[akart]

Hi Folks, 
 
As an audiophile, I love to listen to music the way that it was recorded. At the same time, I know that this can be done without spending ridiculous amounts of money (and the accompanying placebo effect - "it sounds airy", "more full bodied").
 
Now, coming to the point, I use Songbird as my player on my Mac (Since I have sworn not to use AIFF - I just use FLAC). Many of my tracks are 24bits@96kHz. I use a coaxial connection from my Mac to my external DAC (the device which puts out the bitstream onto the coax is capable of 24bits@192kHz and has precision oscillators. All my tracks are at the same sampling frequency and bitrate.
 
How is Amarra any different from Songbird when it comes to this system? How is it that Songbird is not putting out bit perfect data onto my coax? I don't mind spending money when I can hear a difference. I'll leave the jokers to buy the cable elevators.
 
Please keep your comments understandable and without "fluffy" words. As an electrical engineer, I've seen too much garbage being thrown around when it comes to audio - hence the skepticism. I also feel somewhat sad that people putting out such reviews are doing a disservice to the audiophile community.
 
Thanks! Your comments/views on topic are much appreciated.

 

[pompon]

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/BitPerfectJitter.htm

 

[akart]

Quote:

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/BitPerfectJitter.htm

This has nothing to do with the question asked. The question was that of bit perfect output onto the coax cable. If the interface is subject to jitter, it will affect any application equally (the application has no control over interface/DAC jitter).

 

[omasciarotte]

You wrote:

…I use Songbird as my player on my Mac (Since I have sworn not to use AIFF - I just use FLAC). Many of my tracks are 24bits@96kHz. I use a coaxial connection from my Mac to my external DAC (the device which puts out the bitstream onto the coax is capable of 24bits@192kHz and has precision oscillators. All my tracks are at the same sampling frequency and bitrate.
 
How is Amarra any different from Songbird when it comes to this system? How is it that Songbird is not putting out bit perfect data onto my coax? I don't mind spending money when I can hear a difference. I'll leave the jokers to buy the cable elevators.
 
Please keep your comments understandable and without "fluffy" words. As an electrical engineer, I've seen too much garbage being thrown around when it comes to audio - hence the skepticism. I also feel somewhat sad that people putting out such reviews are doing a disservice to the audiophile community.

 
Hey akart,
 
Will try to keep this fluff-free…In a word, depends. To elaborate; first, you mention that your “…tracks are at the same sampling frequency and bitrate” which implies that you either digitized them from analog or, you SRC'd many of them from their original sample rate and word length. If you love to listen to music the way it was recorded, then you shouldn’t be sample rate-converting your files but, I digress.
 
As a fellow EE, you know that many secondary and tertiary effects have a subtle influence on the “sound” of an audio device, from uncontrolled reactance throughout the system to back EMF to microphonics to the cleanliness of the PSU. If you grant that as a given then, you might or might not consider that bit perfection is not the only contributor to the sound of software players. I know, that’s a stretch. However, back to your question and my answer might not be what you think.
 
Is Amarra worth it? I, along with a very long list of distinguished recording/mastering engineers and professional (trained) listeners agree that software does make a difference. The real reason Amarra is worth the 50 or whatever bucks is its little bypass button that lets you decide if you like its data handling better that iTunes. Granted, you can’t do a direct A-B against Songbird but, at least you can decide if there is a difference between players. Grab the demo, and try having someone else pushing the bypass button while you simply listen. After that, you can decide if it’s useless or not.
 
OMas

 

[StudioSound]

Bit-perfect is bit-perfect. Modern DAC designs reject jitter, and it has been shown that jitter from a PC source is not affected by things like CPU load anyway.

Programs like Amarra and JPlay are largely audiophile scams. Just use a player that supports bit-perfect output. I like JRiver for all the other features it includes - though I haven't tried the Mac version.

 

[pompon]

I have in my audiophileo a bit perfect test inside the device. All software give the bit perfect once they correctly configured.
Software still have an impact on the sound, same for the digital cable.
Jitter, impedance, noise, reflexion can explain the difference in the sound.
It still a mystery for me about the software ... It shoul not change the sound bit it does.

Try jiextreme and jriver. You should hear the difference.