I decided to give Amarra a fair chance, after reading so many rave reviews claiming that its sound quality is so much better than iTunes.
Before I made any changes to Amarra's settings, I did some ABX testing, and I was easily able to identify Amarra or iTunes, whichever was used as source, every time. iTunes sounded a bit cleaner and crisper, and Amarra sounded more spacious, for lack of a better adjective, but artificially so. It wasn't the sort of spaciousness I experience with a great set of open air speakers.
I thought the sound difference between iTunes and Amarra seemed odd, so I played some Chet Atkins solo guitar picking. Sure enough, on those tracks (especially America the Beautiful, from Solo Sessions), Amarra's effects were clear as day, particularly on notes played with unwound strings. There is a slight delay (or possibly slight reverb or other similar effect) added to the signal with Amarra.
Can this effect be turned off in Amarra? I can't find the setting for it anywhere. Until I'm able to turn it off, Amarra is completely unusable, except as an example of how using digital effects during playback can detract from well recorded music. If it can't be turned off, an uninstall will be in order.
Edit: Never mind. Amarra uninstalled, solving problem.
Before I made any changes to Amarra's settings, I did some ABX testing, and I was easily able to identify Amarra or iTunes, whichever was used as source, every time. iTunes sounded a bit cleaner and crisper, and Amarra sounded more spacious, for lack of a better adjective, but artificially so. It wasn't the sort of spaciousness I experience with a great set of open air speakers.
I thought the sound difference between iTunes and Amarra seemed odd, so I played some Chet Atkins solo guitar picking. Sure enough, on those tracks (especially America the Beautiful, from Solo Sessions), Amarra's effects were clear as day, particularly on notes played with unwound strings. There is a slight delay (or possibly slight reverb or other similar effect) added to the signal with Amarra.
Can this effect be turned off in Amarra? I can't find the setting for it anywhere. Until I'm able to turn it off, Amarra is completely unusable, except as an example of how using digital effects during playback can detract from well recorded music. If it can't be turned off, an uninstall will be in order.
Edit: Never mind. Amarra uninstalled, solving problem.
