Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Swell_Sailor]

Hello, I'm a former Decibel user and current Amara user needing to upgrade my computer which requires a switch to a new player so I'm testing version 33 on a Mac Mini running Sonoma. Perhaps this is being discussed here but a search didn't reveal it. Things seemed to be working okay although the interface isn't intuitive for me at all, but suddenly I get a notice when trying to play music that reads "Playback could not be started on the output 'Core Audio" using format '48kHz 4ch.' I have not selected 48kHz 4 channel. Also, I turned of DSP by unchecking output format, which allows me to play one file, but the next file gives me the same report, and output format is checked again.

I would like to find success with Media Center but so far it's simply not cooperating and it's not a good sign that I have to come here first day for what appears to be a bug.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Awesome Donkey]

Pick the appropriate Audio Device in MC's Options > Audio section. Make sure it's not set to the default audio output.

[Swell_Sailor]

Pick the appropriate Audio Device in MC's Options > Audio section. Make sure it's not set to the default audio output.

Thanks. I've done that. It plays to my DAC and sometimes allows a second file to play, but eventually I get a playback failure with same report and output format is checked again. I'm not currently interested in DSP. I like to send audio native to my DAC.

[bob]

Turn off "Auto configure output settings on playback failure"

[Swell_Sailor]

Turn off "Auto configure output settings on playback failure"

Thanks. I just spent a few minutes looking for that to no avail. I'll keep looking.

[Awesome Donkey]

MC's Options > Audio > Advanced > Auto configure output settings on playback failure.

[bob]

Thanks. I just spent a few minutes looking for that to no avail. I'll keep looking.

For future reference, there is a search box at the bottom of the options dialog.

[Swell_Sailor]

MC's Options > Audio > Advanced > Auto configure output settings on playback failure.

Thanks. I found it but now I get a new message. "Playback cannot be started on the output 'Core Audio' using format......."

Am I limited to core audio settings in Audio Midi or can I bypass and play at native resolution directly to my DAC?

V31 is playing but I think it's resampling.

As a Photoshop and Dreamweaver and Bias Peak and Audacity power user for 20+ years I'm feeling pretty stupid when it comes to Media Center and if I'm constantly fighting the software while auditioning I'm likely to give up. I just want to play my high Rez files natively to my DAC like I've been doing for years and not have to fight with a piece of software that doesn't want to cooperate.

I guess I need a short course on native hi rez audio playback directly to my DAC. If there are 4 or 5 settings to make then all I have to do is hit play I'll be happy but so far out of the gate I can't just hit play and enjoy my music.

[bob]

Thanks. I found it but now I get a new message. "Playback cannot be started on the output 'Core Audio' using format......."

Am I limited to core audio settings in Audio Midi or can I bypass and play at native resolution directly to my DAC?

V31 is playing but I think it's resampling.

As a Photoshop and Dreamweaver and Bias Peak and Audacity power user for 20+ years I'm feeling pretty stupid when it comes to Media Center and if I'm constantly fighting the software while auditioning I'm likely to give up. I just want to play my high Rez files natively to my DAC like I've been doing for years and not have to fight with a piece of software that doesn't want to cooperate.

I guess I need a short course on native hi rez audio playback directly to my DAC. If there are 4 or 5 settings to make then all I have to do is hit play I'll be happy but so far out of the gate I can't just hit play and enjoy my music.

If you're getting "Playback cannot be started on the output 'Core Audio' using format......." and integer mode and exclusive access are disabled, that means your device can't support that format!

Media Center allows you fine tuned control over output to your device. If you disable auto-configuration of the same rate it's assumed you know what sample rates and bit depths your device supports and you will configure DSP studio to match your device.

If you don't want to deal with that, just enable DSP studio and set the sample rate to the highest your device supports, turn off integer and exclusive access in MC's audio device settings.

BTW this is all logged. If you want to see what MC is doing when it opens the audio device you can just turn on logging and take a look.

[Swell_Sailor]

If you getting "Playback cannot be started on the output 'Core Audio' using format......." and integer mode and exclusive access are disabled that means you device can't support that format!

Media Center allows you fine tuned control over output to your device. If you disable auto-configuration of the same rate it's assumed you know what sample rates and bit depths your device support and you configure DSP studio to match your device.

If you don't want to deal with that, just enable DSP studio and set the sample rate to the highest your device supports, turn off integer and exclusive access in MC's audio device settings.

BTW this is all logged. If you want to see what MC is doing when it opens the audio device you can just turn on logging and take a look.

Thanks. I realize I've been fooling myself. I'm testing in my office system and the DAC does 24/96 only through coax and toslink. USB is crippled at 16/48, which is why DSP needs to be enabled so that it can resample. The main system has a more sophisticated DAC where no resampling is necessary. My fault. I take it all back.

My music player is an obsolete iMac running High Sierra. I could test media center on it but the real test would be a modern replacement machine through USB to my best DAC (replacing the iMac is the goal) but that's not so easy.

I may know someone with a DAC I can borrow.......

[bob]

Thanks. I realize I've been fooling myself. I'm testing in my office system and the DAC does 24/96 only through coax and toslink. USB is crippled at 16/48, which is why DSP needs to be enabled so that it can resample. The main system has a more sophisticated DAC where no resampling is necessary. My fault. I take it all back.

My music player is an obsolete iMac running High Sierra. I could test media center on it but the real test would be a modern replacement machine through USB to my best DAC (replacing the iMac is the goal) but that's not so easy.

I may know someone with a DAC I can borrow.......

I have an iFi iDSD nano that works great on my Macs (and PC's and linux).

[Awesome Donkey]

I can also recommend iFi DACs, I use a iFi Zen DAC 3.

[Swell_Sailor]

Thanks again.

The plan is to replace an aging iMac music server with close to a terabyte of music feeding a Sabre DAC (built into a preamp-DSD and up to 32/384 capable) over usb with a new iMac or Mac Mini. I've been pleased with Amarra SQ and I've gotten used to the interface but it looks like Sonic Studio has abandoned it and I've always been curious about Media Center. I'm testing Media Center in an office system with a modern Mac Mini, but I'd forgotten about the DAC limitations in my office integrated amp. I've thought about an external DAC for the office, and iFi would be on my list, but I don't think it would be money well spend as I doubt the rest of the system would allow the benefits of the new DAC to reveal themselves.

I was hoping I could stream over the network to the main system which works with Apple Music but not with Media Center as far as I can see. It looks like the only way to test what I hope to do for SQ is to move the office Mac Mini and monitor to the iMac location and that's not going to happen. I may install Media Center in the old iMac and run a test from there. In the office I can experiment with the interface, which isn't all that intuitive to me yet, but I can't test SQ from the office and SQ is my highest priority. I can get used to any interface as long as it's not buggy and I can get to a point where all I have to do is select the music and hit play.