Review Audirvāna Studio 3 – Core has come of age

The new interface

On both iPad and iPhone, the interface is different. More information fits on the screen and it also looks tidier. There is now both a ‘white’ and a ‘black’ theme, so you can choose what you prefer.

On the iPad, the ‘what’s playing now’ and ‘queue’ has been moved to the left column in landscape mode. When the iPad is held vertically, the layout is the same as on the iPhone. It looks minimal, but 1 tap on the album image and screen with controls opens.

New on the opening screen is the playback history. The selection of a streaming service, local library or radio station has moved to the top of the screen instead of the left column in the previous version.
It takes some getting used to, but in practice this works more pleasantly than the previous version of the Remote App.

The search function still works the same, but the search results can be filtered by source (local files, streaming services) in the Remote App, something that until this version could only be done in the Mac or Windows software. Appreciated progress!

The new EQ options

The big new feature is the ability to apply different forms of EQ. The way is very nice, because it is a choice. If you do not appreciate this feature you do not have to do anything, it doesn’t affect the signal path.

In the Settings menu, the Processing option has been added under Audio.

Clicking on that will give you a detailed description of the four options present: Convolution, 10-band parametric EQ, CrossFeed and Balance. But you must first turn on the Use Signal Processing toggle to activate these options so you can configure them.

All options have a toggle real time at the top right. When Audirvana is playing, you cannot make any adjustments in the settings. The entire playback chain, including all set adjustments in the signal, is locked until you release the streamer or streaming DAC again. With ‘real-time’, settings can be adjusted as you play music. A Raspberry Pi 4 is not powerful enough to do that, so this option only works if the computer is powerful enough.

Convolution filters also require computing power. It is a method of setting Room EQ, an adjustment to the acoustics of the environment. On the internet, there are several websites and forums sharing Convolution filter profiles for popular headphones. For use with a stereo system, a measurement is required. This measurement can be made with the software REW, for example, but it requires a computer and a (measurement) microphone.

The Crossfeed filter is to adjust the stereo experience on headphones and Balance is a way to adjust the timing of the left and right speaker signal at times when, due to placement problems in the home, e.g. reflections, it is not possible to get the timing of the left and right signal exactly right.

They are nice additions for those who like to make use of this. Especially for headphone listeners, EQ gives the opportunity to tailor the music experience.