More > JRiver Media Center 31 for Mac
Harsh Sounding High End Audio Playback
Birchman:
I presently use a Mac which outputs to an mid-price range Marantz amp.
For quite awhile there is something that I have noticed with the JRiver where the playback of stored audio media files (WAV, FLAC, mp3, etc) seems somewhat compressed or shrill sounding especially on the high end of the dynamic range.
This has led me to constantly try other media players. I am not presently hearing the same problem to anywhere near the same extent with at least two other audio players (Colibri and the resident Apple music player).
What I am hearing on these other two players is a more organic or analog sounding play back.
I think I was having the same problem with Window machines before I converted to Apple in the last year or so.
I seem to remember shifting between different players on my Windows machines. I have one Windows machine playing through another amp in my garage and it seem to have the same problem with JRiver playback.
My sensitivity to compressed sounding playback might be different than for many others but the playback at times is grating somewhat like fingernails on a chalkboard or fatiguing. Is anyone else experiencing this playback problem?
blgentry:
Are you using DLNA (network) to connect to these devices? If so the default "server profile" for that sends MP3 audio. If you can check your Marantz while playback is happening, it should show you the file type and bit rate. You will probably see MP3.
Fixing this requires a bit of configuration that I haven't done in a very long time. You can get started at:
Tools > Options > Media Network > Add or configure DLNA servers
Best of luck.
Brian.
Birchman:
My output is an HDMI cable straight from the Mac to the Amp, similar to the configuration for my windows machines.
I am primarily playing WAV or FLAC files at 44/16. I have always used whatever default setting JRiver sets.
The Marantz amp does not show file type, etc during playback.
I did try turning the DLNA feature completely off and then back on with no change to what I am hearing.
This problem seems to be similar to compression problems found when an audio engineer boosts the high or mid range in a remastering.
Awesome Donkey:
Is it a new M1 or M2 Apple Silicon-based Mac? If so, HDMI audio output on those are limited to 48 kHz and it's likely there's some resampling going on there. Only way around it is to avoid using HDMI from the Mac, as it is probably a chipset limitation of Apple Silicon-based Macs. You can verify this by opening the Audio MIDI Setup app in macOS and see if it displays 48 kHz for all output options (as seen in the screenshot posted in the link I posted).
Manfred:
On Audioscience Review you could find an interesting article about SQ using HDMI:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/a-deep-dive-into-hdmi-audio-performance.56/
For audio it's better to use USB->DAC with galvanic isolation. I don' think your Marantz builtin DAC has galvanic isolation. If you want better SQ you could try a USB DAC with analog out to Marantz (should have analog inputs?). Maybe one of your friends or dealer could give you one for testing?
If you use DLNA: Use Whitebear DLNA tool to check your server and device settings. Use the search engine to look for Whitebears tool.
48kHz on Mac Limit - My very personal Comment:
I think it's Apple's strategy to limit video content to 48kHz sample rate. HDMI IF reflects that . They want to drive the streaming market to a standard. I have only two old concert BD's with 96 kHz. Every new commercial video content I have seen the last years is limited to 48 kHz or below. For Audio only Apple strategy is to use Ethernet, WiFi or USB/Thunderbold as interface.
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