Amarra "Mini" -- $395

[Hopstretch]

Al, please ask him if the mini version supports FLAC and ALAC (or at least if it is going to down the road). I was a "hell no" at $1500, but am a "hmm, maybe" at $400.

[Voltron]

It has not yet been sold for 1500, although it may end up there with the full vinyl dropping capacity, etc, which effectively incorporates their pro master SoundBlade software ($1800) and their SonicConsole.

FAQ sez:

NOTE: Amarra only supports uncompressed PCM files (AIFF, WAV, BWF). Future updates will include support for FLAC and Apple Loseless

And the quoted language from an earlier post during the witch doctor discussion said that the will come with v1.1.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Voltron

[n_maher]

Anyway, just my thoughts after having this thing for a few months. YMMV, and all that.

[Voltron]

No "real man" wants a "mini" after all.

[n_maher]

No "real man" wants a "mini" after all.

I figured the thread could use a little funnay.

[deepak]

Not to be a Dreaded Dongle or anything, but was the switching double blind or were they telling you when they were switching Amarra on and off?

[Voltron]

I wasn't there for the whole thing, but I think it was not double blind at any point.

[Dusty Chalk]

Zing.

[Dreadhead]

It is quite noticeable when switched on and off in Al's setup at CJ. I am not a fan of it at all. I personally found it rounded the edges off stuff for me but I would not describe it as euphonic. The fact that they admit it's not the most correct thing to do may have predisposed me though so who knows. I am certainly not in any position to come out against DSP.

I have one theory that people are so caught up in the live experience they fail to notice fact that it's not as smooth or alive or etc as they think. When you're in the room with an orchestra you don't really mind the etch on some stuff, but then if you listen to an exact (or very close) reproduction you notice all sorts of stuff. It's like watching a movie for the 1st time vs the 15th. I personally have no problem overlooking these things in a recording but they drive a lot of people nuts. Just a theory YMMV

[Dusty Chalk]

You're not alone. I've read other people (read: professional reviewers) that have proclaimed (paraphrasing), "a violin is supposed to have bark and bite. And an unmuted trumpet at full throttle can be piercing."

[Augsburger]

In actuality, I think their understanding of anatomy, and how to patch up bashed up bits of flesh is better. For things like food reactions and infections, I have spent most of the last 2 years losing faith in medicine. At least as how it's practiced by doctors beholden to HMOs.

If you are talking food allergies, without question GPs are not equipped to treat patients nor diagnose the problem in most cases whether it be a HMO or PPO network. If you suspect the source is a food allergy, you might consider approaching your health care gatekeeper for a referral to a knowledgeable allergist. Again, if a food allergy is the source of the problem addressing it with a good dietary, environmental and drug protocol should yield huge quality of life improvements.

[grawk]

If you are talking food allergies, without question GPs are not equipped to treat patients nor diagnose the problem in most cases whether it be a HMO or PPO network. If you suspect the source is a food allergy, you might consider approaching your health care gatekeeper for a referral to a knowledgeable allergist. Again, if a food allergy is the source of the problem addressing it with a good dietary, environmental and drug protocol should yield huge quality of life improvements.

The problem I'm obtusely referring to is a lot more complicated than a simple allergy, and my wife has been to several allergists.

[grenert]

Couldn't someone just use an audio capture program (something like Total Recorder for PC) and compare +/- Amarra to see what is going on? Have it play some test signals.

[Grahame]

Couldn't someone just use an audio capture program (something like Total Recorder for PC) and compare +/- Amarra to see what is going on? Have it play some test signals.

Or even use Audio DiffMaker with test signals, or music. Then we would know.

[matt fury]

Al, you said even the creator doesn't know how it works? So then how did he program it?

Not trying to be the doubting Nelly here, I'm just curious.

[Voltron]

Al, you said even the creator doesn't know how it works? So then how did he program it?

Not trying to be the doubting Nelly here, I'm just curious.

Doubting Nelly? Anyway, the more accurate way to put it is that he doesn't always know why it sounds better.

[jp11801]

Jon at Sonic originally programmed an app that would allow the sonic blade sound engine to run under the GUI of ITunes for his own use. WHen he compared them he was surprised at the difference in sound and amarra was born.

Amarra is just a way to use the sonic blade (used for pro recordings) as your playback engine while still retaining the user interface of itunes.

Oddly enough Jon mostly listens on very pedestrian speakers at work I have no idea what he uses in his home.

This is what he relayed to me when discussing amarra.

[tyrion]

Doubting Nelly?

No doubt, Thomas' sister.

[matt fury]

You call him that too?!

[morphsci]

Actually my comment about the dongle was not to disparage Amarra. If it did not have to use a dongle, I would have already purchased a copy. After the third computer hard drive was destroyed because of a dongle, they have been banished from any home or work computer I have any amount of control over. Definitely a personal bias, but not one that is likely ever to change, no matter how good the software is.

[jp11801]

well after spending the day with amarra, peak LE and itunes I think I am going to take the plunge and buy amarra. THe demo is a PITA without the dongle as the sound cuts in and out. I may wind up getting the $50 demo for 30 days just to be sure but in my time today amarra had more depth to the soundstage with both speakers and my JH13s. It also had greater detail and a more natural tone. Peak was better than itunes but still flat staged and punchy sounding and itunes was third with a flat stage and somewhat veiled sound compared to the other two. That said the difference was noticeable but not huge somewhat like amarra at a 10 peak at a 9 and itunes at an 8

At $395 it's a good deal for the 24/96 as for most of us 95% of our digital material is at 16/44 and the recording industry is most likely only going to 24/96 in the near future.

Edited August 15, 2009 by jp11801

[Iron_Dreamer]

Maybe I'm a little late to this whole Amarra party, but what exactly does it do in software that you can't do with foobar + ASIO? Or is it just a way to use the iTunes interface, with a better back end for actual sound output?

[penger]

I was under the impression that Amarra software is Mac only.

[Voltron]

Mac only, indeed. I don't know shit about Foobar and Asio but Amarra sounds great. I just went through a phone intervention with Jonathan today, and fixed up what I had really botched up with the software/hardware combo. It sounds great again and I would never go back to regular iTunes.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Hmmm...well I've never learned much about Mac audio, but I guess this means that iTunes is not bit perfect by default? That's the only way I'd think this separate piece of software could make such a dramatic difference in sound quality, assuming it is not applying EQ or other signal processing.