Amarra 3.0

[bpcans]

StereoAnthony, this was exactly my conundrum as I demoed different music player software over the last several months. Did I want the seamless transition between songs as I fidelled with the SQ or just really excellent sounding music. Amarra 3.0 just sounds better than Audirvana, JRiver, or Fidelia.

 

[Lavakugel]

Listend for over a year through audirvana plus. Now Amarra 3.0.2. I prefer Amarra because it's slighly better than audirvana. Especially beause it's eq mode for lcd3. But I hate the interface.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  Listend for over a year through audirvana plus. Now Amarra 3.0.2. I prefer Amarra because it's slighly better than audirvana. Especially beause it's eq mode for lcd3. But I hate the interface.

Are you comparing Amarra 3.0 to Audirvana 2.0?

 

[Lavakugel]

Amarra 3.0.2 vs Audirvana plus 1.5

 

[MacedonianHero]

  Amarra 3.0.2 vs Audirvana plus 1.5

I would try Audirvana 2.0...it's a bit better than the 1.5 and you can download a 30 day trial for free. 

 

[Zoom25]

  Amarra 3.0.2 vs Audirvana plus 1.5

I'll give the nod to 3.0.2 if you want to really enjoy the music and get involved. Audirvana for more vocals in your face and a bit more relaxed. I'm running a fully optimized solid state setup here and have been comparing the following for the past month and a half (except 2.0 which recently came out):
 
- Audirvana Plus 1.5.10
- Audirvana Plus 1.5.12
- Audirvana Plus 2.0.1
- Amarra Symphony 3.0
- Amarra Symphony 3.0.2
- Amarra SQ
 
Couldn't get Signalyst's HQPlayer to work on my system properly. I really wanted to have that in my comparison but it refuses to work. Besides that, it's been fun. iTunes integrated and native mode work exceptionally well on each of the above mentioned software.

 

[Mediahound]

Did they improve the UI? I find the prior version of Amarra Hi-Fi a bit of a pain to use. 
 
BitPerfect seems a lot easier to use. Audio quality between the two will be debatable. 
 
Basically, I'm wondering if the new Amarra is worth the money to upgrade?

 

[Zoom25]

  Did they improve the UI? I find the prior version of Amarra Hi-Fi a bit of a pain to use. 
 
BitPerfect seems a lot easier to use. Audio quality between the two will be debatable. 
 
Basically, I'm wondering if the new Amarra is worth the money to upgrade?

I haven't used Hi-Fi but I don't think Hi-Fi and 3.0 share the same sound.

 

[Mediahound]

 
I haven't used Hi-Fi but I don't think Hi-Fi and 3.0 share the same sound.

You mean 3.0 sounds better?

 

[Zoom25]

 
You mean 3.0 sounds better?

Perhaps. I haven't checked it for myself. Best to pit them together and compare. They have free trial for all of those players.

 

[Mediahound]

I purchased the Amarra 3 upgrade which came with AmarraSQ for online streaming. I haven't put Amarra 3 to the test yet but initial impressions are certainly positive.
 
The AmarraSQ interface is very arcane. It's basically just a levels and equalizer. You can see the interface about 1 minute into this video:
 
http://www.sonicstudio.com/amarra/video_amarra_sq_intro
 
I'd be curious if others have played around with it and can recommend the ideal settings?

 

[Mediahound]

Also, question: in Amarra are the EQ presets for different headphones supposed to be used with that headphone model or what? Or, are they supposed to simulate the sound of said headphone?
 
IE. there is an Audeze LCD-3 preset. Should I use that with my LCD-3s?

 

[bpcans]

Also, question: in Amarra are the EQ presets for different headphones supposed to be used with that headphone model or what? Or, are they supposed to simulate the sound of said headphone?

IE. there is an Audeze LCD-3 preset. Should I use that with my LCD-3s?

I'm really not sure if you match your hp's or not. But I tried to match my RS1's to the closest ones Amarra had which were Grado GS1000i's. It sounded a bit different but not much. I think there was an Audeze LCD-2 EQ option. To me Amarra sounded better without it though.

 

[Mediahound]

I'm really not sure if you match your hp's or not. But I tried to match my RS1's to the closest ones Amarra had which were Grado GS1000i's. It sounded a bit different but not much. I think there was an Audeze LCD-2 EQ option. To me Amarra sounded better without it though.

Ya, I actually sorta like the Bass Boost one myself. 

 

[Zoom25]

I use both Amarra SQ and 3.0 without the EQ. I am listening to movies, TV shows, youtube, Netflix, Music Unlimited all through Amarra SQ. I keep the EQ off and just use the gain. Just running the audio through SQ still makes a positive difference. However, the high roll filter is quite valuable when you occasionally run into older content with a bit of buzzing. In that situation, I change the slope to drop the fastest rather than slowly. Really like the fact that you can change the order of each roll off or bump.
 
About the LCD-2 and LCD-3 filters, I'm also unsure if they meant to simulate the sound of those headphones with the EQ or use those EQs with those particular headphones.