Not Direct

I started this morning with the Glenn Gould Bach English and French Suites again, on the ripped file from the cd that I own, taking up where I left off, with English Suite No. 6 in D-,  BWV 111. I wasn't really looking forward to it, hadn't been enjoying this set nearly as much as him playing the Mozart Sonatas, though I couldn't put my finger on why. I enjoy Bach (maybe not as much as Wolfgang). 

Then I remembered that I had switched the software, Audirvana Plus, to access the DAC using the "direct" method, rather than going through Apple's CoreAudio software library. A couple of weeks ago when I installed this software I played around with this setting and found that using "direct" sounded funny but couldn't put my finger on exactly why. But I turned it back on because the manual said it was best. 

This morning after the first movement I stopped the playback and turned the "direct" setting off. I started the second movement. Wow, what a difference! It sounded like Glenn Gould again! Couldn't believe the difference. It was like it was dead before, and now came alive. I remembered why I liked him playing the Mozart so much -- you could hear the life in the recording. I restarted the piece from the beginning because I wanted to hear what the first movement really sounded like.

Don't know why this setting should make such a difference, but software is a complicated business. I use an optical cable to connect my MacBook Pro to the DAC, rather than the more commonly used USB interface. Maybe that makes a difference (though it shouldn't). Whatever the reason, I will keep using this setting turned off. Makes me wonder how good CoreAudio must be, and what the music coming out of Windows computers sounds like. I know that underlying audio software on Macs is better than Windows, because in Windows you often need to add drivers to use high performance DAC's, whereas in Macs you don't. 

Anyway, after I listened to BWV 111 and 112, I played another Beethoven sonata, actually the same one I played yesterday, the Waldstein, Sonata No. 21 in C, Op. 53. I mentioned yesterday that I have been going through the sonatas and playing mostly Andras Schiff, but that there were over 60 artists listed with recordings. So I tried another, the very first that comes up, Wilhelm Kempff. Good, accurate, but the banging on the repeated high note in the last movement hurt my ears.