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Decibel Music Player for Mac OS X (was AyreWave)

post #1 of 30
10/18/10 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 

From what I can gather, at RMAF Wavelength Audio was demonstrating a new, free music player for Mac OS X called AyreWave, which was designed for audiophiles.

 

I've downloaded it and compared it to Amarra Mini 2.0.1, which I've been using up until now. My initial impressions with both my high-end rigs (Stax O2 or Audeze LCD-2s) is that it's an improvement over Amarra Mini.  The resulting sound is a bit more real, less "digital", with slightly greater texture to the instruments (low-level detail).  I haven't done any comprehensive testing, just tried listening to whole tracks, or sections of good acoustic tracks in alternating players, so don't take my opinion as gospel.  The player is free, however, but only has very basic features. It's easy to select and import a single playlist from iTunes though, which saves it from being too basic.

 

Worth a try if you have a good rig.

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post #2 of 30
10/18/10 at 8:18pm

I've been trying the new AyreWave Mac music player for the past couple of days, and have got to say that I'm pretty impressed.  For a beta version, it sounds great.  I also own full versions of Amarra and Pure Music.  I find Amarra sort of fussy, don't like the dongle you need to have in a USB port in order for it to work, and am not impressed with the equalizer functions, where it seems like the tiniest change can drastically alter the sound.  Pure Music, I like.  We'll have to see how AyreWave evolves over the next while.

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post #3 of 30
10/18/10 at 11:06pm

Tried it, crashed in the middle of the first song.  It's beta, so we'll see how it evolves.

 

Edit:  Since then there's been no problems, and I may have been moving the program to the Applications folder while running it.  That would explain the crash.


Edited by Radio_head - 10/20/10 at 10:29am
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post #4 of 30
10/19/10 at 12:53pm

I love for you guys to DBT to these programs.  I just tried AyreWave and though it worked fine, it didn't sound categorically better than any of the number of FLAC players I have.

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post #5 of 30
10/19/10 at 10:36pm
Thread Starter 

I wouldn't love it. I listen to music for enjoyment, not for analysis. 

 

There are some apparent technical benefits to the software: It can get exclusive access to the output device, automatically change the output sample rate to match the sample rate of the track, and load the music into memory. However I'm not sure someone with a significantly less resolving rig than might would notice much, if any benefit to using it despite those things.  Worth experimenting with though.

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post #6 of 30
10/20/10 at 5:07am

Currawong, I noticed great improvement, whereas none/very little when I used Amarra mini.

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post #7 of 30
10/20/10 at 8:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Currawong View Post

I wouldn't love it. I listen to music for enjoyment, not for analysis. 

 

There are some apparent technical benefits to the software: It can get exclusive access to the output device, automatically change the output sample rate to match the sample rate of the track, and load the music into memory. However I'm not sure someone with a significantly less resolving rig than might would notice much, if any benefit to using it despite those things.  Worth experimenting with though.

 

All agreed.  I think the vast improvements people are hearing are placebo though.
 

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post #8 of 30
10/20/10 at 10:04am

Well I've tried it with a low end and a high end rig.

With the low end rig it doesn't work, lots of distortion.

With the high end rig the sound quality is excellent.

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post #9 of 30
10/27/10 at 5:53am

So just downloaded it.  I'm impressed.  Nice simple interface.  Very easy to configure.  Takes a bit to get used to the delay in loading the song into memory.

 

Sound-wise, there is a definite difference (not huge but definitely apparent on careful listening): soundstage is wider and has more 3d positioning, instruments are more distinct and separated, tone is very good.

 

Listening was mainly redbook flac with a few 96khz 24bit flac thrown in.  HW was Macbook Pro -> Ayrewave -> optical -> Buffalo II -> EHHA Rev A -> HF-2.

 

Originally I thought they were just upsampling to the Dac's max but when I changed the MIDI settings to match it didn't sound anywhere close.  Whatever they're doing works.

 

Very cool.

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post #10 of 30
10/31/10 at 11:24am

I'm really enjoying this player now.  Been using Amarra mini before this but after spending more time with the Ayrewave, it's is clearly better to my ear.  Still don't understand how bit perfect players can sound different, but they do.  One thing I noticed is this player really seems to bypass the Midi interface.  With Amarra, I can change the output to 24bit and it sounds slightly different than 16bit.  With the Ayrewave in hog mod, Midi doesn't even open.  Gives some kind of error.  The other advantage of hog mode is no other internet sounds come through.

 

Reading more about it, says this beta version will expire on New Years.  They may come out with another free beta version to test before the final version.  So the final version will not be free.  Also some dealer claims Amarra's soon to be release 2.1 version sounds better than Ayrewave.  We'll see soon enough.  I'll end up using whichever one sounds better.  I've already gotten use to loading up the player with songs but do prefer Amarra's intergrated approach.


Edited by iamoneagain - 10/31/10 at 11:25am
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post #11 of 30
11/1/10 at 11:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamoneagain View Post

I'm really enjoying this player now.  Been using Amarra mini before this but after spending more time with the Ayrewave, it's is clearly better to my ear.  Still don't understand how bit perfect players can sound different, but they do.  One thing I noticed is this player really seems to bypass the Midi interface.  With Amarra, I can change the output to 24bit and it sounds slightly different than 16bit.  With the Ayrewave in hog mod, Midi doesn't even open.  Gives some kind of error.  The other advantage of hog mode is no other internet sounds come through.

 

Reading more about it, says this beta version will expire on New Years.  They may come out with another free beta version to test before the final version.  So the final version will not be free.  Also some dealer claims Amarra's soon to be release 2.1 version sounds better than Ayrewave.  We'll see soon enough.  I'll end up using whichever one sounds better.  I've already gotten use to loading up the player with songs but do prefer Amarra's intergrated approach.

 

Try some double-blind tests and make sure volume and EQ are constants.  I'd be curious after several weeks of listening you still feel that way.
 

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post #12 of 30
11/1/10 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trogdor View Post



 

Try some double-blind tests and make sure volume and EQ are constants.  I'd be curious after several weeks of listening you still feel that way.
 


I don't use any EQ and the volume is untouched at line-out level.  It's just that Ayrewave seems to have better soundstage and background retrieval.  I'm picking up on little details I've never heard before. Now if this was a placebo, I'd imagine I'd think the Amarra would sound better since I spent money on it vs this free beta. I also think Amarra is easier to use, so it's in my best interest to have it sound better. I tried Pure in the past and didn't feel the same way I do about Ayrewave.  So placebo or not, I really want the next Amarra version to sounds better so I don't have load up a separate player.  As far as double-blind tests, I'm not sure it's worth the trouble to have someone else help me test this out.  Maybe I can try at my next meet.

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post #13 of 30
11/1/10 at 1:51pm

I will listen some more.  I do like Amarra's ideas (playback engine iTunes front-end support etc) but $700 for FLAC playback is ridiculous.

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post #14 of 30
11/1/10 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trogdor View Post

I will listen some more.  I do like Amarra's ideas (playback engine iTunes front-end support etc) but $700 for FLAC playback is ridiculous.


The Amarra mini version for $295 can do native FLAC playback.  For any FLAC files I've used, I converted them all to ALAC using MAX.
 

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post #15 of 30
11/1/10 at 8:02pm

Just doing a little bit more back and forth between Ayrewave and Amarra and I'm finding Amarra to be clearer in the mids, especially in regards to electric guitar.  I think it's this clarity that can make Amarra more fatiguing.  I'll have to listen more to see which seems more accurate.  Both add depth to the sound field that is missing from iTunes alone.

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