Amarra - anyone using it?
Oct 8, 2018 at 2:38 PM Post #856 of 920
Hi @SonicStudio, is there a new Mac version due soon too? I’m running macOS Mojave and Amarra sometimes crashes during startup. I also noticed that clicking the X button on the top-left of the Amarra window completely closes and exits the program which isn’t typical of a macOS application. The program’s window should disappear but the program should co tinier to run and be available in the Dock as an active application.

Amarra is the nicest sounding player that I’m currently evaluating and I’m just looking for some reassurance that bugs like the ones I mentioned are being looked at and will be resolved in a future update.

Finally, how often is Amarra updated? Is it several times a year typically, or rarely?
Thanks for your note, a couple of items
- There will be an update to Amarra Luxe for Mac very soon, there are some key additions including Qobuz access, nugs.net access and many fixes along the way.

- i've passed along a note regarding the red button closing the app to our engineering team for review and resolution.

- As far as updates, we'd like to plan a major update annually with maintenance updates as needed, but sometimes the best laid plans are cast in Jello.
 
Oct 8, 2018 at 2:42 PM Post #857 of 920
I'm still using Amarra 2.6 because the copy protection scheme got too complicated to 1st remember a password and then to be told when I installed the next version that my password was wrong, and then I was forced to change it. I'd write it down, and the next time I updated or upgraded that password was refused again. I'm supposed to have 3 total licenses, and have completely lost track of how to access the 3rd one.

It's pretty sad, but at least it doesn't cost several hundred dollars anymore (I stated with version 2.01 way back when, using an iLok dongle for one license and a passcode for the others).

I'm evaluating Amarra 4 Luxe until 10/19/18 but already found that when I try to play a tidal song that it tries to play the last movie that I watched in stunned instead, and then when I tried to quit I was unable to quit iTunes or Amarra 4 Luxe.
Your best bet is to write us at support@sonicstudio.com. We have a record of all of your licenses and their current state.
- We haven't had any reports of TIDAL playing movies when asking to play songs. It may be that things got confused along the way.
The best thing would be to delete preferences and re-launch Amarra
- Quit Amarra Luxe
- Go to your Applications->Amarra 4->Scripts folder and double-click on 'Clear Settings.app'
- Re-launch Amarra Luxe

You'll need to sign back into TIDAL and also re-enable ITunes mode but you should be fine.
 
Oct 8, 2018 at 4:04 PM Post #858 of 920
Thanks for your note, a couple of items
- There will be an update to Amarra Luxe for Mac very soon, there are some key additions including Qobuz access, nugs.net access and many fixes along the way.

- i've passed along a note regarding the red button closing the app to our engineering team for review and resolution.

- As far as updates, we'd like to plan a major update annually with maintenance updates as needed, but sometimes the best laid plans are cast in Jello.


Thanks for the update.

[EDIT]:
I have a question about iTunes mode: if I enable iTunes mode in Amarra from Windows --> Enable iTunes Mode, then do I just use iTunes as normal and ALL of the music that I play in iTunes will be processed by Amarra before it gets sent to my DAC?

In other words, I don't need to use the Amarra UI in iTunes mode. Is this correct?
 
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Oct 12, 2018 at 3:06 AM Post #859 of 920
Your best bet is to write us at support@sonicstudio.com. We have a record of all of your licenses and their current state.
- We haven't had any reports of TIDAL playing movies when asking to play songs. It may be that things got confused along the way.
The best thing would be to delete preferences and re-launch Amarra
- Quit Amarra Luxe
- Go to your Applications->Amarra 4->Scripts folder and double-click on 'Clear Settings.app'
- Re-launch Amarra Luxe

You'll need to sign back into TIDAL and also re-enable ITunes mode but you should be fine.

Thanks, I'll try some of your recs. As soon as I have time I'll send off that email too.
 
Oct 12, 2018 at 3:07 AM Post #860 of 920
Thanks for the update.

[EDIT]:
I have a question about iTunes mode: if I enable iTunes mode in Amarra from Windows --> Enable iTunes Mode, then do I just use iTunes as normal and ALL of the music that I play in iTunes will be processed by Amarra before it gets sent to my DAC?

In other words, I don't need to use the Amarra UI in iTunes mode. Is this correct?

Yeah, you can just use iTunes while Amarra in Tunes mode is in the background handling the sound processing.
 
Oct 27, 2018 at 3:10 PM Post #862 of 920
Thanks for the update.

[EDIT]:
I have a question about iTunes mode: if I enable iTunes mode in Amarra from Windows --> Enable iTunes Mode, then do I just use iTunes as normal and ALL of the music that I play in iTunes will be processed by Amarra before it gets sent to my DAC?

In other words, I don't need to use the Amarra UI in iTunes mode. Is this correct?

When you use Amarra in iTunes mode, you would use the iTunes interface to select your tracks. The Amarra window is minimized and you'll only see the transport panel which we suggest you use but you can use the transport controls in iTunes as well.

As for playing back all of your files, the only issues you may have is with iTunes protected files. When playing back protected files, playback will be through whatever device is set in Audio Midi Setup. When a non-protected file is played, playback will switch to the device set in Amarra Device Settings window.
 
May 22, 2019 at 4:07 PM Post #865 of 920
Resurrecting this old thread. I recently transitioned from Window to Mac. A longtime JRiver user, I began encountering issues with the software in the form of interrupted play. Long story short, I settled on Amarra Luxe 4.3.500 for the sound quality. While the audio quality is exceptional, there are a few idiosyncracies I'd like to see resolutions to:
  • Having to scan for music each time the app is launched. And, because I have my hi-rez files in a separate directory, having to add a library after the initial scan. Because I have roughly 1,000 CDs of music in AIFF format on my Synology NAS drive, this can take some time. It's not just open the app and play music.
  • If it's not possible to resolve the issue above, I'd at least like to have the option of pointing the app to my two music directories and having it scan automatically at launch.
  • The interface, while nice looking, is clunky; it is slow to scroll through artists or albums. It would be nice if this operated more smoothly.
That's it for now.

Thanks for listening.
 
May 22, 2019 at 6:50 PM Post #866 of 920
Resurrecting this old thread. I recently transitioned from Window to Mac. A longtime JRiver user, I began encountering issues with the software in the form of interrupted play. Long story short, I settled on Amarra Luxe 4.3.500 for the sound quality. While the audio quality is exceptional, there are a few idiosyncracies I'd like to see resolutions to:
  • Having to scan for music each time the app is launched. And, because I have my hi-rez files in a separate directory, having to add a library after the initial scan. Because I have roughly 1,000 CDs of music in AIFF format on my Synology NAS drive, this can take some time. It's not just open the app and play music.
  • If it's not possible to resolve the issue above, I'd at least like to have the option of pointing the app to my two music directories and having it scan automatically at launch.
  • The interface, while nice looking, is clunky; it is slow to scroll through artists or albums. It would be nice if this operated more smoothly.
That's it for now.

Thanks for listening.
Hello, a few notes to pass along
- You're not re-scanning your library each time you open, just re-reading stored information. Launching Amarra after your library is scanned should take much less time than an initial scan of your music.
- If you want to scan both folders at once, create a new folder and put both music folders in the new folder. Many folks do that so they can scan the highest level folder and get all of their music.
- We are continuing to work on the overall performance of Amarra on Windows, more to come.
 
May 29, 2019 at 7:11 PM Post #867 of 920
Thank you for your response. I think I've settled on a regimen for preserving the library info on startup. Since my music is stored on a NAS, I take the extra step to make sure the device is actively connected before allowing Amarra to rescan the library. It's not foolproof, though. I've still had numerous instances where I need to rescan the library.

One more observation I'd like to make is that it would be great if the track order on some albums would be preserved. Today, for instance, I'm listening to The Who, "Live at Leeds", and the original concert sequence is fouled up. A shame, because lead ins to several songs are followed by different songs than the band has introduced.
 
May 29, 2019 at 7:30 PM Post #869 of 920
Just curious how the newest versions of Amarra handles libraries over over 1200 albums and 12,000+ songs?
With my 750 albums and just shy of 10,000 songs, it takes much longer loading the albums than J River's Media Center. Once loaded, scrolling through the albums is not smooth, but it is much faster than previous versions of Amarra. It sounds very good though.
 
May 29, 2019 at 7:31 PM Post #870 of 920
With my 750 albums and just shy of 10,000 songs, it takes much longer loading the albums than J River's Media Center. Once loaded, scrolling through the albums is not smooth, but it is much faster than previous versions of Amarra. It sounds very good though.

Thanks...that's too bad. It was an issue that I had with previous versions and hoped it was fixed. Audirvana and Roon are quite smooth and quick.
 

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