[sling5s]

Anyone compare the Amarra 4 with Audirvana Plus 3

 

[aamefford]

I did end up buying Amarra 4 luxe. The upgrade from 4 was only $25, based on when I bought either 4 or Amarra for tidal. I actually (mostly) like the interface, the EQ, and the integration of local and tidal music. My big gripe, is it seems a bit temperamental and glitchy. It has a tendency to randomly randomly quit. I also find that start up is slow, and I need to scan Tidal virtually every time I start, to get albums loaded into each tidal artist in the artist view. I also need to pre-scroll through the artist queue in the remote app in order to get everything preloaded.

So, it sounds "good" and the integration with tidal plus and local music is nice. The interface is worlds better than v3.x, which behaved like a grade of "c" senior project. 4 luxe is a bit glitchy though not always. It seems to misbehave when I darken my 2011 MacBook Air screen completely and use the remote, but behave ok otherwise. Could be just the screen darkening, or my old, lower powered hardware too.

End result - it could be smoother, but I like it and use it regularly..

 

[MooGoesTheCow]

I have a copy of Amarra 4 Luxe and gave it a week on my work Mac before giving it up. It feels like an alpha software build -- not ready for primetime. At least on my machine, it had a number of problems:
1) It would regularly hang/crash at random times -- on startup, during playback, when loading an album into the library, etc.
2) The window was glued to the top left of the screen and I couldn't move it
3) DSD playback is not implemented

I've since moved to JRiver Media Center and haven't turned back. I'll probably give Luxe another shot in 6 months.just to see if it's gotten any better. But TBH I'm not missing anything with Media Center.

 

[Mediahound]

I've since moved to JRiver Media Center and haven't turned back. I'll probably give Luxe another shot in 6 months.just to see if it's gotten any better. But TBH I'm not missing anything with Media Center.

JRiver seems really good for $50. I'm probably switching as well.

 

[aamefford]

Ive not heard much bad about Jriver. I'm pretty much done giving Amarra any more money. I like the idea of it, sound, interface etc. The implementation is fairly poor though. I still use it, but only because that and iTunes with bit perfect are my two options. Otherwise it's the ak100ii with optical out, which is surprisingly good.

 

[Mediahound]

The clip protection feature in JRiver has been a revelation. I use some EQ bass boost typically and realized with Amarra when I manually put the volume slider down a bit to compensate for the EQ, it was by a non exact amount, which lead to increased noise/decreased resolution.

JRiver does this adjustment automatically to prevent any digital clipping and seems to really provide a purer sound.

 

[nicholas029]

I see we are talking about mac programs other than Amarra, so perhaps this in not a thread crap. I have A3 and liked the sound of it in general, but became frustrated with the bugginess and restrictions of everything Amarra. I have a dedicated Macbook Pro running Pure Music with Fabfilter Pro Q2 as a plug in. Pure Music is rock solid stable and the Fabfilter Pro is the best available software parametric EQ, extremely versatile if pricey, that I am aware of. With a little practice you can make your source data sound anyway your want or need it to be. I consider my current system perfect and I have been doing this a long time.

I will not be downloading new versions of iTunes... ever. iTunes is still a good organizer. On that device, wifi is off so that Apple cloud will not interrupt - a potential cause of disturbance, IMO.

One more thing, if you have a problem with PM, when you call, Rob answers the phone himself and is even gracious when your questions are stupid.

 

[redrich2000]

Can I ask a few newb questions about Amarra... What I want to achieve is something that will run in the background and correctly set bit rate etc for BOTH my itunes library and the Tidal app. I used to use bitperfect but it doesn't work for Tidal. Can Amarra do this? And which of their apps do I need?

 

[aamefford]

Amarra 4 Luxe will do that. Sounds good, runs tidal and your library. Kinda crappy UI, remote app could be wonderful, but is glitchy instead. I use it regularly, but I can’t help but think some of the other options out there might be better.

 

[redrich2000]

Thanks. Is there anything cheaper that does the same thing?

 

[WNBC]

Anybody have experience with Amarra 4 on both Mac and Windows? I primarily use a late 2013 MBr Pro. I have an old Surface Pro 2 that I commissioned for music. It's pretty slow, but works and I installed Amarra 4 on it. Dare I say that Amarra 4 (ASIO) sounds better on Windows than on my Mac with same DAC/amp (iDSD BL) and headphones (HD660S). Just a tad bit more air and transparency. Enough to be noticeable. Definitely could be placebo or volume matching but just checking to see if there are real differences.

Mac, buffer 1024, exclusive access
Surface (ASIO), buffer not choosable

 

[omasciarotte]

Anybody have experience with Amarra 4 on both Mac and Windows? I primarily use a late 2013 MBr Pro. I have an old Surface Pro 2 that I commissioned for music. It's pretty slow, but works and I installed Amarra 4 on it. Dare I say that Amarra 4 (ASIO) sounds better on Windows than on my Mac with same DAC/amp (iDSD BL) and headphones (HD660S). Just a tad bit more air and transparency. Enough to be noticeable. Definitely could be placebo or volume matching but just checking to see if there are real differences.

Hey WNBC,

I have not noticed any differences but your Win driver may be a contributing factor. Even though you’re using the same hardware on both platforms, that DAC is mediated through either a driver, in the case of Win, or not since macOS supports it directly. you might want to try applying a teensy bit of HF shelf in Advanced EQ on your macOS version to see if you can “equalize,” in the old skool sense, the two platforms.

 

[WNBC]

Good points. Will definitely play with EQ a bit. Amarra 4 coordinating 350 albums runs pretty slow on a Surface Pro 2.

Hey WNBC,

I have not noticed any differences but your Win driver may be a contributing factor. Even though you’re using the same hardware on both platforms, that DAC is mediated through either a driver, in the case of Win, or not since macOS supports it directly. you might want to try applying a teensy bit of HF shelf in Advanced EQ on your macOS version to see if you can “equalize,” in the old skool sense, the two platforms.

 

[Chopin75]

Amarra 4 is finally out! Wondering if anyone had a chance to try it?

Which one do u prefer now, audirvana vs Amarra may I ask?

 

[Chopin75]

I tried Amarra 3 and Amarra 4. I didn't really like either version. The UI sucked on both and my music sounds better with other apps. I've been trying several audio apps on my Mac and I keep coming back to Audirvana Plus as the best choice for me. In fact, after trying Amarra 4, I pulled the trigger and bought Audirvana Plus.

How is audirvana going for u? Does it do Multi-ch? Easy to use? Sound better than Other software? I am think of getting audivana for MacBook or a MacMini