burnspbesq
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2008
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After reading about this software package in a review of the Ayre QB-9, I downloaded and installed the demo version on Friday night.
My desktop rig is not half bad: iTunes running on a MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard), feeding digital signal out via a Kimber Kable USB cable to a Benchmark DAC-1 USB and Sennheiser HD 800s.
The first thing I cued up was "Giant Steps," a 96/24 file ripped from the recent Atlantic Master Series 45 rpm edition.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. "Stunned" would be more accurate. This is an ENORMOUS improvement. EVERYTHING is better. Tighter, cleaner bottom, more transparency across the board, lower noise floor - you name it.
The cliche about being able to hear deep into the music - reality. I cued up a track that I thought I knew well - "See a Little Light" from Bob Mould's Workbook CD. I knew there were strings buried deep in the mix as a sweetener, but now I could distinguish the lines being played by individual instruments - and damned if there isn't a glockenspiel in there as well.
This process - randomly picking favorite tracks from my 2500-album iTunes library - went on until 3:00 a.m.
The only thing that held me back from ordering a full version on the spot is that the software is protected by a hardware key (USB) and the manual says that the hardware key generally doesn't work on USB hubs. I don't have a spare USB port on my laptop.
Any other Amarra users out there? What are your impressions? What is your experience with the USB security gizmo?
The only thing that stopped me from ordering a full version
My desktop rig is not half bad: iTunes running on a MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard), feeding digital signal out via a Kimber Kable USB cable to a Benchmark DAC-1 USB and Sennheiser HD 800s.
The first thing I cued up was "Giant Steps," a 96/24 file ripped from the recent Atlantic Master Series 45 rpm edition.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. "Stunned" would be more accurate. This is an ENORMOUS improvement. EVERYTHING is better. Tighter, cleaner bottom, more transparency across the board, lower noise floor - you name it.
The cliche about being able to hear deep into the music - reality. I cued up a track that I thought I knew well - "See a Little Light" from Bob Mould's Workbook CD. I knew there were strings buried deep in the mix as a sweetener, but now I could distinguish the lines being played by individual instruments - and damned if there isn't a glockenspiel in there as well.
This process - randomly picking favorite tracks from my 2500-album iTunes library - went on until 3:00 a.m.
The only thing that held me back from ordering a full version on the spot is that the software is protected by a hardware key (USB) and the manual says that the hardware key generally doesn't work on USB hubs. I don't have a spare USB port on my laptop.
Any other Amarra users out there? What are your impressions? What is your experience with the USB security gizmo?
The only thing that stopped me from ordering a full version
