#517 Call for testing: arm64 native version

[tmkk]

Apple released ARM-powered Macs. XLD needs to be updated to run natively on Apple Silicon.

Unfortunately I don't own ARM Mac yet and I want to track down bugs caused by this transition, so I put test version here. Please report any issues.

If you have troubles with this test version, please check if it also happens with Rosetta environment. See here to run with Rosetta.

[Scott Austin]

Thank you for the Apple Silicon version! I've ripped a CD to Apple Lossless using XLD Secure Ripper - no issues so far. I'll continue to use it going forward and will update if I find anything that needs attention.

Also, I'm happy to test anything specific, just let me know. Thanks again for quickly pushing this beta out.

[tmkk]

Thank you for testing! Actually I was worried that it wouldn't even start.

One known issue is that FLAC encoding is slow (even when compared with Rosetta environment!) because x86 version is optimized with SSE but ARM version lacks NEON optimization.

So I've made some optimizations in FLAC encoder. I put a test build here and a performance comparison (20201121 vs 20201129 vs Rosetta) is welcome. Higher compression level should make larger improvement.

[Jeffrey Hight]

Many thanks for this application; it has been very useful to me. Thank you now for this new arm64 native version. I have just begun using it on my new Apple Silicon equipped Mac Mini. I have successfully ripped a conventional CD, as well as succesffully converted dsf files to both FLAC and Apple Lossless. No problems thus far.

[Hawly Kombuta]

All three versions are about the same from FLAC to Apple Lossless. They're so fast it's hard to see a difference. Is there a loooong test flac somewhere that might take 20 seconds or so to convert? Which formats do you want to see tested?

[tmkk]

The optimization is about encoding (i.e. WAV/AIFF to FLAC), not decoding. FLAC decoding is too fast to make a difference.

[Vladislav Gerasimov]

Thanks so much for the ARM version! Converted FLAC to AAC, no problems so far.

[Hawly Kombuta]

Converting a 43 minute WAV (458Mb) to FLAC on M1 Mac Mini:
Intel version: 272x realtime -- about 9 seconds
20201121 version: 473x realtime -- about 5 seconds
20201129 version: 796x realtime -- about 3 seconds

[tmkk]

Thanks for testing. What is your compression level? Level 8 should make more difference.

[Hawly Kombuta]

That was on 7 (normal).

This is on 8:
Intel version: 225x realtime
20201121 version: 218x realtime
20201129 version: 603x realtime

This is on 9:
Intel version: 214x realtime
20201121 version: 148x realtime
20201129 version: 558x realtime

This is on 10 (high):
Intel version: 173x realtime
20201121 version: 85x realtime
20201129 version: 404x realtime

[tmkk]

OK thank you very much. So massive improvement is confirmed, I'll make a contribution to the FLAC devs.

[Dice]

Is apple lossless in xld optimized for streaming? meaning the audio details and tags are placed before audio data?

[tmkk]

(Off-topic) yes XLD moves moov (including udta) chunk before mdat chunk.

[tmkk]

Now XLD for arm64 is in release-candidate state. The new version includes optimization in LAME encoder. Not so much difference like FLAC encoder, but should be faster.

And the arm64-native log checker plugin and TAK decoder plugin (depending on FFmpeg) are now available at Files section.

[Daniel Courville]

I've tried the 20201218 (153.0) version on a MacBook Pro Intel (macOS 10.15.7) and a MacBook Air M1 (macOS 11.1): it performs equally well on both. Thanks!