More > JRiver Media Center 31 for Mac
Harsh Sounding High End Audio Playback
Awesome Donkey:
Yeah, as expected it's resampling everything to 48 kHz to get around Apple's HDMI chipset limitation on Apple Silicon-based Macs. The only thing I can recommend is to try changing to the SoX resampler by going to MC's Options > Audio > Settings and enabling the Use SoX for resampling option and see if that makes any difference. Resampling *can* introduce artifacts that can potentially be audible to some people, so this could be what you're hearing.
To avoid resampling completely you'd have to use another connection (e.g. USB) instead of HDMI.
P.S. All other apps are also resampling audio that isn't 48 kHz as well, since over HDMI the Apple Silicon-based Macs can't playback 44.1 kHz or anything above 48 kHz without resampling first. In the background, apps are probably doing this without informing you (or the system is just doing it in the background without informing you, either way) which of course resampling is always a lossy conversion process. This is why a lot of users don't use the HDMI out from Apple Silicon-based Macs for audio as you can't get bit-perfect audio (unless the source media is 48 kHz), because of this limitation.
blgentry:
--- Quote from: Awesome Donkey on June 01, 2023, 04:01:39 am --- which of course resampling is always a lossy conversion process.
--- End quote ---
You keep saying this. I'm not sure you understand what you are saying. Resampling is not the same as lossy compression. Yes , resampling, with most algorithms, changes the data. But it does not reduce the data rate or anything especially adverse. When you say "a lossy conversion", most people think this will be a very audible change. Like converting to MP3, which reduces the data rate drastically. Resampling does not reduce the data rate. So it really should not be especially audible. Yes, I avoid sample rate changes when I can.
Perhaps you know all of this already? I'm lobbying for you to change your wording of this as I believe that these statements confuse customers that are not as technically informed as you and I.
Thank you for your consideration.
Brian.
Awesome Donkey:
Anything that changes audio data, in my book, I consider a lossy conversion, as it isn't bit-perfect and you can't resample losslessly. It's a permanent loss of the original data by changing it, and it can't be restored back to the way it was originally. Same with dithering as well, though padding bit-depths from 16-bit to 24-bit or 32-bit is fine and isn't dithering, as that's just tagging on zeroes as padding. Dithering from 24-bit to 16-bit, that's something I'd also consider a lossy conversion.
I mean, call it whatever you will and I can see how it could be confusing with lossy compression like MP3s, but I still call it a lossy conversion. Same as I do with DSD to PCM (or vice versa) conversions. *shrugs* I am open to alternative terminology though.
Birchman:
I changed the SoX and there is not any noticeable change to what I am hearing. I will attach a screenshot of the change. My Marantz amp probably dates itself as it has numerous HDMI inputs and no USB inputs. Luckily I have two apps that seem to play the music ok. I can now see that it is probably not a coincidence that those two apps are very Mac centered.
Hopefully JRiver can find a way sometime to remedy this problem. In the meantime I will try to see if I can EQ around the problem. Thanks everyone.
blgentry:
I've been using MC on Mac for 7 or 8 years now. I've seen a lot of interesting and unusual issues. This one is new for me.
These other programs you use to play audio on your Mac: They are using the exact same connection? HDMI to your Marantz receiver? ...and they sound substantially different than MC?
Do you think there is a volume difference between the players? Even a small volume difference can make highs sound more prominent.
Is there anything else you can think of that might account for what you hear? EQ settings on the other players for example. Or a system level EQ that you might have installed on your Mac.
Have you examined the front panel of the Marantz while each app is playing? Generally speaking you will see various lights on the receiver that indicate what it is receiving and what kind of decoding is being done. If, for example, your Marantz is engaging a surround sound mode with MC and *not* with the others, that would explain a sonic difference. Or if the Marantz is engaging some kind of processing option with one or the other.
It would be really good if you could pull up the on screen display of the Marantz during playback. I'm pretty confident that a Marantz with HDMI has an on screen display that should show surround modes, and input formats.
Thanks for reading.
Brian.
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