Amarra 2.2 released

[RBFC]

I haven't been using the Amarra volume control. No need with a separate preamp.

Lee

 

[ted_b]

I think Amarra 2.2 improves soundstage depth a bit, for me, especially in the shi%%y playlist mode (I hate using Logmein/VNC apps for these players who won't use iTunes like Pure Music does, simply as a GUI). But overall my large preference is for the beta version of Pure Music integer mode (which is only capable of bypassing the 32 bit core audio step with DACS that accept integer playback, like the Antelope Plus I am borrowing currently). Amazing 3D, and tonality/timbre reproduction. Not close IMO.

With stock players I put Amarra 2.2 playlist even with Pure Music's hog mode/memory playback setup, so PM wins every time...since i am addicted to the Remote app functionality on my iTouch and iPad (i.e using iTunes for library management). But Amarra has indeed improved it's lot. My $.02

 

[steve williams]

Ted

Is Pure Music free or where do you purchase it

 

[ted_b]

Steve,
Pure Music is a $129 player from Channel D. The trial is full-use and free for 15 days. I have no affiliation except as a happy customer (of both PM and Amarra).
http://www.channld.com/puremusic/

The best setup includes using memory playback and hog mode (exclusive access to the DAC). Sorry to hijack the Amarra thread. Amarra is very good, getting even better. With a different DAC and a different system i may like Amarra over PM. YMMV.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi


I have not auditionned Amarra. I have however recently been involved in the evaluation of different players as blindly as possible. I evaluated JRC, Media Monkey, Foobar, Windows Media Player and Foobar. They sounded the same to me and a group of youngsters who had invited me to the comparison ... I wasn't surprised. I however like very much the powerful tagging capabilities of JRC.

What I need to know is what does Amarra do? .. If they have found a different, more accurate method of Digital to Analog Conversion then hat off to them... If they are manipulating the digits in such a way as to present a more euphonic reproduction ... I would not like that ...

 

[ted_b]

Frantz,
You list Windows players (you must like Foobar ). Amarra (and PM and Decibel and Audirvana) are MAC players only.

 

[garylkoh]

This thread reminds me of something in another industry altogether computer games - specifically first person shooters. There are many that gives me motion sickness and makes me queasy, and a very few that do not. My sister (besides being a musician) is a reviewer for computer games in her "spare" time. When I mentioned this to her, she said that in the game industry, it is the biggest "I know what it is but no one knows how to measure/manage it" factor. The game studios retain people on their staff that get queasy to test this out. She said that if any one figures this out, he/she will make millions selling the technology to the game developers. Why does one "build" of the software make sensitive people queasy, and yet another build does not?

We were discussing "Portal" and the new "Portal 2" - both developed locally in Bellevue. She and her reviewer friends get sick with Portal 2 and none of them has completed a review of it yet.

Why does Pure Music and Amarra sound different? I suspect that it may be the same thing. To be bit transparent, algorithms should NOT make a difference to the bits delivered to the DAC.

 

[FrantzM]

Frantz,
You list Windows players (you must like Foobar ). Amarra (and PM and Decibel and Audirvana) are MAC players only.

I know that ... I still don't know what it does ... It has to do something besides simply delivering the bits if it sounds repeatably and reliably different