AIR 3 Beta for Mac

[streamy]

Its been some time since i did iTunes. Just then i opened iTunes, I realised my fav files are in FLAC format. Luckily when on iTunes i picked the NAS driver which did have few albums in AAC or MP3.

Tried AIR 3.0 (after initial hicchups on AIR app and settings "sound" ) - ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT no Drops, No white noise nothing. i m now about 6th track. not doing critical listening yet as personally I might say my USB from Roon is equally good (biased towards Roon?). Actually I have put the system on low (-40) volume and simply allowing it to play.

Well by the time I did proof reading this message I m already done 8th Track. Will try Roon once again later. For now iTunes - ENJOYING IT!.

To listen all my Fav albums, do i have to convert FLAC to AAC ? Hate it.

Better choice than AAC is to convert FLAC to ALAC for iTunes. ALAC is the Apple version of FLAC. In my opinion it handles the metadata better. You can use MediaHuman Audio Converter from www.mediahuman.com It is freeware.

[Jwg1749]

Just a quick thanks to everyone who's posted info and findings so far.

I haven't used AIR for two years now; it was too much hassle. But like everyone here (I assume), I would really like AIR to work. Having read the posts on this thread, I'm feeling optimistic. So time now to set it up and do a long test. Wish me luck!

Matt

[GuillaumeB]

Just a quick thanks to everyone who's posted info and findings so far.

I haven't used AIR for two years now; it was too much hassle. But like everyone here (I assume), I would really like AIR to work. Having read the posts on this thread, I'm feeling optimistic. So time now to set it up and do a long test. Wish me luck!

Matt

Good luck Matt! Like I said I am pleasantly surprised.   

Guillaume

[Zappydev]

And let's wait until this 'emperors new clothes' effect wears off to be sure it really sounds this much better. I somehow doubt it.

Has anyone tried AIR3 on a Mac set up as a RoonBridge, rather than on a Roon Server ?

[Eddye]

And let's wait until this 'emperors new clothes' effect wears off to be sure it really sounds this much better. I somehow doubt it.

Well I did play some pretty d@mn good music, so you could be right 
Personally I find it very hard to define 'better' when it comes to sound quality, but there appears to be a difference when playing the same file through AIR of through my Aurender.

[PhilP]

Does anyone know what versions of OS X are compatible with AIR 3?  I've never had any problems with AIR 2 but the reports of improved SQ are intriguing.  There seems to be an abysmal lack of information from Devialet to support this 'beta' release.

[eag]

Tried again, this time with Tidal (keeps dropping out from Roon after a few minutes resulting in my Macbook Pro hanging). With Tidal, Air3 can see Ethernet connection, but now AIR refuses to activate. Guess I have to reboot the Mac for the n’th time - to me this reminds me strongly about Air v1 and v2. Works for some, utter annoyance for the rest of us. Normally I would try different ways, but can’t quite find the motivation given all the earlier problems and issues. Tried to re-launch AIR, no success.

[Fragoulisnaval]

Its been some time since i did iTunes. Just then i opened iTunes, I realised my fav files are in FLAC format. Luckily when on iTunes i picked the NAS driver which did have few albums in AAC or MP3.

Tried AIR 3.0 (after initial hicchups on AIR app and settings "sound" ) - ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT no Drops, No white noise nothing. i m now about 6th track. not doing critical listening yet as personally I might say my USB from Roon is equally good (biased towards Roon?). Actually I have put the system on low (-40) volume and simply allowing it to play.

Well by the time I did proof reading this message I m already done 8th Track. Will try Roon once again later. For now iTunes - ENJOYING IT!.

To listen all my Fav albums, do i have to convert FLAC to AAC ? Hate it.

Better choice than AAC is to convert FLAC to ALAC for iTunes. ALAC is the Apple version of FLAC. In my opinion it handles the metadata better. You can use MediaHuman Audio Converter from www.mediahuman.com It is freeware.

XLD is a far better choice. Freeware too, can also handle DSD files, better community support and also Accuraterip database check.

[SwissBear]

I'm having some trouble when switching between samplerates. Probably a setting in Audirvana, I'll try and look at that sometime during the weekend.
SQ-wise this AIR3 is very good. I'm really enjoying what I'm hearing.

I have the same issue here with Audirvana 2.5.0. When not upsampling, changing sample rates requires to 'reload' the driver, ie re-select it in Audirvana's preference. In upsampling mode, I have been facing some long drop-outs (a few seconds) every hour or so.
Hope others continue to enjoy

[Allman77]

After two minutes Air stops and the icon is grey and hangs, have to restart. Running on Mac Mini with Roon and latest versions.

Edit: the Mac won't even restart...have to turn it off and on...mmm..