sound.  Think it might be better than Audirvana.   Agentsim is working with me, so hopefully he finds a fix.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

iamoneagain, have you tried adjusting the volume in iTunes? It may seem silly but sometimes when BetterSound doesn't work immediately I'll quickly adjust the sound in iTunes and it'll work. Though, I know to do that when playback is happening but I'm not hearing anything.
   
  As for Remote App, if I understand it right, it's basically just a controller for you iTunes on your Mac. It doesn't actually handle any of the playback, just access a sort of control API. My guess is BetterSound wouldn't be effected either way.
   
  I'm noticing that BetterSound still doesn't respect the Sound Check setting in iTunes. I have the option checked to respect volume adjustments but is that only for the manual adjustments when you view Get Info or are we talking about the system iTunes uses to know to drop or raise the volume on individual songs?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> I'm noticing that BetterSound still doesn't respect the Sound Check setting in iTunes. I have the option checked to respect volume adjustments but is that only for the manual adjustments when you view Get Info or are we talking about the system iTunes uses to know to drop or raise the volume on individual songs?


 

 Yes that is an annoying limitation. iTunes doesn't publish the Sound Check values for each track so I don't see how I can implement that feature.
   
  Can anyone confirm if Pure Music or Amarra can be configured to use Sound Check? If so, I can snoop around a bit and reverse engineer their technique


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.19) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Mimic OSX volume control keyboard shortcuts
 Add volume control slider
 Fix crash if upsampling enabled while playing FLAC
 Fix potential crash due to total samples in the file being incorrect
 Fix doubling of play count
 Fix position update in iTunes after seeking
 Do not attempt to use non LPCM formats
 Handle unsupported files from iTunes elegantly
 Podcasts don't remember position when resumed with BetterSound
   
  This build should fix the compatibility problems that iamoneagain and uelover have been experiencing. Let me know if you guys find any other bugs.
   
  Thanks!


----------



## iamoneagain

When I first tried with integer mode on I got no sound again.  I then unchecked it and it was working like before.  Tried checking integer mode again and this time it worked.  Not sure why it had to go through one failure.  Now everything seems to be working great.  I'll play around with it later tonight and see if I find any problems.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Agentism, are you parsing the .itl file or are you grabbing data from the .xml file? I did some Googling and it seems that's where it's expected to be stored. It might be worth your time to ask the developer behind iVolume how he sets the sound volume as it might provide an insight into how he sets and retrieves the data.
   
  Option B might be to add the ability to do it on the fly. This would be an issue on older Macs but since you're only supporting 64-bit Macs it wouldn't be too big of an issue especially since it's only doing it at the speed of the audio. Of course, you'd want to make that an option to disable for people with slower Macs.


----------



## agentsim

Thanks for the link. Actually this looks quite straightforward, Sound Check is just stored as a tag on each file.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.20) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Further output function optimizations
 Drop option for volume adjustment
 Option to use sound check (only for mp3, Apple Lossless)
 Fix no sound when playing/resuming track after starting BetterSound when iTunes is paused
 Fix iTunes position off by 1 second after seeking


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Is it just ALAC or is it all M4A audio, like AACs as well?


----------



## Currawong

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> When you have only 1 output device, iTunes doesn't update its position since it isn't playing anything. The latest version has the option to update the track position in iTunes, is that option selected?


 

 Definitely checked.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Is it just ALAC or is it all M4A audio, like AACs as well?


 

 Should work with AAC files as well.


----------



## jhwalker

Thank you so much for doing this work!   I've tested / used all of the alternative Mac players (except for Amarra, there's no way I'm paying that much!), and this is certainly competitive with all of them.  As convenient as Pure Music (i.e., more convenient than Decibel or Audirvana), sound  comparable to PM / Audirvana - what's not to like?
   
  I'll keep a close eye on this - thanks again.


----------



## Talos

I've been using BetterSound for several days now, on a very high-resolution system, and can confirm that BetterSound is in fact very significantly better than Audirvana.  Just thought it was worth mentioning that, since that is the point of the thread.  Good work, _agentsim_.


----------



## glt

Being an exclusive access device and enforcing no oversampling, does this allow arbitrary native bitrate playback? In other words, if I have a 44.1K and 96K song in the library, would this allow the playback of the 44.1K song at 44.1K sample rate and the 96K song at 96K playback automatically?
  (I would try it myself, but I use W7/iTunes and the only Mac I was able to access needs to be upgraded to the latest OS)


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





glt said:


> Being an exclusive access device and enforcing no oversampling, does this allow arbitrary native bitrate playback? In other words, if I have a 44.1K and 96K song in the library, would this allow the playback of the 44.1K song at 44.1K sample rate and the 96K song at 96K playback automatically?
> (I would try it myself, but I use W7/iTunes and the only Mac I was able to access needs to be upgraded to the latest OS)


 

 Yep, that's exactly what it does.


----------



## discombobulation

hey, thanks for your work on this awesome piece of kit.
   
  Testing so far reveals extremely satisfying sound quality!
   
  Only one major problem for me, every time I start it up, turn it on, change song or change position in a song, MSN Messenger shuts down. I have no idea what could be causing this, but I'm running a 2011 17" MBP, with the latest OS/BetterSound/MSN.
   
  Cheers


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





discombobulation said:


> hey, thanks for your work on this awesome piece of kit.
> 
> Testing so far reveals extremely satisfying sound quality!
> 
> ...


 


  Because BetterSound takes control of the sound card, no other programs can access it. My guess is that MSN expects to have access to the sound card, when it doesn't, it crashes.
   
  If I'm right, you can workaround this by installing a virtual sound card like Soundflower. In that case, BetterSound will take over your real sound card and play music, and MSN will output sound into the virtual sound card. You won't hear any sound from MSN, but hopefully it won't crash.


----------



## discombobulation

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Because BetterSound takes control of the sound card, no other programs can access it. My guess is that MSN expects to have access to the sound card, when it doesn't, it crashes.
> 
> If I'm right, you can workaround this by installing a virtual sound card like Soundflower. In that case, BetterSound will take over your real sound card and play music, and MSN will output sound into the virtual sound card. You won't hear any sound from MSN, but hopefully it won't crash.


 

 Alright I see what you mean. Don't need sound from MSN anyway, so will give Soundflower a bash soon. Thanks!


----------



## ale79

Congratulations on the great work agentsim! I've been giving BetterSound a try in the last few days and am seriously impressed...


----------



## levi4312

Hi, Agentsim
   
  I'm using Metric Halo LIO-8.
  But LIO-8 doesn't appear on sound preference.
   
  And, I'm testing JACK OS X,
  JACK doesn't appear too...


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





levi4312 said:


> Hi, Agentsim
> 
> I'm using Metric Halo LIO-8.
> But LIO-8 doesn't appear on sound preference.
> ...


 

 I haven't tried JACK, so I don't know if it should work or not.
   
  As for the Metric Halo, it is possible that it is not a supported DAC. This is actually good news for me I can finally start improving support for non-standard DACS... if you don't mind, I'd like to get some debug info from you. I'll send you a PM with a special build and some requests.


----------



## levi4312

Yes, I'd happy to help you.


----------



## agentsim

I've just noticed the name "BetterSound" is already in use by a Preferences pane plug-in. I'm considering renaming the software to "BitPerfect", what do you guys think... have any better ideas?


----------



## blankdisc

have been using Audirvana for quite a while, and thought that i will give BetterSound a try. WOW...seriously impressed. Great work!!! 
  haven't had any issue with my Audio-GD DI. The sound is GREAT.
   
  BitPerfect is a very generic term. Personally i don't think that it will work well. How about "PerfectTune" or "BetterTune"? hints the tide between your app with iTunes, which is one of the best features. 
   
   
  Two suggestions:
   
  1. it would be great if BetterSound could release the exclusive control of the sound device once the music stops. this way ppl don't have to quit the app in order to use other app. 
   
  2. change the appearance of the icon on the menu bar to indicate that BetterSound is active. Just so ppl know that it's really BetterSound that is handling the sound output, not iTunes.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> have been using Audirvana for quite a while, and thought that i will give BetterSound a try. WOW...seriously impressed. Great work!!!
> haven't had any issue with my Audio-GD DI. The sound is GREAT.
> 
> BitPerfect is a very generic term. Personally i don't think that it will work well. How about "PerfectTune" or "BetterTune"? hints the tide between your app with iTunes, which is one of the best features.
> ...


 

 Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you're liking BetterSound.
   
  1) It should already be doing this! Note, if iTunes is paused, the sound device isn't released, only when it is stopped. It isn't always obvious which state iTunes is in.
  2) That's a cool idea... I'll have to bug my gfx designer. So Doug, what do you think?


----------



## grokit

Bettersound seems to cooperate with iTunes and PureMusic (upsampling 16/44 ALAC to 24/96 into a Firestone Bravo) really well, I can even throw AstoundSound into the mix without a hitch. Pretty neat, I'll have to give the Octoshape stuff a go sometime.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

That won't be hard. I was planning on giving the icons a little love this weekend as it was. Standard Mac procedure is a faded icon so I'll work on putting one together.


----------



## MrQ

When I use Bettersound I get this ticking noise under the music. It pulses about 120bpm.


----------



## blankdisc

i bet that's the integer mode causing this. i had the same issue with Audirvana playing through HM-602. uncheck integer mode should do the trick.
  
  Quote: 





mrq said:


> When I use Bettersound I get this ticking noise under the music. It pulses about 120bpm.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> i bet that's the integer mode causing this. i had the same issue with Audirvana playing through HM-602. uncheck integer mode should do the trick.


 

 Probably.  This is apparently a bug in the Mac USB audio driver - every 17,684 frames, it sends a null value instead of the "right" one.  If you're listening to 44.1k music, the tick occurs about 2.5 x sec - if listening to higher bitrates, the tick happens faster.  Only causes a problem in "raw" / integer mode, and only on certain hardware combinations (e.g., older Macs talking to USB-powered DACs).  Workaround is not to use integer mode *or* to insert a powered USB hub between the Mac and the DAC (which is what I do).  I decided to use the powered hub because I think I can hear the difference between "float" and integer mode and putting the hub in there eliminates the ticking *and* keeps the integer "goodness"  
   
  My understanding is the bug has been reported to Apple.


----------



## MrQ

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> i bet that's the integer mode causing this. i had the same issue with Audirvana playing through HM-602. uncheck integer mode should do the trick.


 
  That's seems to have worked, thanks. One has to switch off integer mode before turning on iTunes. I had the same problem on Audirvana 0.9.4.


----------



## MrQ

That's odd. I've had a fiddle and now there is no tick using integer mode with upsampling. Does outputting in max bit death make a difference to the sound?
   
  Edit: Tracks are restarting half way through
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. I shall increase buffer size and see if that helps.


----------



## bulmanxxi

As for the icon status - green for ON and red for OFF would be nice.


----------



## blankdisc

How about color for Active and b/w as it is right now for inactive?


----------



## grokit

Red for off would confuse me, as AstoundSound is red for on. How about red for on and grayed-out for off?


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.21) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Prep for app store (copyrights and such... nothing interesting)
 Make SoundCheck function smarter (don't rely on file extensions)
 Add option to configure iTunes polling frequency
 Device Info for all devices
 Add very experimental support for non-trivial DACs
 Fix track position update in iTunes
 Fix pause does not resume, it stops and seeks
 Fix track position in iTunes wrong after switching buffer
 Fix brief blip of sound from iTunes
 Fix volume slider enabled but no effect
 Fix crash after disabling/enabling BetterSound when switching track
 Fix intermittent issue where BetterSound keeps playing the same part of the file in a loop
 Fix intermittent issue where BetterSound hiccups when user performs "Get Info" in iTunes
   
  Most of the changes are for mostly rare bugs, but there are also some very significant changes. The most important being the addition of very experimental support for certain DACs. The experimental device support is mainly for levi4312 and other users whose DACs were not listed in the device drop down. This change should not effect people for whom BetterSound was working before, but just in case, test the new version at low volume! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




   
  There is also a new preferences tab where all the iTunes related configuration has been put. A new option controls how quickly BetterSound will pick up changes from iTunes. Drag the slider towards "Slow" if you've been experiencing "blips" in the sound from BetterSound while interacting with iTunes, or if iTunes generally seems to be slow when BetterSound is running.
   
  Let me know what you think!


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> New version (0.21) available here.
> 
> Changes include:
> 
> ...


 

 Again, thank you so much!  Still working for me  (Hegel HD2)  
   
  Quick question:  are you using Core Audio for upsampling?  Or some other software (SRC)?  And do you think there is any benefit to it?  I'm thinking just stick with the native bitrate, but some folks really swear by upsampling - what's your opinion?


----------



## williaty

My tentative conclusion is that today's release fixed the weird problem I was having with BetterSound not properly playing the last 3rd of the track. It was either jumping back to the beginning of the current track (though the iTunes display would still look right) or it would jump to the beginning of the next track (though the itunes window wouldn't reflect this either. Hasn't done it to me yet since the switch to today's version.
   
  Thanks!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> Quick question:  are you using Core Audio for upsampling?  Or some other software (SRC)?  And do you think there is any benefit to it?  I'm thinking just stick with the native bitrate, but some folks really swear by upsampling - what's your opinion?


 


 I'm using Core Audio for upsampling. At some point in the future I'm planning to add a better upsampler, Core Audio (from OSX 10.5 and 10.6, it is possible that they changed it in 10.7, but I don't know) is decent, but not the best.
   
  As for whether there is a benefit, that is a thorny question. IMHO this is entirely dependent on the quality of the upsampling done in your DAC. Almost all DACs will upsample the signal you send to them, even if you send at the maximum sample rate they support. Upsampling algorithms built into a DAC are working under more constraints than in software, so my guess is that they are generally not as good as the best software algorithms. Upsampling algorithms do a better job upsampling by powers of 2 (2x, 4x, 8x, etc...) than by arbitrary ratios like 44.1 to 96. So, if it is possible to do the "hard" 44.1 -> 96 style upsampling in the computer and have the DAC do only 2x/4x upsampling that is probably a good idea. But it isn't straightforward to do that, so my thoughts boil down to "fiddle with the options and choose what you like most".


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Sorry, guys, but I'm going to have to veto colors. The standard practice is black for in-use, outline or grayed for disabled and color only for alerts. I should have time to get something to you tomorrow, Agentism. As I said, I still want to tweak the application icon a bit as well.
   
  On that front I'm definitely open to some community feedback.


----------



## agentsim

I like the app icon... it reminds me of the midrange unit on the B+W 802d, some really excellent speakers 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




, but I'm open to some tweaking, as you can see from the Preferences screen, Doug's UI sense is vastly better than mine!


----------



## jhwalker

Here's a behavior I only notice on some tracks:  BetterSound trims the last several seconds of each track.  This is only noticeable when the track does not have "white" space at the end (i.e., as most tracks have several seconds of silence at the end, so most of the time you don't notice it).  But it can be very jarring on a live album (where the first track loses the last 5-6 seconds of the track and the second track starts immediately) or on tracks where the music runs right up to the end of the track (where you simply lose the end of the track).
   
  Any ideas on how to fix this?


----------



## Talos

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> 1) It should already be doing this! Note, if iTunes is paused, the sound device isn't released, only when it is stopped. It isn't always obvious which state iTunes is in.


 
  Yeah, I'd like to know how to do that.  My iTunes doesn't have a stop button.  How do I get it to "Stop"?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





talos said:


> Yeah, I'd like to know how to do that.  My iTunes doesn't have a stop button.  How do I get it to "Stop"?


 
   
  In BetterSound, the menu options has "Stop" which will accomplish this.  Not sure how you'd stop it in iTunes itself.


----------



## agentsim

The "stop" option is BetterSound is a good way of doing this. You can also pause a track in iTunes and then switch to the next or previous track in your playlist, that will cause iTunes to go into stopped mode. It seems iTunes is quite silly when it comes to differentiating between stopped and paused.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> Here's a behavior I only notice on some tracks:  BetterSound trims the last several seconds of each track.  This is only noticeable when the track does not have "white" space at the end (i.e., as most tracks have several seconds of silence at the end, so most of the time you don't notice it).  But it can be very jarring on a live album (where the first track loses the last 5-6 seconds of the track and the second track starts immediately) or on tracks where the music runs right up to the end of the track (where you simply lose the end of the track).
> 
> Any ideas on how to fix this?


 


 Hmm, sounds like this would also screw up gapless albums. This certainly used work, I'll track down the problem and fix it for the next build.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Hmm, sounds like this would also screw up gapless albums. This certainly used work, I'll track down the problem and fix it for the next build.


 

 Cool - let me know if I can help test - I can easily find examples in my collection


----------



## iamoneagain

Yeah, noticed something was weird in the latest build.  Just on regular albums, tracks would end abruptly and next one would start right up.  So I just went back to previous build and things are perfect again.  I'll upgrade once this bug is worked out and icon has been updated with status indicator.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

I'm noticing that as well. It only happens on gapless albums. Weird.
   
  Other possible bug: Start it with headphones plugged in. Pull them out during playback. Fun times. "The Secret Life of Morgan Davice" by Ben Folds becomes the funniest damn thing ever.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.22) available here. The URL for here changed!
   
  This version renamed BetterSound to BitPerfect to avoid any confusion with the preferences pane plug-in. I'm going with the BitPerfect name since it hasn't been taken and is the term used by audiophiles to describe what they want their player to be or to do. There's also a new e-mail address, bitperfectsound@gmail.com.
   
  Changes Include:

 Rename to BitPerfect
 Add new app icons (thanks Doug!)
 Make status icon reflect the enabled/disabled state of BitPerfect
 Do not write audio into unused streams on complex DACs
 Make gapless playback more ironclad
 Fix incorrect output stream use on "complex" DACs
 Fix support for DACs with more than 2 output channels
 Fix constant replaying of same audio clip when update track position is disabled
 Fix use maximum device buffer size not doing anything
 Fix intermittent blip in audio when switching playback buffer
 Fix gapless playback not being anywhere near gapless
   
  I'm hoping to submit this version to the app store, barring any major problems. If so, further updates will be via the store, hopefully pretty frequently unless Apple get in the way. I'm pretty sure the Mac App Store lets me create promo codes so that I can give away free copies to everyone who has helped get BitPerfect this far. That means, bug reporters, Doug the graphics guru, feature suggesters, folks offering encouragement, reviewers, etc... a pretty loose definition of help -- I want to get free copies to as many of my fellow head-fi'ers as possible 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





. Depending on how many codes they let me create I'll also do a giveaway thread if/when the app is accepted.
   
  Thanks for all your help and keep the feedback coming!
   
  EDIT: Forgot to mention, this version fixes support for "complex" DACs. As far as I know, BitPerfect should now work on all DACs.


----------



## williaty

I've been using 0.21, I'll see if I still get this in 0.22... but, I'm getting a soft "pop" between tracks. Almost like a slight DC offset between tracks, but obviously this isn't possible. This is most evident on albums which decay to the background acoustic of the space in which they were recorded at the end of each track. So basically I get the "room noise" from the recording, then a soft pop, then the new track starts.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> New version (0.22) available here. The URL for here changed!
> 
> This version renamed BetterSound to BitPerfect to avoid any confusion with the preferences pane plug-in. I'm going with the BitPerfect name since it hasn't been taken and is the term used by audiophiles to describe what they want their player to be or to do. There's also a new e-mail address, bitperfectsound@gmail.com.
> 
> ...


 

 Gapless now works quite well, but I'm still having the problem with tracks that *aren't* flagged as gapless ending early.  For example, the last track of Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano" goes right up to the last few seconds on the CD / track.  The last note is completely cut off (i.e., the track stops playing about 3-4 seconds early).  Again, you really don't hear this on most tracks because there are usually a few seconds "padding" at the end and you just don't notice - but it's doing this on all tracks.


----------



## williaty

OK, new error in build 22. Clicking on the track progress bar to seek in iTunes causes the audio to stop going to my USB DAC and suddenly start coming from the laptop speakers. When I then go into BitPerfect's preferences, the out output device has been changed to Built In Output. Stopping BitPerfect, changing this setting back to my DAC, then clicking Play in iTunes again restores the audio to where it belongs. Note that I can't *make* BP do this, it just happens about one out of every 15-20 seeks.
   
   
  On the other hand, with build 22, I'm NOT getting the soft pop between tracks anymore.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





williaty said:


> OK, new error in build 22. Clicking on the track progress bar to seek in iTunes causes the audio to stop going to my USB DAC and suddenly start coming from the laptop speakers. When I then go into BitPerfect's preferences, the out output device has been changed to Built In Output. Stopping BitPerfect, changing this setting back to my DAC, then clicking Play in iTunes again restores the audio to where it belongs. Note that I can't *make* BP do this, it just happens about one out of every 15-20 seeks.
> 
> 
> On the other hand, with build 22, I'm NOT getting the soft pop between tracks anymore.


 


 Thanks for the bug report. I'm not sure what to make of that, will have to think on it.
   
  The soft popping *could* be related to the device buffer size, which now works. If the problem recurs, try fiddling with that setting.


----------



## williaty

Device buffer size is currently 256Mb. That's almost 30 minutes, isn't it?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> Gapless now works quite well, but I'm still having the problem with tracks that *aren't* flagged as gapless ending early.  For example, the last track of Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano" goes right up to the last few seconds on the CD / track.  The last note is completely cut off (i.e., the track stops playing about 3-4 seconds early).  Again, you really don't hear this on most tracks because there are usually a few seconds "padding" at the end and you just don't notice - but it's doing this on all tracks.


 

 So, if you take tracks that are marked as gapless, unmark them and try again, will this problem affect them? By any chance, are you running the iOS 5 pre-release of iTunes? There is a similar problem with that version, but most people haven't got access to it.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





williaty said:


> Device buffer size is currently 256Mb. That's almost 30 minutes, isn't it?


 


 At 32/96 which is what most non Integer mode formats will use internally for 24/96 sound, it is 6 minutes. So yes, about 30 minutes of 16/44.1.


----------



## williaty

I'm playing 16/44.1 Apple Lossless files only.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

I'd say wait on the App Store for now. I mean, you're still getting bug reports. I'd give it a week of no reports with the current feature-set before you put it into the store. I guarantee people are going to throw bugs up once you do and you want to keep that to a minimum. Plus, if there are a couple glaring outstanding bugs then you're likely to get a number of bad reviews. Which would suck.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> So, if you take tracks that are marked as gapless, unmark them and try again, will this problem affect them? By any chance, are you running the iOS 5 pre-release of iTunes? There is a similar problem with that version, but most people haven't got access to it.


 
   
  OK, I see what's happening.  
   
  As I mentioned before, gapless albums now play fine and regular tracks *with another track to follow in the playlist or in the queue* play fine, as well.  It's only when you play a single track or the last track in a playlist / album that the problem is seen.  I have "Update Track Position in iTunes" turned on, and at -0:05 seconds, you can see the current track stop tracking and it skips to the next track, but the current track continues playing (like the sound is buffered and BitPerfect is reading ahead but continuing to play the current track).  If you're on the last track of an album / playlist, however, tracking still stops at -0:05 but the sounds stops, too  :/  So any content recorded in the last 5 seconds of the track just disappears, e.g., echo / fade, "ambiance" or even music, if it runs into the last 5 seconds of the track.  This does *not* happen in iTunes with BitPerfect turned off (iTunes 10.3.1).
   
  I can also confirm BitPerfect sometimes loses track of the current output device.  I have a USB DAC / headphone amp I sometimes use with my MacBook Pro.  Sometimes, the sound will stop coming out of the DAC and begin coming out of the internal speakers.  If I look at the preferences, I see it's switched to "Built-In Output".


----------



## MrQ

How about the option for automatic updates on program launch?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





mrq said:


> How about the option for automatic updates on program launch?


 

 I believe his plan is to submit to the Mac App store and this will handle to automatic updates so that's why it's not included in these betas.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> OK, I see what's happening.
> 
> As I mentioned before, gapless albums now play fine and regular tracks *with another track to follow in the playlist or in the queue* play fine, as well.  It's only when you play a single track or the last track in a playlist / album that the problem is seen.  I have "Update Track Position in iTunes" turned on, and at -0:05 seconds, you can see the current track stop tracking and it skips to the next track, but the current track continues playing (like the sound is buffered and BitPerfect is reading ahead but continuing to play the current track).  If you're on the last track of an album / playlist, however, tracking still stops at -0:05 but the sounds stops, too  :/  So any content recorded in the last 5 seconds of the track just disappears, e.g., echo / fade, "ambiance" or even music, if it runs into the last 5 seconds of the track.  This does *not* happen in iTunes with BitPerfect turned off (iTunes 10.3.1).
> 
> I can also confirm BitPerfect sometimes loses track of the current output device.  I have a USB DAC / headphone amp I sometimes use with my MacBook Pro.  Sometimes, the sound will stop coming out of the DAC and begin coming out of the internal speakers.  If I look at the preferences, I see it's switched to "Built-In Output".


 


 Thanks for doing those extra tests, that's making more sense, I'm pretty sure I know where the problem is now with the tracks getting cut off. As for losing track of the output device, that's a new one, I'm really not sure what's going on there.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> I'd say wait on the App Store for now. I mean, you're still getting bug reports. I'd give it a week of no reports with the current feature-set before you put it into the store. I guarantee people are going to throw bugs up once you do and you want to keep that to a minimum. Plus, if there are a couple glaring outstanding bugs then you're likely to get a number of bad reviews. Which would suck.


 

 Yep... I thought I had all the outstanding problems licked... oh well


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Yep... I thought I had all the outstanding problems licked... oh well


 


  Though, one thing you might want to do from now on is add an expiration to each release. Say, set a simple test that's one-month in the future and have the program send a dialogue box that alerts the user it's time to upgrade to a new version as this one has expired. That way when it comes time to put this in the app store you don't have people running around with stable versions and thinking, "Why pay?"
   
  It's what Reeder did for a while before they went full release. It would also allow you to open this up to a much wider community.


----------



## blankdisc

so i guess it's not going to be a free app, huh? 
  well...that's totally fine. just wish it won't be too expensive. It is suppose to be an Audirvana Alternative as indicated by the topic of this thread.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Though, one thing you might want to do from now on is add an expiration to each release. Say, set a simple test that's one-month in the future and have the program send a dialogue box that alerts the user it's time to upgrade to a new version as this one has expired. That way when it comes time to put this in the app store you don't have people running around with stable versions and thinking, "Why pay?"
> 
> It's what Reeder did for a while before they went full release. It would also allow you to open this up to a much wider community.


 

 Not a bad idea, but I really want to avoid the extra work adding these kinds of tests. Yes I'm that lazy .
  Also, and I'm setting myself up for disappointment here, but I think BitPerfect is really close to primetime.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> so i guess it's not going to be a free app, huh?
> well...that's totally fine. just wish it won't be too expensive. It is suppose to be an Audirvana Alternative as indicated by the topic of this thread.


 

 It won't be free, but it will be much less expensive than the other audiophile OSX players, Audirvana excluded, obviously!
   
  Yeah, maybe I should change the title of the thread , am I allowed to?


----------



## iamoneagain

You also might want to start a thread on http://www.computeraudiophile.com/  Opens it up beyond just us headphone listeners.


----------



## Kuglopf

I noticed another small bug : when I listen to music (playlist of full album), there is no problem. However, when I launch a song and then (after 3-4 secs) I launch another song and so on, I get the color turning wheel and iTunes "not responding". Well, I agree that bitperfect was not designed to quickly explore a library but that it works well to listen to an album or a plying list...
   
  I wished to come back to the fact that streamed contents (e.g. samples in the iTunes store or radio streams). If you know that bitperfect does not manage that kind of content, it is ok.You will just "Disable BitPerfect" before playing that kind of content. However, as BitPerfect may be used by persons who may not ditinguish the different kind of contents, or who are not familiar with that kind of manipulation, would it be possible to offer an option which would auto-disable BitPerfect whenever the user launch a content that is not mananged by BitPerfect. This option may even also re-enable bitperfect when a supported file is played...


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kuglopf said:


> I noticed another small bug : when I listen to music (playlist of full album), there is no problem. However, when I launch a song and then (after 3-4 secs) I launch another song and so on, I get the color turning wheel and iTunes "not responding". Well, I agree that bitperfect was not designed to quickly explore a library but that it works well to listen to an album or a plying list...
> 
> I wished to come back to the fact that streamed contents (e.g. samples in the iTunes store or radio streams). If you know that bitperfect does not manage that kind of content, it is ok.You will just "Disable BitPerfect" before playing that kind of content. However, as BitPerfect may be used by persons who may not ditinguish the different kind of contents, or who are not familiar with that kind of manipulation, would it be possible to offer an option which would auto-disable BitPerfect whenever the user launch a content that is not mananged by BitPerfect. This option may even also re-enable bitperfect when a supported file is played...


 


 Thanks for the bug reports. The second one should definitely be fixed, I thought I had those cases nailed, guess not. As for the first one, I'll have to try that myself, so far I haven't seen the problem, except when playing FLACs. In those cases, the issue appears to be fluke's fault rather than BitPerfect's, but you never know...


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> You also might want to start a thread on http://www.computeraudiophile.com/  Opens it up beyond just us headphone listeners.


 

 You guys are keeping me plenty busy enough 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




. If BitPerfect isn't store ready in a couple of weeks, I'll probably look for more testers, but honestly, I think it's really close now... unless you know something I don't.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





kuglopf said:


> I noticed another small bug : when I listen to music (playlist of full album), there is no problem. However, when I launch a song and then (after 3-4 secs) I launch another song and so on, I get the color turning wheel and iTunes "not responding". Well, I agree that bitperfect was not designed to quickly explore a library but that it works well to listen to an album or a plying list...


 

 I'll have to test this again but never noticed a problem just playing random tracks.  Seemed as stable as iTunes in previous builds.
   
   
  Edit: Yeah, no problems in the latest build quickly skipping around to different tracks.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Latest version, clicking Disable doesn't relinquish audio control. I can't get it to play audio until I've outright quit the app.


----------



## williaty

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Latest version, clicking Disable doesn't relinquish audio control. I can't get it to play audio until I've outright quit the app.


 

 Even quitting the app doesn't work for me. I have to unplug the DAC and then plug it back in.


----------



## blankdisc

Same here. 
  
  Quote: 





williaty said:


> Even quitting the app doesn't work for me. I have to unplug the DAC and then plug it back in.


----------



## agentsim

I'm working on this problem now. I think I'm zeroing in on a solution, but it is slow going. On my setup, all of this works perfectly so it is quite difficult to divine potential causes. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to have a new build to address these problems today or tomorrow.


----------



## Koolpep

Same problem with unresponsive iTunes here as well.
   
  Sometimes it just stops after the current song is finished even though there is a looong playlist ahead. Am using optical out from my 2011 MBP, songs vary, some ALAC, some mp3, some aac.
   
  Keep up the good work!!


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.23) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Updated status icons (thanks Doug!)
 Fix last track of playlist gets truncated
 Fix "losing" DAC when the DAC switches to 1ch mode
 Fix changing max buffer size only taking effect after changing sample rate
 Fix output device not released when disabling (exiting too, hopefully!) BitPerfect
   
  This version should fix a few of the recently reported problems and it should improve the issues with DACs doing odd things. I'd really appreciate it if those of you who had problems with the previous build let me know what, if anything, changed in this version. Some of these problems, especially the DAC not getting released or sound coming from the laptop speakers are quite difficult to track down since I'm unable to get them to happen on my system.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

New bugs:
   
   - Sometimes a track will play for a bit and then stop, moving on to the next one. I can go back and get the entire track so I'm guessing it's a caching issue?
   
   - Sometimes playback is rough, like the track is skipping when there's nothing wrong with the original file. However, if I go back the skipping stops.


----------



## ccklone

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> New bugs:
> 
> - Sometimes playback is rough, like the track is skipping when there's nothing wrong with the original file. However, if I go back the skipping stops.


 

 Hey Now,
   
  I am experiencing this same behavior tonight. If I go back and start the song over, it plays fine. I noticed this would happen with Audirvana as well. Otherwise I am certainly enjoying BitPerfect. It was the solution I was looking for and it sounds terrific. Thanks and carry on.
   
  edit: Now it is happening with every song 8^(. I thought I could quit iTunes and restart it, but BitPerfect is still playing the song, roughly albeit, even after I quit iTunes. Is this normal for BitPerfect to keep playing when iTunes is closed? 
   
  --
  Finest kind,
  Chris


----------



## agentsim

At the moment BitPerfect keeps playing after iTunes exits, I will change that behaviour.
   
  What do you mean by "rough". Are there clicking noises, does the sound stop and start? Can you see if disabling "use maximum device buffer size" helps?


----------



## blankdisc

i had the same issue, and disabling "use max device buffer size" does the trick.
  then i enabled the option again, and haven't any issue so far. interesting.
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> At the moment BitPerfect keeps playing after iTunes exits, I will change that behaviour.
> 
> What do you mean by "rough". Are there clicking noises, does the sound stop and start? Can you see if disabling "use maximum device buffer size" helps?


----------



## Talos

Agentsim, I like the BitPerfect name 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





.   I also like your icon artwork - props to whoever did it - but i miss the little diamonds that were in his original version.  I thought they looked real cool.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





talos said:


> Agentsim, I like the BitPerfect name
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 


  Twas me and thank you for the kind words! 
   
  I know how you feel about the diamonds. The problem is I couldn't get them to look just right and at larger sizes they start to look really cheesy really fast. I'll likely add them back after I've played around with the styling a bit but for now they're gone.


----------



## iamoneagain

This latest build seems a little off.  Had track kind of end funny and next one start suddenly.  And sometimes get a delay when clicking on another track.  I might just go back to the BetterSound version that was working.  I also agree the speaker with diamonds looked better.  I'll be away from my iMac for a week or so, so hopefully bugs are worked out by the time I'm back.
   
  Now using second to last BetterSound version and it handled track transition perfect where latest BitPerfect acted up.  I also got back my diamonds


----------



## bulmanxxi

Latest version - HRT Music Streamer II shows Integer Mode "NO".  Yet, checkbox can be checked for Integer Mode??  Yet, same HRT Music Streamer II plays in Integer Mode in both Audirvana and Pure Music.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





bulmanxxi said:


> Latest version - HRT Music Streamer II shows Integer Mode "NO".  Yet, checkbox can be checked for Integer Mode??  Yet, same HRT Music Streamer II plays in Integer Mode in both Audirvana and Pure Music.


 

 The Integer Mode checkbox enables Integer mode if the device supports it. Unfortunately, BitPerfect only knows if the device supports Integer mode once it starts playing. You can check if Integer mode is working by selecting the checkbox, starting a track and then re-opening the Preferences windows, while the track is playing, it should say YES.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> The Integer Mode checkbox enables Integer mode if the device supports it. Unfortunately, BitPerfect only knows if the device supports Integer mode once it starts playing. You can check if Integer mode is working by selecting the checkbox, starting a track and then re-opening the Preferences windows, while the track is playing, it should say YES.


 


  You know, it might be worth your time to ask people if they'd allow you to gather anonymous system information. What software they're using for playback, what playback hardware you can detect. If you can differentiate between devices it would allow you to have a database of "compatible" apps and peripherals so that when someone plugs in their new DAC BitPerfect recognizes it as a NuForce DAC and says, "Yeah, that one supports the following features so we're going to pre-set it to that." and then double-check during playback.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.24) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Sparkles are back! (Thanks Doug)
 A bunch of tweaks to fix DAC problems
   
  I think this build will fix a lot of the problems people have been having with no sound playing or losing the DAC and other kinds of things. I'm hoping it will also fix the problems with releasing hog mode on exit. Please let me know if this is working for you.


----------



## bulmanxxi

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> The Integer Mode checkbox enables Integer mode if the device supports it. Unfortunately, BitPerfect only knows if the device supports Integer mode once it starts playing. You can check if Integer mode is working by selecting the checkbox, starting a track and then re-opening the Preferences windows, while the track is playing, it should say YES.


 


  Did not work - still showing Integer Mode as "NO"
   
  Thanks but NO thanks for the gathering anonymous system information.  I also don't find the BW shaded and non-shaded icons distinct enough and don't see a need for having two different icons for ON/OFF.  The icon should remain the same regardless of status but can be either shaded/unshaded or colored/uncolored.


----------



## dannytang

Quote: 





bulmanxxi said:


> Did not work - still showing Integer Mode as "NO"
> 
> Thanks but NO thanks for the gathering anonymous system information.  I also don't find the BW shaded and non-shaded icons distinct enough and don't see a need for having two different icons for ON/OFF.  The icon should remain the same regardless of status but can be either shaded/unshaded or colored/uncolored.


 

 I'm sure there'd be an option to turn off the collection of anonymous system information if it were implemented, but I think it'd be a neat way to preconfigure the application to disable/grey out options that aren't compatible with the DAC.
   
  In any case, keep up the good work agentsim! Looking forward to the official Mac App Store release!


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

I don't understand why people are against anonymous data. And this is coming form someone who makes website for a living and is intimately familiar with how that data can be used as well as what kinds of data they can actually store. You'd think someone like me more than anyone would be against the collection of such data but really? I don't see the problem.


----------



## blankdisc

having issue with this new version. Music would randomly stop playing in the middle of a track.
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> New version (0.24) available here.
> 
> Changes include:
> 
> ...


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> having issue with this new version. Music would randomly stop playing in the middle of a track.


 


 Does it start up again?


----------



## blankdisc

i just skip to the next track, and it will start play again.
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Does it start up again?


----------



## agentsim

By any chance, does this happen to coincide with the screen going black or some other kind of power saving mode?


----------



## blankdisc

just found another issue. sometimes after i pause the music and hit play again, it will not actually play. i will have to skip to the next track to get around this issue. it doesn't happy every time though.


----------



## blankdisc

might be, but there are also a few times it happened while i was using the computer.
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> By any chance, does this happen to coincide with the screen going black or some other kind of power saving mode?


----------



## bulmanxxi

Encountered same issue.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Hey, there's still one bug with podcasts were it won't resume from where you had stopped. You can recreate it by starting a podcast, stopping at some point and then coming back to it from a different podcast or song.


----------



## blankdisc

BitPerfect just crashed my iMac when i was playing some 24/96 Apple Lossless files. basically i got the message that says i must press the Power button to restart the machine.
  Also sometimes when you try to do something in iTunes like adding tracks or browsing through iTunes store, the music will choke for a sec.


----------



## ccklone

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> BitPerfect just crashed my iMac when i was playing some 24/96 Apple Lossless files. basically i got the message that says i must press the Power button to restart the machine.


 

 Hey Now,
   
  That just happened to me. I tried playing some hi-rez files using the Hiface and it crashed just like you described, except my files were AIFF. Earlier I had set up my RWA Transit (USB/SPDIF converter) to test some hi-rez files and it worked fine. Before setting up the RWA Transit, I was using the Hiface with no problems. After the crash I rebooted and it seems to be working okay now.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 Enjoying Derek and the Dominos' hi-rez "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs", nice 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



   
  --
  Finest kind,
  Chris


----------



## williaty

Yeah, he's aware of the kernel panic issue. I reported it to him late last night via email. It's good (to me) to see that others are having the same issue, so it's not a hardware problem for me.


----------



## agentsim

Do these system crashes happen regularly?


----------



## williaty

I've only had the one last night. However, this is the time of night I listen the most, so we'll see if it crashes again now.


----------



## ccklone

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Do these system crashes happen regularly?


 

 Hey Now,
   
  I only had the one incident last night. I'll admit I was changing my set up between 2 different USB/SPDIF converters when the kernel panic hit while going back to my original set up with the Hiface.
   
  So far this morning it appears to be working, but I noticed that I had to quit BitPerfect and restart it to get any sound to play. ITunes showed the song playing but no sound. I quit BitPerfect and iTunes played sound, I then restarted BitPerfect and it came alive. I do notice a difference in the sound quality 8^).  I remember I just paused the song last night when I finished listening, do we need to stop for BitPerfect to reset itself for any length of time? 
  Whoops, spoke too soon. Just went to the next song and no sound. iTunes shows song playing but no sound. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Had to restart song before it would play sound. Using latest version of BP. 
   
  --
  Finest kind,
  Chris


----------



## MrQ

Quote: 





ccklone said:


> <snip>
> Whoops, spoke too soon. Just went to the next song and no sound. iTunes shows song playing but no sound.
> 
> 
> ...


 

 I could only get BP to play without a ticking noise if I enabled upsampling. Now I get no sound at all, even though iTunes is playing.
   
  *quits BitPerfect
   
  edit: other bugs
  bit rate not maxed when selected
  iTunes not launched when selected to start with BP


----------



## blankdisc

same here. the no sound issue happens pretty often in the lastest build. never noticed that in any of the previous builds. the playing part is more stable before the name change.
  i really want BitPerfect to work perfectly.  i can't live without it now. 
  
  Quote: 





ccklone said:


> Hey Now,
> 
> I only had the one incident last night. I'll admit I was changing my set up between 2 different USB/SPDIF converters when the kernel panic hit while going back to my original set up with the Hiface.
> 
> ...


----------



## williaty

I've had to revert to build 23 just because build 24 is so flakey.


----------



## IkeH

Dear agentsim,
   
  First, I would like to thank you for creating BitPerfect.  It sounds great and best of all, I can use iTunes as the UI for selecting music, playlists etc. with BP in the background.
   
  One issue I would like to report you is that when I turn the home sharing on and play the music stored in another computer (or storage device attached to it), no sound comes out.   I am not sure if this is something you can address without compromising sound quality but if you can it would be great.
   
  I first learned about BitPerfect (Better Sound then) from a Japanse blog site "Music-to-Go" by Mr. Sasaki who is a regular here at Head-Fi.  It seems to be getting traction in Japan as far as what is discussed on the net.  So, I think you have a winner here and I hope you would continue to refine BP to the point that BitPerfect 1.0 be introduced!  
   
  Sincerely,
  Ike


----------



## grokit

What are the hardware and OS requirements for BitPerfect? Will it run on on G3/G4 or just Intel, OSX v10.3,4,5?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





ikeh said:


> One issue I would like to report you is that when I turn the home sharing on and play the music stored in another computer (or storage device attached to it), no sound comes out.   I am not sure if this is something you can address without compromising sound quality but if you can it would be great.
> 
> I first learned about BitPerfect (Better Sound then) from a Japanse blog site "Music-to-Go" by Mr. Sasaki who is a regular here at Head-Fi.  It seems to be getting traction in Japan as far as what is discussed on the net.  So, I think you have a winner here and I hope you would continue to refine BP to the point that BitPerfect 1.0 be introduced!


 


 Unfortunately, playing music from iTunes shares is not supported. It seems iTunes does not divulge the source of the current file when it is from a share.
   
  I had no idea it was gaining popularity on other corners of the web... that's pretty cool. I'll keep refining it to the point where it can be released. Unfortunately that is a little slow going at the moment, the latest spate of bugs are quite difficult to understand.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





grokit said:


> What are the hardware and OS requirements for BitPerfect? Will it run on on G3/G4 or just Intel, OSX v10.3,4,5?


 

 OS X 10.6 and a 64-bit Intel CPU.


----------



## IkeH

Dear agentsim,
   
  Thank you for the quick reply.  I will keep on checking this thread for future updates
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



   
  Ike


----------



## grokit

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> OS X 10.6 and a 64-bit Intel CPU.


 

 Maybe keep BetterSound around for older systems if it's more compatible? Just a thought, I don't even know if it is. I run iTunes on a variety of Macs, which is one of the reasons I went with PureMusic originally.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





grokit said:


> Maybe keep BetterSound around for older systems if it's more compatible? Just a thought, I don't even know if it is. I run iTunes on a variety of Macs, which is one of the reasons I went with PureMusic originally.


 
   
  BetterSound had the same system requirements.

 I suppose I could make a 32-bit version but almost all Intel Macs are 64-bit capable. As for supporting Leopard, that's not likely, I'm using too many of the nice new (well, not really anymore!) features in Snow Leopard to go back


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Honestly, I know it sucks for non-64-bit Intel Macs but even apple is dropping support for 32-bit models in Lion.


----------



## grokit

So I guess my eMac running Panther will be out of the question


----------



## ccklone

Hey Now,
   
  Been having a couple of issues. I had to repair my male-to-male RCA adapter that connects my Hiface to my DAC. I quit iTunes and BP, turned off the DAC, removed the Hiface and RCA adapter. I fixed the adapter, put it back on with the Hiface, inserted the USB cable, turned on the DAC. Started up iTunes, started to play a song, sounds good so far, then started up BP. Holy kernel panic Batman! Locked 'er up completely, grayed out screen with lots of gibberish 8^). Re-started the iMac up and works fine. Second kernel panic while futzing with Hiface??? I think it might be the Hiface doesn't like BP???
   
  Continuing to get songs breaking up after I begin playing when I hit pause and come back to iTunes/BP for a several hour break. Start the song over and it plays well.
   
  After playing several songs okay, I had BP drop off completely, song still playing according to iTunes, but no sound. This has been intermittent. Start song over and all is well. It's like BP forgot what it's job is and what it was doing 8^).
   
  --
  Finest kind,
  Chris


----------



## MrQ

They will have to rename 0.24 BugPerfect.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





mrq said:


> They will have to rename 0.24 BugPerfect.


 

  
  Thank you, that's very helpful.


----------



## MrQ

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Thank you, that's very helpful.


 
   
  Glad to be of service. I posted relevant feedback in post 181. Until I can hear any actual music with it there's not that much more to say, apart from keep up the good work with your attitude to future customers.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mrq said:


> Glad to be of service. I posted relevant feedback in post 181. Until I can hear any actual music with it there's not that much more to say, apart from keep up the good work with your attitude to future customers.


 

 I'm sorry it isn't working for you. I'm working on fixing problems that have been reported to me, but I haven't got a great selection of devices to test with, so it is very slow going. I'd appreciate it if you could send me the output of "Device Info" and log messages from console showing BitPerfect from startup through playing a file.
   
  As for my attitude, I'm not sure what I've done to upset you... let me know by PM if you like.


----------



## MrQ

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I'm sorry it isn't working for you. I'm working on fixing problems that have been reported to me, but I haven't got a great selection of devices to test with, so it is very slow going. I'd appreciate it if you could send me the output of "Device Info" and log messages from console showing BitPerfect from startup through playing a file.
> 
> As for my attitude, I'm not sure what I've done to upset you... let me know by PM if you like.


 

 Hey,  it's not you. Anyway I'll see what I can do about the log info. You have a great program and I'd like to support it.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> As for my attitude, I'm not sure what I've done to upset you... let me know by PM if you like.


 


  I'm pretty sure he was talking about me and aside from making some icons I don't really have anything to do with BitPerfect. I'm just another user who gets annoyed by people who forego proper feedback for an attempt at a witty quip.


----------



## ale79

agentsim said:


> Unfortunately, playing music from iTunes shares is not supported. It seems iTunes does not divulge the source of the current file when it is from a share.
> 
> I had no idea it was gaining popularity on other corners of the web... that's pretty cool. I'll keep refining it to the point where it can be released. Unfortunately that is a little slow going at the moment, the latest spate of bugs are quite difficult to understand.




Hi agentsim, I just wanted to let you know that your popularity spans around the globe, back here in Italy you have a good number of supporters on tforumhifi.com! Keep up the great work!


----------



## clams

Just upgraded to OS X Lion. It appears that when I try to change the song in iTunes, bitperfect crashes. It doesn't crash if the song ends and the next one begins though.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





clams said:


> Just upgraded to OS X Lion. It appears that when I try to change the song in iTunes, bitperfect crashes. It doesn't crash if the song ends and the next one begins though.


 

 I'm also running Lion, haven't seen that problem. Can you send me the crash log? You can find it in Console on the right hand side under "User Diagnostic Reports", look for a file with BitPerfect in the name.


----------



## clams

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I'm also running Lion, haven't seen that problem. Can you send me the crash log? You can find it in Console on the right hand side under "User Diagnostic Reports", look for a file with BitPerfect in the name.


 
  Is there an email I should send the files to or should I just PM it?


----------



## agentsim

PM or email to bitperfectsound@gmail.com


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Does the App Store have a crash reporter built in? If not, that might be a good area to devote some of your efforts. That way if nothing else you'll get lots of data.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Does the App Store have a crash reporter built in? If not, that might be a good area to devote some of your efforts. That way if nothing else you'll get lots of data.


 

 No it does not. I've been thinking about my options for automatic crash reporting. I'm sure all be adding it sooner or later.
   
  On an unrelated note, sorry that the next build has taken some time. I'm very busy with real work at the moment and cannot devote much time to BitPerfect. Hopefully I'll find some free time on the weekend.


----------



## iamoneagain

Finally got to try the latest version and it seems pretty stable in my system but not perfect.  Gapless playback seems like it's working again.  Haven't had any tracks end abruptly.  The only issues I've had was when I paused a track, it wouldn't start back up until I started the track again.  But then I was able to pause and play the track after that.  Also when I skipped to another track, it seemed a like a the first second was cut off but once again, try skipping back to that track and started fine.
   
  As I was typing this, another bug happened.  When one track was ending, the first second of the previous track would play before the other started.  So I'm on track 2 going into track 3 and the first second of track 1 played.  So I'd imagine this could effect gapless too.  I was able to recreate this bug over and over on the album it's happening on.  I believe this was the same bug in the previous version of BitPerfect that was bothering me.  I tested this on my old BetterSound version and the bug is not there.  So for now, I'm back to using this version.


----------



## starbux48

Downloaded latest version, unzipped it and dragged to Applications folder in the Dock.  Opened Applications, saw icon for Bitperfect and clicked on it.  Nothing happened?  Running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on MacBook Pro 2.8Gz Intel Core2Duo.


----------



## uelover

Quote: 





starbux48 said:


> Downloaded latest version, unzipped it and dragged to Applications folder in the Dock.  Opened Applications, saw icon for Bitperfect and clicked on it.  Nothing happened?  Running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on MacBook Pro 2.8Gz Intel Core2Duo.


 


  It docks itself directly at the top part of your screen, not at the dock.


----------



## MrQ

Quote: 





starbux48 said:


> Downloaded latest version,


 

  Link?


----------



## Hero Kid

Quote: 





mrq said:


> Link?


 
   
  Yep this post just highlights the very issue I had. There should be a link to the latest version in the first post... tracking back through this thread to find the latest build shouldn't be required at all. Just a suggestion 
   
  EDIT: To answer your question *MrQ*, http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/553416/audirvana-alternatives/150#post_7577947


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

By the way, to clarify, if you grab any of the links to any build it'll bring you to the latest one. If you want a previous build, you can find them on the page.


----------



## iamoneagain

You can also look for older BetterSound links and will find those versions still posted.  So far, the 2nd to last version of BetterSound has been most bug free for me.  I keep trying each new version of BitPerfect hoping it will match it's playback but no luck yet.  Only real issue I have with older BetterSound is I have to quit it in order to play sound on the internet.  Newer versions, you just need to use Stop in the menu.


----------



## kchapdaily

just downloaded. i like it alot!
  good work!


----------



## MrQ

Quote: 





hero kid said:


> Yep this post just highlights the very issue I had. There should be a link to the latest version in the first post... tracking back through this thread to find the latest build shouldn't be required at all. Just a suggestion
> 
> EDIT: To answer your question *MrQ*, http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/553416/audirvana-alternatives/150#post_7577947


 

 Cheers. I tried that with an old link and got 0.21   
  It seems it's still 0.24  Is that correct?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





kchapdaily said:


> just downloaded. i like it alot!
> good work!


 


  So do I.  It quickly became my favorite player for both sound quality and ease of use.  Looking forward to seeing the bugs worked out and buying this from the Mac App store.  Also surprised how quickly this turned from the original poster looking for something better, to actually creating a program that was.


----------



## blankdisc

i was just looking at the Acitivity Monitor, and BitPerfect was using 1.5 GB memory. To find out what's happening, i restarted the application. It did start with using about 67 MB memory, and kept growing every time when I skipped to a new track. It seems that it buffers the entire song into the memory for playback which is good, but never actually releases it after the song ends.
  I know nothing about Mac programming, so i don't know if it's normal or not. just want to report what i saw.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> i was just looking at the Acitivity Monitor, and BitPerfect was using 1.5 GB memory. To find out what's happening, i restarted the application. It did start with using about 67 MB memory, and kept growing every time when I skipped to a new track. It seems that it buffers the entire song into the memory for playback which is good, but never actually releases it after the song ends.
> I know nothing about Mac programming, so i don't know if it's normal or not. just want to report what i saw.


 

 There seems to be a problem with releasing the buffers when rapidly skipping through tracks. When this happens it can lead to excessive memory and CPU use. Otherwise, BitPerfect will only use the amount of memory you specify in Preferences.


----------



## iamoneagain

Has anyone tried this with Lion and the new iTunes?
   
  Also the weird bug where is plays second from previous track didn't show up until last 2 builds of BitPerfect.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Has anyone tried this with Lion and the new iTunes?
> 
> Also the weird bug where is plays second from previous track didn't show up until last 2 builds of BitPerfect.


 


  Yes, no issue with Lion here.
   
  Has anyone noticed that Audio MIDI now shows the onboard hardware on MacBook Pro's is now capable of 24-bit *integer* mode?  That's new in Lion, I think (i.e., the capability may have been there all along, but I've certainly never seen it called out that way before today).


----------



## kwkarth

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Has anyone tried this with Lion and the new iTunes?
> 
> Also the weird bug where is plays second from previous track didn't show up until last 2 builds of BitPerfect.


 


  No issue with Lion here either.  I haven't listened critically yet, but functionally, it seems fine.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

I've noticed a few minor issues. Did you guys do a fresh install or an upgrade?


----------



## kwkarth

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> I've noticed a few minor issues. Did you guys do a fresh install or an upgrade?


 


  Upgrade on 4 machines.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Has anyone tried this with Lion and the new iTunes?
> 
> Also the weird bug where is plays second from previous track didn't show up until last 2 builds of BitPerfect.


 

 I've been using the betas of Lion for a while, shouldn't be any Lion specific problems.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> Yes, no issue with Lion here.
> 
> Has anyone noticed that Audio MIDI now shows the onboard hardware on MacBook Pro's is now capable of 24-bit *integer* mode?  That's new in Lion, I think (i.e., the capability may have been there all along, but I've certainly never seen it called out that way before today).


 

 It is not true Integer mode. Integer mode for audiophiles means the data sent to the DAC is in integer format and it is non-mixable. The built-in devices, even in 10.6, were using integer data formats but mixable.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I've been using the betas of Lion for a while, shouldn't be any Lion specific problems.


 

 Just tried and it seems to be working fine on Lion.  I'm actually still using BetterSound.  Have you found a fix for the bug I've been talking about where it plays a second of other track? Only last two version of BitPerfect have this issue.   Would like to be using latest version but that bug is just a distraction.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Just tried and it seems to be working fine on Lion.  I'm actually still using BetterSound.  Have you found a fix for the bug I've been talking about where it plays a second of other track? Only last two version of BitPerfect have this issue.   Would like to be using latest version but that bug is just a distraction.


 

 I haven't got this problem. Does it happen with every track? Does it happen with the built-in output or only with an external dac?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I haven't got this problem. Does it happen with every track? Does it happen with the built-in output or only with an external dac?


 


  For some reason it's acting different on Lion.  Now it's just leaving a 10 second gap between tracks on all tracks.  This happens with or without a DAC hooked up.  Still getting perfect playback from BetterSound.  Let me know if need to send any system info.


----------



## agentsim

Sorry for the long delay in getting out a new version, real work/life caught up to me, then I was out of the country for a week and then sick.
   
  Without further ado, here's the new version (0.25).
   
  Changes include:

 Do not attempt to mute if the device has no volume control
 Fix sound dropping in the middle of a track (I hope!)
 Fix high CPU/memory usage when rapidly switching between tracks or seeking
 Fix stutter when doing "Get Info" in iTunes on slower machines
 Fix memory leak
 Fix preferences and device info containing stale data
 Fix potential crash (occurs more frequently on Lion)
 Fix not resuming podcasts
 Fix failure to seek to end of file if it is being downsampled
 Fix failure to play to end of file if it is being downsampled
   
  I'm really hoping this fixes the issues with sound dropping out in the middle of tracks that has plagued BitPerfect for the last few versions. I've just been bug fixing, not doing enough testing, so this might be a little rough around the edges... let me know if it works for you... especially if you suffered from the sound drop outs!


----------



## williaty

You linked to the source repository, not the compiled executable.
   
  EDIT: Or maybe that's just the way google docs is showing it to me. I see the contents of the .app file rather than an app to download.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





williaty said:


> You linked to the source repository, not the compiled executable.


 

 Nope... I think this is Google's continuing war against ease-of-use... you have to do File -> Download original now.


----------



## iamoneagain

Newest build didn't fix my problem.  I don't have 10 sec delay anymore but have weird skipping bug again.  So I haven't had successful gapless playback yet. When I first started it was actually skipping ahead 5 tracks.  I'll send the console info and see if it helps.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





> Originally Posted by *agentsim* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> Without further ado, here's the new version (0.25).


 

 Just noticed this version has a silly bug. It will keep repeating the same buffer over and over. Will post a new build tonight.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.26) available here.
   
  Only change is to fix repeating the same buffer over and over. I still haven't heard from anyone with the sudden sound drop out problem... does that mean it's fixed?


----------



## blankdisc

build 0.26 keeps crashing at the end of the very first song.
   
  It also seems that the latest build has a lot of issues with  with hi-res Apple lossless files. i have a lot of 96khz apple lossless music. it wasn't this bad when i was using build 0.24


----------



## tcfsh

Had tried the newest version (0.26) and no sudden sound drop problem noted.
  However, itunes got a big noise (like the sound came from poor-signal radio) when it started playing the next song.
  I'm using Wyred4Sound DAC2 (through USB) as DAC under itunes 10.3.1, Mac OSX 10.6.8
  Hope this bug can be fixed and I can finally get rid of buggy Amarra.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





tcfsh said:


> Had tried the newest version (0.26) and no sudden sound drop problem noted.
> However, itunes got a big noise (like the sound came from poor-signal radio) when it started playing the next song.
> I'm using Wyred4Sound DAC2 (through USB) as DAC under itunes 10.3.1, Mac OSX 10.6.8
> Hope this bug can be fixed and I can finally get rid of buggy Amarra.


 

 Thanks for the bug report. Are you running the DAC in Integer mode? If so, while BitPerfect is playing the loud static noise, open the "Device Info" screen and send me the output by PM or e-mail and I'll see what I can do!


----------



## Kuglopf

Thanks for the work; it is getting better and better.
   
  I have noticed two other bugs:
   
  1) when I move the volume on iTunes, I cam shorty hear the sound though another output. My default sound output is "built-in output". The built-in output is connected (via toslink) to my DAC. The same output is used by BitPerfect. I also have an USB imic connected to small speaker (for the the system alerts). Surprisingly, while moving the volume level on Itunes, the sound  is shorty routed to the iMic (unless it is to the internal speakers of the mac, which should be desactivated...). Curious, but not a real problem...
   
  2) some files do hang iTunes (always at the same files, always at the same moment). Colored turning wheel - the only - way is to force to quit itunes. I noticed it only with some files. which were bought on the Itunes store. The problem does not occur while playing the same files without BitPerfect. If you think it may help, I could send you one of these file (let me know where to send or to download - the file is 8.7 Mo) or I could send you a copy of the apple bug report while forcing to quit iTunes.
   
  I also have another problem that BitPerfect sometimes stop playing (without hanging iTunes), after a while playing, but I have difficulties reproducing this one. At least it is not linked to the files. Maybe I should check the memory use...
   
  By the way, did you find a way to allow BitPerfect to play steamed contents in the ITunes store or streamed MP3 of online radios ?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kuglopf said:


> Thanks for the work; it is getting better and better.
> 
> I have noticed two other bugs:
> 
> ...


 

 1) This is expected. Once you start dragging the volume control in iTunes, iTunes unmutes itself, so it will play sound to whatever the new default device is, since BitPerfect has taken built-in output, it will be the iMic.
   
  2) A copy of the bug report as well as a file would be really helpful. I think you can send an 8Mb attachment to gmail, so you can e-mail it to me at bitperfectsound@gmail.com
   
  When BitPerfect stops playing, does switching to the next track cause it to start again? Next time this happens, it would be helpful if you could PM or e-mail me the output from "Console".
   
  I haven't looked into playing streaming contents on the iTunes store yet, or online radios. I'll try to get around to that soon.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

If anyone has problems with attachments, try Cloudly. It's free and has a 25MB file-size maximum. Very handy.


----------



## VandyMan

I'm using BitPerfect w/ a MacBook Air running Lion and a Musical Fidelity V-Link. Seems to be working perfectly. Is their a mailing list or forum dedicated to BitPerfect so I can know when there is a new version?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





vandyman said:


> I'm using BitPerfect w/ a MacBook Air running Lion and a Musical Fidelity V-Link. Seems to be working perfectly. Is their a mailing list or forum dedicated to BitPerfect so I can know when there is a new version?


 

 Nope, following this thread is your best bet. When BitPerfect is available on the App Store, update notification will go through there.


----------



## Koolpep

Hmmm, version 0.26 is consistently crashing after each song, no matter which settings...
   
  using Lion 10.7 and iTunes 10.4 
   
  It's really painful, I hope you can fix that... will send the same including the device info to your gmail...
   
  Keep it up!


----------



## Koolpep

Correction, now suddenly with different music (!???) it's not crashing anymore....
   
  But it's sputtering a loud noise between the songs...?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





koolpep said:


> Correction, now suddenly with different music (!???) it's not crashing anymore....
> 
> But it's sputtering a loud noise between the songs...?


 

 I have fixed that problem and I'll be releasing a new build shortly.


----------



## guido

I am using Decibel now...Amarra and Fidelia are problematic on Lion OSX


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.27) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Show N/A instead of YES/NO for Integer Mode when not hogged
 Fix skipping tracks in the playlist
 Fix potential crash when switching buffers
 Fix blast of static between tracks
   
  As always, let me know of any problems.


----------



## adktitan

So, I've downloaded and used bit perfect twice now ( version .25 and .26, I think, from "download 'original file' option on google) and both times, my wifi connection has gone out completely to the point where I have to reinstall snow leopard (I havnt gone to lion yet) both times. As soon as I reinstall the os,without bit perfect, the wifi internet connection is perfect again. Anyone else have this issue? Other then that, it sounds great, and thanks for the work, but I'm not sure I can keep reinstalling!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





adktitan said:


> So, I've downloaded and used bit perfect twice now ( version .25 and .26, I think, from "download 'original file' option on google) and both times, my wifi connection has gone out completely to the point where I have to reinstall snow leopard (I havnt gone to lion yet) both times. As soon as I reinstall the os,without bit perfect, the wifi internet connection is perfect again. Anyone else have this issue? Other then that, it sounds great, and thanks for the work, but I'm not sure I can keep reinstalling!


 

 Wow!! Dunno what to say to that. I don't see how that can be BitPerfect's doing though, there's nothing in the code that comes remotely close to messing with the network settings.


----------



## adktitan

Well, now for the third time now the wifi connection is still bad (only two bars when all other mac's are full in the house, so its not the router). i don't think its bit perfect, but a coincidence and nothing more. I'm doing some more trouble shooting as we speak. Keep up the good work!
   
  edit: fixed the wifi issue and now I'm at full bars again. Going to download bit perfect again and i'll report back.
  edit 2: downloaded bit perfect again and all seems correct currently. So thanks agentism!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





adktitan said:


> Well, now for the third time now the wifi connection is still bad (only two bars when all other mac's are full in the house, so its not the router). i don't think its bit perfect, but a coincidence and nothing more. I'm doing some more trouble shooting as we speak. Keep up the good work!
> 
> edit: fixed the wifi issue and now I'm at full bars again. Going to download bit perfect again and i'll report back.
> edit 2: downloaded bit perfect again and all seems correct currently. So thanks agentism!


 

 Glad to hear I didn't break your wifi


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Glad to hear I didn't break your wifi


 

  
  I would have been supremely impressed if you had, at least.


----------



## gianlucaF15

Does it work on a MacMini Intel MonoCore from 2006 ( I think 32 bit...)  OS Snow Leopard ?
  Thanks
  gianluca


----------



## Koolpep

Happy to report that all my problems are fixed with version 0.27!
   
  Love this version. You are getting there, hope to be able to purchase it via the app store soon.
   
  Cheers,
  K


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





gianlucaf15 said:


> Does it work on a MacMini Intel MonoCore from 2006 ( I think 32 bit...)  OS Snow Leopard ?
> Thanks
> gianluca


 

 Sorry, no. BitPerfect requires a 64-bit CPU.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

For those who don't know, Intel Core Duo and Core Solo were both 32-bit processors. All the other Intel Macs were 64-bit, though. The only PPC macs to ever be 64-bit were the G5 PowerMacs (which, for a bit o' trivia, were said to be the first 64-bit PCs). But unless I'm mistaken, BitPerfect has no PPC support.


----------



## tcfsh

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> New version (0.27) available here.
> 
> Changes include:
> 
> ...


 

  
  Had briefly tested the latest build, and the blast problem was really gone.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




  However, the previous memory over-usage problem during rapidly switching between tracks seemed to happened again.
  Though it can be manually fixed by disabling & enabling BitPerfect at the toolbar (no need to close BitPerfect entirely as the previous version) or possibly self-fixed after normal playback of several tracks (not quite sure because I just tested it under memory usage from 400MB to 1.6GB and buffer size 256MB; it seemed that the time requirement of cooling down was in proportion to the memory usage), I hope there will be a better workaround or a tutorial of handling BitPerfect if this problem is inevitable.
  Anyway, it is no doubt that BitPerfect gives me the very promising way of painless playback with iTunes, and I'll be glad to purchase it via App store and say hasta la vista to Amarra.


----------



## Talos

I just wanted to make some observation to share with everyone.
   
  1.  When I installed iTunes 10.4 (under Snow Loepard) BitPerfect went to pieces.  Every track was interrupted by multiple glitches where the playback would instantaneously stop and start.  The higher the bit rate, the more frequent the interruptions.  But they were not of a fixed timing, and did not appear to depend on BitPerfect's buffer size.
   
  2.  Unfortunately, I had installed BitPerfect 0.27 at the same time as I did the iTunes upgrade (I really should not have done that, but BitPerfect tends to be updated as frequently as the weather forecast 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




).  So, just to be sure the problem wasn't being caused by BitPerfect, I went back to my last stable version of BetterSound.  This exhibited the same glitchy behaviour, which it previously did not, so I concluded that something has changed in iTunes.
   
  3.  I wanted to change back to iTunes 10.3 but I didn't know how to (but now i do 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 ).  So I bit the bullet and installed Lion, which apparently required yet another re-installation of iTunes 10.4 (maybe a 64-bit edition?...).  Of course, Lion does not support Integer Mode.  But in Float mode the glitches have all gone away.  I now have a problem where at the beginning of most tracks, there is a brief glitch after a second or two, and the track starts up again, but is then good through to the end.  Gapless playback doesn't work.
   
  4.  Under Lion/Float the sound has acquired a nasty "digital edginess" to it that I frankly don't like.  I suspect this is fundamental to Float mode, and maybe partly also to my system's response to Float mode.  This edginess was also, for me, confused by the fact that I have also installed some new Power Cords which are evidently still in their break-in phase.  But I have since swapped out the Power Cords to check this, and I now know that the edginess is not caused by the Power Cords, but is perhaps emphasized by them.
   
  Frankly, at this point in time, I am rather unhappy with Apple, as I have just also completed the replication of my FLAC file library (nearly 12,000 tracks, occupying nearly 500GB of NAS space) as m4a files so that I can use BitPerfect/iTunes as my primary playback engine.  As a PC guy trying his best to switch to (and like) Apple, I must say I'm having a tough time buying the hype.
   
  Looking forward to a working Integer Mode from Apple, and a nice, stable version of BitPerfect!


----------



## goldmbe

@agentsim: Is there any chance of creating a plugin architecture for BitPerfect? There is one AU plugin in particular (Redline Monitor) that I would love to be able to use with your program.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





goldmbe said:


> @agentsim: Is there any chance of creating a plugin architecture for BitPerfect? There is one AU plugin in particular (Redline Monitor) that I would love to be able to use with your program.


 

 I'm considering adding support for AU plugins, but it will be after BitPerfect hits the app store.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.28) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Display status in menu indicating current output format
 Do not mute iTunes when playing unsupported tracks (preview tracks in iTunes store, etc...)
 Fix not releasing hog mode on exit
 Fix potential crash on track change
 Fix gapless playback in very large libraries


----------



## MrQ

Thank you.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

I haven't gone all out in testing the app yet but so far this latest build seems fantastic. The only two issues I've noticed (and I bet they're connected) is there's no cross-fade at the end of songs and if you skip a song right near the end it doesn't immediately skip to the next song but waits a second or two, goes to the next song as per usual and then skips that song. Granted, this is going to be very rare but I figured I'd mention it in the name of bullet-proofing the app.
   
  In terms of general playback and stability, it seems to be working perfectly. It seems to only use around 200 MB of RAM, which is fine because iTunes is using 600 MB. Good times, there. Then, I have 12 GB in my rig so it's not really an issue for me.


----------



## aamefford

I've been dacless for a couple of weeks.  I just received my dacport (traded up from the dacport lx) so I can test drive again.


----------



## iamoneagain

Look forward to trying latest update tonight.  I'll see if it fixes my problems. Based on this: 
   
  Quote: 





> Fix gapless playback in very large libraries


----------



## iamoneagain

Well the latest update works better but did not completely fix my problem.  If I play from the Library: Music, I still get the weird skip bug, but seems consistent. The one album no longer skips ahead to track 4, it plays a second of another track before transitioning into the next track.
   
  The good thing is if I play from Playlists, gapless is now working. So I can just make a playlist that contains all of my music and should be fine.   Only issue I see is this bug is still out there and I'm sure someone might have the same problem I do.  I'd say using playlists is a workaround instead of a fix.  But I'm personally happy with the latest build.  I'll post more if I come across other issues.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Well the latest update works better but did not completely fix my problem.  If I play from the Library: Music, I still get the weird skip bug, but seems consistent. The one album no longer skips ahead to track 4, it plays a second of another track before transitioning into the next track.
> 
> The good thing is if I play from Playlists, gapless is now working. So I can just make a playlist that contains all of my music and should be fine.   Only issue I see if this bug is still out there and I'm sure someone might have the same problem I do.  I'd say using playlists is a workaround instead of a fix.  But I'm personally happy with the latest build.  I'll post more if I come across other issues.


 

 Glad to hear this is an improvement. There are another couple of users reporting a similar problem to yours. Can you send me the logging output when you play from the Library and hear the glitches?


----------



## aamefford

I tried 0.28 last night.  I had issues with "crackling" at the beginning of tracks when switching tracks.  Restarting the track would solve the issue.  I finally had a kernel panic with the grey screen that says restart by pressing the start button.
   
  I was using a just pre-unibody macbook pro, Insomniac to keep it from sleeping with the lid closed, iPhone remote app, and a Centrance Dacport (USB powered dac/amp).  Note that this all works when using itunes.
   
  I did save the kernel panic log, so I can provide that this evening if desired.
   
  I've been following your journey from about the 4th post on.  This is a tough process!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





aamefford said:


> I tried 0.28 last night.  I had issues with "crackling" at the beginning of tracks when switching tracks.  Restarting the track would solve the issue.  I finally had a kernel panic with the grey screen that says restart by pressing the start button.
> 
> I was using a just pre-unibody macbook pro, Insomniac to keep it from sleeping with the lid closed, iPhone remote app, and a Centrance Dacport (USB powered dac/amp).  Note that this all works when using itunes.
> 
> ...


 

 Thanks for the feedback. Please send me the panic log, it could be helpful. Are you running 10.6 in Integer mode by any chance?


----------



## aamefford

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Thanks for the feedback. Please send me the panic log, it could be helpful. Are you running 10.6 in Integer mode by any chance?


 
  10.6 yes, integer mode, 95% yes, but I was messing around with the settings when it KP'd on me.  I'll send panic log when I get home tonight - PM is best?


----------



## adktitan

Hey agentism, I PM'd you and sent with log attached...I was switching back and forth from using: bit perfetc > USB DAC (ibasso D4) >  receiver>me; then comparing  straight to bit perfect>  from headphone out> receiver > me, and bit perfect started skipping and restarting every three seconds of any tune I played. Also, I have some choppy sounds when I using with D4...thought you may want to know...anyway..thanks for all your hard work...


----------



## Talos

Quote: 





> bit perfect started skipping and restarting every three seconds of any tune I played


 
  I don't know if that is related to a problem I have been having.  I have 12,000 songs on a NAS connected via WiFi, and I often get this problem at the beginning of a track.  If I use Activity Monitor to check the network activity, the skipping always happens when the the track is being loaded via the WiFi, and I see the network throughput fluctuating widely.  On other tracks, the network activity flatlines at 3MB/sec and I get no skipping.  In my case, the problem appears to be related to network issues, and not BitPerfect.  I'm working to change my setup to hardwire using ethernet, but I'm not there yet.


----------



## blankdisc

i have the same skipping issue with tracks stored on both the local HD and an USB external HD.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.29) available here.
   
  Changes include:

 Add tooltips
 Disable upsample 2x/4x box if upsampling is not checked
 Remove update track position option (this is now always done)
 Only release exclusive mode when required (on disable, on exit, on iTunes exit)
 Only change device configuration when required
 Fix stuttering/looping on DACs that are slow to change settings
 Fix gapless playback caused by insufficient buffering time remaining
 Fix upsampling causing stuttering/looping
   
  This fixes a certain set of stuttering, looping, popping sound problems, usually at the start of tracks or on transition. I'm eager to hear if you had one of those problems if this solves it or not.
   
  Also, Talos reports a significant improvement in sound quality on Lion with this build. I'd be interested to hear if any other users experience a similar change.


----------



## iamoneagain

Looks like like latest version fixed the stuttering I had when navigating around iTunes but I'll test some more.  Still only works for me in playlists for gapless but guess that won't change until Apple fixes something or some other solution comes up.  Curious though, why some people's iTunes database has different results than others as for as external sorting goes.


----------



## blankdisc

yeah, the latest version is great. the most stable version so far. i think we have a winner.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> yeah, the latest version is great. the most stable version so far. i think we have a winner.


 


  I agree - I was one of the folks who had all kinds of problems with earlier versions, but this seems pretty stable, both on my MacBook Pro (with built-in and headphone outputs) and my new Mac Mini, output thru both HDMI and USB DAC.  I'm going to try to use it as my go-to solution for a while to see how it goes, but it looks good so far.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Just downloaded and installed. I'll be testing it out today but I was just thinking... You know what would be a very nice, addition? Key-command for disabling/enabling BitPerfect. It would be best if it was a user-definable command but I think it would be advantageous as it wouldn't require me to enable and disable it in the menu-item.
   
  Another thought, I had was that often I'm sent videos and the like when I'm working. I have to disable BitPerfect to hear them (which is alright) but when I start it up again I have to restart the song. Yes, it's a little thing, but I wonder how hard it would be to have a temporary release instead of a hard disable? What do others thing? Which behavior would be preferred?
   
  It might make sense that whenever iTunes is paused BitPerfect releases control.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Just downloaded and installed. I'll be testing it out today but I was just thinking... You know what would be a very nice, addition? Key-command for disabling/enabling BitPerfect. It would be best if it was a user-definable command but I think it would be advantageous as it wouldn't require me to enable and disable it in the menu-item.
> 
> Another thought, I had was that often I'm sent videos and the like when I'm working. I have to disable BitPerfect to hear them (which is alright) but when I start it up again I have to restart the song. Yes, it's a little thing, but I wonder how hard it would be to have a temporary release instead of a hard disable? What do others thing? Which behavior would be preferred?
> 
> It might make sense that whenever iTunes is paused BitPerfect releases control.


 
   
  I think just pausing it would work best, if that's possible.  Whenever you pause iTunes, then you're free to listen to other sounds.  I believe Audirvana works like this.  At first I thought the hog mode was broken but when you started a track, no other internet sounds came though.
   
  So far I've only had one stutter on the new build and I wasn't even in iTunes when it happened, so not sure what caused it.  Other than that, seems to working pretty good.  I'll test again my old BetterSound version to see if I can tell any difference in sound. 
   
   
  So kind of surprised that there is a noticeable difference between the two.  I'm short test, BitPerfect is clearly better.  It has more detail and better sound positioning than BetterSound did.  BetterSound has a smoothness that was nice but I prefer clarity of current BitPerfect.  Glad it's finally working in my system now.


----------



## kiwidave

New user - came across mention of  BitPerfect in one of the threads on Computer Audiophile Website.
   
  Using a 2011 13" Macbook Pro with OSX 10.7 ---- music stored on a 1 terabyte firewire 800 drive attached to a mac mini --- 95% ALAC 24 / 44.1. So am connecting via wireless
  Have been using Audirvana and thought I give this a go -- especially as it use iTunes for the 'front-end'
   
  Been using it with my DAC -- NuForce uDAC2 and just straight with my 'phones (Bose MIE2i --> from my iPhone).
   
  Have noticed one 10.7 bug with the NuForce (same with Audirvana -- so expect hardware issue) that with "maximum device buffer size" selected the music stutters very badly -- disable it, and its fine.
   
  Re "gapless" playback -- wasn't working totally successfully -- seemed to get a 'occasional' pause as buffer refilled (not always on track change, sometimes in the middle of a song), BUT, went back into iTunes and changed all the songs in the test album (Dark Side of The Moon) to "part of a gapless album" and no further issues.
   
  Impressed by the sound quality just with the 'phones, and even more impressed when played back through my DAC / Amp.


----------



## agentsim

Glad to hear you like it


----------



## kiwidave

Just a followup post:
   
  When using my DAC with Bit Perfect and trying to play 24 / 96K "Yellow Brick Road" starting seeing some issues:
   
  1. After first track -- "Funeral for A Friend", second track, "Candle in The Wind" started playing, but after some 20 second, the track re-started from the beginning again, hit 20 second mark, did the same thing, and then played through ok, only to repeat the whole thing on the third track. (By this stage I had turned off all the options in "sound" and was just using a buffer of 512mb)
  Suspect the issues are related to the "issue" re "max device buffer size" - NuForce just doesn't like this setting in 10.7
  2. Minor pont - "Device Info" shows the NuForce capable of a sample rate of 88.2kHZ, when in-fact the DAC isn't ...
   
  Just trying the Dark Side of The Moon test again without any up-sampling, as yesterday it was fine until 'Us and Them' when I got a couple of pauses.
   
  Still, very impressed with the sound / ease of use and am looking forward to the next updates.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kiwidave said:


> Just a followup post:
> 
> When using my DAC with Bit Perfect and trying to play 24 / 96K "Yellow Brick Road" starting seeing some issues:
> 
> ...


 

 This is all over wireless? If so, is it possible for you to try with the files either on disk or over a wired connection?
   
  Also, feel free to send me the logging output from BitPerfect, you can see it in the Console app. That can help me figure out the cause of these problems.
   
  Finally, where do you see the 88.2kHZ? While in that state, can you send me the output of "Device Info" from the menu?


----------



## kiwidave

Interesting - was trying to grab the "Device Info" Screen, when I noticed: 
   
  Name: Built-in Ouput
   
  Although selected device is nuForce uDac 2 in the general prefs screen, and I am definitely listing to the music on my 'phones.
   
  Email on the way with screen shot ---- working on the rest.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kiwidave said:


> Interesting - was trying to grab the "Device Info" Screen, when I noticed:
> 
> Name: Built-in Ouput
> 
> ...


 


 There is quite a bit of text in that screen. If you scroll down you'll see the nuForce listed.


----------



## kiwidave

Hmm - ok, didn't think of that -- so chalk one up for user ignorance .
   
  Plus, think have sorted the wireless issue re 24 / 96 -- actually all files.
   
  Wireless router: Airport Extreme dual band
   
  1. Set mac-mini to 2.5 GHz network.
  2. Set macbook pro to 5.0 GHz network.
  3. Listening to "gapless" playback --> sweet.
   
  Hint was watching the console log messages, plus the received traffic 'rate' -- was sticking in the mb/s range, now it peaks in mb/s as buffer fills, and drops off kb/s when initial buffer is filled.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kiwidave said:


> Hmm - ok, didn't think of that -- so chalk one up for user ignorance .
> 
> Plus, think have sorted the wireless issue re 24 / 96 -- actually all files.
> 
> ...


 
  Yep, that makes sense. The big downside to BitPerfect (and I think all iTunes driven players) is that iTunes is also playing the file. That means you need twice the wireless bandwidth to play the file.


----------



## Currawong

Everything was working perfectly for me on my old MacBook Pro, but now I've upgraded, BP wont go to the next song at the end of a track. I had this problem before but have no idea what cured it.  Edit: Whoops, latest version fixes it. I thought I had 0.29 already.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





currawong said:


> Everything was working perfectly for me on my old MacBook Pro, but now I've upgraded, BP wont go to the next song at the end of a track. I had this problem before but have no idea what cured it.  Edit: Whoops, latest version fixes it. I thought I had 0.29 already.


 

 Glad to hear it


----------



## agentsim

Folks, BitPerfect 0.29 has been accepted to the Mac App Store... finally! This by no means is the end of the road development wise, in fact 0.30 is almost ready.
   
  Those of you who've helped me get this far will be getting PMs or e-mails with promo codes in the next little while... so don't rush out and buy it just yet 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




   
  This link is supposed to take you to the store page, as of right now it isn't working tho! Apple work quickly!


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Folks, BitPerfect 0.29 has been accepted to the Mac App Store... finally! This by no means is the end of the road development wise, in fact 0.30 is almost ready.
> 
> Those of you who've helped me get this far will be getting PMs or e-mails with promo codes in the next little while... so don't rush out and buy it just yet
> 
> ...


 

 Woohoo!  Congratulations - this is a great program and I hope it makes you independently wealthy


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

It's not showing up in the store search just yet, I guess they cache the index. Thanks for providing the link!


----------



## agentsim

Promo codes have been sent out... if I've forgotten someone (I hope not!) don't take it personally... let me know via PM and I'll send a code your way.


----------



## kiwidave

Ok, I admit "defeat", tried a new stripped down 10.6.8 install on another partition of laptop hard drive - could get about 20 to 30 minutes of almost "flawless" gapless playback (i.e. one or two small re-bufferings) but still issues relating to buffer filling.
   
  Shifted BitPerfect to mac-mini server (10.6.8) no issues what so ever -- so guessing for optimum playback, 1 x wireless hop may be the limit -- not 2 x like what I was using.
  Also, just to note, if album / tracks have "part of a gapless album" set, you can see in the console, explicit messages that BitPerfect is pre-buffering the next track. Doesn't seem to matter if not set though.
   
  So, guess am off to app store to purchase .


----------



## iamoneagain

I got my copy from the app store.  It told me I already had a copy, so I deleted it so I could get future app store updates.  I even left a review.   For the most part the latest build has run perfect except for the occasional glitch.  And that's after using for a long time with several other programs running at the same time.  
   
  Can't tell you how much trouble I've had with Amarra before switching to BitPerfect. Even their latest build sucked because I couldn't play files converted from XLD or Max without skipping. No other player has this problem.
   
  Anyway, congratulations!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kiwidave said:


> Ok, I admit "defeat", tried a new stripped down 10.6.8 install on another partition of laptop hard drive - could get about 20 to 30 minutes of almost "flawless" gapless playback (i.e. one or two small re-bufferings) but still issues relating to buffer filling.
> 
> Shifted BitPerfect to mac-mini server (10.6.8) no issues what so ever -- so guessing for optimum playback, 1 x wireless hop may be the limit -- not 2 x like what I was using.
> Also, just to note, if album / tracks have "part of a gapless album" set, you can see in the console, explicit messages that BitPerfect is pre-buffering the next track. Doesn't seem to matter if not set though.
> ...


 

 I think I might have an idea for this problem. At the moment BitPerfect has a limited time for queuing up the next track to ensure gapless playback. I think I can extend that time dramatically and that should help. I'll try and get that into 0.30 and send you a test build to confirm that it works properly.
  BitPerfect ignores the gapless tag, it will always try to play gapless, unless the album changes or the playlist is random.


----------



## PolkManiac

What settings are you guys using?  I'm running out of a 2011 27" iMac into a V-Link and on to a V-Dac.  I have 3 basic questions I think:
   
  1 - What is integer mode?
  2 - Should I use upsampling, what are the advantages or disadvantages of this?
  3 - Is there an indication somewhere of the bitrate on the file I'm playing?
   
  Thanks


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

1. "Integer Mode goes a step further (Comes on top of Hog Mode) by hacking the player talk to the driver in the DAC native data format (e.g. 24bit signed Integer) instead of using the CoreAudio intermediary standard 32bit float format." Found on the interlink.
   
  2. Personally, I do but you can do some A/B testing and see if you notice a difference.
   
  3. iTunes will tell you bitrate of any file in your library. You can find it by using View > Get Info or enabling it as one of the columns.


----------



## PolkManiac

I'm not sure if what I'm hearing is a bug or if that's just the way it works, but...
   
  When I do anything in iTunes while a track is playing I can hear a slight skip in the music.  So if I open up iTunes and play a track, then click on, say, the View menu and get the drop down, and then click again anywhere in the iTunes window, about half the time I hear a skip in playback.
   
  Its not the end of the world, but would be nice if we could get that fixed.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Weird. I thought, "How have I not noticed that?" but I gave it a shot and I'm not noticing it at all. Latest version from App Store.
   
  What are your system's specs? Silly thing but I'd check the Activity Monitor to see if BitPerfect is getting a spike when you do it.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





polkmaniac said:


> I'm not sure if what I'm hearing is a bug or if that's just the way it works, but...
> 
> When I do anything in iTunes while a track is playing I can hear a slight skip in the music.  So if I open up iTunes and play a track, then click on, say, the View menu and get the drop down, and then click again anywhere in the iTunes window, about half the time I hear a skip in playback.
> 
> Its not the end of the world, but would be nice if we could get that fixed.


 

 Thanks for the bug report. This is a recurring problem, it seems on some setups, iTunes doesn't update track positions when it is busy doing other things, this makes it difficult for BitPerfect to determine whether you are seeking in the track or if iTunes is busy doing something else. I have a beta build I'm testing which should make this problem less likely, I'll PM you with a link and you can let me know if it helps.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





polkmaniac said:


> I'm not sure if what I'm hearing is a bug or if that's just the way it works, but...
> 
> When I do anything in iTunes while a track is playing I can hear a slight skip in the music.  So if I open up iTunes and play a track, then click on, say, the View menu and get the drop down, and then click again anywhere in the iTunes window, about half the time I hear a skip in playback.
> 
> Its not the end of the world, but would be nice if we could get that fixed.


 

 I had this exact problem with build 0.28 but completely went away with the latest build 0.29.


----------



## PolkManiac

I can see BitPerfect spike up to around 40% CPU when I'm able to recreate the skip in sound.  The thing is I have a new computer, it's a 2011 27" iMac with 12GB of RAm and the CPU isn't taxed at all.  I'm going to test another build and see what happens.


----------



## PolkManiac

OK, I've tested with .30 and it works perfectly now.
   
  Thanks


----------



## PolkManiac

I spoke too soon.  The problem happens much less in .30, but still exists imtermittently.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Weird, I haven't noticed it at all and my specs are very similar to yours. Only you'll have a slightly faster processor. Are you running anything else in the background?


----------



## PolkManiac

Nothing major, just normal stuff like a web browser.  I could try closing everything else out and see what happens, will try that tonight when I get home.


----------



## PolkManiac

I do have a fundamental question about this program.  Is app essentially doing the same thing that something like Pure Music does, just without as many features, or is there a fundamental difference in what the two tools do or how they do it?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





polkmaniac said:


> I do have a fundamental question about this program.  Is app essentially doing the same thing that something like Pure Music does, just without as many features, or is there a fundamental difference in what the two tools do or how they do it?


 

 They are doing the same thing, monitoring iTunes but taking control of playing the music in an attempt to get superior sound quality. I'm sure BitPerfect and Pure Music work very differently at the code level.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

BitPerfect is also much more reasonably priced, IMHO.


----------



## PolkManiac

It's absolutely more reasonably priced!  $5 vs $130, that's a huge price gap.  That's why I was wondering if there was a fundamental difference between the two.  Something I read about PM said something about it 'bypassing' the iTunes engine for processing the signal and doing that itself, and was curious if BitPerfect was the same idea or if its main purpose was to just handle the sample rate switching between tracks.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





polkmaniac said:


> It's absolutely more reasonably priced!  $5 vs $130, that's a huge price gap.  That's why I was wondering if there was a fundamental difference between the two.  Something I read about PM said something about it 'bypassing' the iTunes engine for processing the signal and doing that itself, and was curious if BitPerfect was the same idea or if its main purpose was to just handle the sample rate switching between tracks.


 

 Obviously I'm not familiar with all the details about how Pure Music works, but when you disable all the DSP stuff in PM, the two programs should be doing pretty much the same thing. Try the demo of Pure Music and let your ears decide!


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

Are there any plans for integrating FLAC natively? 
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Obviously I'm not familiar with all the details about how Pure Music works, but when you disable all the DSP stuff in PM, the two programs should be doing pretty much the same thing. Try the demo of Pure Music and let your ears decide!


----------



## tamahome77

How about ape and wma support?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





rdr. seraphim said:


> Are there any plans for integrating FLAC natively?


 

 What do you mean by natively? BitPerfect already supports playback of any FLACs in your iTunes library.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





tamahome77 said:


> How about ape and wma support?


 

 How would you import ape and wma files into iTunes?


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

From the App Store, "FLAC Support (via Fluke or other 3rd Party iTunes FLAC importers)" I'm not sure how FLAC is supported in PM, but it's a "fairly" seamless process. (It may in fact be using something like FLUKE, but it's not apparent, and appears to be part of the PM application, not a plug-in.)
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> What do you mean by natively? BitPerfect already supports playback of any FLACs in your iTunes library.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





rdr. seraphim said:


> From the App Store, "FLAC Support (via Fluke or other 3rd Party iTunes FLAC importers)" I'm not sure how FLAC is supported in PM, but it's a "fairly" seamless process. (It may in fact be using something like FLUKE, but it's not apparent, and appears to be part of the PM application, not a plug-in.)


 

 I'll look into better FLAC import solutions in future versions, however to be honest, I don't get a great deal of requests for improved FLAC support, so it might take a backseat to some more popular planned improvements.


----------



## blankdisc

"popular planned improvements" including? 

  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I'll look into better FLAC import solutions in future versions, however to be honest, I don't get a great deal of requests for improved FLAC support, so it might take a backseat to some more popular planned improvements.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> "popular planned improvements" including?


 

 Dithered volume control
  Audio unit support
  Better sample rate converter
  Matching sound check and iTunes volume slider levels with iTunes' implementation
   
  I also have some ideas about improving the audio output engine to get better sound quality, but those aren't fully fleshed out yet.


----------



## blankdisc

NICE! it just keeps getting better and better.

  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Better sample rate converter


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

For your future consideration, I download HD lossless media, typically 24/96 up to and including  24/192 (but may include 24/48, 24/176 and anything in-between) from the likes of HDTracks, High Defintion Tape Transfer, and other sites that primarily use FLAC for their lossless HD formats. I'm curious what formats are more popular for high definition music?  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I'll look into better FLAC import solutions in future versions, however to be honest, I don't get a great deal of requests for improved FLAC support, so it might take a backseat to some more popular planned improvements.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





rdr. seraphim said:


> For your future consideration, I download HD lossless media, typically 24/96 up to and including  24/192 (but may include 24/48, 24/176 and anything in-between) from the likes of HDTracks, High Defintion Tape Transfer, and other sites that primarily use FLAC for their lossless HD formats. I'm curious what formats are more popular for high definition music?


 

 To be honest, the main value of BitPerfect (for me) is the tight integration with iTunes.  Since iTunes does not support FLAC, I convert any files I download to ALAC for use in iTunes (FWIW, I also back up the original files, but don't use them for daily playback).


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

Thanks jhwalker,
   
  PM uses iTunes for library and management, so it is similarly integrated. I use a mirrored, multi-drive, multi-TB network drive (NAS) for my media. 
  
  Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> To be honest, the main value of BitPerfect (for me) is the tight integration with iTunes.  Since iTunes does not support FLAC, I convert any files I download to ALAC for use in iTunes (FWIW, I also back up the original files, but don't use them for daily playback).


----------



## aamefford

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> To be honest, the main value of BitPerfect (for me) is the tight integration with iTunes.  Since iTunes does not support FLAC, I convert any files I download to ALAC for use in iTunes (FWIW, I also back up the original files, but don't use them for daily playback).


 
   
  I do this, but I sometimes use one of the other available players with FLAC support (Audirvana, vox, decibel...) to play the flac files.  Once I figured out I could transcode into 24/96 ALAC, that has taken precedence, using either BitPerfect or iTunes as the player.


----------



## PolkManiac

PM does not use iTunes for Flac support.  To play Flac files in PM you have to load them manually, outside of iTunes, which I'd hardly call seamless.  If you have them in iTunes it will play them, just like this player.
   
  Think of BitPerfect as more of a plugin for iTunes to get better sound, whereas PM will work with iTunes but also has standalone functionality.  Surely you can't expect the same functionality out of a $5 'plugin' as you do a $130 program. 

  
  Quote: 





rdr. seraphim said:


> Thanks jhwalker,
> 
> PM uses iTunes for library and management, so it is similarly integrated. I use a mirrored, multi-drive, multi-TB network drive (NAS) for my media.


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

That is correct, FLAC files are imported via (CTRL F), and become part of the iTunes library, including metadata. FLAC, AIFF, WAV, DSD, etc. are played via PM's audio engine.
   
  No expectations re FLAC, was just curious about future upgrades. VOX is my other player, which is a darn good player for the money.


----------



## Currawong

I'm guessing some of you guys are confusing file decoding with the software that sends the digital stream to the DAC.
   
  I get a lot of FLAC files from the same sources and just use XLD to re-encode them into AIFF or Apple Lossless.


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

XLD is a good, no, it' great,  THE EAC PC equivalent for the MAC.


----------



## tamahome77

aw shucks I guess I need to find some third party importers or convert them to apple lossless.
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> How would you import ape and wma files into iTunes?


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





tamahome77 said:


> aw shucks I guess I need to find some third party importers or convert them to apple lossless.


 


  As already mentioned, XLD will covert FLAC files but it will also do APE. WMA files are another matter. It's hard to find a decent codec for any legacy, proprietary format. WMA is such a case.


----------



## mrarroyo

When will iTunes carry version .30? Thanks.


----------



## agentsim

BitPerfect 0.30 has been submitted to the app store, barring any major bugs found by beta testers between now and then, it will be available once Apple approve it; I expect that to be sometime next week.
   
  Changes include:

 About dialog
 Reduce chances of skippping/stuttering while performing tasks in iTunes
 Do not try to play DRM protected files
 Release exclusive mode on unsupported files
 Queue next track as early as possible (helps with gapless playback over wireless networks)
 Fix not setting sample rate correctly on certain DACs (ex: LIO-8)
   
  0.30 includes a rewritten iTunes interaction component. This should make iTunes interaction more seamless by getting rid of the pops/pauses/hiccups when doing stuff in iTunes while playing music through BitPerfect. It will also improve gapless playback on slower computers and setups where the music is accessed on a slower drive (network, usb, etc...).
   
  Plans for 0.31 at the moment include:

 Integer mode not working on some DACs
 Volume control does not match iTunes
 Remove or gray out unavailable iTunes lauch/quit options
   
  Feel free to submit bug reports and feature requests. I'll get to them as fast as I can, with features being prioritized by interest. My goal is to release a new version every 1 or 2 weeks. For the moment these releases will be mostly bug fixes, but later on I'll be including features.


----------



## earwaxxer

I haven't read all the posts here so forgive me for repetition...
   
  I can understand the "bit perfect" quest. That's why I have been with the squeezebox server for years now, and will probably stick with it for some time. Ripping to hard drive with dbpoweramp, upsample and dsp with foobar and Sox. Low jitter bit perfect transfer of data from laptop to squeezebox Transporter via Eternet. Since squeezebox uses its own software, there are no issues on the PC end. Stereophile reviews have found bit perfect transfer using this platform. I do all my processing ahead of time. It frees up my Transporter to not have to upsample, convert or any other processor intensive activity in realtime. I think its a great set-up. I can sleep well at night. Where I'm currently obsessing is over VST tube amp simulators. Lets just say... it keeps me busy!


----------



## Mr Koedd

Something is terrible wrong…
   
  Gone through all posts, and  bought BitPerfect. Like the idea.
   
  BUT it just doesn't work as planned.
   
  Every 15 seconds or so I get a window telling me that «Bluetooth audio failed» and asks me to «Stop using headset» (etyBlu2 - etymotic which is not in use).
   
  When looking at AudioMidi set up output is  going back and forth between etyBlu2 and my Metric Halo ULN-8, and restarting playing the audio file each time I get the «Bluetooth audio failed»
   
  Also, no change in sample rate (as I can see in the MIO console (software for the MH ULN-8 DAC) when going from 44 to 96.
   
  Nothing works!
   
  Running Mac Mini 2.53 GHz Server, 4 GB ram, osx version 10.6.8. Strange thing is that the version number is 0.26, and this was bought today from the app store.
   
  Best
   
  Juat to make things a bit more clear:
   
  The DAC i'm using is a MH ULN.8,
   
  Any reports I can send to help debunk this rather strange behavior? Please advice.


----------



## agentsim

Which device did you configure BitPerfect to use for output?
   
  If you didn't go into Preferences to set the output device, you might need to do that. BitPerfect tries to use the default device, but sometimes this doesn't work properly. To cleanly reset the device, follow these steps:
   

 Exit BitPerfect and iTunes
 Plug in the device you want to use.
 Start BitPerfect, go into Preferences and select the device from the drop down menu. Select it even if it already appears, just to make sure BitPerfect remembers your choice.
 Start iTunes and play some music.
   
  Let me know if that helps. If not, I'll need to get further debugging info from you.


----------



## Mr Koedd

I did as you suggested, but it is the same. (It was configured to use the ULN-8)
   
  Please advice how I should do the debugging.
   
  Why is the version i downloaded from app store 2.6 and not 2.9 ?
   
  Best
   
   
  Edit: I ment version 0.26 and 0.29.  (Need to go to sleep now this side of the pond. Will follow up when I rise again)


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mr koedd said:


> I did as you suggested, but it is the same. (It was configured to use the ULN-8)
> 
> Please advice how I should do the debugging.
> 
> ...


 

 I'm not sure why you have 0.26 from the app store, honestly that makes no sense.
  I'll send you a PM with further debugging instructions.


----------



## blankdisc

i don't even know how to find version information.  
  there is no "About BitPerfect" menu item. Tim, it maybe would be a good idea to add.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Until he does, Get Info on the app in finder will get you the version of any app.


----------



## Mr Koedd

1. First about version no:
  I don't know why, but when I downloaded the app from app store, the icon for BitPerfect was installed in the Dock. When I checked for version no. I did that through the Dock («Show in Finder»). The problem was that what was shown was an earlier download of BitPerfect in my Download Folder, and not the version bought through app store, which is in my Application folder and which i 0.29.
   
  To make sure I was using the right version (0.29) I deleted the old version, restarted the maschine and did the same steps as I was told earlier.
   
  Result: same behaviour.
   
  2. I found this behaviour very strange; «Every 15 seconds or so I get a window telling me that «Bluetooth audio failed» and asks me to «Stop using headset» (etyBlu2 - etymotic which is not in use).When looking at AudioMidi set up output is  going back and forth between etyBlu2 and my Metric Halo ULN-8, and restarting playing the audio file each time I get the «Bluetooth audio failed»»
   
  So I deleted the etyBlu2 from the list of Bluetooth devices and run the steps all over again
   
  Result: No windows popping up, and no restarting of songs, so that problem is gone.
   
  3. Then I did a new check for change of sample rates. I have two songs in a playlist - one 44.1 and one 96; both AIFF files and played the list. I had the MIO window (for the ULN-8)  and Audio Midi Setup open while playing. I had checked the Integer mode in Preferences
   
  Result: *No change in sample rate* neither in the MIO console window, nor in Audio Midi Setup, or when checking the BitPerfect icon in my menubar (Playing - 24/44.1 with both songs). Something is wrong here if the readings are updated correct.
   
  One last thing that I find strange: In the Audio Midi window the speaker icon is not set to the ULN-8 device, but an USB Audio device in the list (it is for another DAC I have). No icons on the ULN-8. Maybe this is the way it should be, because the sound is coming out through the ULN-8 (which is a FW device) as it should. The DAC connected to the USB Audio device is not turned on, only the "HagUsb" USB-to-S/PDIF device.
   
  To make sure this wasn't the problem, I disconnected the "HagUsb" USB-to-S/PDIF converter from the Mac Mini. The device disappeared from the list in Audio Midi. Then I quit BitPerfect and restarted it. All settings checked again. Still the speaker icon in the Audio Midi window is not beside the ULN-8, but now on the Built-In Output. Music is playing through the ULN-8, so the connection is ok, but still no change in sample rate.
   
  This is part of the info from BitPerfect Device info:
   
   
  ----------------------
  Name: ULN-8 [675]
  UID:com_mhlabs_driver_MobileIOAudioEngine_10_6:8:2a3
  Device Id: 264
  Default: YES
  Selected: YES
  Complex DAC: YES
  Integer Mode Capable: YES
  Frame Buffer Sizes: 14 - 3072
  Current Frame Buffer Size: 2048
  Supported sample rates: 44.1 kHz  48.0 kHz  88.2 kHz  96.0 kHz  176.4 kHz  192.0 kHz  
  Left Channel: 1 Right Channel: 2
   
   
  Best
   
  Ps. My e-mail address was wrong yesterday. I have corrected it now.
   
  Edit: Info on the Mac:
   
   Model Name: Mac mini
    Model Identifier: Macmini3,1
    Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed: 2,53 GHz
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Total Number Of Cores: 2
    L2 Cache: 3 MB
    Memory: 4 GB
    Bus Speed: 1,07 GHz
    Boot ROM Version: MM31.00AD.B00
    SMC Version (system): 1.35f1
   
  Question: Could it be that the Mac mini is too old and not supported?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> i don't even know how to find version information.
> there is no "About BitPerfect" menu item. Tim, it maybe would be a good idea to add.


 

 Coming in 0.30...


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





> 2. I found this behaviour very strange; «Every 15 seconds or so I get a window telling me that «Bluetooth audio failed» and asks me to «Stop using headset» (etyBlu2 - etymotic which is not in use).When looking at AudioMidi set up output is  going back and forth between etyBlu2 and my Metric Halo ULN-8, and restarting playing the audio file each time I get the «Bluetooth audio failed»»
> 
> So I deleted the etyBlu2 from the list of Bluetooth devices and run the steps all over again
> 
> Result: No windows popping up, and no restarting of songs, so that problem is gone.


 
   
  I'm not sure why BitPerfect kept switching between the two devices, but I'm glad it works now. I'd need to see the Console program log files from when that was happening to be able to fix it. You can e-mail them to me at bitperfectsound@gmail.com
   
  Quote: 





> 3. Then I did a new check for change of sample rates. I have two songs in a playlist - one 44.1 and one 96; both AIFF files and played the list. I had the MIO window (for the ULN-8)  and Audio Midi Setup open while playing. I had checked the Integer mode in Preferences
> 
> Result: *No change in sample rate* neither in the MIO console window, nor in Audio Midi Setup, or when checking the BitPerfect icon in my menubar (Playing - 24/44.1 with both songs). Something is wrong here if the readings are updated correct.


 
   
  There's a bug in 0.29 that causes the sample rate not to change on certain DACs (DACs with multiple single channel streams instead of a single stereo stream.) This is fixed in 0.30, I sent you a link to the beta by PM.
   
  Quote: 





> One last thing that I find strange: In the Audio Midi window the speaker icon is not set to the ULN-8 device, but an USB Audio device in the list (it is for another DAC I have). No icons on the ULN-8. Maybe this is the way it should be, because the sound is coming out through the ULN-8 (which is a FW device) as it should. The DAC connected to the USB Audio device is not turned on, only the "HagUsb" USB-to-S/PDIF device.
> 
> To make sure this wasn't the problem, I disconnected the "HagUsb" USB-to-S/PDIF converter from the Mac Mini. The device disappeared from the list in Audio Midi. Then I quit BitPerfect and restarted it. All settings checked again. Still the speaker icon in the Audio Midi window is not beside the ULN-8, but now on the Built-In Output. Music is playing through the ULN-8, so the connection is ok, but still no change in sample rate.


 
   
  The speaker icon shows where the Mac sounds and notifications are going, it is not related to BitPerfect. In fact, you should never see the speaker icon on the BitPerfect device since BitPerfect has taken exclusive control.


----------



## ABC9

Purchased BitPerfect today from the App Store. 
   
  Question: Does BitPerfect have any affect when using AirPlay?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





abc9 said:


> Purchased BitPerfect today from the App Store.
> 
> Question: Does BitPerfect have any affect when using AirPlay?


 

 I've never used AirPlay... so I'm not sure. Can you select an AirPlay enabled device in BitPerfect? If so, then it should work...


----------



## williaty

No, it doesn't work. I've confused myself with this a couple of times. When you have an AirPlay device active in iTunes and then fire up BitPerfect, you end up with audio coming out the local output. In fact, if BP is even running, you CAN'T send audio output to an AirPlay device.


----------



## Loevhagen

Is BitPerfect "100%" compatible with 10.7.1 OSX Lion and latest iTunes? Don't want to upgrade to problems...
   
  I currently run it on SL 10.6.8 and iTunes 10.2.2. Works nice. Use 32-bit / 88.2 mode.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





loevhagen said:


> Is BitPerfect "100%" compatible with 10.7.1 OSX Lion and latest iTunes? Don't want to upgrade to problems...
> 
> I currently run it on SL 10.6.8 and iTunes 10.2.2. Works nice. Use 32-bit / 88.2 mode.


 

 As long as you aren't using Integer Mode, everything will be ok.


----------



## Loevhagen

Thanks. Will that be fixed in BP for OSX Lion (10.7.1 or 10.7.2)?
   
  The integer mode work flawless to my ears now with OSX 10.6.8 SL and iTunes 10.2.2, so I´ll wait.
   
  Thanks for a fantastic little app.


----------



## Koolpep

Just purchased BitPerfect from Appstore.
   
  Waiting for 0.30 
   
  so far so good


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

As far as I know, there is no more integer mode in Lion at all. Can anyone else confirm this?


----------



## PolkManiac

Wow if that's the case that really sucks.  I've purchased Lion, but have not yet installed it.  I was thinking about tackling that this weekend, but looks like more research is in order...


----------



## Rdr. Seraphim

PM includes Integer mode, but maybe it only works on systems that are pre-Lion...


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

If I'm not mistaken, the reason integer mode was dropped in Lion is because it's been unnecessary for a while and was just one more bit of legacy code they decided was no longer worth supporting.
   
  I did a little Googling and most people seemed to feel that even in 10.6 there was no audible difference with or without integer mode but kept it on for lack of a reason to turn it off.
   
  I wonder if there's a way to actually test the difference with and without integer mode enabled and see if there's an perceivable difference.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





rdr. seraphim said:


> PM includes Integer mode, but maybe it only works on systems that are pre-Lion...


 


  Several of the players have integer mode, but none of them work in Lion - this feature (e.g., native USB driver support for integer mode) is either broken or intentionally removed in 10.7x.


----------



## uelover

What system were they using? I personally find the difference to be pretty big.
  Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> I did a little Googling and most people seemed to feel that even in 10.6 there was no audible difference with or without integer mode but kept it on for lack of a reason to turn it off.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

That one was taken from a comment I read on Computer Audiophile.


----------



## blankdisc

i am running BitPerfect in Lion with Integer Mode on. Haven't had any issue. My iMac is connecting to Audio-GD Digital Interface via USB.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> i am running BitPerfect in Lion with Integer Mode on. Haven't had any issue. My iMac is connecting to Audio-GD Digital Interface via USB.


 
  The Integer Mode checkbox is only a "hint". It means BitPerfect will use Integer Mode if possible, otherwise it will use floating point mode as per usual. Under Lion, not matter what USB DAC you have, Integer Mode will never work.


----------



## blankdisc

oh, well, since i didn't notice any difference after upgraded to Lion, i guess Integer Mode isn't really that important after all.
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> The Integer Mode checkbox is only a "hint". It means BitPerfect will use Integer Mode if possible, otherwise it will use floating point mode as per usual. Under Lion, not matter what USB DAC you have, Integer Mode will never work.


----------



## agentsim

Quick note to let you know BitPerfect 0.30 will be delayed. A pretty major bug was found in beta testing so I need to fix that before it goes live. Hopefully it won't take too much longer. I'm hoping for 0.30 to be out sometime next week.


----------



## deepkut

I've been using Cog, how do the two compare? I really enjoy Cog because I have a monster music library and it's just a directory based drag and drop player. I really like this, but it is annoying for playlists.


----------



## Currawong

BitPerfect only intercepts the audio stream. You use iTunes as normal with it.


----------



## mrarroyo

I have purchase the 0.29 BitPerfect from the iTunes store. Is there a way for the end user to set the bit rate and bit length? I ask because when feeding various USB DACS BitPerfect selects and feeds as 16/48 or 24/48, I would like it to be 16/44 and 24/44 respectively. Thanks.


----------



## Currawong

I thought BitPerfect sets the rate according to the track being played?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





currawong said:


> I thought BitPerfect sets the rate according to the track being played?


 

 It does, however DACs sometimes don't support the sample rate of the track. In those cases, BitPerfect must choose a different sample rate.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Thanks for a great app; I wish I hadn't spent the money for Pure Music a couple of months ago.  On my setup it was buggy, and didn't provide any sonic difference to my ears.  It's interface was terrible, and it didn't work smoothly using the Apple Remote app from my iPad (my Mac Mini has no screen).  So far BitPerfect does make an audible improvement, and I have had zero problems with it to date.  Also, thanks to all of those beta testers who helped get the app to this point.
   
  One question I have; I understand it only works with a 64 bit CPU, but apparently the Mac doesn't have to be booted using the 64-bit kernel.  I have an aluminum 2010 Mac Mini that has the 64-bit CPU, but by default, it boots into the 32-bit mode.  Yet, BitPerfect works perfectly.  I know how to get the Mini to boot into the 64-bit kernel, but would there be a sonic advantage in doing so?  
   
  For anyone else with a similar mac, there is an article on how to boot into 64 bit mode HERE.
   
  Thanks again for all your work on this project.  It is certainly worth the $5.00 price, and more.


----------



## mrarroyo

Quote: 





currawong said:


> I thought BitPerfect sets the rate according to the track being played?


 


   


  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> It does, however DACs sometimes don't support the sample rate of the track. In those cases, BitPerfect must choose a different sample rate.


 


  The reason I ask is that when using 16/44 files fed to various dacs that support 16/44 then BitPerfect feeds the dacs files as 24/48 which is the max the dac can accept via USB. So how can I change the output from BitPerfect to either 16/44 or to 24/44. Thanks.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Thanks for a great app; I wish I hadn't spent the money for Pure Music a couple of months ago.  On my setup it was buggy, and didn't provide any sonic difference to my ears.  It's interface was terrible, and it didn't work smoothly using the Apple Remote app from my iPad (my Mac Mini has no screen).  So far BitPerfect does make an audible improvement, and I have had zero problems with it to date.  Also, thanks to all of those beta testers who helped get the app to this point.
> 
> One question I have; I understand it only works with a 64 bit CPU, but apparently the Mac doesn't have to be booted using the 64-bit kernel.  I have an aluminum 2010 Mac Mini that has the 64-bit CPU, but by default, it boots into the 32-bit mode.  Yet, BitPerfect works perfectly.  I know how to get the Mini to boot into the 64-bit kernel, but would there be a sonic advantage in doing so?
> 
> ...


 
  After a bit of research, I've found out the following:  (which maybe everyone but me knows already...) restarting the 64-bit capable Mac by holding down 6 and 4 while starting up, or typing the proper command line iinformation in Terminal will cause the Mac to re rebooted using the 64-bit kernel.  This can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on what software you need to run.  Some newer programs that are 64-bit capable will speed up; older software in some cases could be incompatible.
   
  iTunes, even the latest 10.4 version, runs as 32 bit in every OS up through Snow Leopard, but with Lion the latest version of iTunes will run as a 64 bit app.  I'm not sure if this would provide any performance gains or not, or if it would affect BitPerfect operation.  My Mini is dedicated just for iTunes, so I might try the Lion upgrade just to see how it goes.  With a good backup in place, I can always revert to what I have now.
   
  If anyone has done this, I'd like to know if there are any performance enhancements to be had.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





> Originally Posted by *Red Jacket Mike* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> One question I have; I understand it only works with a 64 bit CPU, but apparently the Mac doesn't have to be booted using the 64-bit kernel.  I have an aluminum 2010 Mac Mini that has the 64-bit CPU, but by default, it boots into the 32-bit mode.  Yet, BitPerfect works perfectly.  I know how to get the Mini to boot into the 64-bit kernel, but would there be a sonic advantage in doing so?


 

 This is expected, a 32-bit kernel is perfectly able to run 64-bit apps.
  Some people have suggested an improvement booting in the 64-bit kernel. It is possible since the USB audio driver will be different (if not different code, it will be differently compiled.) Also the 64-bit kernel may well do some low-level stuff in a different way that we might notice.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mrarroyo said:


> The reason I ask is that when using 16/44 files fed to various dacs that support 16/44 then BitPerfect feeds the dacs files as 24/48 which is the max the dac can accept via USB. So how can I change the output from BitPerfect to either 16/44 or to 24/44. Thanks.


 

 That's odd, it shouldn't be doing that. Can you confirm using Audio MIDI Setup that the DAC does indeed support 16/44? If it does, then make sure it the upsampling option is unchecked. If it still does it after both of those checks, I'll need more debug info, specifically the output from the "Device Info" menu option.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> If anyone has done this, I'd like to know if there are any performance enhancements to be had.


 

 Beware... after upgrading to Lion there is no Integer Mode support for USB DACs.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *agentsim* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> Beware... after upgrading to Lion there is no Integer Mode support for USB DACs.


 

 Thanks for that; I'll wait.  I use the optical out of my Mini now to connect to my StageDAC, but I eventually planning on purchasing a Wyred For Sound DAC-2, which I would like to try with the async USB.  
   
  I wonder if Apple will add integer mode back in 10.7.3 or 4 or 5, etc.?
   
  By the way, I am hearing such a clear difference in the audio now by toggling BitPerfect on and off.  It's most dramatic with music featuring prominent acoustic string bass.  The best my system has sounded.


----------



## mrarroyo

Quote:


agentsim said:


> That's odd, it shouldn't be doing that. Can you confirm using Audio MIDI Setup that the DAC does indeed support 16/44? If it does, then make sure it the upsampling option is unchecked. If it still does it after both of those checks, I'll need more debug info, specifically the output from the "Device Info" menu option.


 

 I have verified that both the Isabellina DAC and the HLLY SMK-DAC support 16/44 when fed via USB. Thanks.


----------



## ardgedee

I bought BitPerfect from the App Store last night and have been experimenting with it (Snow Leopard, iTunes 10.4.1). (*edit:* Also the ByteController utility for iTunes.)
   
  Selecting an output device from the Preferences window of BitPerfect seems to have no effect. Selecting by option-clicking on the (greyed out) volume control in the menu bar works, as does selecting from Audio MIDI Setup or the Sound system prefs pane.
   
  (An unrelated, minor request: Can the Preferences and Device Info windows remember their last positions? By default they overlap each other, so I always have to rearrange them when I want to compare my settings with what the profiler reports, or look at the preferences pane while writing in another window...)


----------



## Olias of Sunhillow

I downloaded BitPerfect 0.29 from the App Store last night. It's exactly what I've wanted to find -- uses my existing iTunes library but sounds better, automatically switches sample rates, and runs in the background.
   
  One problem I've encountered, though... After I play two tracks of a particular album, at the end of the 2nd track, the player switches back to the beginning of track 1 for about half a second, then moves on to track 3. It's a short blip, but it's noticeable and happens consistently? A buffering issue?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





olias of sunhillow said:


> I downloaded BitPerfect 0.29 from the App Store last night. It's exactly what I've wanted to find -- uses my existing iTunes library but sounds better, automatically switches sample rates, and runs in the background.
> 
> One problem I've encountered, though... After I play two tracks of a particular album, at the end of the 2nd track, the player switches back to the beginning of track 1 for about half a second, then moves on to track 3. It's a short blip, but it's noticeable and happens consistently? A buffering issue?


 

 Sounds like you have the exact problem I have.  I found a nice workaround of just using playlists instead of the main music library.  You can even make a playlist with all your music, use the column browser, and use the same as you would your main library.
   
  For some reason, when using the main music library, iTunes provides the wrong sort order (alpha order instead of album order) for the way BitPerfect performs gapless playback.  I'm not sure why only certain people have this problem.  But if you play music from a playlist, playback is perfect.  Perfect gapless playback and never a blip.  
   
  I believe the developer was trying to find a fix for this by working with Apple.  I've worked with him on a test build trying to find a solution and this workaround is as far as we've gotten.  Not sure if upcoming future builds have some other fix.


----------



## Kristian Harley

I have also downloaded BitPerfect a few days ago and so far it seems like a very nice piece of software. I have been trying out PureMusic and didn't care much for its interface and in general I did not find it to run very smoothly.
  Compared to PureMusic BitPerfect seems to be more what I was looking for. Especially if you don't need the extra functionality provided by PM.
   
  A little more functionality would be nice in BitPerfect though  For instance it would be great, if you were able to decide on the actual bitrate and sampling frequency when upsampling rather than just an option saying "Upsample". Also I have a few albums in 24bit/192kHz but with BitPerfect I'm unable to listen to them in my current setup because my DAC only accepts up to 96kHz. PureMusic did an automatic downsampling to 96kHz in that case which was a nice feature.
   
  Another feature that is high on the wishlist is to create a memory play option where BitPerfect would load an entire album to the RAM whereafter the software would turn off the harddrive for lovering the noise from the computer. I am using an iMac 27" as music server and the only slight noise this machine emits comes from the harddrive. Under Energy Saver in OSX it was possible to make the machine turn off the HDD after a minute using PM, but the HDD would naturally spin back up as soon you would change the song. It would be really great if you were able to load an entire playlist or just the current cd to the RAM and then turn off the HDD instantly.
   
  But anyway - Thanks for a great piece of software so far. I'm looking forward to see how it evolves


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kristian harley said:


> A little more functionality would be nice in BitPerfect though  For instance it would be great, if you were able to decide on the actual bitrate and sampling frequency when upsampling rather than just an option saying "Upsample". Also I have a few albums in 24bit/192kHz but with BitPerfect I'm unable to listen to them in my current setup because my DAC only accepts up to 96kHz. PureMusic did an automatic downsampling to 96kHz in that case which was a nice feature.


 

  BitPerfect already automatically downsamples. It will try by a factor of 2 (for highest quality), if that fails then it will use the high supported rate from the DAC.
   
  Quote: 





> Another feature that is high on the wishlist is to create a memory play option where BitPerfect would load an entire album to the RAM whereafter the software would turn off the harddrive for lovering the noise from the computer. I am using an iMac 27" as music server and the only slight noise this machine emits comes from the harddrive. Under Energy Saver in OSX it was possible to make the machine turn off the HDD after a minute using PM, but the HDD would naturally spin back up as soon you would change the song. It would be really great if you were able to load an entire playlist or just the current cd to the RAM and then turn off the HDD instantly.


 
   
  BitPerfect could do that, but it would not stop HDD activity due to iTunes. If PM are able to get iTunes to stop playing that would be interesting and I'll look into that. Honestly I've found that HDD activity makes little to no difference to SQ.


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> BitPerfect already automatically downsamples. It will try by a factor of 2 (for highest quality), if that fails then it will use the high supported rate from the DAC.
> 
> 
> BitPerfect could do that, but it would not stop HDD activity due to iTunes. If PM are able to get iTunes to stop playing that would be interesting and I'll look into that. Honestly I've found that HDD activity makes little to no difference to SQ.


 
   
  Yes, that's one of the claimed benefits to Pure Music over Amarra.  Amarra leaves iTunes playing in the background, but just mutes / hogs the output - Pure Music actually stops iTunes from playing and only updates the iTunes interface during PM playback.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> Yes, that's one of the claimed benefits to Pure Music over Amarra.  Amarra leaves iTunes playing in the background, but just mutes / hogs the output - Pure Music actually stops iTunes from playing and only updates the iTunes interface during PM playback.


 

 That's interesting, I'll see about doing that for a future version.


----------



## JIGF

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Sounds like you have the exact problem I have.  I found a nice workaround of just using playlists instead of the main music library.  You can even make a playlist with all your music, use the column browser, and use the same as you would your main library.
> 
> For some reason, when using the main music library, iTunes provides the wrong sort order (alpha order instead of album order) for the way BitPerfect performs gapless playback.  I'm not sure why only certain people have this problem.  But if you play music from a playlist, playback is perfect.  Perfect gapless playback and never a blip.
> 
> I believe the developer was trying to find a fix for this by working with Apple.  I've worked with him on a test build trying to find a solution and this workaround is as far as we've gotten.  Not sure if upcoming future builds have some other fix.


 

 I have the same issue. In addition to another one in which when I play a song, the player skips it.
   
  I will try the playlist tip and let you know if it works.
   
  Hope they workaround this. I am loving the sound and simplicity of the player.


----------



## Olias of Sunhillow

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Sounds like you have the exact problem I have.  I found a nice workaround of just using playlists instead of the main music library.  You can even make a playlist with all your music, use the column browser, and use the same as you would your main library.


 


  Thanks for the suggested workaround. I will try this tonight.


----------



## JIGF

Quote: 





jigf said:


> I will try the playlist tip and let you know if it works.


 

 It works!
   
  Still hope they get this fixed though.


----------



## Kristian Harley

Thank you for your reply,
   
   
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> BitPerfect already automatically downsamples. It will try by a factor of 2 (for highest quality), if that fails then it will use the high supported rate from the DAC.


 
   
  The thing is that I use a M2Tech HiFace over USB > Coax SPDIF which then transferes the signal to the DAC. This means that BitPerfect only recognizes the limitations of the HiFace (192kHz) and not the DAC. It would therefore be great if you were able to manually adjust the downsampling.

   
  Quote: 





> Originally Posted by *agentsim* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> BitPerfect could do that, but it would not stop HDD activity due to iTunes. If PM are able to get iTunes to stop playing that would be interesting and I'll look into that. Honestly I've found that HDD activity makes little to no difference to SQ.


 
   
  I don't think that the HDD activity itself makes much of a difference, but it is clearly audible during quiet passages. But I guess a workaround will be to just let OSX turn off the HDDs when they aren't needed - or install a quieter drive.


----------



## agentsim

Quote:  





> The thing is that I use a M2Tech HiFace over USB > Coax SPDIF which then transferes the signal to the DAC. This means that BitPerfect only recognizes the limitations of the HiFace (192kHz) and not the DAC. It would therefore be great if you were able to manually adjust the downsampling.


 
   
  Wow, I didn't realize that could happen. Just so I understand, the M2Tech supports only 96kHZ, but the HiFace does 192kHZ. BitPerfect sees 192 as the maximum and so it sends that to the HiFace... what does the HiFace do, just swallow the sound?
   
  Quote: 





> I don't think that the HDD activity itself makes much of a difference, but it is clearly audible during quiet passages. But I guess a workaround will be to just let OSX turn off the HDDs when they aren't needed - or install a quieter drive.


 
   
  Now that I know Pure Music does this I'll see if I can't match them


----------



## Kristian Harley

Sorry for the confusion - let me clarify a bit 
   
  My signal chain is: iMac > M2Tech HiFace (thats only one device) > KRK Ergo (room correction, crossover, preamp and DAC) > Amp.
   
  The M2Tech HiFace reduces jitter compared to the the output from the optical out on the iMac. Also the Ergo need a coax SPDIF since it doesn't have optical inputs.
   
  You understood the problem correctly though  BitPerfect does not see the Ergo (which is 96kHz max) but only the M2Tech HiFace which can handle 192kHz.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kristian harley said:


> You understood the problem correctly though  BitPerfect does not see the Ergo (which is 96kHz max) but only the M2Tech HiFace which can handle 192kHz.


 

 Ok, in that case there's nothing smart BitPerfect can do. I'll just add the manual max sample rate option in a future version... probably 0.31, although my TODO list is getting long now!


----------



## jhwalker

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Ok, in that case there's nothing smart BitPerfect can do. I'll just add the manual max sample rate option in a future version... probably 0.31, although my TODO list is getting long now!


 

 Audirvana has a setting for handling this exact scenario, so it's certainly not uncommon.


----------



## olor1n

Just purchased BitPerfect. It seems to be working but I'm hearing some popping sounds with settings at default. I have SL and a Core 2 Duo (which I believe defaults to 32bit on boot). Device details below:
   
  Name: TE7022 Audio w/ SPDIF
 UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:GFEC ASSPigiHug USB Audio:3d100000:2,3
 Device Id: 258
 Default: YES
 Selected: YES
 Complex DAC: NO
 Integer Mode Capable: YES
 Frame Buffer Sizes: 14 - 1024
 Current Frame Buffer Size: 1024
 Supported sample rates: 8.0 kHz  16.0 kHz  32.0 kHz  44.1 kHz  48.0 kHz  96.0 kHz  
 Left Channel: 1    Right Channel: 2

 Audio Streams:
 Stream ID: 260
 Stream Number: 0
 Starting Channel: 1
 Total Channels: 2
 Total Physical Formats: 25
   
   
  Edit: Disabling Integer Mode seems to have fixed it. What exactly does that option do?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





olor1n said:


> Just purchased BitPerfect. It seems to be working but I'm hearing some popping sounds with settings at default. I have SL and a Core 2 Duo (which I believe defaults to 32bit on boot). Device details below:
> 
> Edit: Disabling Integer Mode seems to have fixed it. What exactly does that option do?


 

 You can also try disabling "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size". Integer Mode allows you to transfer data to the DAC in its native format, this can improve sound quality by bypassing format conversions that aren't needed.


----------



## olor1n

Have enabled "Integer Mode" again and disabled "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" but the popping has returned. 24/96 files were stuttering initially but disabling "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" seems to have fixed it.


----------



## olor1n

Would like to get Integer Mode working (not sure if I'd perceive the improvement), but even without it it's apparent this little app does a **** good job. Even with the HD650, the improvements are noticeable. It's a tad more resolving and more coherent. Something's happened with how details are layered and imaging seems more natural. I like it. A lot.


----------



## olor1n

Quote: 





jhwalker said:


> Probably.  This is apparently a bug in the Mac USB audio driver - every 17,684 frames, it sends a null value instead of the "right" one.  If you're listening to 44.1k music, the tick occurs about 2.5 x sec - if listening to higher bitrates, the tick happens faster.  Only causes a problem in "raw" / integer mode, and only on certain hardware combinations (e.g., older Macs talking to USB-powered DACs).  Workaround is not to use integer mode *or* to insert a powered USB hub between the Mac and the DAC (which is what I do).  I decided to use the powered hub because I think I can hear the difference between "float" and integer mode and putting the hub in there eliminates the ticking *and* keeps the integer "goodness"
> 
> My understanding is the bug has been reported to Apple.


 

 This was posted a few weeks ago about the popping issue with Integer Mode enabled. Quoting for reference.
   
  Edit: I do have an older MacBook (2,1), but my dac is not USB powered. Hopefully this can be addressed.


----------



## uelover

I don't have such issues with Audrivana or PM with Integer Mode enabled.


----------



## Loevhagen

+1 Use it with both a Hegel DAC (TOS-link) and a Burson HA-160D (USB). Use the 88.2 upscaling on the Hegel DAC. It sound fantastic. BitPerfect app is a keeper. 
  
  Quote: 





olor1n said:


> Would like to get Integer Mode working (not sure if I'd perceive the improvement), but even without it it's apparent this little app does a **** good job. Even with the HD650, the improvements are noticeable. It's a tad more resolving and more coherent. Something's happened with how details are layered and imaging seems more natural. I like it. A lot.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I have BitPerfect (latest version .29, I think).  A couple of things I've noticed, I don't think have been mentioned in this thread:
   
  First of all I'm using it with a Mac Mini, with USB out to a Wyred4Sound DAC-2, then on to a Violectric V200 and then to my LCD-2s.  I've been trying different settings with BitPerfect's preferences, and it always seems to work fine, and offer an audible improvement, except when switching tracks with different sample rates on the fly.  If I try to do that, there is a tiny glitch, while the new track stutters; it's just a half of a second tick; then the track plays fine.  I've noticed no other freezes, track skips, etc., that were reported with this and some earlier versions.
   
  One thing I've discovered about iTunes is that the newest versions (10.4.0, 10.4.1) have different settings available in Audio Midi setup, depending on which kernel the Mac is booted into.  For example, I have another iMac, which has the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so it's capable of being booted into the 64 bit kernel.  I do not have it set up to boot that way, however.  In Audio MIdi setup, choosing the built-in output, my sample rate choices are 44.1, 48, or 96, and my bit depth choices are 16, 20, or 24.
   
  On my Mac MIni, however, I have it set to boot into the 64 bit kernel.  With the same version of iTunes, (10.4.1) the choices in Audio Midi setup are 44.1, 48, 96, and 192.  Bit depth is fixed at 32.
   
  When trying to determine if BitPerfect was improving the sound at all, I did the following; I first bypassed BitPerfect entirely, and in Audio Midi setup, I chose the DAC-2 as the USB output device, and set it to 192K, and the default (only choice) 32bit/2 channel.  This way, I wouldn't have to manually change sample rates for different tracks; the DAC-2 would simply upsample everything that came its way.  Things sounded pretty good with this setup.
   
  However, when putting BitPerfect back into the chain, (with upsampling turned OFF in BitPerfect's prefs), the sound was noticeably better.  More solid bass, more transparency, and even slightly louder volume, without changing anything else.  Now the DAC-2 is getting the native sample rates of all the tracks, changing them when necessary.  Audio-MIdi setup doesn't matter any more, since BitPerfect is 'hogging' the device.  (Of course, the DAC-2 must be chosen as the output device in Audio-Midi setup).
   
  As for the other BitPerfect prefs, I have Integer Mode turned off (since the DAC-2 doesn't support it, anyway) and I have the 'Output in Max Bit Depth'  and the 'Use Maximum Device Buffer Size' boxes both checked, although it doesn't seem to make any different in the sound whether they're checked or not.
   
  The tiny problem of an audible tick when switching tracks on the fly is minor; I only do that to test it, anyway.  Normally, I would pause the track I'm listening to, choose the new one, and hit play.  Then, if the new track has a different sample rate, there is no glitch; it starts and plays smoothly.
   
  So all in all, these settings are working great; with BitPerfect in the chain, there is a definite audible improvement.
   
  One last item about iTunes; I was pretty sure older versions could only accept up to 24/96 tracks, but I've downloaded some 192/24 flac tracks from HDTracks, converted them to AIFF using Max, and when doing a Get Info on them in iTunes, the 24/192 shows up.  I haven't tried this with the 32-bit kernel iMac, though.
   
  I hope all this might be helpful to anyone using similar gear.


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.30) is out... finally!
   
  Changes include:

 32-bit Support
 About dialog
 Sound quality optimizations for complex DACs (ex: Metric Halo, Wyred4Sound)
 Reduce chances of skippping/stuttering while performing tasks in iTunes
 Allow iTunes to play DRM protected files
 Give iTunes control of unsupported files
 Queue next track as early as possible (helps with gapless playback over wireless networks)
 Fix not setting sample rate correctly on certain DACs (ex: Metric Halo, Wyred4Sound)
 Fix Integer Mode producing static on certain DACs (ex: Metric Halo, QB-9)
 Fix choosing correct sample rate when the unsupported rate is less than the maximum supported by the DAC
 Fix copy+paste shortcuts for Device Info
 Fix not closing windows with CMD+W
   
  This version should fix any and all static, clicking/popping etc... problems with Integer Mode that other players don't also exhibit. It will fix most problems relating to pausing, stuttering and repeating sections of a track, usually when you're interacting with iTunes.
   
  As always let me know if you encounter any problems!


----------



## EdChap

I read most of this thread, but may have missed something... Is it only me that finds that BP makes iTunes very laggy? As in, buttons don't respond for a good few seconds, etc. I'm running a decent MBP with FLAC files put into iTunes using Fluke...


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





edchap said:


> I read most of this thread, but may have missed something... Is it only me that finds that BP makes iTunes very laggy? As in, buttons don't respond for a good few seconds, etc. I'm running a decent MBP with FLAC files put into iTunes using Fluke...


 


  Something must be wrong.  I haven't used newest version but with 0.29, I had zero lag.  Wouldn't even know it was playing in the background.  
   
  When I was at the my last headphone meet, I used Amarra again, and even the half second delay for tracks to start seemed annoying.  I'd never go back to that crappy software.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I can see the new version .30 available in the App Store, but I'm not able to update to it.  I have version .29, but when choosing 'update' at the App Store site, it tells me that all my apps are up to date.
   
  I don't want to uninstall my current version, and then download the new one; I'm not sure if the App Store would then treat the upgrade as a new separate purchase.  I might have to pay again.  Since the update just happened today, I guess I'll wait and see if it shows that I can update it tomorrow.


----------



## dannytang

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> I can see the new version .30 available in the App Store, but I'm not able to update to it.  I have version .29, but when choosing 'update' at the App Store site, it tells me that all my apps are up to date.
> 
> I don't want to uninstall my current version, and then download the new one; I'm not sure if the App Store would then treat the upgrade as a new separate purchase.  I might have to pay again.  Since the update just happened today, I guess I'll wait and see if it shows that I can update it tomorrow.


 


  You won't have to pay again. The way the Mac App store works, you can download the apps you've purchased as many times as you want, as long as it's on a computer that's authorized with you AppleID/app store account.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> One thing I've discovered about iTunes is that the newest versions (10.4.0, 10.4.1) have different settings available in Audio Midi setup, depending on which kernel the Mac is booted into.  For example, I have another iMac, which has the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, so it's capable of being booted into the 64 bit kernel.  I do not have it set up to boot that way, however.  In Audio MIdi setup, choosing the built-in output, my sample rate choices are 44.1, 48, or 96, and my bit depth choices are 16, 20, or 24.
> 
> On my Mac MIni, however, I have it set to boot into the 64 bit kernel.  With the same version of iTunes, (10.4.1) the choices in Audio Midi setup are 44.1, 48, 96, and 192.  Bit depth is fixed at 32.
> 
> When trying to determine if BitPerfect was improving the sound at all, I did the following; I first bypassed BitPerfect entirely, and in Audio Midi setup, I chose the DAC-2 as the USB output device, and set it to 192K, and the default (only choice) 32bit/2 channel.  This way, I wouldn't have to manually change sample rates for different tracks; the DAC-2 would simply upsample everything that came its way.  Things sounded pretty good with this setup.


 

  Mike, Do you have the Wyred4Sound DAC-2 driver installed on the iMac that is only registering  44.1, 48, or 96, with bit depth choices 16, 20, or 24.?    The W4S DAC-2 driver is what allows the Mac's Audio Midi setup to achieve 44.1, 48, 96, and 192.  32 Bit depth.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> I can see the new version .30 available in the App Store, but I'm not able to update to it.  I have version .29, but when choosing 'update' at the App Store site, it tells me that all my apps are up to date.
> 
> I don't want to uninstall my current version, and then download the new one; I'm not sure if the App Store would then treat the upgrade as a new separate purchase.  I might have to pay again.  Since the update just happened today, I guess I'll wait and see if it shows that I can update it tomorrow.


 


  When you open "APP Store" you should see a tab that says "Updates" on the top of the window.  Click it and you will see the path to update BitPerfect.


----------



## dannytang

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> When you open "APP Store" you should see a tab that says "Updates" on the top of the window.  Click it and you will see the path to update BitPerfect.


 

 I think the point is that when he goes to the update tab it doesn't show up. This happens to me too. I'll be able to see any/all available updates on my iMac, but my MacBook never sees any updates.


----------



## Currawong

Is BitPerfect in the Applications folder (and not a sub folder)? Did you rename or change the app in any way?


----------



## olor1n

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> New version (0.30) is out... finally!
> 
> Changes include:
> 
> ...


 
   
   
  Have updated to version 0.30 but unfortunately still hear clicking/popping when enabling Integer Mode for USB. Someone posted that this issue may be to do with USB powered devices and older systems. My Audio-GD Fun (wm8741) DAC is not USB powered and my MacBook is 2,1 with SL. USB details below:
   



> Name: TE7022 Audio w/ SPDIF
> UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:GFEC ASSPigiHug USB Audio:3d100000:2,3
> Device Id: 258
> Default: NO
> ...


----------



## WarriorAnt

How much memory do you have in that Mac?


----------



## olor1n

2 gig. It's soft but audible clicking almost in sync with the music. It's not stuttering playback and I don't have this issue when Integer Mode is disabled or when outputting to toslink.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





olor1n said:


> 2 gig. It's soft but audible clicking almost in sync with the music. It's not stuttering playback and I don't have this issue when Integer Mode is disabled or when outputting to toslink.


 

 Running any other programs at the same time?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





olor1n said:


> Have updated to version 0.30 but unfortunately still hear clicking/popping when enabling Integer Mode for USB. Someone posted that this issue may be to do with USB powered devices and older systems. My Audio-GD Fun (wm8741) DAC is not USB powered and my MacBook is 2,1 with SL. USB details below:


 


 Do other Integer Mode capable players exhibit the same clicking/popping, if so, then this is most likely a bug within the core audio framework or the usb driver.


----------



## EdChap

Quote: 





edchap said:


> I read most of this thread, but may have missed something... Is it only me that finds that BP makes iTunes very laggy? As in, buttons don't respond for a good few seconds, etc. I'm running a decent MBP with FLAC files put into iTunes using Fluke...


 


   


  Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Something must be wrong.  I haven't used newest version but with 0.29, I had zero lag.  Wouldn't even know it was playing in the background.
> 
> When I was at the my last headphone meet, I used Amarra again, and even the half second delay for tracks to start seemed annoying.  I'd never go back to that crappy software.


 

 The version I was using is 0.29, I haven't been able to find .30 to upgrade yet. Yeh, the lag is actually pretty bad... it can take up to 5 seconds for iTunes to respond when BP is running.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





edchap said:


> The version I was using is 0.29, I haven't been able to find .30 to upgrade yet. Yeh, the lag is actually pretty bad... it can take up to 5 seconds for iTunes to respond when BP is running.


 

 Try moving the "iTunes Response Speed" slider towards "Fast", see if that helps.


----------



## EdChap

I tried, but no improvement...


----------



## sekisaji

Quote: 





currawong said:


> Is BitPerfect in the Applications folder (and not a sub folder)? Did you rename or change the app in any way?


 

 Yes, BitPerfect is in the Applications folder (/Applications/BitPerfect.app).
  I didn't rename it or change it. because there is no reason to do so.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Quote:


warriorant said:


> Mike, Do you have the Wyred4Sound DAC-2 driver installed on the iMac that is only registering  44.1, 48, or 96, with bit depth choices 16, 20, or 24.?    The W4S DAC-2 driver is what allows the Mac's Audio Midi setup to achieve 44.1, 48, 96, and 192.  32 Bit depth.


 
  Yes, I have the W4W driver installed, and I'm seeing all the proper choices up to 32/192.  I have it set to 32/192, but once BitPerfect 'hogs' the W4S, its preferences take over, so I can set it to change to the proper native sample rate for each track.
  
  Quote: 





warriorant said:


> When you open "APP Store" you should see a tab that says "Updates" on the top of the window.  Click it and you will see the path to update BitPerfect.


 
  Quote: 





dannytang said:


> I think the point is that when he goes to the update tab it doesn't show up. This happens to me too. I'll be able to see any/all available updates on my iMac, but my MacBook never sees any updates.


 
  Yes, I see the updates tab, and I figured out what I had to do to update it.  Unusual, but here's what I think.  I originally purchased version .29 for my Mac Mini, but I don't have a screen or monitor for the mini; I access it using either an ipad or my MacBook.  The MacBook, using a VNC program called JollysFastVNC, was how I was accessing the mini when I purchased it.  Going to the app store on the mini shows that BitPerfect was purchased, but doesn't give the option to update.  
   
  However, going to the App Store on my MacBook shows a 'download' option; not 'update' or 'purchase.'  I downloaded version .30 to the MacBook, and then transferred it to my mini via my home network.  I then replaced the older version with it, and version .30 is now working fine.  
   
  Strange way to have to update it, but I think it has to do with how I access the Mac Mini.  I only have one Apple ID and App Store account, but when I tried to update BitPerfect on the Mini directly, I was told that I can only update it using the account I purchased it with . . .???  Vey odd.
   
  Quote: 





currawong said:


> Is BitPerfect in the Applications folder (and not a sub folder)? Did you rename or change the app in any way?


 
  Not sure if this one was for me, but yes, it's in the proper place, and has not been renamed or altered.


----------



## dannytang

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Quote:
> Yes, I see the updates tab, and I figured out what I had to do to update it.  Unusual, but here's what I think.  I originally purchased version .29 for my Mac Mini, but I don't have a screen or monitor for the mini; I access it using either an ipad or my MacBook.  The MacBook, using a VNC program called JollysFastVNC, was how I was accessing the mini when I purchased it.  Going to the app store on the mini shows that BitPerfect was purchased, but doesn't give the option to update.
> 
> However, going to the App Store on my MacBook shows a 'download' option; not 'update' or 'purchase.'  I downloaded version .30 to the MacBook, and then transferred it to my mini via my home network.  I then replaced the older version with it, and version .30 is now working fine.
> ...


 

  It happens to me all the time, I can update apps on my iMac regardless which mac I purchase it on, but when I go to my MacBook, I either don't see the updates under the Updates tab or when I see it I can't update it, it gives me one error or another. So I usually do what you do, update on my iMac and move it over to my MacBook. Something's up one Apple's end I would say... Does anyone else with multiple macs have this problem?


----------



## blankdisc

i have two, and never had any issue updating through App Store in either computer.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Strange that I was not able to update it on the computer it was installed on, but I was able to update it on the computer I was using to remotely access & control the computer it was purchased for and installed on.
   
  I think I said that correctly . . .


----------



## WarriorAnt

I am wondering exactly how much buffer I need to use to be practical.  I mean how much buffer do I really need to use and then how much is just overkill.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Well, the highest setting is 4096 MB (4 GB).  If you have long, hi res tracks that are close to that in file size (which would be pretty rare) there's a chance that BitPerfect and/or iTunes would have to access your hard drive if the data in the buffer ran out.
   
  I think the buffer setting is the amount that BitPerfect can load into memory, as long as you have enough RAM.  If that's the case, there's no sense setting the buffer to anything higher than the amount of RAM you have; I have 8 GB in my mini, so I have it set to the highest setting.
   
  I have one 24/192 album of twelve tracks, and it's total file size is about 4 GB, after converting the FLAC files to AIFF.
   
  I don't think anything is degraded sonically by using the largest setting, but I may be wrong.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

If you had a 4GB track it's because you have HD tracks as one single file. Which, honestly, why?


----------



## ardgedee

I have albums that are 55 minute long single tracks (mostly extremely long improvisations, or compositions that are not broken into movements). But yes those examples are rare. And since even high-res tracks will stream more slowly than the disk can output, I assume the buffer can refill faster than it empties.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Well, the highest setting is 4096 MB (4 GB).  If you have long, hi res tracks that are close to that in file size (which would be pretty rare) there's a chance that BitPerfect and/or iTunes would have to access your hard drive if the data in the buffer ran out.
> 
> I think the buffer setting is the amount that BitPerfect can load into memory, as long as you have enough RAM.  If that's the case, there's no sense setting the buffer to anything higher than the amount of RAM you have; I have 8 GB in my mini, so I have it set to the highest setting.
> 
> ...


 

 I have 4GB of memory but I'm upgrading to 8GB.   I tend to use a lot of different apps when I'm listening some more memory hungry than others so I'm thinking no real reason to give BitPerfect more memory buffer than it needs but that won't matter once I upgrade to 8GB anyway.


----------



## agentsim

There shouldn't be any significant degradation in sound quality no matter what buffer size you use. Set it to whatever works best for you. Larger buffer sizes will prevent HD activity from BitPerfect, but iTunes will still be reading the file in the background.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Does BitPerfect take the memory as needed or does the buffer put aside the amount chosen and it is no longer available for system use for other apps or does memory acquisition not work that way.  I do not know these things so I wonder about how memory gets used.


----------



## iamoneagain

Does anyone else find version 0.30 buggier than 0.29?  I'm getting more stuttering when doing anything with iTunes again.  If I sync an iPhone or import and album, sometimes the song I'm playing restarts.  Don't think I had these problem with 0.29.  Also, when I once clicked on another track, it started in the middle of the track.  I'm not sure how I revert back to the previous version but think I'm going to find a way.  Hopefully I don't break Mac store update when 0.31 comes out.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> I have one 24/192 album of twelve tracks, and it's total file size is about 4 GB, after converting the FLAC files to AIFF.


 
   
  Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> If you had a 4GB track it's because you have HD tracks as one single file. Which, honestly, why?


 
   
  No, it is 12 separate tracks; I'm just saying that the total for all twelve of them is around 4 GB.  The songs are each in the 300-400 MB range.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> Does BitPerfect take the memory as needed or does the buffer put aside the amount chosen and it is no longer available for system use for other apps or does memory acquisition not work that way.  I do not know these things so I wonder about how memory gets used.


 

 If it works like Pure Music, it should take each track as its queued up, and play it using RAM instead of having to access the hard drive during playback.  I would think that if you are using your computer for other tasks while listening to music, it might be an advantage to use a setting lower than the max of 4096, even if you will eventually have 8GB of RAM.
   
  With my Mac Mini, it is 'headless' and dedicated only for music playback.  Anything not necessary for this has either been uninstalled, trashed, or turned off.
   
  When I'm listening, I may be using my MacBook or iPad for other things, but the Mini plays music only.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> If it works like Pure Music, it should take each track as its queued up, and play it using RAM instead of having to access the hard drive during playback.  I would think that if you are using your computer for other tasks while listening to music, it might be an advantage to use a setting lower than the max of 4096, even if you will eventually have 8GB of RAM.
> 
> With my Mac Mini, it is 'headless' and dedicated only for music playback.  Anything not necessary for this has either been uninstalled, trashed, or turned off.
> 
> When I'm listening, I may be using my MacBook or iPad for other things, but the Mini plays music only.


 


  Ive got to get a Mac mini...


----------



## kiwidave

Interesting, I would say I find 0.30 better than 0.29
   
  Streaming 24 / 96K from external drive connected to 2009 mac-mini  <wireless 2.5 gHz> airport extreme <wireless 5 gHz> 2011 macbook pro 13 @ 8 gig ram, OS 10.7.1
   
  Except for one tiny glitch at beginning of first track (approx 3 sec in) its been bullet proof, also no issues with  24 / 44.1 streams with up sampling enabled.
   
  Have been comparing BitPerfect with Pure Music -- and I can honestly say cannot hear any difference (though that may be the limitations of my dec / headphones), so for the cost involved, I think I'm onto a winner with BitPerfect..


----------



## EdChap

Agentism... any ideas why my BP is so laggy? It's fine on 320 tracks, but FLAC converted tracks (using Fluke) slows the whole thing right down...


----------



## agentsim

Hi Ed, I haven't spent much time optimizing FLAC playback. Fluke is really second-rate so I would strongly recommend converting to ALAC with XLD. When the bug reports have calmed down some more I'll see about improving FLAC support but I haven't got an ETA yet.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Hi Ed, I haven't spent much time optimizing FLAC playback. Fluke is really second-rate so I would strongly recommend converting to ALAC with XLD. When the bug reports have calmed down some more I'll see about improving FLAC support but I haven't got an ETA yet.


 

 I convert all my FLAC to ALAC using XLD.    I don't run any other programs while I 'm converting.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> I don't run any other programs while I 'm converting.


 


  Is there a reason why not? I mean, other than having it convert faster it doesn't effect the conversion process in any way.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





dougoftheabaci said:


> Is there a reason why not? I mean, other than having it convert faster it doesn't effect the conversion process in any way.


 

 I read from various sources that it can lead to errors during conversion if your processor is being tasked by other applications during conversion.


----------



## ardgedee

Quote:


warriorant said:


> I convert all my FLAC to ALAC using XLD.    I don't run any other programs while I 'm converting.


 

 Unless your computer is old and slow, or you need to process a lot of files quickly, there's not a lot to be gained by that.
   
  It doesn't affect audio quality or file integrity.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





ardgedee said:


> Quote:
> 
> Unless your computer is old and slow, or you need to process a lot of files quickly, there's not a lot to be gained by that.
> 
> It doesn't affect audio quality or file integrity.


 
  iMac 
  Intel Core 2 Duo,  Processor Speed: 3.06 GHz  
   
   I use it mostly for heavy DAW work while tracking video,  and then seprate heavy proccessing with photoshop and then Xfer of large completed audio/video files to an FTP server when I'm done.  
  I wouldn't do any conversions during that load, but I'm sure internet browsing is OK though, which is wht most people really do with thier computer.


----------



## ardgedee

In that case, yeah, I'd hold off running batches until I took a break from work to check email or eat lunch. It would have less to do with audio quality than with having the conversions slow down whatever you're working on in the foreground. (*Edit:*) In any event, there's no real point to quitting apps to run the converter. A well-behaved idle application doesn't consume significantly more in resources than no app at all.
   
  For audio file transcoding, I use Max, which allows me to define how many files to encode in parallel. Dialing that down to one or two makes the app reasonably non-disruptive when I'm doing my own large-format image processing in Photoshop. If I'm not doing anything, I leave it at 4.
   
  I'm not familiar with XLD. If it has similar settings, try experimenting with them.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





ardgedee said:


> In that case, yeah, I'd hold off running batches until I took a break from work to check email or eat lunch. It would have less to do with audio quality than with having the conversions slow down whatever you're working on in the foreground. (*Edit:*) In any event, there's no real point to quitting apps to run the converter. A well-behaved idle application doesn't consume significantly more in resources than no app at all.
> 
> For audio file transcoding, I use Max, which allows me to define how many files to encode in parallel. Dialing that down to one or two makes the app reasonably non-disruptive when I'm doing my own large-format image processing in Photoshop. If I'm not doing anything, I leave it at 4.
> 
> I'm not familiar with XLD. If it has similar settings, try experimenting with them.


 

 XLD does parallel encoding.  Mine is set to 2, I've never experimented with it but I should. I just assume 2 would be the limit because I have a dual core.


----------



## ardgedee

Probably not. It has more to do with the total resources necessary to xcode one file (processor usage, memory, drive access and I/O), times however many files you're trying to convert simultaneously. Converting a single file does not require an entire CPU core.
   
  Xcoding one or two files at a time is unlikely to be taxing. Ideally, if you're dedicating your computer to crunching files, you want to find the sweet spot of maximal throughput without pointlessly burdening the computer. Designating an arbitrarily large number of files in parallel wouldn't hurt anything, but each file would be processed more slowly, which is why this isn't better than a hypothetical optimal rate.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Ideally, you want to set your encoder to however many threads you processor can handle simultaneously. For a Core 2 Duo and Core i3 that's two, for a Core i5 that's four and for a Core i7 that's eight.
   
  However, running other processes does not effect conversion quality in any way, shape or form. All it does is make it take longer.


----------



## WarriorAnt

That's good to know because I'd like to crunch some conversion while I'm doing other things.


----------



## olor1n

I have all my flac backed up on a NAS. What about converting flac to alac (to be stored on internal drive) over a wireless network? Any chance of degrading the end result?


----------



## ardgedee

Nope. Bits is bits. It'll just go slower. The bottleneck will be the wi-fi connection.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

In theory the bottleneck is the wifi but even at it's slowest wifi gives you 50 Mbps, far faster than any but the highest quality digital streams. You can (barely) play back 1080p video at that speed. Audio won't be an issue.


----------



## Kristian Harley

Just upgraded to 0.30 and now I'm completely unable to use upsampling anymore :/ The reason is the same as I mentioned earlier regarding my DAC not being able to handle the higher sample rates. My USB>Coax interface, the M2Tech HiFace, is capable of 192kHz and my DAC only 96kHz. Because BitPerfect only sees the HiFace the upsampling will automatically be set at 192kHz and at 176.4kHz if the 2x/4x upsampling option is enabled.
   
  I would really wish for a manual option regarding upsampling. It would be nice to be able to determine the final samplerate - or at least an option where the 2x and 4x upsampling are separated.
   
  Otherwise I still see great potential in this software. I'm looking forward to see how it evolves!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kristian harley said:


> Just upgraded to 0.30 and now I'm completely unable to use upsampling anymore :/ The reason is the same as I mentioned earlier regarding my DAC not being able to handle the higher sample rates. My USB>Coax interface, the M2Tech HiFace, is capable of 192kHz and my DAC only 96kHz. Because BitPerfect only sees the HiFace the upsampling will automatically be set at 192kHz and at 176.4kHz if the 2x/4x upsampling option is enabled.
> 
> I would really wish for a manual option regarding upsampling. It would be nice to be able to determine the final samplerate - or at least an option where the 2x and 4x upsampling are separated.
> 
> Otherwise I still see great potential in this software. I'm looking forward to see how it evolves!


 


 I'm working on it now! 0.31 will be out early next week, this fix will go in 0.32, which should be the week after. Once the feature is done I'll get in touch and send you a beta to test.


----------



## iamoneagain

Well I was definitely having more problems with 0.30.  Just browsing iTunes store was causing stutters. Also when selecting new song, it would occasionally start in the middle whenever another track is already playing.  Doesn't happen all the time, but never happened in previous version.
   
  I couldn't figure out how to get back to 0.29 since I didn't save a copy but then remembered Time Machine.  Was able to restore that copy and still keep 0.30.  Just calls the other one original. So hopefully I'll still get App Store updates.  I like having a stable copy around so whenever bugs show up in new versions, I don't have to be stuck.  Even have an old BetterSound just for safe keeping.


----------



## WarriorAnt

I can't use .30 for very long before the skipping starts, and I only had .29 for one day.      Luckily for me I have 4 other players and BitPerfect only cost me five bucks.  It was fun while it lasted...


----------



## agentsim

New version (0.31) is out. It has only a couple of small fixes that came to light after people upgraded to 0.30. The next version, 0.32 should be out in another week or so.

 Changes Include:

 Fix not switching tracks on shuffled playlists
 Fix slight gapless playback glitch on complex devices


----------



## ABC9

Probably nothing to do with you, but the App Store is driving me batty. Doesn't show BitPerfect in the "Updates" Section, but shows an Update button in the "Purchased" Section. Then when I hit the Update button it says that I need to do it with the account it was purchased with...and I only have one account. Anyway the workaround is to uninstall BitPerfect then go into the App Store and just Install.
   
  But it keeps reinstalling 0.30, not 0.31!
   
  Is this install infact 0.31 that has not been updated in the About Menu?
   
  Poor experience on the App Store


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





abc9 said:


> Probably nothing to do with you, but the App Store is driving me batty. Doesn't show BitPerfect in the "Updates" Section, but shows an Update button in the "Purchased" Section. Then when I hit the Update button it says that I need to do it with the account it was purchased with...and I only have one account. Anyway the workaround is to uninstall BitPerfect then go into the App Store and just Install.
> 
> But it keeps reinstalling 0.30, not 0.31!
> 
> ...


 

 The About screen will show the correct version. Unfortunately I think this is an App Store problem, so out of my sphere of influence. I'd encourage you to get in touch with Apple and let them know how annoying it is!


----------



## WarriorAnt

OK agentsim PM'd me about making sure the "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" was off.   It was on so I checked it off and so far so good!   (sorry agentsim I couldn't get back to you...)
   
  I'm not sure what exactly the "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" function did.  Some folks told me to put it on.   I find with almost every player I have that the functions are never clearly explained. that each develpoer assumes the user has an understanding of the basics behind the selection. I do not believe this is always true.    That goes for all the ones I own.  But that not just the for the player but also for some of the gear I own.
   
  Anyway It seems that "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" was what was giving me the trouble.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> OK agentsim PM'd me about making sure the "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" was off.   It was on so I checked it off and so far so good!   (sorry agentsim I couldn't get back to you...)
> 
> I'm not sure what exactly the "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" function did.  Some folks told me to put it on.   I find with almost every player I have that the functions are never clearly explained. that each develpoer assumes the user has an understanding of the basics behind the selection. I do not believe this is always true.    That goes for all the ones I own.  But that not just the for the player but also for some of the gear I own.
> 
> Anyway It seems that "Use Maximum Device Buffer Size" was what was giving me the trouble.


 

 There's an (admittedly not wonderful) explanation in the tooltip


----------



## WarriorAnt

There is a tooltip somewhere?  Where might it be?
   
  Well I may have spoken to soon.  Skipping continues even in .31.    I'm listening to a lot of tracks 10 minute plus in length from Miles DAvis Live at the Plugged nickel.   Seems the skipping occurs near the end.  I'm using ALAC files.  Shorter files in time duration don't seem to be a problem.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> There is a tooltip somewhere?  Where might it be?
> 
> Well I may have spoken to soon.  Skipping continues even in .31.    I'm listening to a lot of tracks 10 minute plus in length from Miles DAvis Live at the Plugged nickel.   Seems the skipping occurs near the end.  I'm using ALAC files.


 


   Are you getting skipping or a split second of some other track?  If it's coming from another track, try playing your albums from a playlist.  I mentioned this in another post, but on some systems, gapless playback doesn't work from Music Library but is fine playing from any playlist.  Not sure if this problem has been fixed in these later builds.
   
  If it's just a skipping problem, then I don't have an answer.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Are you getting skipping or a split second of some other track?  If it's coming from another track, try playing your albums from a playlist.  I mentioned this in another post, but on some systems, gapless playback doesn't work from Music Library but is fine playing from any playlist.  Not sure if this problem has been fixed in these later builds.
> 
> If it's just a skipping problem, then I don't have an answer.


 

 Just some stuttering about 10 minutes into the longer tracks.  Most of these tracks are about 13 or 15 minutes long.  No problems with shorter tracks.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> Just some stuttering about 10 minutes into the longer tracks.  Most of these tracks are about 13 or 15 minutes long.  No problems with shorter tracks.


 

 Ok, completely different issue.  Sounds like a buffer issue to me but hopefully this issue gets resolved for you.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> Are you getting skipping or a split second of some other track?  If it's coming from another track, try playing your albums from a playlist.  I mentioned this in another post, but on some systems, gapless playback doesn't work from Music Library but is fine playing from any playlist.  Not sure if this problem has been fixed in these later builds.
> 
> If it's just a skipping problem, then I don't have an answer.


 

 Regrettably the library bug isn't fixed. Silence in terms of a bug fix or even a work around from Apple on that one.
   
  As for the skipping problem, can you PM me the logging messages from Console while the skipping happens? A really bad bout of skipping just happened on my computer (first time ever!). I noticed it coincided with Preview having an inordinately hard time opening a small PNG file; it took about 30 seconds! All through that 30 seconds sound was skipping very badly, then it settled down shortly afterward. Oddly enough, CPU use was normal throughout.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





warriorant said:


> Just some stuttering about 10 minutes into the longer tracks.  Most of these tracks are about 13 or 15 minutes long.  No problems with shorter tracks.


 

 Looks like I'll have to spend some quality time with my classical collection... such hard work this is!


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Regrettably the library bug isn't fixed. Silence in terms of a bug fix or even a work around from Apple on that one.


 
  Thanks for update.  That Playlist isn't really a problem for me.  Luckly when I use the remote app, it sets up a playlist, so I still get gapless.  And during regular use, I just work off an All Music playlist.   Just think if people don't know to use a playlist, might find your app buggy if they're one of the unlucky few.  .


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Just a guess, but I think BitPerfect and other players may exhibit some skipping problems and other glitches when playing music on a mac that is doing other things at the same time.  Of course, it's pretty common to be working on your computer with iTunes running in the background, and with a decent processor and average amount of RAM, just about any Mac can handle this easy type of multitasking.
   
  On my Mac Mini, which does nothing but play music, I haven't had any problems with any BitPerfect versions; I've had it from .28 to .31.  It works fine for me no matter which preferences I choose.  I can check or uncheck 'integer mode', 'maximum device buffer size', and 'output in max bit depth', as well as changing the buffer size with no effect on performance.
   
  The only thing that affects the sound for me would be checking the iTunes 'sound check' box.  And, if I try switching from a currently playing track on the fly to another track with a different sample rate, there will be a tiny audible click before the change is made.  If I pause the current track, then choose the new one, it starts instantly with no hiccup.
   
  Everything unnecessary on my Mini is either uninstalled, trashed, or disabled. It has the maximum 8GB of RAM, and I've replaced the internal drive with a 60GB SSD.  My iTunes library is stored on an external FW800 drive.  I realize that these are things not everyone can do with their Mac, especially if it's your only machine, but it certainly allows high quality music playback to take place without any problems.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Just a guess, but I think BitPerfect and other players may exhibit some skipping problems and other glitches when playing music on a mac that is doing other things at the same time.  Of course, it's pretty common to be working on your computer with iTunes running in the background, and with a decent processor and average amount of RAM, just about any Mac can handle this easy type of multitasking.
> 
> On my Mac Mini, which does nothing but play music, I haven't had any problems with any BitPerfect versions; I've had it from .28 to .31.  It works fine for me no matter which preferences I choose.  I can check or uncheck 'integer mode', 'maximum device buffer size', and 'output in max bit depth', as well as changing the buffer size with no effect on performance.
> 
> ...


 

 I'm going to kick my memory up to 8 GB anyway from 4 GB I just needed any excuse to do it!  I do a lot with my iMac at times and I noticed that my free memory can get low.  I'm using an Intel Core 2 Duo, Processor Speed: 3.06 GHz.  So it should handle pretty much anything I toss at it.  My Library is across 3 separate  I TB drives, and 1 750GB drive.  On of the external is an 800 FireWire.


----------



## iamoneagain

Looks like 0.31 fixed my stuttering problem.  I still have version 0.29 just in case.
   
  Oh, I have the same iMac as WarriorAnt but already upgraded to 8 gb.  Upgraded more so I could have Aperture open while have other programs running too.  I haven't really tried long tracks yet but can see if I can find some that I might actually want to sit through.  Found a Pink Floyd track that's 23 min.  Let you know if it skips.
   
   
  Song played perfect all the way through and no problem transitioning into next song.


----------



## Currawong

Stuttering usually comes from the system competing for access to the hard disk, which is, if anything, the real bottleneck in computers these days. I might try re-nice'ing the BitPerfect process to have higher priority. If anyone is interested, I'll write a script to find and prioritise BitPerfect. I'm not sure it will help with I/O issues, however.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Well I rebooted my mac and ran no other programs but itunes and BitPerfect .31 and still after some time I get skipping/glitching problems.  Not sure if it could be something with hard drive accessing on ,there isn't any completion for access going on.


----------



## iamoneagain

Yeah, not sure if it's a memory thing.  So with 8gb total, I set BitPerfect to 2gb buffer and that 23 minute Pink Floyd song played perfect while still surfing Internet and Mail open too.  Also, everything else is in default  mode.  Nothing maximized for just a music server.  I'm running latest Lion OS.
   
  I have still come across some stuttering whenever iTunes was importing new music or adding album art.  But just surfing iTunes store doesn't cause it anymore.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Been running many power intensive apps today along with Bitperfect and no problems at all.  It seems that as long as I do not listen to file over 10 or 12 minute I have no problems.  When I list to live jazz sets that tend to go long like 12 minutes or more I can get the glitching.  Only other thing I'm doing different now than before is I'm running the buffer at 512 instead of a higher amount.


----------



## ardgedee

If you try to reserve too much RAM, you might end up being more dependent on the hard drive than you were hoping for. This is because less-active and lower-priority applications are going to be shunted to virtual memory to make room for foreground stuff, and so even if BP's stake isn't being swapped to the drive and back, other processes will be, and that slows everything down.


----------



## mrarroyo

I just downloaded version .31 and would like to know how do I find the version and the other new features. My BP looks exactly as it did with version .29
   
  I am now hearing very low volume clicks and pops which I did not hear with version .29
   
  Thanks.


----------



## mrarroyo

Also noticed my CPU usage went from a normal 2-5 % to 60 %.


----------



## blankdisc

click the icon on the menu bar, and select "About". 
   
  try to un-check option Use Max Device Buffer Size, and see if it helps with the clicks and pops.

  
  Quote: 





mrarroyo said:


> I just downloaded version .31 and would like to know how do I find the version and the other new features. My BP looks exactly as it did with version .29
> 
> I am now hearing very low volume clicks and pops which I did not hear with version .29
> 
> Thanks.


----------



## mrarroyo

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> click the icon on the menu bar, and select "About".
> 
> try to un-check option Use Max Device Buffer Size, and see if it helps with the clicks and pops.


 

 When I do so I only get two options: Options and Open
   
  The Max Device Buffer Size is un-checked.


----------



## mrarroyo

I am thinking of removing BP and reloading. How do I remove software from an iMac running 10.6.8? Thanks.


----------



## Currawong

You drag it to the trash and empty the trash. Then it is gone.  It will leave a preference file or two though, but they are obviously named and can be trashed as well. You can get software that will ask you if you want to trash the preference files when you trash an app, but I forgot the name offhand.


----------



## blankdisc

i use an application called AppCleaner. 
  
  Quote: 





currawong said:


> You drag it to the trash and empty the trash. Then it is gone.  It will leave a preference file or two though, but they are obviously named and can be trashed as well. You can get software that will ask you if you want to trash the preference files when you trash an app, but I forgot the name offhand.


----------



## blankdisc

Also un-check Integer Mode. For amps don't support Integer Mode, pops will happen if you have that checked.
  
  Quote: 





mrarroyo said:


> When I do so I only get two options: Options and Open
> 
> The Max Device Buffer Size is un-checked.


----------



## uelover

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> Also un-check Integer Mode. For *amps* don't support Integer Mode, pops will happen if you have that checked.


 


  Should be DAC, not amp.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> Also un-check Integer Mode. For amps don't support Integer Mode, pops will happen if you have that checked.


 

 If the DAC does not support Integer Mode, the check box should have no effect. There is currently only 1 device that I know of that is capable of Integer Mode but it does not work in BitPerfect, that is the Stello U3.
  
  Quote: 





mrarroyo said:


> Also noticed my CPU usage went from a normal 2-5 % to 60 %.


 

 The high CPU use could be due to upsampling, do you have that option enabled?


----------



## uelover

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> If the DAC does not support Integer Mode, the check box should have no effect. There is currently only 1 device that I know of that is capable of Integer Mode but it does not work in BitPerfect, that is the Stello U3.


 

 Hmmm?


----------



## blankdisc

really? i had HM-602 connected as USB DAC before, which doesn't support Integer Mode. If the Integer Mode was checked, i would get the sound pops. Although i haven't tried that since version 0.3.
  Since Lion no longer has Integer Mode, i guess it doesn't really matter any more. 
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> If the DAC does not support Integer Mode, the check box should have no effect. There is currently only 1 device that I know of that is capable of Integer Mode but it does not work in BitPerfect, that is the Stello U3.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





blankdisc said:


> really? i had HM-602 connected as USB DAC before, which doesn't support Integer Mode. If the Integer Mode was checked, i would get the sound pops. Although i haven't tried that since version 0.3.
> Since Lion no longer has Integer Mode, i guess it doesn't really matter any more.


 

 I'm not discounting your experience, but it does surprise me.
  From a code standpoint, the Integer Mode check box simply forces BitPerfect to search for a certain kind of audio format on the DAC. If it is not found, it falls back to exactly the same code that chooses an audio format when the check box is unchecked, nothing else happens. So for this to be happening, there would have to be a pretty major problem in that code, and I don't think that bug exists in recent versions. If you can reproduce the problem let me know, I'd really like to make sure it is fixed.


----------



## mrarroyo

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> If the DAC does not support Integer Mode, the check box should have no effect. There is currently only 1 device that I know of that is capable of Integer Mode but it does not work in BitPerfect, that is the Stello U3.
> 
> 
> The high CPU use could be due to upsampling, do you have that option enabled?


 


  Up-sampling is not enabled.


----------



## olor1n

I was noticing some clipping on an alac track converted from flac. Loaded up Audacity and the original flac file and noticed the brickwall inherent in the mix, but in playing back the track in Audacity I noticed better sound quality. It was less congested, with more air and separation. What the hell?


----------



## blankdisc

just got a chance to try this today. The issue i described is no longer there with Lion and version 0.31. Unfortunately i don't have a Leopard machine to check this.
  
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I'm not discounting your experience, but it does surprise me.
> From a code standpoint, the Integer Mode check box simply forces BitPerfect to search for a certain kind of audio format on the DAC. If it is not found, it falls back to exactly the same code that chooses an audio format when the check box is unchecked, nothing else happens. So for this to be happening, there would have to be a pretty major problem in that code, and I don't think that bug exists in recent versions. If you can reproduce the problem let me know, I'd really like to make sure it is fixed.


----------



## xyz14

It looks like the integer mode is quite an issue on Lion.
   
  I am using an Apogee Duet as the DAC. It installs its own drivers on Lion. I am wondering if I could get the real integer model on this device?


----------



## ABC9

I've noticed that Fidelia and Audirvana Pro both are using "iZotope 64-bit SRC" and "MBIT+" dithering. Any chance of getting those options/functions in BitPerfect?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





abc9 said:


> I've noticed that Fidelia and Audirvana Pro both are using "iZotope 64-bit SRC" and "MBIT+" dithering. Any chance of getting those options/functions in BitPerfect?


 


  This was mentioned on the computer audio forum.  Agentism said he's looking into it but might have to charge as an add-on if has high licensing fees.  
   
  I've been giving Audirvnana Plus a free trial run and in my setup, find the sound a noticeable improvement over BitPerfect.  Only issue is it's still a stand alone player so not as convenient so would be great to get that sound quality in BitPerfect even at an extra fee.
   
  I was also wanting to compare with the latest Amarra but ran into trouble registering the latest copy and just not sure it's even worth my time to have their support remote in to fix it. Even if it does work, still clunky and still doesn't easily do gapless. I'm sure sound quality is great but at what cost to convenience.


----------



## agentsim

Is this improvement over BitPerfect only noticeable when upsampling is enabled in both programs?


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Is this improvement over BitPerfect only noticeable when upsampling is enabled in both programs?


 


  Actually it's without upsampling in both.  In my setup, I find upsampling doesn't sound as solid and real.  Almost too airy.  But yeah, I was wondering if the improvement I'm hearing even has anything to do iZotope 64-bit SRC" and "MBIT+" dithering if I'm not upsampling.  So would this add-on to BitPerfect have any effect with upsampling off?
   
  But the difference I hear with Audirvana is a greater sense of space between the instruments while staying musical. BitPerfect has a more blended sound in comparison.  Still a great sound but get more a wow with Audirvana Plus.


----------



## agentsim

If you've disabled upsampling I'd imagine the iZotope 64-bit SRC cannot be improving quality. If you are using software volume control, the dithering algorithm could make a difference.


----------



## blankdisc

just tried Audirvnana Plus myself, and I agree with iamoneagain. Although the difference is quite small, BitPerfect does sound slightly compressed in comparison. No upsampling was enabled for both applications, and software volume was set to Max for both.
  
  Quote: 





iamoneagain said:


> This was mentioned on the computer audio forum.  Agentism said he's looking into it but might have to charge as an add-on if has high licensing fees.
> 
> I've been giving Audirvnana Plus a free trial run and in my setup, find the sound a noticeable improvement over BitPerfect.  Only issue is it's still a stand alone player so not as convenient so would be great to get that sound quality in BitPerfect even at an extra fee.
> 
> I was also wanting to compare with the latest Amarra but ran into trouble registering the latest copy and just not sure it's even worth my time to have their support remote in to fix it. Even if it does work, still clunky and still doesn't easily do gapless. I'm sure sound quality is great but at what cost to convenience.


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> If you've disabled upsampling I'd imagine the iZotope 64-bit SRC cannot be improving quality. If you are using software volume control, the dithering algorithm could make a difference.


 

 No, I wasn't using software volume either.  Well it's good to know that I won't need this add-on if you do implement it.  I'll have to see if I hear any difference between the free Audirvana and the Plus version if these improvements don't effect the sound with most settings off.  Between BitPerfect and the Plus version, I can see how BitPerfect can be thought of as smoother or a warmer sound.  I could be enjoying Audirvana more at the moment because it's new and just hearing slightly different things.  I can say without a doubt that your interface and integration is the best of the bunch.


----------



## iamoneagain

So I did a quick comparison between Audirvana, the new Audirvana Plus, and BitPerfect.  There is a clear difference between the two Audirvana's without using upsampling.  The free Audirvana is the worst with a flatter soundstage and more congested sound.  BitPerfect has a similar sound but seems to have a better soundstage placement with more depth.  Audirvana Plus has best soundstage with the best clarity.  I guess on some systems the little bit loss of warmth could be a problem.  So there had to be some change to Audirvana's basic sound engine with the Plus version.
   
  Listening to all them, I just don't like the flat sound of Audirvana.  I still very much enjoy BitPerfect but think I currently prefer the sound of Audirvana Plus in my system.  Need to test out with more tracks.


----------



## Yuhh

Hi all,
   
  New BitPerfect user here and just wanted to thank agentsim for making this wonderful app. It has definitely made a difference to my system.
   
  I've been using 0.30 onwards on my hifi rig (Mac Mini 2011 Lion -> Weiss DAC202).
   
  Since updating to 0.31, i've noticed a slightly worser sound, a bit of loss of definition and slam to bass notes particularly. I've A/Bed the two versions i have and can pick out it out everytime. Your release notes didn't really mention any significant changes so i'm not sure why it's happening.
   
  I've made sure the settings are the same - no upsampling, no integer mode (my dac doesn't support it anyway). I've checked "use maximum device buffer size" which does improve the sound on my dac. When i check the device information (whilst playing) in each version, it is identical.
   
  Any suggestions? The difference is small, but obviously i don't want newer versions having worse sound.
   
  As for other problems, i have occasional stuttering at the beginning and end of playlists but it's not a big deal to me.


----------



## agentsim

I'm not aware of any changes that would affect sound quality, but I'm learning that sound quality can change with seemingly unrelated changes.
  Version 0.32 should be through the App Store soon, I'd be interested to know your take on that update. Also, I'm working on a much improved version with a redesigned, 64-bit playback engine which should provide a decent boost in sound quality, but that is further away.


----------



## agentsim

New Version, 0.32 is available.
   
  Quite a few changes this time round, mostly useful improvements and bug fixes. Check out the blog for all the details.
   
  As always let me know if you run into any problems, especially if you were having trouble with 0.31 and the problems haven't been resolved.
   
  I'm hoping to devote more dev time to the new audio engine and other goodies which will be called 1.0. Bug fixes will continue to be 0.3x.
   
  Enjoy!


----------



## iamoneagain

Looks like my stuttering problem is gone.  I was able to sync my iPhone and also update apps and music played perfectly.  I did have one issue where BitPerfect seemed to stop and then noticed it crashed.  I'll keep my eye out for this again.
   
  I also tested again again Audirvana Plus and I think I'm back to preferring BitPerfect.  It feels a little richer and musical in the end.  Audrivana Plus provides a little more detail but lose a little bit of the warmth. And I just don't like have to have a separate player where I'm dragging tracks into it.


----------



## mrarroyo

I just upgraded to version 0.32, the stuttering issue appears to be gone! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 How do I select the playback rate? Thanks.


----------



## streetcore

I'm a new user and just installed BitPerfect today. I had a few problems with clicking and sometimes when moving to the next track iTunes would show it playing, but there would be no sound. Turning off "Use Maximum Device Buffer" and adjusting buffer size to 1024Mb (I've only got 2GB RAM on a 2006 Mac Mini) seems to have sorted that out for now, but it's still early stages.
   
  Maybe this has been discussed somewhere else, but what's the best way to do some comparisons between iTunes by itself and with BitPerfect? Is it enough to just click "Disable BitPerfect" or should I quit it completely and restart iTunes?
   
  Thanks.


----------



## Currawong

Just selecting "disable" should work.


----------



## streetcore

Quote: 





currawong said:


> Just selecting "disable" should work.


 

 Thanks, that seems to work, but during my testing I noticed a few other problems. According to the preferences my HRT Music Streamer II supports Integer Mode (also confirmed here), but when I select that option I get a lot of clicks and pops during playback. I have no other USB devices connected. I also got the problem of dead air when switching between tracks a few times. iTunes is playing, but BP says stopped.
   
  Another problem I noticed was a possible conflict with another app I was using called SoundSource. It's a handy little app that allows you to switch your audio input and output sources from an icon in the top menu bar and without having to open the Sound Preferences. I used it to switch from my headphone output connected to my TV and the USB DAC connected to my stereo, but it didn't seem to work when running BP and I had trouble getting the outputs to work properly. I've turned it off for now, but it would be nice if the two apps would work together.


----------



## streetcore

I've been doing some more testing today and SoundSource does seem to work okay with BitPerfect. BP seems to ignore the settings in Sound Preferences and uses the device set in it's own prefs. So itunes will play through the DAC, while Safari and Quicktime play through the headphones without making any changes. So maybe I don't even need SoundSource anymore.
   
  I also tried connecting my Music Streamer to a powered USB hub and now I'm not hearing any clicking when Integer Mode is set. I was trying to avoid using a hub, because HRT recommends not using one in their setup guides, but I've read on other forums that lots of people have problems with this DAC unless it is connected to a powered hub.
   
  I also invested in an expensive silver USB cable and I was worried that I might be defeating the purpose of using that by sending the audio signal through a cheap usb cable and a hub first, and then into the good cable. I don't know if it makes an audible difference, but I guess if it's more stable maybe that's the best way to run things.
   
  I'm going a bit crazy doing all these test, and I'm also a bit sleep deprived, so I don't trust my ears right now. Maybe it's a bit off topic, but If anybody has any opinions on whether the hub and an extra usb cable will degrade the sound and defeat the purpose of using an expensive cable to the DAC, please let me know your opinions.
   
  Thanks.


----------



## agentsim

@SoundSource: That sounds about right. BitPerfect takes control of whichever device you configure it to use in Preferences. No other application (not even Audio MIDI Setup) can take it away until BitPerfect relinquishes control. Maybe SoundSource should not present hogged devices in the drop-down, but that's up to them.
   
  @Clicking: Yes, I had forgotten about powered USB hubs helping with Integer Mode clicks, not entirely sure why it helps though.


----------



## streetcore

Sorry for all the posts, but it's me again. Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble with iTunes playing but BitPerfect saying it's stopped and not outputting anything. I was just listening to an album and the first two tracks played fine, but the third track played all the through in iTunes with no output. It's now on the the fourth track and still no output.
   
  I just clicked on the BP icon and the menu opened and it said "stopped" at the top, and when I clicked on the icon again it suddenly started playing. Is this a bug?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





streetcore said:


> Sorry for all the posts, but it's me again. Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble with iTunes playing but BitPerfect saying it's stopped and not outputting anything. I was just listening to an album and the first two tracks played fine, but the third track played all the through in iTunes with no output. It's now on the the fourth track and still no output.
> 
> I just clicked on the BP icon and the menu opened and it said "stopped" at the top, and when I clicked on the icon again it suddenly started playing. Is this a bug?


 

 Yes, that is most likely a bug. Can you send me the logs (via e-mail: bitperfectsound@gmail.com)? You can find them in the Console application located in Applications -> Utilities.


----------



## WarriorAnt

I updated my memory from 4GB to 8GB but I was still getting skipping after playing tracks for a while.  Then I saw in iStat that my available memory was alway slowly drifting downward.  So I installed the app "iCleanMemory" and now I have no more skipping problems.


----------



## starck86

.


----------



## iamoneagain

Just wanted to follow about the bug I had where it would play a spit second of the wrong track if I played music from Library: Music.  Turns out it was either a script or some plug-in, or both that was causing the problem.  Not sure which one was the culprit, because I deleted them all.   So looks like BitPerfect was perfect the whole time.


----------



## ddoyle777

Hi all,
   
  I've read the entire thread and I'm a bit confused on something.  If I use BitPerfect (and I did buy it from the app store) and have no up sampling, and do not output in maximum depth, what is the app doing to improve the sound quality?
   
  Also, I'm getting about a second delay between tracks playing in a gapless album - is this normal for BitPerfect?
   
  Thanks


----------



## iamoneagain

Quote: 





ddoyle777 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I've read the entire thread and I'm a bit confused on something.  If I use BitPerfect (and I did buy it from the app store) and have no up sampling, and do not output in maximum depth, what is the app doing to improve the sound quality?
> 
> ...


 

 I believe there is a slight improvement due to memory playback and hog mode.  Also there shouldn't be any gaps.   Removing scripts and plugins fixed this for me.  I'm sure the developer will probably chime in to get gapless working for you.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





ddoyle777 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I've read the entire thread and I'm a bit confused on something.  If I use BitPerfect (and I did buy it from the app store) and have no up sampling, and do not output in maximum depth, what is the app doing to improve the sound quality?
> 
> ...


 

 There are some other, less obvious things BitPerfect (and other players) optimize. If it was a simple as automatic sample rate switching, then there would be no difference between BitPerfect and iTunes (and I'd argue there is).
   
  As for the delay, can you send me the output of the Console log via PM or e-mail and I'll try and debug it.


----------



## HeadZound

Does BitPerfect actually improve sound quality, or is it's percieved effect just subjective delusion?
   
  I did a _blind_ A/B test (I don't know which source A or B is when listening) with the following set up:
  A/B switch between:
      MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo (late 2007) - OS X 10.7.2 - headphone out
      iPhone 4S
  with:
      Volume balanced to pink noise - with SPL meter app
      Sennheiser HD 558
      Playing the same songs in exact sync (e.g. a complicated mix like Jen Trynin, Getaway) 
   
  There was zero perceptible difference between the iPhone 4S and MPB running BitPerfect  (I have pretty good ears and istening skills).  And - by the way - no perceptible difference between MPB and iPhone outputs.
   
  I tried the same setup running the MBP through Total Bithead DAC; while the DAC sounds very slightly different than the headphone out, again no difference with or without BitPerfect running (as compared to the iPhone 4s output).
   
  Could BitPerfect make a perceptible improvement in a different setup?  Perhaps.  But my guess is that what most people are hearing as sound improvement is just the placebo effect.


----------



## uelover

Quote: 





headzound said:


> Could BitPerfect make a perceptible improvement in a different setup?  Perhaps.  But my guess is that what most people are hearing as sound improvement is just the placebo effect.


 


  Might be your headphone. Not sure about that. But I will agree that the difference brought about by BitPerfect is not that big.
   
  I know I can't hear a different between iPod+CLAS+Stepdance VS iPod HPA when I am using the iPod earbud.


----------



## Koolpep

Hi!
   
  Am I the only person who has the repeating issue (on every 10th song or so) that Bitperfect plays a few seconds and then starts again from a few seconds before?
   
  I only have this since updating to the new 10.5.1 version of iTunes on a 64 bit Intel Mac....
   
  Please help, thanks,


----------



## agentsim

I've had a couple of reports of this issue (playing a few seconds, or repeating bits of a track). I don't think it is specific to iTunes 10.5.1, but I will look into that.


----------



## Koolpep

cool thanks!
   
  The only thing that changed is my iTunes, hardware and tracks are the same. At home with my icon HDP via optical and usb I have problems too, weird.


----------



## bafonso

I could hear a clear difference using headphones with the headphone out using iTunes. Using a 256kbps jazz album in iTunes. Stereo separation was better and a general perceived space between instruments. 
   
  These differences become more clear if you use a higher end async USB DAC or firewire. 
   
  I'm amazed you found no differences by the  headphones and the iphone dacs but maybe they are that close. My android phone is terrible but my iPad is better, though. 
   
  Software authors tend to be secretive about what they do which I don't like. In theory, these players have a very simple task but as in anything audiophile related, voodoo is the course du jour...
   
  For $5 I bit the bullet and tried it. It does improve the sound for me, otherwise I would be complaining 
   
  b
   
  Quote: 





headzound said:


> Does BitPerfect actually improve sound quality, or is it's percieved effect just subjective delusion?
> 
> I did a _blind_ A/B test (I don't know which source A or B is when listening) with the following set up:
> A/B switch between:
> ...


----------



## Mikae

Hey there,
   
  I'm sorry I didn't read all the posts that came beforehand, and I am interested in BitPerfect, but I have some questions first.
   
  First of all: I discovered BitPerfect by searching for an alternative for Audirvana Plus, with it being too expensive in my opinion.
  I am using the trial version of Audirvana Plus and like the following points about it:
   
  - iTunes integration (very important)
  - Hog-Mode
  - Upsampling
   
  In comparison to the Plus version, the freeware Audirvana is slower, not as comfortable and customizable.
   
  Now the big "BUT": One of the review on the (German) App Store states that it alters the frequency response by exaggerating the highs, broadening the stereophonic sound and lowering the fundamental frequencies, making it more of an enhancer-plugin than an audiophile, "bit perfect" player. The author also stated that you didn't respond to his questions / concern.
   
  Since I cannot try the app before buying I wanted to ask you, as the developer, what there is to the review in the App Store?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





> Now the big "BUT": One of the review on the (German) App Store states that it alters the frequency response by exaggerating the highs, broadening the stereophonic sound and lowering the fundamental frequencies, making it more of an enhancer-plugin than an audiophile, "bit perfect" player. The author also stated that you didn't respond to his questions / concern.
> 
> Since I cannot try the app before buying I wanted to ask you, as the developer, what there is to the review in the App Store?


 

 BitPerfect most certainly does not do equalizer effects. If you keep volume in iTunes at 100% and disable upsampling Bitperfect is bit perfect.
  As for whether I responded to his questions, it is possible I missed an e-mail. I do try to respond to all of them ASAP, and keep an eye on various forums, but inevitably some comments will get past me. I'd like to think that in general I catch the vast majority of questions and answer them pretty promptly.


----------



## Mikae

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> BitPerfect most certainly does not do equalizer effects. If you keep volume in iTunes at 100% and disable upsampling Bitperfect is bit perfect.
> As for whether I responded to his questions, it is possible I missed an e-mail. I do try to respond to all of them ASAP, and keep an eye on various forums, but inevitably some comments will get past me. I'd like to think that in general I catch the vast majority of questions and answer them pretty promptly.


 

 Thank you for the quick reply. I did not mean to offend you, I just recited what the author in the review said since I couldn't check it out myself. I think you got yourself one more customer


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mikae said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

 No offense taken, thanks for the purchase 
  Let me know what you think or if you run into any trouble.


----------



## Mikae

Hey there, regarding your last comment and after a few days of testing:
   
  I like your app a lot, though it has its flaws. I prefer the sleek statusbar icon over Audirvana's dock icon. BitPerfect crashes sometimes and takes iTunes with it, especially when switching between e.g. Audirvana and BitPerfect, though it's not too bad. The "sound check" in BitPerfect is much louder than the one in iTunes. I don't really use it, but I would like to know why. I also have the random 3-seconds-play-then-song-starts-anew-glitch, but it's rare. What bothers me the most is that I cannot use upsampling to 96 kHz. Everytime I force the app to use 96 kHz the music playing begins to stutter. Upsampling to 96 kHz works perfectly fine with Audirvana and Audirvana Plus, with no stuttering at all. I have plenty of RAM (4 GB) and also enough CPU-time so it shouldn't be much of a problem.


----------



## mrarroyo

Is there a version 0.33 in the works? If so what will it include? Thanks.


----------



## agentsim

There is a version 1.0 in the works.
   
  So far, I'm hoping to include:
   

 New, 64-bit audio engine
 SoX sample rate conversion
 Optimized CoreAudio sample rate conversion
 Dithering (not sure which algorithms I'll be using yet)
 Optimizations for "complex" DACs
 Audio Unit support (might come in an update rather than 1.0)
   
  I'm also investigating improvements to iTunes integration to work around certain bugs and potentially minimize iTunes activity (which should increase sound quality.) There are some other  ideas for sound quality improvements I have in mind, but I need to test those ideas first, as yet I do not know if they will yield any improvement.
   
  I'm hoping to get a version out, at least a beta, before the new year. Sorry for the delays!


----------



## mrarroyo

Glad to hear of the upcoming changes, and hope they are available real soon.


----------



## DarknightDK

Sounds great! Having just bought Bit Perfect last week, it's already a big step up in terms of SQ compared to iTunes. Can't wait for the updates for Bit Perfect. Could do with additional features and an improved interface. With regards to SQ, Bit Perfect is on the right track.


----------



## Chrono251

I'm pretty new to the world of hifi and my "system" is currently composed by CA DacMagic Plus and Sennheiser HD-650.
   
   
  On my MacBook Pro I have also a Windows partition and I normally use Foobar to play music. I was looking for something similar for Mac when I found this topic.
  I read many posts in it and I downloaded one of the "betas" of BetterSound. Well, I didn't expect to hear such a difference! This program is truly a-w-e-s-o-m-e. And considering I was using a relatively old version of it I can't immagine how the program is now.
  I will very likely get BitPerfect as soon as v1.0 is ready.
   
  Keep up the good work!!!


----------



## agentsim

Glad you like it, version 1.0 is nearing completion (finally!)


----------



## dL.

Will there be a fix in the future where when you listen to iTunes and you want to play other audio or video files, the external sound won't be played via the built in speakers?
   
  Otherwise, I love your app!
   
  dL


----------



## shrisha

From where can I get a copy to try BitPerfect? GoogleDocs gives me this: - Sorry, we are unable to retrieve the document for viewing or you don't have permission to view the document.
  Thank you.


----------



## uelover

shrisha said:


> From where can I get a copy to try BitPerfect? GoogleDocs gives me this: - Sorry, we are unable to retrieve the document for viewing or you don't have permission to view the document.
> Thank you.




Currently they're only available through Apple apps store. I'm not sure if there's a trial copy there but its worth taking a look!


----------



## agentsim

uelover is correct, there is no trial and it is only available through the App Store. That said, Apple do allow you to "return" it for a refund if you don't like it.


----------



## TruBrew

Do you have an estimated timeframe for the release of 1.0?


----------



## agentsim

It is "In Review" chez Apple, hopefully not too much longer...


----------



## agentsim

The latest version of BitPerfect, 1.0 has been released.

 This version includes a bunch of new features and improvements, you can read about them on the blog.

 There is also a manual that explains the new features.

 Enjoy!


----------



## TruBrew

Yay, thanks.


----------



## PolkManiac

I just updated to 1.0 via the App Store.


----------



## uelover

Quote: 





polkmaniac said:


> I just updated to 1.0 via the App Store.


 

 Any difference in SQ?


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I just installed the new 1.0 update; all is running perfectly so far.  The new version preserved all of my settings from the previous version, which was nice.  I went through the new manual, and made some changes, setting BitPerfect to all the recommended settings.  
   
  I've not had any problems with any previous versions, probably due to the fact that I use a Mac Mini dedicated only for iTunes music playback, and it has 8GB of RAM.  I've never had any of the often mentioned track stuttering or skipping, or any glitches at all.  
   
  I use the Wyred4Sound DAC-2, which doesn't support integer mode, so I have that disabled; I plan on experimenting with the I/O Procedure Duration and Thread Priority sliders a bit; I've already tried moving them one notch to the left each.  I'm not sure I notice an improvement, but maybe . . . As the manual states, this might take some experimentation with a lot of different tracks.
   
  I also like the option for minimizing iTunes interaction; it stops iTunes from actually playing the track silently along with BitPerfect.  This, according to the manual, should minimize HD and CPU activity even more.  
   
  The manual is very well written, and covers all of the new features well.  I'm impressed with this new version so far.  It looks like new purchasers of BitPerfect will have to lay out the grand sum of $10.00 for all of this (a huge bargain, I think) but updating from earlier versions is free.  
   
  The only other player I've used is Pure Music, and BitPerfect easily matches it in sound quality, and improves greatly on Pure Music's awkward interface by having only its dismissible preference panes.  
   
  I'm listening to Steely Dan's "The Last Mall" from "Everything Must Go" right now--the difference in sound when toggling BitPerfect on and off is very evident with this track.
   
  My wish list now would be to add some kind of plug-in capability for version 1.??? . . .


----------



## agentsim

I'm glad you're liking the new version 
   
  A little correction, the new pricing, $10, takes effect on April 1st.
   
  Once I've decided what features to work on for the next version I'll post a roadmap. I'm hoping to release updates more regularly now.


----------



## mrarroyo

I just did the update but have had no time to "play" nor set it up as per the manual. More to come, thanks.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Where can I find the manual?  I've just updated to 1.0


----------



## agentsim

The manual is on the blog, here's the link.


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> The manual is on the blog, here's the link.


 


  Thanks.  I subscribed to the RSS also.


----------



## Downrange

Thanks, just downloaded the 1.0 and liking what I'm hearing - will continue to evaluate, but it sounds good.


----------



## Chrono251

Great! I'm happy that the new version is out!
   
  I bought it but I'm having issues with my internet connection.
  I had to stop the download (it wasn't working anyway) and now the app in the App Store appears to be installed even if it isn't.
  I hope I'll solve the problem asap!


----------



## Chrono251

First a consideration: I can't stand Mac App Store.
  The download was indicating "0 bytes completed" and then suddenly it changed status to "installed".
  BitPerfect is not in my App folder, it shows "installed" in the App Store and it won't let me re-download it.
  I pressed the X next to the "Installed" button in "my purchases" and then the App appeared to be hidden in my Cloud.
  I pushed "unhide" and I tried to reinstall it again. Same stuff: 0 bytes completed, then suddenly "installed" with no application in the App folder and now it also shows that I have to buy it again in the BitPerfect page! (but they kept the 4.99$).
  What do I have to do?!?


----------



## Chrono251

Cool, I solved it! I manually modified a .plist file in the AppStore folder and selected the flag "fail" for BitPerfect, so the next time I opened the AppStore the download restarted automatically. It took just 30 min for a 2.7MB program... not bad (there's a problem over the cell network).
   
  Program works and it I could also activate "integer mod"e with the DAC Magic Pro (very unstable with the old version of BetterSound I was trying).
  I experienced a couple of "stalls" (I don't know how to define them): the song suddenly stopped playing even if the time was running in iTunes. To have the sound back I had to manually stop and restart the song.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





chrono251 said:


> Program works and it I could also activate "integer mod"e with the DAC Magic Pro (very unstable with the old version of BetterSound I was trying).
> I experienced a couple of "stalls" (I don't know how to define them): the song suddenly stopped playing even if the time was running in iTunes. To have the sound back I had to manually stop and restart the song.


 


 Hi Chrono,
   
  If you can send me the Console log (via e-mail) when this stalling happens, I'll look into it.


----------



## Mikae

I also updated to the new 1.0 version and like it so far. I noticed an improvement in the sound check over the last version, now it is the same volume as the original iTunes setting. One major letdown is the fact that once in a few songs instead of playing the song there is just some really loud scratching noise. If I disable sound check the song plays as it is supposed to play.
If it was fixed it would be awesome


----------



## mrarroyo

I notice that at the end of the songs as it stops it plays a section of a song played previously (two places behind the one that is ending) and then the next one starts. Weird, wonder why? perhaps the console log file would provide a hint.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mrarroyo said:


> I notice that at the end of the songs as it stops it plays a section of a song played previously (two places behind the one that is ending) and then the next one starts. Weird, wonder why? perhaps the console log file would provide a hint.


 

 This is pretty much always caused by iTunes "lying" to BitPerfect about the order of the playlist it is playing. If you look in the Console log, you'll see BitPerfect play, for example, "Track 5", then queue "Track 3", when obviously it should be queuing "Track 6". Then, at the end of "Track 5" you'll hear a little of "Track 3" before BitPerfect realizes iTunes' lie and starts on "Track 6".
   
  There are some potential workarounds for this, check out the "fixedindexing" section of the manual.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mikae said:


> I also updated to the new 1.0 version and like it so far. I noticed an improvement in the sound check over the last version, now it is the same volume as the original iTunes setting. One major letdown is the fact that once in a few songs instead of playing the song there is just some really loud scratching noise. If I disable sound check the song plays as it is supposed to play.
> If it was fixed it would be awesome


 

 Would it be possible for you to send me one of the affected songs via e-mail?


----------



## dogwan

Happy new customer here. Great app, just what I was looking for.
   
  So far so good except having trouble with using my Flac files (w/ Fluke), but have not had too much time to really sort it out. May find alternative to using Fluke or just keep using Audirvana for my limited Flac library. However for my main library which is all Itunes compatible compressed high bit-rate files I am enjoying the bump in sound quality.
   
  One question.... how many users are using BitPerfect on the go with just the onboard sound card and what improvements if any are there? I think I can hear a difference (definitely hear a dif. at home w/ better quality gear.) just plugged into the headphone out of my MBP. My only concern is when I'm in homework mode at the library or traveling and multi-tasking that I'm using unnecessary resources. Well, not really a concern but more just curiosity what the developer and other users think.
   
  Thanks,
  Dogwan


----------



## mrarroyo

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> This is pretty much always caused by iTunes "lying" to BitPerfect about the order of the playlist it is playing. If you look in the Console log, you'll see BitPerfect play, for example, "Track 5", then queue "Track 3", when obviously it should be queuing "Track 6". Then, at the end of "Track 5" you'll hear a little of "Track 3" before BitPerfect realizes iTunes' lie and starts on "Track 6".
> 
> There are some potential workarounds for this, check out the "fixedindexing" section of the manual.


 


  Is the section?
   
*iTunes Response Speed*



> Controls how often BitPerfect checks iTunes' status.  This determines how quickly or slowly BitPerfect responds to changes like pausing a track or dragging the volume control slider. Faster response speed increases CPU use, and may have an adverse affect on sound quality.
> 
> This option is disabled when "Minimize iTunes Interaction" is enabled.
> 
> ...


----------



## agentsim

Nope, that refers to a different problem, if you hear music repeating the same part in a loop. "Fixedindexing" is near the bottom of the manual.


----------



## jtinto

Thanks for your BitPerfect agentism
   
  I didn't have any issues with the betas that I couldn't work out.
   
  There's a couple of new glitches with v1. I have some stutters from up sampling and some looping from iTunes interaction.
   
  I'm sure they're specific to my combination of new Mac Mini, Lion, Arcam rDAC, USB. I'll try to sort them out one setting at a time


----------



## mrarroyo

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Nope, that refers to a different problem, if you hear music repeating the same part in a loop. "Fixedindexing" is near the bottom of the manual.


 

 Found it, but it appears I would have to add it to all my library. Look forward to receiving the information on the undocumented option! Thanks.


----------



## agentsim

A bug fix release, 1.0.1, has been released. It addresses two issues:
   
  - Fix a problem with BitPerfect choosing the wrong bit depth or sample rate with certain DACs.
 - Fix a problem with bit depth limiting on certain DACs.


----------



## jtinto

I managed to sort out my issues with 1.0 by turning off '2x up-sampling to maximum'
  Just did the 1.01 update. Will test further...


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I'm not able to download the 1.01 update.  (Not a big deal, 1.0 is working fine; just thought I'd like to keep up with the latest version).  
   
  When I go to the App Store, it shows all my apps updated; when that's happened in the past, I've been able to download the update to another mac on my network, and then install/update it on the correct mac.  
   
  But now it just says "installed" on the mac it's on, and gives me the option to purchase it again on any other mac.  No update is shown to be available.
   
  Any workarounds for this?  As I said, it's not critical.


----------



## agentsim

Unfortunately that is out of my control. In general, making a backup then deleting the app often helps. Also try logging out and back into the Mac App Store.


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Move the app out of your Applications folder, restart the App Store. See what happens.


----------



## mink70

Tim--
   
  Version 1.0.1. fixed the inability to play 24 bits on my MacBook Pro. Now, however, I can't get iTunes to output 16 bits. Regardless of how I set the preferences, Bitperfect says 24/41.1. The sound, however, is magnificent. In head to head comparisons, Bitperect totally outshines Amarra 2.2, especially in vividness and tonal color. Congrats and thanks.
   
  --Alex


----------



## agentsim

At the moment, BitPerfect will pad the bit depth, the idea being that any DSP effects may benefit from the extra bits. I'm thinking about how to add a "strictly bit perfect" option in a future version that would disable this behaviour.


----------



## darcyb62

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> At the moment, BitPerfect will pad the bit depth, the idea being that any DSP effects may benefit from the extra bits. I'm thinking about how to add a "strictly bit perfect" option in a future version that would disable this behaviour.


 
   
  I see you mention DSP effects.  Any plans to add VST/AU support?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





darcyb62 said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

 Yep, I'm also looking at crossfeed algorithms. I'm hoping to do AU support for the next major version, I'm not sure about VST.


----------



## darcyb62

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Yep, I'm also looking at crossfeed algorithms. I'm hoping to do AU support for the next major version, I'm not sure about VST.


 

 Awesome.  AU support would really be all I need but I know others would like VST support.  Crossfeed sounds interesting as well.
   
  By the way, I was quite impressed with the overall improvement with v1.


----------



## silvine67

Just bought this app to use with an Audioengine DAC on my Mac. Is there a way I can control the volume level of songs playing using the media keys on my Mac keyboard?
   
  Currently I have to use the volume control know on my Audioengine Dac.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





silvine67 said:


> Just bought this app to use with an Audioengine DAC on my Mac. Is there a way I can control the volume level of songs playing using the media keys on my Mac keyboard?
> 
> Currently I have to use the volume control know on my Audioengine Dac.


 

 If the volume slider in BitPerfect's menu is disabled then the control keys won't work, that's because some DACs do not present a hardware control to the software.


----------



## mink70

Tim--
   
  I, too, have a Audioengine D1 DAC, and while it does fine with Integer Mode, it doesn't seem to allow Bitperfect to output 24 bits. High-rez tracks read 16/96 instead of 24/96. When the DAC isn't connected, Bitperfect pads everything to 24 bits, even ordinary redbook files.
   
  Can you help?
   
  Thanks,
  Alex


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mink70 said:


> Tim--
> 
> I, too, have a Audioengine D1 DAC, and while it does fine with Integer Mode, it doesn't seem to allow Bitperfect to output 24 bits. High-rez tracks read 16/96 instead of 24/96. When the DAC isn't connected, Bitperfect pads everything to 24 bits, even ordinary redbook files.
> 
> ...


 

 Alex, e-mail me the output of Device Information while it is playing in Integer Mode, from there I'll know if this is a bug or not.


----------



## meltdown117

I haven't read all the posts, so please do understand.
  I was wondering how BitPerfect compares to Audirvana Plus.


----------



## dvzzz

Folks, not sure if that helps but I have been doing a lot of testing with BP 1.01 and I must say, great piece of code. I think I nailed the problem with jumps but I need more validation from other folks. Jumps at the begining of the songs for 1 sec or so only happens with files that XLD touched, not sure if it has something to do with gap/pre-gap marks but every song that XLD touched (ripped or converted) do jump on the first second when track changes but anything that was ripped with Max 0.9.2 does not exhibit that both with buffer options on and off. I might be completly wrong but this is a bit of observation with 20 or so albums. Interestingly, song jumps with ALAC and AIFF that XLD produces, same files but from Max are just perfect. They may not be as accurately converted as with XLD (I cannot hear it though) but at least they do not jump. BTW, those XLD-produced files play fine without BP just in iTunes. Let me know.


----------



## WarriorAnt

I've been using BP 1.01 since the update, all my files are ALAC and AIFF using XLD and I have not had any jumping or stuttering.  I play about 6 hours worth of files a day.


----------



## jtinto

My setup is working very nicely now.
  Mac Mini -> Arcam rDac
  My problems seemed to be related to my choosing to up-sample 44kHz redbook files.
  I'm just letting everything play natively, no up sampling, at 24bit fixed.
  Happy Camper again
  Cheers


----------



## agentsim

A new version, 1.0.2 has been released. It makes changes the automatic bit depth selection to match the source material when appropriate as well as fixing a couple of bugs.

 - Fix BitPerfect not handing control to iTunes for unsupported media (eg: radio)
 - Correctly interpret Sound Check info from other sources (iVolume for instance)
 - Do not play unselected files in playlists


----------



## Mikae

Thanks for the update, will check it out and give feedback 
   
  I really appreciate your hard work and continuous support, keep the good work up!


----------



## Roland Schulz

Hi there,
  yesterday I bought BitPerfect and I like it VERY much!! Very great code!! I used PureMusic to date but didn´t like the behaviour to AppleRemote/iPad2 and some other things.
   
  I´m using a MC816/Lion MacMini connected to a modified ASUS Essence One DAC connected via Transparent MusicLink Super XLR Cable to an Accuphase E308. The XLR connection is the problem since the phase is inverted in my chain (ASUS vs. Accuphase). One way would be to resolder the cable, but I don´t like to resolder a 1500$ cable where Transparent has imposed their hands on .
   
  PureMusic had an option to invert the phase, I learned that BitPerfect can do the same when the sound files are tagged with "invertpolarity" in the comments field. Now really inverted tracks had to be tagged as noninverted.
   
  Would be nice to get an option button to generally invert the phase in the Preferences/General tab to manually invert the output for the used chain/output device, not only for the tracks with the tag.
  Since BitPerfect has the capability to invert the phase by the tag from the file this should be easy to implement. Just invert the programs internal flag with the option button, so even inverted tagged files are inverted "twice" as they should.
   
  I know that many chains have the problem with inverted phase using XLR since some vendors choose this pinout, others the other.
   
  Regardless of that, great piece of software!!
  Roland.


----------



## agentsim

Thanks for the feature request Roland, I'll add it to my TODO list.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I'm enjoying the latest version; works well, stays out of the way of the iTunes interface, and sounds great.
   
  One question; if I change BitPerfect's preferences (particularly the 'Minimize iTunes Interaction' checkbox) while a track is playing, does the change take effect immediately, or would it take effect after quitting and relaunching?
   
  The reason I ask is, I don't really hear a difference when toggling this feature on and off, but with it on, I get some lag when using Apple's Remote on my iPad 2.  (I know it's mentioned in the manual that this can happen; the time counter won't keep up, etc.)  
   
  If I have the box unchecked, though, while I'm listening I can check the box on the fly, and the remote app will work fine; I'm just wondering if I'm actually effecting a change right then, or on the next relaunch.
   
  Thanks for the time you've put into this; no need to spend big $$$ for a Mac music player!


----------



## Mikae

Thanks for fixing the Volume Check bug, now it's working like a charm!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> I'm enjoying the latest version; works well, stays out of the way of the iTunes interface, and sounds great.
> 
> One question; if I change BitPerfect's preferences (particularly the 'Minimize iTunes Interaction' checkbox) while a track is playing, does the change take effect immediately, or would it take effect after quitting and relaunching?
> 
> ...


 

 Glad you're liking it. I do need to improve the manual and BitPerfect's behaviour with respect to changing options and when they take effect. In this case, the option is not on the fly, you'd need to disable then enable BitPerfect, or quit and start it again.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mikae said:


> Thanks for fixing the Volume Check bug, now it's working like a charm!


 

 No problem, thanks for the test file!


----------



## Chrono251

Hi! I'm currently using Core Audio, no upsampling via software (I let my DAC do it) and no dithering, and I haven't had the problem I was indicating in a previous post about sound "stalling". When I had the problem, I was using Core Audio with 2x upsampling. With SoX upsamplig I couldn't replicate the problem.
  In any case BitPerfect now works like a charm!


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

i'm thinking about upgrading my Mac Mini to Lion (I'm now running 10.6.8).  
   
  I'm using BitPerfect, with USB out to a Wyred4Sound DAC-2.  Everything is working great.  I had read here, or somewhere on Head-Fi that integer mode was not working with Lion, but the W4S DAC-2 doesn't support that, anyway.
   
  Are there any benefits, or downsides, to upgrading to Lion, as far as iTunes/BitPerfect music playback goes?  As I said, everything is working fine now, so it's not a big deal, but I'm just wondering if there would be any surprises if I switched over to Lion.  
   
  One thing I did read somewhere is that using the Apple Remote app (I control my Mini from an iPad) is a bit more responsive with Lion and the latest IOS 5.1 update.  When enabling the checkbox in BitPerfect to minimize iTunes interaction, there is a lag when using the Remote app; also, the time counter doesn't update smoothly.  I thought maybe there'd be an improvement in that area with Lion and the IOS 5.1 update.
   
  Has anyone done this with positive or negative results to report?


----------



## agentsim

The track position will not update in Lion either when minimize mode is enabled over Remote. This is due to the way BitPerfect wrangles iTunes, so I doubt it will work in Remote in the near future.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Thanks for the info; but other than that, no problems with Lion and BitPerfect?


----------



## jtinto

I'm happily running BitPerfect 1.0.2 with Lion 10.7.3
   
  neither iOS5.1 nor iTunes 10.6 broke anything afaik


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Thanks for the info; but other than that, no problems with Lion and BitPerfect?


 


  I updated to Lion.  I was using Fluke for MAc to play my Flac files but as of now Fluke does not work in Lion.


----------



## cloudkucooland

Purchased BitPerfect yesterday. Was trying to A/B it with two DACs and it triggered a kernel panic after flipping back and forth a few times. This is probably a coreaudio bug, but I'll try to replicate tomorrow. Other than this, it seems to be a good product. Sounds as good as Audirvana free, for sure.

Glad to see the SoX SRC and am anxiously awaiting the AU support.

A quick tutorial on how to use the NetSend AU should take care of those who are complaining about the lack of AirPlay support.

Any chance of adding SoX's "earwax" psy-accoustic transform as an option? I'm new to "head-fi" but I use it sometimes when transcoding stuff for the iPod, may be interesting to try with headphones at my desk.


----------



## warwulf7

I just bought BitPerfect and and I believe that although not related to sound quality, maybe you should consider support FLAC as an improvement as well as support for movie players like Movist, MplayerX or MplayerX OSX Extented in the future. Thanks for a great piece of software. 
   
   
Being in this forum starts to have a negative effect on my wallet, recently bought the ZO2, I want to say that I am the first in Mexico to have one, yesterday I just update my XB500 for a 700proMk2 I hope I get to Later this month, and now BitPerfect [size=x-small][/size]


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





warwulf7 said:


> I just bought BitPerfect and and I believe that although not related to sound quality, maybe you should consider support FLAC as an improvement as well as support for movie players like Movist, MplayerX or MplayerX OSX Extented in the future. Thanks for a great piece of software.
> 
> 
> Being in this forum starts to have a negative effect on my wallet, recently bought the ZO2, I want to say that I am the first in Mexico to have one, yesterday I just update my XB500 for a 700proMk2 I hope I get to Later this month, and now BitPerfect [size=x-small][/size]


 

 BitPerfect does support FLAC, but you'll need to use Fluke (or a similar program, if you can find one) to import the FLAC files into iTunes. As for your wallet, at least BitPerfect is a minimal impact


----------



## warwulf7

Quote:


agentsim said:


> BitPerfect does support FLAC, but you'll need to use Fluke (or a similar program, if you can find one) to import the FLAC files into iTunes. As for your wallet, at least BitPerfect is a minimal impact


 

  
   
  You're right  It's a steal at that price! 
   
  I'm using Fluke to import FLAC files but this has no support for CUE + large FLAC files (complete albums).
   
  I've been using Vox, for me the best audio player for Mac, it has the best support for CUE + FLAC files, but I think the sound from BitPerfect is a big improvement over Vox's own audio engine, BitPerfect sounds more clear, more refined with more soundstage...  

 I do not know if you plan on giving support to other players but maybe Vox could be a good choice for his CUE + FLAC files support... That would be great!
   
  ... Or maybe you could make your application modular. You can create support for FLAC+ CUE files and sell it as an add-on for BitPerfect. I would buy it without hesitation! 
   
  Thanks again, BitPerfect is a great improvement to my music with a minimal impact to my wallet!


----------



## WarriorAnt

Bitperfect article with a photo of Tim!
   
  http://www.audiostream.com/content/bitperfect


----------



## yklee118

On certain Macbook Pro especially the 2011 version, I use the iBasso D7 Sidewinder DAC/Amp, when switching between 24/192 to 24/96 and back again.  Two things happen, a Kernel Panic regardless of buffer size and the second is track skipping as though the audio source is on a disc format and the laser can't seem to track properly.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





yklee118 said:


> On certain Macbook Pro especially the 2011 version, I use the iBasso D7 Sidewinder DAC/Amp, when switching between 24/192 to 24/96 and back again.  Two things happen, a Kernel Panic regardless of buffer size and the second is track skipping as though the audio source is on a disc format and the laser can't seem to track properly.


 

 I've had a couple of iBasso D7 bug reports. If you haven't already, get in touch with me via e-mail (support@bitperfectsound.com) and we can try to work through those problems.


----------



## palchiu

Hi Agentsim,
   
  A short question about BitPerfect.
   
  I'm listening radio via iTunes@Win7 most time, but I can't find any program or add-on can enhanced sound quality for radio streaming on Windows system.
   
  So, my question is your BitPerfect will do this? (Enhance the radio streaming sound quality for iTunes)
   
  If that's possible, I would like to purchase a mac and BitPerfect as sound source.
   
   
  Thank you!
   
   
  Best,
   
  Pal


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





palchiu said:


> Hi Agentsim,
> 
> A short question about BitPerfect.
> 
> ...


 
  BitPerfect won't play radio streams, it will hand control back to iTunes in those cases.


----------



## mrarroyo

This is peculiar, the iTunes Application Store confirms I have version 1.0.2 installed but I can not see the icon on the bar of the iMac and I would like to use it. How do I find Bitperfect on the iMac?


----------



## WarriorAnt

Quote: 





mrarroyo said:


> This is peculiar, the iTunes Application Store confirms I have version 1.0.2 installed but I can not see the icon on the bar of the iMac and I would like to use it. How do I find Bitperfect on the iMac?


 


  It should be in the applications folder.   Is it in your dock?


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Search: BitPerfect in Spotlight. That should bring it up, if nothing else. Oddly, at this point, I almost never use the dock or apps folder to launch anything. It's just so much easier to press CMD+space, type, press enter.


----------



## Ainnir

Just bought BitPerfect today, so far I'm noticing a slight improvement in my setup.. but I'm still tweaking my settings. I noticed that as soon as I enable upsampling, I get no more sound. Any idea what that could be?


----------



## sfogar

Hi,
   
  probably your Dac does not recognize the new sample rate, try to lower it.
   
  AF
  
  Quote: 





ainnir said:


> Just bought BitPerfect today, so far I'm noticing a slight improvement in my setup.. but I'm still tweaking my settings. I noticed that as soon as I enable upsampling, I get no more sound. Any idea what that could be?


----------



## obzilla

Quote: 





sfogar said:


> Hi,
> 
> probably your Dac does not recognize the new sample rate, try to lower it.
> 
> AF


 


  Precisely. What DAC is being used?


----------



## Jottle

Quote: 





mink70 said:


> Tim--
> 
> I, too, have a Audioengine D1 DAC, and while it does fine with Integer Mode, it doesn't seem to allow Bitperfect to output 24 bits. High-rez tracks read 16/96 instead of 24/96. When the DAC isn't connected, Bitperfect pads everything to 24 bits, even ordinary redbook files.
> 
> ...


 
   
  Was this issue ever resolved? Was it a bug?


----------



## agentsim

Yes, this should be fixed in the current App Store version, 1.0.2.


----------



## fenderf4i

I just purchased BitPerfect after trying many other players. I liked that there is good documentation on the BitPerfect website, and the app seems to be updated frequently. I will post what I think when I've had a chance to play around with it!
   
  agentsim, are you Canadian out of curiosity?


----------



## agentsim

Yep, based in Montreal.


----------



## Kayk

Got this on the app store a few weeks ago and I love it! Money well spent, thanks!
   
  Although I just noticed this, when I have my DAC connected through USB, BitPerfect doesn't like to output sound to the USB, but rather just plays through the macbook speakers. When I turn BitPerfect off my computer's sound outputs to my DAC again. This isn't a huge deal at the moment because my DAC takes optical and coax inputs that don't have this problem, but I do plan on getting a USB DAC soon (HRT MSII) and want to make sure it will work for the new DAC.


----------



## fenderf4i

You have the USB DAC selected in BitPerfect settings?


----------



## Kayk

Oh hah, silly me. Like I said it was a thing I just noticed and didn't really spend time troubleshooting, now I feel a little embarrassed..
   
  Once again, thanks for making this app and thanks for being available to answer my dumb question.


----------



## heathdwatts

I've noticed that if I try to rewind a song in iTunes while I'm using BitPerfect that the track will not rewind to the beginning, but only goes back to the 3 or 4 second mark. This doesn't happen when I use iTunes only. How can I fix this problem? Thanks!


----------



## agentsim

BitPerfect 1.0.3 has been released to the App Store. This version includes new features for volume adjustment and managing of the iTunes comments.
   

 Add volume adjustment iTunes comment  (see Manual for details).
 Respect iTunes track start/stop times.
 Allow device volume adjustments when not playing.
 Add option to globally apply'fixedindexing' comment.
 Add option to globally apply 'invertpolarity' comment.
 Disable playback of CDs in BitPerfect.
 Fix clicking noises during Integer Mode playback for certain DACs.


----------



## lextek

Some more nice updates!


----------



## fenderf4i

Would it be possible to get an option in BitPerfect to lock the volume at 0.0 dB? I use the keyboard volume control to change the iMac's built-in speaker audio volume, but it also changes BitPerfect's volume output which I would rather have stay at 0.0 dB since I'm using an external amp for volume control. I always have to check BitPerfect's volume before playing some music and it would be great to know it's locked at full volume.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I've had all of the versions of BitPerfect, and never had any of the problems mentioned by some in this forum until now.  The latest version, 1.03, is behaving oddly.  It seems like tracks are cutting off 3 or 4 seconds from the end.  Sometimes this just means no silence between tracks, or if there is a fadeout, it ends early and abruptly.  
   
  Then, there will usually be a tiny, soft tick or pop, and the next track will start at the beginning.  This is happening with all my music, whether 44.1/16, 96/24, etc.  No glitches during the playing of any tracks; only the slightly early end, a tick or two, and then the next one starts with no gap in between (Yes, I have always had Sound Check disabled, of course).
   
  I'm using a Mac Mini which is dedicated as a music player, so everything else is disabled, turned off, etc.  I'm feeding a W4S DAC2 via USB.  I have all of the BitPerfect manual's recommended options selected, and have not changed them.  It has worked perfectly until this newest version.  
   
  I think I have either version 1.0 or 1.01 saved somewhere, so I'm going to try reinstalling that.  Is there a way to download 1.02, or any previous versions?  I know 1.02 worked well, but I don't think that's the one I have.


----------



## agentsim

Unfortunately there's no way to downgrade via the app store. If you send me an e-mail or private message I can send you an older version, and ideally we can work together to solve the problem properly in 1.0.3.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I've located a copy of 1.0.2 I had on another Mac; I've reinstalled it in place of 1.0.3 and all of the above quirks have vanished.  For now, I will keep this version; great sound, and absolutely no problems with playback.


----------



## converge

BitPerfect no longer launches the new version of iTunes 10.6.3 just released. Haven't noticed any other issues yet.


----------



## Mr.Sneis

I figure this is a good of a place as any to post this question!
   
  I use a Macbook Pro + Halide Bridge Converter (BNC version w/ coaxial adapter) + a Parasound D/AC 1600HD and lately I've been having dropouts listening to some of my FLAC files. 
   
  When I say dropouts one of two things is occuring: 
   
  1) The DAC literally wigs out and starts flashing lights like crazy requiring a unplugging of the Halide Bridge to rectify itself.  I believe I see this behavior typically when trying to play hi-res 24-bit 192khz files (please keep reading though).
  2) The dac for a split second stops playing and physically clicks and then resumes playing (DAC clicks whenever it's locked onto a source).
   
  When I say some of my FLAC files I may or may not have made the FLAC files myself... but most of my FLAC files play fine. It's a select few that seem to dropout.  It seems to be some of the "modern" stuff; Armin Van Buuren ASOT 2012, Justice - Audio Video Disco, Radiohead - King of Limbs (16-bit) to name a few recent examples.
   
  Additional info:
   
  -The DAC is 20-bit 48khz max.  Yes you read that right it does not do even 24-bit or 96khz which even el-cheapo DACs can handle!  I guess with a vintage DAC like this you can't have your r2r cake and eat it too.
   
  -I am 99% certain the FLAC files I am listening to are not 24-bit or 96khz+.  The CD's they come from *should* be standard 16-bit 44khz.
   
  -Since I don't look at the DAC whilst listening there is a smidgen of a chance this has been going on a while and actually I just never noticed it before.  AKA some tranceno uses weird sound effects that could resemble a stop in music playback and I thought nothing of it at the time.  More testing needed I guess.
   
  -I've re-produced this effect in both Foobar (Win7) and Audirvana Free (OSX) with the same music files.  I use pretty much stock configs.
   
  -IIRC in both Windows + OSX it sees the bridge as my playback device.  The options of bit-depth are greyed out/locked.  I should re-verify however I am laptopless atm.
   
  -Said FLAC files admittedly were not encoded by my hand however if I re-encode the files to mp3 they seem to play fine.
   
  Any thoughts or criticisms are welcome!


----------



## DougofTheAbaci

Why not convert them to WAV then back to FLAC? You won't lose any data as you'll be going form an uncompressed lossless format to a compressed lossless format.


----------



## Mr.Sneis

I can give that a try.  Once my Fiance lets my laptop back into my hands LOL.


----------



## Kayk

Is anyone else having problems with iTunes pausing playback ~4 seconds before a song ends? I'll have a playlist going and eventually it will just stop near the end of the song and won't play anymore until I manually click next song


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





kayk said:


> Is anyone else having problems with iTunes pausing playback ~4 seconds before a song ends? I'll have a playlist going and eventually it will just stop near the end of the song and won't play anymore until I manually click next song


 

 Can you send me your Console log (PM or e-mail me) and I'll look into it.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I was having that problem with 1.0.3, except after the pause 3-4 seconds before the end of the track, it would jump to the next one.  I went back to 1.0.2 and the problem went away.


----------



## dogwan

Generally have not had any problems over the last couple updates.
   
  However, I have just recently experienced a new hiccup. But I can't tell you whether it was there before and never noticed or if it's new.
   
  The issue is that I like to leave Itunes playing in random over my entire collection or sometimes I just let it play in order. But the list is sorted by date added and each album may have had the songs uploaded out of order when imported (my cd drive is kaput so I use another laptop with a dead screen to do my ripping and bring over on a flash drive). When  listening in either of these scenarios I get about a second or two of the next song in what would be the track order before it jumps to the song that's really supposed to be played.
   
  So like if I am playing the 3rd song on an album and my list is sorted in order of added  (5,8,3,1,2,6,7,4,9...)  at the end of track 3 I will hear part of track 4 before it jumps to track 1.
   
  This is just slightly annoying and easy to get around by displaying albums in track order or listening from playlists. But as you can guess when you want truly random it is distracting.
   
  Now I really can't tell if this is a recent event after upgrading to 1.0.3 because iTunes also upgraded (by my command) shortly thereafter. And I never noticed before. I only listen to digital occasionally.
   
  I know I can send the developer my log info, but wanted to see if this is normal in out of order situations before sending the info.
   
  Other than that it has been playing flawlessly.
   
  -Dogwan


----------



## Kayk

Quote: 





dogwan said:


> So like if I am playing the 3rd song on an album and my list is sorted in order of added  (5,8,3,1,2,6,7,4,9...)  at the end of track 3 I will hear part of track 4 before it jumps to track 1.


 
   
  I actually get this too! I thought it was an issue with the file itself or the gapless playback timing, but now that you mention it I have the exact same problem sometimes.


----------



## JIGF

I have and keep getting hiccups in the playback in spite of the updates. The best way to get around it is to set a playlist.


----------



## Ern dog

I downloaded the updates and it seems to be running smooth.  I haven't noticed any problems.


----------



## mrarroyo

I have the same issue as in posts 629 and 630.


----------



## agentsim

The issues referred to in those posts are actually due to a bug in iTunes. iTunes does not tell BitPerfect about the track ordering properly so BitPerfect winds up queueing the wrong track.
   
  You can read about this in the "fixedindexing" section of the manual.


----------



## Mikae

About 5 months ago you said you had plans about AU/VST support and crossfeed algorithms. Any news on this topic?


----------



## PolkManiac

Any plans on Integer support in Mountain Lion?


----------



## julianbell92

Love the app, Retina/HiDPI icons for the Menu Bar Icon and for the iTunes icon in Preferences would be appreciated!


----------



## agentsim

I've just received my retina macbook, so I'll be looking to update those icons 
   
  As for VST / Integer Mode stuff, it is all coming, just slower than I had hoped. Integer Mode on Lion/Mountain Lion has been in private beta for a while, but still has kinks to be worked out.


----------



## julianbell92

Great to hear, thanks! The RMBP is brilliant isn't it!
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> I've just received my retina macbook, so I'll be looking to update those icons


----------



## jtinto

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> I've had all of the versions of BitPerfect, and never had any of the problems mentioned by some in this forum until now.  The latest version, 1.03, is behaving oddly.  It seems like tracks are cutting off 3 or 4 seconds from the end.  Sometimes this just means no silence between tracks, or if there is a fadeout, it ends early and abruptly.
> 
> Then, there will usually be a tiny, soft tick or pop, and the next track will start at the beginning.  This is happening with all my music, whether 44.1/16, 96/24, etc.  No glitches during the playing of any tracks; only the slightly early end, a tick or two, and then the next one starts with no gap in between (Yes, I have always had Sound Check disabled, of course).
> 
> I'm using a Mac Mini which is dedicated as a music player, so everything else is disabled, turned off, etc.  I'm feeding a W4S DAC2 via USB.  I have all of the BitPerfect manual's recommended options selected, and have not changed them.  It has worked perfectly until this newest version.


 
   
  Exact same issues here too.
  Up 'til a week ago, I've had no issues running a Mac Mini 10.7.4 USB to Arcam rDAC through several versions of BP.
  I just switched to a W4S DAC2 and I get clicks, ticks, pops between tracks. Sometimes the last few seconds of a song get cut off like RJM reported.
  Other than those small issues, the playback SQ is great.
  I've systematically tried changing most settings to no avail.
  Should I revert to v1.02? if so, where can I get it?
  or would you like another beta tester Tim?


----------



## julianbell92

I was having a think, and it's probably a little far fetched, but it would be great if you could use BitPerfect in conjunction with other apps (selectable by the menu bar icon maybe?) such as VLC and Spotify. Are there any future plans for other software integration like this?


----------



## jtinto

Quote: 





jtinto said:


> Exact same issues here too.
> Up 'til a week ago, I've had no issues running a Mac Mini 10.7.4 USB to Arcam rDAC through several versions of BP.
> I just switched to a W4S DAC2 and I get clicks, ticks, pops between tracks. Sometimes the last few seconds of a song get cut off like RJM reported.
> Other than those small issues, the playback SQ is great.
> ...


 
  Thanks for the beta test version agentsim
  Fixed my little hiccups with v1.03
  Keep up the great work
  Cheers


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





julianbell92 said:


> I was having a think, and it's probably a little far fetched, but it would be great if you could use BitPerfect in conjunction with other apps (selectable by the menu bar icon maybe?) such as VLC and Spotify. Are there any future plans for other software integration like this?


 

 That depends on the app. For video players like VLC, syncing audio to video would be next to impossible to do in an external program. I have thought of doing integrations with other music organizers, but I haven't really looked into it in detail yet.


----------



## julianbell92

Thanks for the reply, I can see why it would be an issue for VLC thinking about it, and it probably wouldn't be worth doing with streaming programs like spotify.
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> That depends on the app. For video players like VLC, syncing audio to video would be next to impossible to do in an external program. I have thought of doing integrations with other music organizers, but I haven't really looked into it in detail yet.


----------



## Failed Engineer

Are there any plans to make BitPerfect compatible with non-iTunes players?  Or more accurately, is it even possible?  I'd like compatibility with Enqueue, as managing FLAC libraries is much simpler there than iTunes.  Also, is there any way to contact support directly?
   
  EDIT: I should have read the last 2 posts.


----------



## agentsim

You can contact support@bitperfectsound.com, that's the best way to get in touch.


----------



## sashaw

deleted


----------



## julianbell92

Any update on 'retinizing' the icons? Thanks


----------



## agentsim

Yep, coming in the next version which is waiting for Apple to review it.


----------



## julianbell92

Fantastic, thanks! Any other changes?
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Yep, coming in the next version which is waiting for Apple to review it.


----------



## agentsim

At long last, [size=small]BitPerfect 1.0.4 has been released to the App Store.  This version includes new features for managing AirPlay Devices, and a number of minor bug fixes.  It also introduces a new requirement for compliance with Apple’s new App Store posting requirements.[/size]
   

 [size=small]Users must grant specific permission to BitPerfect to permit access to music files (on first launch only).[/size]
 [size=small]Feature to stop iTunes defaulting to AirPlay devices.[/size]
 [size=small] Icon color changes to reflect playback status.[/size]
 [size=small]“Retina Display” support.[/size]
 [size=small]Fix for broken Volume Control with certain DACs.[/size]
 [size=small]Fix for some small bugs that affect gapless playback.[/size]
 [size=small]Fix to correct for channel reversal in AirPlay devices.[/size]
 [size=small]Option to limit maximum sample rate.[/size]
 [size=small]Option to reverse channels on individual tracks. [/size]
 
 [size=small]Please contact us if you have any questions, comments or bug reports![/size]


----------



## JIGF

thanks for the update!
   
  hows that iOS version going?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jigf said:


> thanks for the update!
> 
> hows that iOS version going?


 
   
  No firm plans on an iOS version yet. We have a couple of other projects we want to get out the door before tackling iOS!


----------



## Mediahound

Question-does Bitperfect increase audio quality even when playing 44.1 16 bit tracks in iTunes? My system Audio Midi is already set there. 
   
  Or is Bitperfect mainly for higher quality song files?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mediahound said:


> Question-does Bitperfect increase audio quality even when playing 44.1 16 bit tracks in iTunes? My system Audio Midi is already set there.
> 
> Or is Bitperfect mainly for higher quality song files?


 

 It will work on both low and high-res files. I would suggest you try to use lossless audio if possible.
  BitPerfect will change what Audio Midi has configured to best match the file you're playing.


----------



## Mediahound

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> It will work on both low and high-res files. I would suggest you try to use lossless audio if possible.
> BitPerfect will change what Audio Midi has configured to best match the file you're playing.


 
  But if the Audio Midi matches what I'm playing, BitPerfect doesn't improve anything, right?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mediahound said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

 BitPerfect does the reconfiguration (you can see the changes in Audio Midi) but it is also more efficient at playback (which improves quality) and provides better sample rate converters and other configuration options to get the best out of your system.


----------



## jtinto

Thought I'd add my two cents ...
  In my case, you've really nailed it with this version
  No issues whatsoever with Mac Mini, 10.8, W4S DAC-2, USB
  Nice Job and Thanks


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jtinto said:


> Thought I'd add my two cents ...
> In my case, you've really nailed it with this version
> No issues whatsoever with Mac Mini, 10.8, W4S DAC-2, USB
> Nice Job and Thanks


 
   
  Glad to hear it!


----------



## Mediahound

Why when I play a podcast (32kbps) with BitPerfect activated, it displays 24/44.1? There's now way the podcast is 24 bit.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mediahound said:


> Why when I play a podcast (32kbps) with BitPerfect activated, it displays 24/44.1? There's now way the podcast is 24 bit.


 
   
  Depending on your DAC, that might be expected, some DACs only supported 24-bit. That's not a huge deal, as long as you're going up in bit depth


----------



## Mediahound

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Depending on your DAC, that might be expected, some DACs only supported 24-bit. That's not a huge deal, as long as you're going up in bit depth


 
  This DAC supports 16/24/192 and probably more...


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mediahound said:


> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
   
  In that case, can you get in touch with support@bitperfectsound.com and include the output of Device Info, and we'll look into it.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I just downloaded 1.0.4.  How long does it take for BitPerfect to locate the music library on first launch?  My library is on an external drive, and is around 100GB.  
   
  The dialog box says BitPerfect is looking for my music; it's been about a half an hour, and none of the progress bar is filled at all.
   
  Any ideas?


----------



## jtinto

This worked for me ... your mileage might vary
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




   
  close both programs
  start iTunes
  then start BitPerfect
  now locate your library


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Thanks.  I've shut things down for the night, but I'll give it try tomorrow.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Thanks.  I've shut things down for the night, but I'll give it try tomorrow.


 
   
  If you're still having trouble tomorrow, let me know and I'll help you with some solutions.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Yes, still having problems.  After installing 1.0.4, I can't get BitPerfect to find my library.  At first, when clicking NEXT in the dialog box that comes up, I would get a window with a progress bar, saying BitPerfect is looking for my music.  The progress bar would remain empty, and after an hour or so, nothing would happen.
   
  Now, I'm trying it again--I restarted the Mac, opened iTunes first, then BitPerfect.  Now, when I click NEXT, BitPerfect just quits.  When I revert back to 1.0.2, everything is fine.
   
  I am using the latest iTunes, 11.0.1, and my Mac Mini is running 10.8.2.  My iTunes library is on a external drive, connected to the Mac Mini via FW800.
   
  Any ideas?  Thanks.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> Any ideas?  Thanks.


 
   
  You can give this a go: http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.ca/2012/12/problems-with-permissions-scan-with.html
   
  Failing that, PM me for a beta. Or if you can wait a day or two, 1.0.5 will be out featuring an "Open" button to work around precisely this problem


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Thanks for the reply and the info.  I'll give these suggestions a try. I'm actually quite happy with 1.0.2, which is the most recent working version for me.  For some reason, 1.0.3 caused stuttering, etc., when switching tracks on the fly.  Odd, since my Mac Mini is set up just for iTunes.  The only other 3rd party software installed on it are BitPerfect, and Carbon Copy Cloner.
   
  Thanks again for maintaining and upgrading this software, and keeping the price so low.  It's more than worth it just for the sample rate switching feature alone.


----------



## Mediahound

Is there any way to use bass boost (in iTunes or via another method) and still use BitPerfect? I notice BitPerfect deactivates any EQ set in iTunes.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mediahound said:


> Is there any way to use bass boost (in iTunes or via another method) and still use BitPerfect? I notice BitPerfect deactivates any EQ set in iTunes.


 
   
  Not at the moment.


----------



## julianbell92

Hi Agentsim, having some issues with the auto sample rate switching this evening. Haven't used my external DAC (TEAC UD-H01) in a while so not sure which update to attribute this to. I know it was working fine about 2 months ago though. Have you any suggestions with Audio Midi Setup and/or BitPerfect's settings which might help to solve this? Thanks and thank you for the Retina update!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





julianbell92 said:


> Hi Agentsim, having some issues with the auto sample rate switching this evening. Haven't used my external DAC (TEAC UD-H01) in a while so not sure which update to attribute this to. I know it was working fine about 2 months ago though. Have you any suggestions with Audio Midi Setup and/or BitPerfect's settings which might help to solve this? Thanks and thank you for the Retina update!


 
   
  Hi, sorry to hear about the problem. Can you send me your device info, either via e-mail or PM?
   
  Thanks!


----------



## jtinto

I've experienced a few new little oddities since the latest iTunes update 11.0.1
  Some stutters at the start of songs that I wasn't getting a week ago
  The joys of being a software developer ...
   
  Happy Holidays agentsim


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





jtinto said:


> I've experienced a few new little oddities since the latest iTunes update 11.0.1
> Some stutters at the start of songs that I wasn't getting a week ago
> The joys of being a software developer ...
> 
> Happy Holidays agentsim


 
   
  I'm afraid I'm going to sound like a broken record... but get in touch, e-mail or PM, and I'll debug with you


----------



## olor1n

I never shifted the I/O Procedure Duration and Thread Priority from default due to instability. Updated to the latest version and have shifted the sliders to full hog mode. Have had to tweak other iTunes interaction settings to fix skips and delayed playback but the improvement in SQ is quite apparent. Gonna have to spend more time with this configuration but hopefully it holds up against bugs and instability.


----------



## jtinto

I just discovered that fixed indexing helps to eliminate the stuttering at the beginning of tracks
  Thanks olor1n for reminding me to try the I/O sliders as well
  Heh Tim, I'll have some fun playing with settings over the weekend.
  When it all works, it sounds so much better than the basic OSX engine


----------



## julianbell92

Problem solved, I hadn't scanned for my library correctly - my fault! Now switching perfectly as before. Will BitPerfect continuously monitor the directory it found for iTunes (or does it even need to)? Thanks for a wonderful app as always and have a great Christmas.
  Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Hi, sorry to hear about the problem. Can you send me your device info, either via e-mail or PM?
> 
> Thanks!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





julianbell92 said:


> Will BitPerfect continuously monitor the directory it found for iTunes (or does it even need to)? Thanks for a wonderful app as always and have a great Christmas.


 
   
  No it won't, but it doesn't need to unless you import music in a new place. For many people, all their music is in the iTunes default folder which is:
   
  /Users/[your user]/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music.
   
  That means any music you add into that directory (or a subdirectory) will work just fine. It is the same for users who manage their music folder themselves, any subdirectory is ok. If you do need to move your music folder, or you need to use a new location as well as the old one, then, from the BitPerfect menu, select "Choose Music Directory" and you can run through the scan process a second time.


----------



## jtinto

I've sorted out a few things with my own system:
  Mac Mini, OSX 10.8.2, iTunes 11.0.1, USB to W4S DAC2
  1) "default to fixed indexing" seems to cure the stuttering at the beginning of tracks
  2) every now and again, when switching from one high-res (88 or 96 KHz) song to the next in a *playlist *the DAC output goes crazy digital and I have to press stop before my dogs and wife go wild, press play then all is fine again


----------



## l0rdr0ck

Bitperfect almost perfectly working...Make sure to grab 1.0.5.
   
   
  Tryed every variation on these
  Equipment:  MacBookPro->Schiit Modi->Schiit Lyr->Fostex t50rp "Maddogs"
  Equipment:  MacMini->NI Audio 2 DJ, Schiit Lyr->Sennheiser HD25-1 ii
  Equipment: MacMini->Line 6 Toneport UX->Schiit Lyr->"Maddogs"
   
   
  So after much twidling and persistence, a couple of hardware changes and I am still working great.  I can summarize a couple of tips and findings
   
  1. Basics
   
  Scanning,  make sure to do a couple of things first.  I found this particular recipe worked.
   
  Start iTunes:
  Play a Song         (I think this loads some type of internal list)
  Open Bitperfect    (Let is Scan for iTunes music)
   
  Warning it might crash after the scan completes but you will see progress.
  If this happens, start Bitperfect again and do NOT scan.
   
  Play another song in iTunes with Bitperfect in Menubar
  In Bitperfect preferences select the iTunes Music folder.
   
  Special note once you have Bitperfect going make sure IF you have other
  music that is outside of iTunes..
   
  From Menubar->BitPerfect->Change Music Directory
  and point it at whatever directory contains music inside the iTunes database but not in the
  iTunes Music folder.   (Got that?)
   
  2. Sound
   
  The settings I am using worked stability for
  NI Audio2DJ and Schiit Modi.
   
   
   

   
  3. Itunes
   
  I found that the blips between sounds from list loading generally went away with this combo
   
   

   
  4. Advanced
   
  I also believe these had some effect on performance and quality
   
   

   
   
  Hope this helps somebody or maybe I am stupid that it took a while
  to work good.  If anyone has any suggestions to improve this setup....
   
  I do however really like an Audio Hijack setup for the Audio Unit plugin chain
  advanced EQs, Spectrograms and whatnot.
   
  Bitperfect is great though.


----------



## jtinto

Thanks l0rdr0ck
  Nice summary
  My experiences have been pretty much the same as yours
  I tried to sort out the Advanced settings yesterday, after seeing what worked for you
  Shortening the I/O Procedure makes the stuttering worse for me, so it's staying on the longest
  So far, I'm having good results with the I/O Priority set at the highest
  Seasons greetings and cheers


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Quote: 





jtinto said:


> I've sorted out a few things with my own system:
> Mac Mini, OSX 10.8.2, iTunes 11.0.1, USB to W4S DAC2
> 1) "default to fixed indexing" seems to cure the stuttering at the beginning of tracks
> 2) every now and again, when switching from one high-res (88 or 96 KHz) song to the next in a *playlist *the DAC output goes crazy digital and I have to press stop before my dogs and wife go wild, press play then all is fine again


 
  I've had similar experiences.   1.0.5 is working perfectly for me, and I'm running exactly the same setup you describe.  I get a brief stutter at the beginning of a track only when I switch on the fly to a track with a different sampling rate.  For example, while a 16/44.1 track is playing, without stopping it, I might double click a 24/96 track to start it playing.  Only in that situation do I get a minor glitch for maybe 1 second.  I wonder if the fixed indexing setting would help this--I'll have to try it tomorrow.


----------



## l0rdr0ck

Pretty sure the glitch will happen when sample rate is changed.
  it blips on  4+ different interfaces, i tried when it auto changes.  
  this is why i just leave it at always one bit rate. my compromises.


----------



## henree

I have a late 2006 Imac. Intel Core 2 Duo. 2 GHZ. Would this be classified as 64 bit? I just want to be sure Bit Perfect would work.


----------



## l0rdr0ck

On a macbook pro core 2 duo 4 gigs
  works fine, you should have no issues.
  running slingbox app, ableton live with 4 AU synths and mastering chain, touchable, and tractor pro
  at the same time with soundflower 64 channels so....
  running at 90% cpu all times and bitperfect can still work.
  im sure my SSD drive helps but you should be GTG


----------



## henree

Quote: 





l0rdr0ck said:


> On a macbook pro core 2 duo 4 gigs
> works fine, you should have no issues.
> running slingbox app, ableton live with 4 AU synths and mastering chain, touchable, and tractor pro
> at the same time with soundflower 64 channels so....
> ...


 
  Thanks.


----------



## l0rdr0ck

Another finding, when you do itunes cloud download it seems sometimes files are saved with
  a .m4p extension.  These items do not seem to play with Bitperfect.
   
  Unless....you rename them to .m4a,  i changed the extensions and nothing
  really broke. and now songs that were not being played in Bitperfect play.
   
  l0rdr0ck


----------



## agentsim

Good to know... I'll add m4p as a supported extension.


----------



## mikap

Is there any workaround found to import FLACs into iTunes under Mountain Lion? Website says you're still looking for alternatives to Fluke. Thanks.


----------



## agentsim

We haven't got a solution yet. We were hoping to provide an import tool, but restrictions in the App Store are making it harder to see how that can be done.


----------



## Mediahound

I'm having a lot of issues with BitPerfect halting playback with the latest iTunes that was just released a few days ago. Seems like no matter what setting I have, including the 'Minimize iTunes Interaction', it doesn't play well or stops when the song in an album is finished without going to the next song.


----------



## RapidPulse

I am also having issues after latest iTunes update.  Songs just keep looping after playing for about 10 seconds.  Totally unusable right now.


----------



## jrprana

mediahound said:


> I'm having a lot of issues with BitPerfect halting playback with the latest iTunes that was just released a few days ago. Seems like no matter what setting I have, including the 'Minimize iTunes Interaction', it doesn't play well or stops when the song in an album is finished without going to the next song.




+1
Same problem here


----------



## Mediahound

Sounds like a new version is imminent:
   
  "[size=small]BitPerfect 1.0.7 is now "In Review" with Apple.  That means they should approve (or reject) it within a day or so "[/size]
   
  http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/2013/05/in-review.html


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





mediahound said:


> Sounds like a new version is imminent:
> 
> "[size=small]BitPerfect 1.0.7 is now "In Review" with Apple.  That means they should approve (or reject) it within a day or so "[/size]
> 
> http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/2013/05/in-review.html


 

 Slightly delayed, we had to submit the app a second time


----------



## Mediahound

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Slightly delayed, we had to submit the app a second time


 
   
  Got the update today. Working great so far. Thanks!


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

So, BitPerfect 1.0.7 is fine with iTunes 11.0.4 then?
   
  I'm using 1.0.6 with 11.0.2 with no problem, and have been waiting to update both.


----------



## RapidPulse

I was using 1.0.7 with latest iTunes for a few hours yesterday with no issues.


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





red jacket mike said:


> So, BitPerfect 1.0.7 is fine with iTunes 11.0.4 then?
> 
> I'm using 1.0.6 with 11.0.2 with no problem, and have been waiting to update both.


 

 We've tested 1.0.7 on 11.0.3/11.0.4 and found no issues.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

Well, I'm now running the latest of everything on my Mac Mini.  OSX 10.8.4, BitPerfect 1.0.7 and iTunes 11.0.4.  Everything is working fine.  Also, the one tiny flaw that I had previously experiencing has now been eliminated:
   
  If I was listening to a 16/44.1 track, and, while playing it, just clicked on the fly to a 24/96 track, there would be a 1/2 second hiccup while the change was being made; then the newly selected track would play without issue.  It's not something I would intentionally do very often, but it's now been cleared up.  Perfect playback in every situation I've tried with this setup.
   
  Overall, BitPerfect has been the single biggest improvement to my headphone listening rig for the amount of money spent.


----------



## wolfson

I don't understand- doesn't the default iTunes player/backend do bit perfect playback, i.e. no re-sampling/etc?


----------



## noahbickart

Yes and no. If the file sample rate and the sample rate setting in audio/midi setup match- the output is bit perfect. 

If not, core audio resamples the date to match the system sample rate. 

This program does this on the fly automatically, while allowing users to continue to use iTunes.


----------



## wisemanja

Here's an issue that I've been having. I have several MP3s that I listen to. These are recordings of presentations and talks from conferences. According to my Quicktime, it says that these are 1 channel recordings. When I play these on any other digital devices or iTunes, I get a monophonic output to both the left and right channels. However, when I turn on BitPerfect, it only outputs the left channel. This is a nuisance, especially when I'm wearing headphones (I keep turning my head to listen to the speaker)
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




   
  I suppose that being "Bit Perfect" means that when the Right channel has all 0's in it, then you output all 0's. However, since the metadata in the file identifies the file as being only 1 channel, then the 0's in that right channel can't really be considered to be true audio data, and therefore should not be output as zero sound.
   
  This may be just semantics, as the result would still be the same (i.e., nothing coming out the right channel). would it be possible to determine ahead of time that a track is mono and send it out to both left and right channels?
   
  I know that I can accomplish this by going through all my dozens of talks and marking them "monophonic" in the "information" field in the metadata, but this is a bit of a hack since the lower level metadata already contains a marker identifying it as "1 channel" sound on all the files when I get them. And I don't like having to shut down BitPerfect just so I can hear the mono sound in both headphone channels while listening to talks.
   
  Would adding this capability affect the "minimum processing" mandate of BitPerfect?
   
  - Jeff


----------



## agentsim

Nope, this sounds like a perfectly valid bug. Can you send a sample MP3 to support@bitperfectsound.com so we can take a look?


----------



## wisemanja

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Nope, this sounds like a perfectly valid bug. Can you send a sample MP3 to support@bitperfectsound.com so we can take a look?


 
   
  I just wanted to post here to indicate that after sending the data to BitPerfect support, they identified the problem as being in the Snow Leopard interface that BitPerfect has to use (iTunes uses its own internal algorithms that work correctly). Apparently This has been fixed in Lion,
   
  So for Snow Leopard users wanting to playback mono tracks, you need to put the word "monophonic" into the information field of the audio file in iTunes so that it plays out both channels instead of just the left one.


----------



## ZenocideZ

Hi Agentism,
   
  I'm a new user of bitperfect from Malaysia and bought it at full price $10 at mac app store . I think I'm the only reviewer (or perhaps user) in this country and 5 stars was given on mac store. 
   
  My current pc hifi setup: iMac 27 2009 , retina macbook pro 2013, B&W mm1, Fiio E07k , iPhone 4, iPad 4, senheiser IE8, HD 555 and upcoming UE 6k . 
   
  I often listen music while sitting on bed from far distance. I'm trying to make itune working with plex or xbmc together with bitperfect. is there a possible way to integrate three? If not, may I suggest that bitperfect show song playback notification while changing songs? It would be a very useful function.  
   
  Thanks


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





zenocidez said:


> Hi Agentism,
> 
> I'm a new user of bitperfect from Malaysia and bought it at full price $10 at mac app store . I think I'm the only reviewer (or perhaps user) in this country and 5 stars was given on mac store.
> 
> ...


 

 I'm not familiar with iTunes integration in Plex or Xbmc. My understanding is that these are both standalone player software that can perhaps monitor iTunes in some way to play your music. If I'm right about that, then they perform an analogous function to BitPerfect which would prevent BitPerfect from working with them.
   
  As for a song change notification, BitPerfect doesn't emit anything like that mainly because it should always be doing whatever iTunes is doing and iTunes has those notifications already.
   
  The "obvious" way to control iTunes (and thus BitPerfect) from a distance is with the remote app on an iPhone or iPad, or I guess, a wireless keyboard


----------



## ZenocideZ

agentsim said:


> I'm not familiar with iTunes integration in Plex or Xbmc. My understanding is that these are both standalone player software that can perhaps monitor iTunes in some way to play your music. If I'm right about that, then they perform an analogous function to BitPerfect which would prevent BitPerfect from working with them.
> 
> As for a song change notification, BitPerfect doesn't emit anything like that mainly because it should always be doing whatever iTunes is doing and iTunes has those notifications already.
> 
> The "obvious" way to control iTunes (and thus BitPerfect) from a distance is with the remote app on an iPhone or iPad, or I guess, a wireless keyboard





Thanks for the advices. Now I really want to blame apple for removing cover flow and front row.

I'm also using boom, an app that boost volume in Mac. Would that affect sound quality in itune with the bloom plug in installed or sound output in bitperfect selected to it, even I turn the EQ and volume boost off in boom?


----------



## agentsim

I believe Boom is a virtual sound card, like Soundflower. If you tell BitPerfect to play through Boom, then the sound quality will be affected by the quality of Boom's equalizers and other effects. In general, the more steps that sound has to go through before you hear it, the more degraded it will be.
   
  If you select a different output device in BitPerfect, then you will circumvent Boom, avoiding any potential degradation, but also not getting any of the volume boosting or EQ effects Boom provides.


----------



## ZenocideZ

I found it interesting that with boom set as output sample rate can be set to 192k 32bit, far more beyond the 96k 32bit physical limitation internally. althought playback without any problems, I cannot notice any sound differences so far. I think it should be an unnecessary and extra pass through.
   
  I browsed back the previous post, noticed that you are using rmbp too. Personally speaking, I found the headphone jack output on rmbp sound more details and powerful than previous iMac 2009, and even more superior than E07k and the headphone output on MM1. I know both mac I have use same DAC, the difference could be retina macbook pro have better amp chips build in. I'm trying to find the evidences on iFix tear down but they didn't have any information on that. Do you have any clues ?
   
  Also, what are the next big features you are going to put in bitperfect ?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





zenocidez said:


> I found it interesting that with boom set as output sample rate can be set to 192k 32bit, far more beyond the 96k 32bit physical limitation internally. althought playback without any problems, I cannot notice any sound differences so far. I think it should be an unnecessary and extra pass through.


 
   
  The virtual sound card can take input sample rate the programmer chose to implement, but it will still need to be downsampled to 96k for output, and will probably use a lower quality downsampler, like CoreAudio instead of SoX.
   
  Quote: 





> Originally Posted by *ZenocideZ* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> I browsed back the previous post, noticed that you are using rmbp too. Personally speaking, I found the headphone jack output on rmbp sound more details and powerful than previous iMac 2009, and even more superior than E07k and the headphone output on MM1. I know both mac I have use same DAC, the difference could be retina macbook pro have better amp chips build in. I'm trying to find the evidences on iFix tear down but they didn't have any information on that. Do you have any clues ?


 
    
  Took me a while to find this again: http://larryho.tumblr.com/
  There are headphone jack measurements of various Apple products, spolier, the rMBP doesn't look so good!
   
  Quote:


zenocidez said:


> Also, what are the next big features you are going to put in bitperfect ?


 
   
  BitPerfect isn't a feature driven program, the goal is to keep it simple and sounding good. BitPerfect 1.1 will have a better audio engine which should improve sound quality a little, and a plug-in system to allow me to build more features without bogging down the core software by making any extra features entirely optional.


----------



## wisemanja

I have an issue that threw me for a while until I saw what was happening. On an iMac running Snow Leopard and iTunes 11.0.2, when I turn on Bit perfect, the Pause/Play symbol in iTunes is always shows Play. When not playing, if you click on it, it switches briefly to the pause symbol and then immediately back to the play symbol even thought the music is now playing (i.e., it should now be showing the pause symbol). If you click on it again, it will again briefly switch to the pause symbol and then immediately switch back to show the play symbol as the music is now put on pause.
   
  If I disable BitPerfect, the symbol will start toggling correctly. If I re-enable BitPerfect, the earlier behavior returns.
   
  Has anyone seen this behavior? Is it just another bug in the Apple interface that BitPerfect must use?


----------



## dogwan

Quote: 





wisemanja said:


> I have an issue that threw me for a while until I saw what was happening. On an iMac running Snow Leopard and iTunes 11.0.2, when I turn on Bit perfect, the Pause/Play symbol in iTunes is always shows Play. When not playing, if you click on it, it switches briefly to the pause symbol and then immediately back to the play symbol even thought the music is now playing (i.e., it should now be showing the pause symbol). If you click on it again, it will again briefly switch to the pause symbol and then immediately switch back to show the play symbol as the music is now put on pause.
> 
> If I disable BitPerfect, the symbol will start toggling correctly. If I re-enable BitPerfect, the earlier behavior returns.
> 
> Has anyone seen this behavior? Is it just another bug in the Apple interface that BitPerfect must use?


 

 Yes, same for me on my MBPro with Mountain Lion. I just ignored it. It's only mildly irritating. Only started doing that with latest upgrade of iTunes and BitPerfect.
   
  When will I learn.... never upgrade iTunes. It just messes something up!


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





wisemanja said:


> I have an issue that threw me for a while until I saw what was happening. On an iMac running Snow Leopard and iTunes 11.0.2, when I turn on Bit perfect, the Pause/Play symbol in iTunes is always shows Play. When not playing, if you click on it, it switches briefly to the pause symbol and then immediately back to the play symbol even thought the music is now playing (i.e., it should now be showing the pause symbol). If you click on it again, it will again briefly switch to the pause symbol and then immediately switch back to show the play symbol as the music is now put on pause.
> 
> If I disable BitPerfect, the symbol will start toggling correctly. If I re-enable BitPerfect, the earlier behavior returns.
> 
> Has anyone seen this behavior? Is it just another bug in the Apple interface that BitPerfect must use?


 
   
  Sounds like you have "Minimize iTunes Interaction" enabled. In that mode, BitPerfect keeps iTunes in the paused state so that it doesn't attempt to play the file, but since iTunes is paused, the Play/Pause button will always display the play icon.


----------



## wisemanja

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> Sounds like you have "Minimize iTunes Interaction" enabled. In that mode, BitPerfect keeps iTunes in the paused state so that it doesn't attempt to play the file, but since iTunes is paused, the Play/Pause button will always display the play icon.


 
   
  I thought once before that that might have been the issue but when I turned it off, stopped BitPerfect, and restarted it was still there so I just assumed that wasn't it. I just now repeated this with the same behavior. However, when I shut down iTunes and BitPerfect and restarted them the behavior did go away with the Minimize iTunes interaction disabled.
   
  I think I understand the advantages of leaving the mode enabled (BitPerfect seems to try and keep iTunes from doing anything while BP is running audio). Are there any other side effects (other than the play/pause symbol behavior) that using this mode might present?


----------



## agentsim

Quote: 





wisemanja said:


> I think I understand the advantages of leaving the mode enabled (BitPerfect seems to try and keep iTunes from doing anything while BP is running audio). Are there any other side effects (other than the play/pause symbol behavior) that using this mode might present?


 
   
  None that immediately come to mind. Since the quality of the interaction between BitPerfect and iTunes can be system dependent, turning the option on or off and sometimes make general functionality better. Overall it is probably a more buggy option, but if it works for you and you can hear a difference, then go for it.
   
  Note, if you use iTunes remote with minimize iTunes mode, you'll get the same play/pause button problem.


----------



## ZenocideZ

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> The virtual sound card can take input sample rate the programmer chose to implement, but it will still need to be downsampled to 96k for output, and will probably use a lower quality downsampler, like CoreAudio instead of SoX.
> 
> 
> BitPerfect isn't a feature driven program, the goal is to keep it simple and sounding good. BitPerfect 1.1 will have a better audio engine which should improve sound quality a little, and a plug-in system to allow me to build more features without bogging down the core software by making any extra features entirely optional.


 
   
  Bro, how about adding profile setting ? I am swapping to use different DACs sometime and should be more convenient with some pre-set combo settings in save.


----------



## Mediahound

Quote: 





agentsim said:


> BitPerfect 1.1 will have a better audio engine which should improve sound quality a little, and a plug-in system to allow me to build more features without bogging down the core software by making any extra features entirely optional.


 
   
  Let me know if you need a beta tester


----------



## Failed Engineer

Will you be offering a paid addon for iZotope with your new plug-in system?


----------



## agentsim

At the moment it doesn't look like it. The licensing terms for the iZotope plug-in don't make much sense for BitPerfect


----------



## agentsim

BitPerfect 1.0.8 has been released. This is a bug fix release that solves a long standing annoyance caused by a bug in iTunes.
  
 Changes are:

Fix looping/skipping caused by iTunes communication problems.
Ready for OSX Mavericks.
  
 As always, contact support@bitperfectsound.com or send me a PM if you have any questions / comments or bug reports.


----------



## xahhax

Just bought your app. Using both on an iMac with a CypherLabs Theorem 720 and Macbook pro with a WooAudio WA7 Fireflies.
 Very pleased with it, thank you!


----------



## agentsim

xahhax said:


> Just bought your app. Using both on an iMac with a CypherLabs Theorem 720 and Macbook pro with a WooAudio WA7 Fireflies.
> Very pleased with it, thank you!


 
  
 Glad you're enjoying it


----------



## headwhacker

The bit rate display for the currently playing music is wrong for version 1.0.8. It always show 24 even for mp3s and cd ripped files. The sampling rate is correct though.
  
 I use the Centrance hifi-m8 as USB DAC on Macbook Pro Retina running OSX 10.9 Mavericks.


----------



## agentsim

BitPerfect shows the bit depth the DAC is configured to, which could be higher than the input file depending on how the DAC works.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I saw a post on the BitPerfect FaceBook page stating that the software drivers for the W4S DAC-2 will not work with OS X Mavericks.  Unfortunately I saw this after going ahead and installing Mavericks along with the new iTunes (it does come with Mavericks if you don't already have it.)
  
 I'm glad I use Carbon Copy Cloner, and I did a complete backup beforehand, so I was able to restore everything without incident.  I just thought I'd post this in case others with similar gear are thinking about Mavericks.  The W4S web site doesn't mention anything about this yet; of course Mavericks was only released a few days ago.  H
  
 Just for those who are curious, the problem I experienced after the temporary upgrade was no sound at all.  I checked Audio-Midi setup, and everything was OK there, but the sound pane in System Preferences would show the mac's line out selected for sound output and not the W4S.  If I changed it, and opened up the pref pane again later, it would have reverted to the other output again; selecting the W4S for sound output just wouldn't hold.
  
 I'm glad I checked the Facebook page.  I'm back on Mountain Lion now, and everything is perfect.  I am using the newest iTunes, though, without incident.  Hopefully Wyred4Sound will have updated drivers soon.


----------



## jhwalker

You would almost think Mavericks hadn't been freely available for months. . ,

Seriously, I don't understand why companies don't make use of the *very* liberal beta program to do their coding upfront, rather than waiting for release date and acting all surprised their proprietary driver doesn't work :/


----------



## headwhacker

jhwalker said:


> You would almost think Mavericks hadn't been freely available for months. . ,
> 
> Seriously, I don't understand why companies don't make use of the *very* liberal beta program to do their coding upfront, rather than waiting for release date and acting all surprised their proprietary driver doesn't work :/


 
  
 They maybe aware their drivers don't work during the beta stage of a new OS. But for many reasons they don't upgrade their software on time. Resource, incompatibilties or simply waiting for a needed OS patch to make the new drivers work. Or they just don't see the need/urgency to release the updated drivers on time
  
 It's always like that on every Major OS release. The rule of thumb is do not upgrade until the X.X.1 update is release which usually contains fixes for the rest of the bugs that was left behind during the initial release.


----------



## risingson0

Picking up this thread with a question about something I see was mentioned earlier. Didn't read through it all, though (there's a lot here). I've using the newest version of BitPerfect, and loving it. But, an option for AU or VST plugins would be fantastic. I tried using AU Lab and Soundflower, but one of them is not working right with my DAC: AU Lab keeps getting overloaded (possibly a Mavericks issue). Just supporting AU or VST plugins would be great so I could plug in Canz3D. Also, writing a review in the App Store right now (5 stars) and including this request.


----------



## noahbickart

Fidelia allows for up to 3 AU plugins, and their built in headphone processor is very good.


----------



## risingson0

Yeah...I gave Fidelia a try. While I like it, and their headphone processor is pretty good like you said. Two issues, though: 1. It won't pick up the Canz3D plugin. Seems it only will use official Apple plugins. 2. I prefer not to add a whole new interface to play music. That's why I like BitPerfect so much. It's just a host that runs in the menu bar


----------



## CJs06

I've been looking into Currawong's list of audiophile players for OS X. I want to keep using iTunes so that directed me towards Amarra but I'm not convinced yet that it is any benefit to me especially for the price... So, I've been reading this thread and have decided that I'm going to give BitPerfect a shot. I really like that it seamlessly integrates into iTunes with minimal UI.


----------



## Red Jacket Mike

I like BitPerfect as well; $10.00 for an app that is constantly updated and improved based on customer feedback is an unbelievable deal.  And, it does what all iTunes alternatives should do; load tracks into ram before playing, take control of the mac's audio system, and switch sample rates on the fly.


----------



## CJs06

Yup, bought BitPerfect, very pleased for $10 and it does exactly what I wanted.


----------



## redrich2000

If I'm using an external USB DAC, which SRC setting do I want?


----------



## agentsim

Generally speaking any of the SoX options will outperform Core Audio. As to choosing between linear, intermediate and minimum, I think you're best trusting your ears.


----------



## earwaxxer

I second the SoX - Ive used it for years now. Its still the best. Min phase IMHO.....


----------



## headwhacker

Just notice, the EQ on iTunes doesn't work if Bit Perfect is running. Is this expected or I am missing something?


----------



## williaty

headwhacker said:


> Just notice, the EQ on iTunes doesn't work if Bit Perfect is running. Is this expected or I am missing something?



That's to be expected. When BitPerfect is active, it actually takes over the playing duties from iTunes. All iTunes does at that point is to provide a pretty interface for you to tell BitPerfect which files to play.


----------



## headwhacker

Ok, thanks


----------



## AppleheadMay

Been using BP for years as well and I can hear no difference with more expensive options.
 IMO this piece of software is way underpriced for how good it performs and seamlessly interoperates with iTunes, which is exactly what I wanted.
 Recently bought DSD Master as well. Phenomenal how it makes a file that can be imported into iTunes, played back through your Dac as a DSD file as well as a ALAC file when not going through the Dac.
 One thing I wish for in Bitperfect that will probably never come is the option of equalisation.


----------



## BitPerf Support

> .....





> One thing I wish for in BitPerfect that will probably never come is the option of equalisation.


 
  
 Actually, we are very interested in providing EQ as a future enhancement.  We are looking at various ways of incorporating generic DSP into our audio engine that can be implemented without sacrificing audio quality to an unacceptable degree.  If we can do that, EQ becomes an attractive candidate for one of the things we can implement with it.  It won't happen in the short term, though, but at least "NEVER" is not the correct timeframe


----------



## AppleheadMay

Nice to know, I'm sure if or when this feature is added it will be seamlessly integrated and easy to use as well. 
 My compliments on your website as well, it has valuable info for computer-audiophiles and helped me configure both your apps as well as another one I occasionally use to compare.


----------



## paul66

I like BP very mutch. Great value for money ☺


----------



## AppleheadMay

Damn, I'll have to downgrade to Mavericks again, there's no dark mode icon for BitPerfect yet.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




  
 Yosemite does look sleek though.


----------



## headwhacker

Does that mean BP is not yet compatible with Yosemite?


----------



## paradoxper

For what seems like forever now, I still use BP more than any other music player/app.


----------



## AppleheadMay

BP works just fine in Yosemite.
  
 I was just teasing the developer as there is no light menu bar icon for using dark mode yet, just a cosmetic thing.
 I'm sure he's already on it.


----------



## AppleheadMay

paradoxper said:


> For what seems like forever now, I still use BP more than any other music player/app.


 
  
 It's the only one I use, I ditched Audirvana (which I only still used occasionally) since they seem to be going in the direction of less iTunes integration and using their own music manager.
 I can't see why others fail to integrate DSD within iTunes like BP did with DSD master. Works like a charm!


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## paradoxper

I've personally never experienced any hiccups with BP where as many of the other players (including the beloved Amarra) have tried to do too much or simply not enough. 
  
 DSD might be a personal gripe, they could learn how to do DSD right from JRiver. But I have 0 interest in DSD, personally.


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## AppleheadMay

I've had Amarra as well, but it's a lot of money for getting the same SQ. Sure, there's a lot of bellls and whistles I don't need. Sold my three licenses.
 Ditched Audirvana because recently they went in the other direction by using a dedicated player instead of iTunes integration.
 Pure Music I tried ages ago but it has a really awkward interface.
  
What I need is hassle free 100% iTunes integration and automatic sample rate put into my DAC without restarting iTunes all the time.
  
 Never tried jRiver (Windows only I guess?) but BP's DSD solution is fantastic. Integrates your DSD files into iTunes and lets you play them bac as DSD on a compatible DAC or as Alac on a non compatible device like Mac outputs or Airplay speaker.
  
 My opinion: BP is way too inexpensive. Not saying the developer should ask insane Amarra-like prices but 50 bucks would still be a bargain.
 And for that price you can install it on all your Macs.
 Same with DSD Master. Even if you don't need it give it a try just out of curiosity if you don't mind spending 30$ on it. A really nice DSD solution and as far as I know the only way to actually get DSD files right into the iTunes library.


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## paradoxper

The biggest problem with all these other players are their own interfaces suck. Again, they could learn a thing or two from JRiver. That is why I have stayed using BP - it's seamless, there's no quirks (IME.) JRiver is now on OS X,
 but it's pretty cruddy compared to how well it works on Windows.
  
 That's all putting price aside because no matter what if it catches interest, FOTM, etc people will buy it. 
 And we are looking for every single way to improve our listening experience. I still think Amarra has the 
 best sound quality out of everything I've tried (which is everything, I think?) but BP to me, is no slouch.
  
 And perhaps even more reason if you do have DSD content.


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## AppleheadMay

Thanks for the tip on Jriver for Mac. I'll download a trial just out of curiosity.
 I guess it uses it's own player instead of iTunes though? I really want to keep all my music in iTunes, suits me fine.
 It might be interesting to use on my Mac Mini configured as a Media Center just to play ripped Blu-Ray.
 That is, if it does actually play Blu-Ray on the Mac.  
 For now I use Mac Blu Ray Player since I don't want to convert to MKV.                                             
  
  
 I tried or had all players as well but to be honest, I can't hear much of a difference between them.


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## paradoxper

appleheadmay said:


> Thanks for the tip on Jriver for Mac. I'll download a trial just out of curiosity.
> I guess it uses it's own player instead of iTunes though? I really want to keep all my music in iTunes, suits me fine.
> It might be interesting to use on my Mac Mini configured as a Media Center just to play ripped Blu-Ray.
> That is, if it does actually play Blu-Ray on the Mac.
> ...


 
 JRiver has a really nicely done GUI and it feels somewhat like Itunes. It's worlds better than Amarra, Audirvana, PM and so on.
 And yea, it will paly Blu-Ray - it kind of does everything you'd want.
  
 Amarra offer the most stark differences. I also like Audirvana a bit.
 But I'll sacrifice nominal SQ for something more user friendly.


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## AppleheadMay

I see it recently supports video on the Mac.
 Have you tried it for Blu Ray yet and what format does the BR need to be in?
 Can you also rip BR with it like with the Windows version?


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## paradoxper

Sorry dude. I meant on the Windows side of things it's a complete package. For OS X development has been slow and rocky.
 The video portion was just added days ago. There is no Blu-ray support and may not be for some time.


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## AppleheadMay

Yep, I installed it and it's definitely windows look and feel, looks like a simple windows app port. Trashed it after less than half an hour.


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## AppleheadMay

How do I delete a dac I don't use anymore from the BP DSD settings pane? Where is that stored?
 And is there any way to rename a Dac in OSX by editing some plist?


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## agentsim

There is currently no UI for this.
  
 You can delete the list by doing: defaults delete com.bitperfectsound.BitPerfect "BitPerfect_DSDDeviceCapabilities"


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## AppleheadMay

Nope, can't find that file, not even with the sudo command.
 Searched with Pathfinder as well and don't have any com.bitperfectsound.BitPerfect , only com.bitperfectsound.DSDMaster or com.codetronics.BitPerfect
 If I find the right file, can't I edit it using Xcode?
  
 Agentsim, another question: could you make a toolbar icon for Dark Mode?


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## agentsim

It wasn't a file to delete, rather a command to run in Terminal.
  
 The next version of BitPerfect will have a dark-mode icon.


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## BitPerf Support

Nope.  It's ...  defaults delete com.codetectonics.BitPerfect "BitPerfect_DSDDeviceCapabilities"
  
 ... and it's case sensitive.


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## AppleheadMay

agentsim said:


> It wasn't a file to delete, rather a command to run in Terminal.
> 
> The next version of BitPerfect will have a dark-mode icon.


 
  
 I know, I entered it in terminal, it didn't find the file to delete the devicecapabilities from. Not even after entering the sudo command.
  
 Great news on the dark mode icon, I turned to the dark side.  
  
  
  


bitperf support said:


> Nope.  It's ...  defaults delete com.codetectonics.BitPerfect "BitPerfect_DSDDeviceCapabilities"
> 
> ... and it's case sensitive.


 
  
 Yep, as I found out, see my previous post. Thanks for confirming though.
 I know it's case sensitive and I simply copy/paste in terminal by the way.  
  
  
  
 Strange thing about my Dac (and this isn't only in BP, I downloaded a trial of some other software to confirm):
My dac is 192/24 + DSD 64&128. As I read, next to the DSD1792A dac chip it has a DSP chip that can upsample to 384/32 (even 48 as I read).
 The software does recognize it as a 384/32 dac. You can't play 384 files through it though. It does play DSD 64&128 files.
 Dac is Marantz NA-11S1, latest firmware.


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## BitPerf Support

> Originally Posted by *AppleheadMay* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> Strange thing about my Dac (and this isn't only in BP, I downloaded a trial of some other software to confirm)
> My dac is 192/24 + DSD 64&128. As I read, next to the DSD1792A dac chip it has a DSP chip that can upsample to 384/32 (even 48 as I read).
> The software does recognize it as a 384/32 dac. You can't play 384 files through it though. It does play DSD 64&128 files.
> Dac is Marantz NA-11S1, latest firmware.


 
  
 When BitPerfect (or any other player, AFAIK) reports that it can recognize a DAC's capabilities, what it is really doing is polling the USB (or FireWire, or HDMI) format streams which the DAC announces during its connection handshake.  If the DAC announces a stream format that it doesn't actually support, that would count as a bug in my view!  In your case the DAC is apparently announcing a 32/384 stream that it doesn't support.  In BitPerfect, you have the option of protecting yourself by setting a maximum sample rate and maximum bit depth so that "bogus" streams can be avoided to a limited extent.
  
 An inherent problem of the DoP format is that for DSD64 it uses a 24/176.4 PCM stream, which the DAC has to announce.  For DSD128 it is a 24/352.8 PCM stream.  However, as far as the computer is concerned, it has no way of knowing whether the DAC is announcing a DoP capability or a PCM capability.  Therefore, any DAC that supports DSD64 DoP really needs to also support 24/176.4 PCM, and likewise if it supports DSD128 DoP it really needs to support 24/352.8 PCM.  FYI, DSD256 DoP, if supported, would require a 24/705.6 PCM format!


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## AppleheadMay

It IS complicated but I do get the picture more or less.
  
 Probably my Dac reports the maximum stream needed for DSD it can support.
 Else it's that DSP chip's frequency it reports.
 In any case, it all works fine with BitPerfect, as usual.


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## mvyrmnd

I just wanted to pass on to the BitPerfect guys here that I dearly love your product. It's been a big step in my induction as an audiophile. Cheers!


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## BitPerf Support

Thank you!


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## Allanmarcus

Does BitPerfect support CrossFeed? I asked them about it earlier this year, but I haven't really followed up. Seems like a "prefect" fit for BitPerfect and the crowd here. I even suggested they integrate the plug-in Canz3D.


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## agentsim

allanmarcus said:


> Does BitPerfect support CrossFeed? I asked them about it earlier this year, but I haven't really followed up. Seems like a "prefect" fit for BitPerfect and the crowd here. I even suggested they integrate the plug-in Canz3D.


 

 It is certainly something we're interested in, the question is in doing it right.
  
 Canz3D is certainly one option. I'm hesistant to go that route because I'm not sure I like the idea of having BitPerfect's audio chain run any old 3rd party code. It is quite heavily optimized for a reason 
  
 The other option is trying to do it myself. The problem with this is understanding what exactly constitutes good crossfeed. I've yet to find an implementation (hardware or software) that I find compelling. I've started playing with HRTFs to simulate playing music through speakers in a room, but it didn't really work. There are some other varyingly fancy academic approaches to crossfeed that might be interesting, this app has few options: http://spatialaudio.net/ssr/. Unfortunately, I didn't really find that any of them "worked", at least for me.
  
 So yes, BitPerfect is interested in crossfeed, but right now, we're not sure what direction to take.


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## Allanmarcus

agentsim said:


> It is certainly something we're interested in, the question is in doing it right.
> 
> Canz3D is certainly one option. I'm hesistant to go that route because I'm not sure I like the idea of having BitPerfect's audio chain run any old 3rd party code. It is quite heavily optimized for a reason
> 
> ...




What about the basic crossfeed algorithms that seems very common? 

Meier 
Bauer
Chu Moy

Rockbox does a crossfeed. I think they are open source, so you can look at their code too. 

I hope you implement something. Doesn't have to be fancy. Right now I use VOX sometimes when I want it, but I would rather use iTunes, and therefore bitperfect


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## agentsim

I guess it is a matter of personal preference, but I've always found those to be bad for sound quality and not to really solve the in-my-head problem.


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## BirdManOfCT

bitperf support said:


> Thank you!


 

 I just might have to try BitPerfect. Using a competitor's product and support is harder to find than 32-bit recordings.


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## AppleheadMay

agentsim said:


> I guess it is a matter of personal preference, but I've always found those to be bad for sound quality and not to really solve the in-my-head problem.


 
  
 Agentsim,
  
 Is there any info you can give us on what's coming next for BitPerfect and DSD Matser?
 Things I was thinking of are:
  
 An optional eq for BP that can be turned on or off, headphone mode, dark mode icon.
 And for DSD master the ability to rip the original DSD file from the hybrid file.
  
 Any news you can give us on what's planned?


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## agentsim

appleheadmay said:


> agentsim said:
> 
> 
> > I guess it is a matter of personal preference, but I've always found those to be bad for sound quality and not to really solve the in-my-head problem.
> ...


 
  
 Sorry for taking such a long time to reply!
  
 Next up for us is an update to DSD Master that will fix some outstanding bugs and also make conversions quite a bit faster. It will also set the stage for us to play with some new conversion filters.
  
 As for BP, a dark mode icon will definitely be in the next update, but we'd also like to update the audio engine to make it a bit more efficient (that's currently beta level) as well as improve the stability of our interaction with iTunes. Unfortunately the reliability of iTunes' scripting interface seems to degrade with each version. We have some ideas for an overhaul that should both reduce CPU use and improve the reliability of communication, that idea is only just out of the proof-of-concept phase. An optional EQ is also on the radar; we're researching the highest fidelity way to accomplish it.
  
 I'm curious, what you mean by a headphone mode?


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## AppleheadMay

agentsim said:


> Sorry for taking such a long time to reply!
> 
> Next up for us is an update to DSD Master that will fix some outstanding bugs and also make conversions quite a bit faster. It will also set the stage for us to play with some new conversion filters.
> 
> ...


 
  
  
 Ah, great to see both the BP and DSDMaster programs are still alive and kicking! 
 I recently tried out one of the other programs again and couldn't get used to it.
  
 With headphone mode I meant crossfeed. I'm usually not a big fan of it but some people seem to like it both in amps and software.
  
 But if the app stays just as simple and effective as it is without the bells (eq) and whistles (crossfeed) I'd be just as happy!


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## agentsim

appleheadmay said:


> agentsim said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry for taking such a long time to reply!
> ...


 
  
 EQ should certainly be easier to do than crossfeed. I've experimented with a variety of crossfeed solutions, both hardware and software and I've yet to find one I truly like. Even trying an HRTF based system didn't yield a workable result.


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## Allanmarcus

agentsim said:


> Sorry for taking such a long time to reply!
> 
> Next up for us is an update to DSD Master that will fix some outstanding bugs and also make conversions quite a bit faster. It will also set the stage for us to play with some new conversion filters.
> 
> ...


 
  
 Can you implement Audio Unit plugins? If you do that, you get a 32 band equalizer for free. Also, the guy that wrote Canz3D is working on a 64bit version, so that should work too. 
  
 -Allan


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## Krutsch

allanmarcus said:


> Can you implement Audio Unit plugins? If you do that, you get a 32 band equalizer for free. Also, the guy that wrote Canz3D is working on a 64bit version, so that should work too.
> 
> -Allan


 

 +1 ... rather than building you own EQ, it makes far more sense to support AU plug-ins.


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## MiguelATF

Another bit +1 - or just plain +++ - for BitPerfect aka BP.  Just purchased it for my Mac Mini - which is equipped with a small but powerful FiiO E10 and through which I'm listening via Martin Logan Mikros 90 phones - and BP provides subtle but audible improvements - more richness, complexity and body - to the sound my Mac is putting out.
  
 So - Kudos to all the BitPerfect brain trust!


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## agentsim

Thanks!


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## AppleheadMay

miguelatf said:


> Another bit +1 - or just plain +++ - for BitPerfect aka BP.  Just purchased it for my Mac Mini - which is equipped with a small but powerful FiiO E10 and through which I'm listening via Martin Logan Mikros 90 phones - and BP provides subtle but audible improvements - more richness, complexity and body - to the sound my Mac is putting out.
> 
> So - Kudos to all the BitPerfect brain trust!


 
  
 Indeed. If there's one app I I'd hate to live without BP would be it.
 And there's another nice one, a true help for late night sore eyes ... "f.lux".


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## agentsim

f.lux is fantastic, it is nice to think of BP being similarly indispensable


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## notfitforpublic

I'll join the positive remarks for BP. For the money, its a fantastic piece of software and does an incredible job of improving iTunes SQ.
  
 I also second, third or fourth the EQ motion for next update


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## headwhacker

I think gapless playback is no longer working with iTunes 12. The only way now to make gapless playback work is to create a fixed playlist. Is this a known bug? I have any issues with gapless before.


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## notfitforpublic

Noticing similar issues here. iTunes 12.1.2.27


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## agentsim

Gapless playback has been deteriorating for a while. The root cause is the iTunes "up next" feature. There is currently no way to ask iTunes about the "up next" list.
  
 The net result of this is, gapless playback can only work if what iTunes reports as the next track happens to match "up next". What iTunes reports as the next track is the order you see on the primary playlist. So if that playlist is sorted by, for example, track name, then gapless won't work. On the other hand, if it is sorted by track number, then by album name, it is much more likely to work.
  
 I'm currently trying to think up a way to solve this problem. The best solution would be for Apple to expose the "up next" list via AppleScript... fingers crossed for an iTunes update (maybe the update that comes with Apple Radio in a few days.)


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## AppleheadMay

@agentsim

  
 I now have my music on a thunderbolt drive connected to my computer which is connected via usb to my dac.
 Let's say I put my music on a network drive instead (with very good wired network connection)  and the rest stays the same.
 Will the sound still be as good, or will there be compression if iTunes (with BitPerfect) needs to get the music from a network drive instead of a thunderbolt drive?


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## agentsim

The sound should be pretty much identical, this is how BitPerfect's reference system is set up. Gigabit wired connection to a Synology NAS, and we notice no degradation vs. the built-in drive on a Mac Mini.


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## Allanmarcus

appleheadmay said:


> @agentsim
> 
> 
> I now have my music on a thunderbolt drive connected to my computer which is connected via usb to my dac.
> ...


 
 Don't forget to get an AudioQuest diamond ethernet cable to make your bits sound better.
  
 http://www.audioquest.com/ethernet/diamond


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## AppleheadMay

agentsim said:


> The sound should be pretty much identical, this is how BitPerfect's reference system is set up. Gigabit wired connection to a Synology NAS, and we notice no degradation vs. the built-in drive on a Mac Mini.


 
  
 Thanks, just what I needed to hear Agentsim.
  
 I recently picked up some vintage receivers which are really sensitive to usb noise.
 When I hook them up to my iMac there's a buzz, my iMac has a lot of usb stuff connected to it.
 When I hook them up to my MBP with just one USB cable going to the same dac the noise is gone.
 So'll I'll probably get me a Mac Mini to connect my dacs to it and connect to my library via network.
  
 Is the standard Mac Mini model ok or is there any use for more memory or a faster processor?
 I might be using it for HD video playback over the network as well by hooking it up to an AV receiver with HDMI.


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## agentsim

We have a fairly old Mac Mini, I don't remember that exact model and it works pretty well, but it is a dedicated audio device. Looking at the specs on the base Mac Mini (1.4 gHz), that seems pretty weak. I'd suggest going for the mid range model (2.6gHz, 8gb ram), that'll be more than enough for BitPerfect and I'd imagine for any HD video you might throw at it.


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## AppleheadMay

agentsim said:


> We have a fairly old Mac Mini, I don't remember that exact model and it works pretty well, but it is a dedicated audio device. Looking at the specs on the base Mac Mini (1.4 gHz), that seems pretty weak. I'd suggest going for the mid range model (2.6gHz, 8gb ram), that'll be more than enough for BitPerfect and I'd imagine for any HD video you might throw at it.


 
  
  
 Thanks Agentsim, my buzz problem is solved then!
 Way too much stuff in my mancave.


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## AppleheadMay

allanmarcus said:


> Don't forget to get an AudioQuest diamond ethernet cable to make your bits sound better.
> 
> http://www.audioquest.com/ethernet/diamond


 
  
 Thanks for the advice, I'll buy a 100 meters bulk spool to rewire my whole house over again.


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## Allanmarcus

appleheadmay said:


> agentsim said:
> 
> 
> > The sound should be pretty much identical, this is how BitPerfect's reference system is set up. Gigabit wired connection to a Synology NAS, and we notice no degradation vs. the built-in drive on a Mac Mini.
> ...


 
 You might consider a Schiit Wyrd. Might be much less expensive, and you don't need to manage multiple computers. 
  
 Also, I believe the imac still has optical out (through the 3.5mm plug), so you can try that.


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## AppleheadMay

allanmarcus said:


> You might consider a Schiit Wyrd. Might be much less expensive, and you don't need to manage multiple computers.
> 
> Also, I believe the imac still has optical out (through the 3.5mm plug), so you can try that.


 
  
Thanks for the Wyrd tip, I forgot about that one!
 Just ordered me one from their European site, will try it out.
 I prefer to use USB, I have more than one dac.


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## AppleheadMay

FYI, just tried the Wyrd, no USB noise reduction at all. 
 They accept returns sow will ship it back tonight.
 It's gonna be a dedicated Mini after all.


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## Allanmarcus

appleheadmay said:


> FYI, just tried the Wyrd, no USB noise reduction at all.
> They accept returns sow will ship it back tonight.
> It's gonna be a dedicated Mini after all.


 

 thanks for the update. Interesting.


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## AppleheadMay

@agentsim 
  
 I have a bit of an organisational problem.
  
 My music setup has evolved to using iTunes where I keep my library for organisational purposes (i.e. a database) in the classic view with the column browser on top. I can think of no better way of managing my library.
 Also, iTunes enables syncing with my iPod Classic and iTunes Match of course.
  
 For playback though I started to use Roon. This has nothing to do with SQ, BitPerfect, Audirvana, Roon and most other players are equal regarding SQ in my opinion, I can't hear a difference.
 Roon is just a wonderful way of re-discovering your own music, discovering new music, links between music and artists and just playing the music that matches your mood.
  
 While using using both iTunes (with BitPerfect of course) and Roon in tandem is the perfect system it also induced a problem.
 I keep my DSD albums in iTunes by creating Hybrid-DSD files with DSD Master.
 Roon reads these just fine but only the 176Khz portion of the file or course, it doesn't see the original DSD file contained in the hybrid file.
 This means I have to keep the DSD file in a separate Roon library and any changes I make to the hybrid file in iTunes isn't reflected onto the DSD file in Roon of course.
  
 Therefore I'd like to ask you if you would be willing to make Hybrid-DSD files (the DSD portion of it) accessible through Roon. Since it is a proprietary format this would require permission form you part. I have no idea what would have to be done technically.
  
Any chance this could happen Agentsim?


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## notfitforpublic

Wondering if anyone can help me out here.

I’ve always used BitPerfect with the optical connection on my late 2012 MacMini OSX 10.11.6. Despite some very minor issues (some sputtering, repeating parts of tracks, all things I’ve been able to solve reading the site or are so sporadic it doesn’t bother me) I’ve been very happy with the purchase.

Recently bought 2 different USB DAC’s that have suddenly caused some more serious issues. My Bifrost via optical has no issues dealing with sample rate changes or switching between sources. Both the USB DAC’s I now have are not as stable with BitPerfect. Every time a sample rate changes from 44.1k to say 96k, the USB DAC’s will either stop playing or play audio that sputters and stalls incoherently. They also take some playing around to get BitPerfect to interact with them. They are present and selectable, however I often have to Disable/Re-enable a few times just to get audio through the USB DAC’s. Otherwise there is no audio at all, or again the sputtering and stalling.

Both DAC’s function as normal when BitPerfect is not enabled and from other sources.

Chain is:
MacMini late 2012>Audioquest Jitterbug> Schiit Fulla 2/Dragonfly Red
iTunes>BitPerfect

I have tested both DAC’s with and without the AQ Jitterbug with no success.

Anyone else experiencing this?


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