Audirvana for Mac

Damien may have done a fantastic job at developing the best music player on the market, but sadly, the software is plagued by usability issues and generally speaking, a mediocre user experience. A large portion of the UI in Audirvana studio is dedicated to streaming services that I am not interested in (considering the poor quality of masters you are going to get on those services), but you still have to deal with a UI and monthly-based subscription model that forces you into the online steaming model. Those like me who supported Audirvana+ over the years are now left with two choices: pay a high monthly fee for a service they don’t need, or keep using Audirvana+, aware of the fact that it’s not going to get any support and improve over time. Usability issues that I’ve observed: - Search by name is broken, you select one album in the search results, and it still takes you to a list that includes all albums, so you have to choose again. - No contextual help, no user manual. - Poor playback options, e.g. no way to jump backward/fwd in playback using arrow keys, which is the minimum I’d expect from a music player. - Poor display of metadata, with inline scrolling and poor usage of screen estate. - It plays only the selected track and then it stops, I can hardly believe it works this way. - Search options are very limited, e.g. no way to parse all metadata, only the main ones. I am sorry to say that for me to be willing to commit to a subscription-based model, the bar should be raised higher: - A decent permanent license software that works. - A wishlist website where customers who support the business can submit requests, vote for them, see the upcoming new features ahead of time. - A two-tiers subscription model, where you can pay more if you need web-based services, but you can also pay less, if you don’t need them. - Integration with Youtube Music.

I recently initiated the 30-day trial of Studio. I've used Audirvana for years, but less so over the last several months. I was surprised by the subscription business model and to learn that my current software is now a "legacy". As a long-time Tidal subscriber, I have no issues with subscriptions so long as there is performance value for the investment. I am running the Benchmark amp and DAC3L with the LA4 preamp to be added soon. Sole source is my MacBook Pro via USB. The Studio download went fine and, though early days, I am very impressed with Studio over Plus. I hope to have more to say on this down the road. Now, what I don't like is the vague support system which seems to rely on the "community". I preferred sending in a question and Damien, et al, responding. This is the Benchmark Audio support model which, for me, distinguishes real customer support from the community approach that is merely a convenience to the company. I'm also concerned by comments relating to issues of compatibility with the MacBook. I haven't had any problems so far, but they would be a deal-breaker. So at this early stage I am really like using Studio and will gladly pay the subscription rate if no tedious software issues. Good job Audirvana.

Hmmm. I have used Audirvana for years, with iTunes and Qobuz. The move to a subscriber model doesn't bother me. But the pricing does, somewhat. For me, I must now pay Audirvana and Qobuz nearly $20/month, altogether. Qobuz on its own provides significant value for me. Audirvana does not alone in comparison. So, if push comes to shove I'll ditch Audirvana. A shame. It's the pricing, not necessarily the subscription model that's the critical decision for developers, and their customers. And the perceived value. I only use Audirvana occasionally when listening to Qobuz with certain DACS. Otherwise I use the Qobuz player for convenience. Thus the subscriber model can be costly. On the other hand. I have multiple Audirvana licenses to cover multiple machines that I use exclusively. If the new subscriber model is a personal license across my machines, that would make the pricing shown on the web site ($5.90/moth) more palatable. If not, the monthly cost of using Audirvana across my machines would not be worth it. Good luck folks at Audirvana!

Looks like this is going to subscription-only. What a slap in the face to their customers. Audirvana is DEAD to me now.

Audirvana 3.5 is outstanding. It sounds so good. The better your system the more you will love it. It does great things for all music lovers. You can try it for 30 days so you have nothing to lose and it is well worth the price. It completely changes the game on streaming boxes because you don't have to spend thousands. You can use a good computer and then bypass its internal audio settings and let Audirvana use its own control which will keep the music and say goodbye to the internal computer noise. Think I'm joking? Decades long audiophile and you have a free trial for 30 days. So what do you have to lose? Go for it!