[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

 
Never use the mini before but from the website it says that it has the playlist (Drag/Drop to playlist without iTunes)
 
Even the one in the screenshot shows the playlist function button (center button below the LED display):
 
 
http://www.sonicstudio.com/amarra/amarramini.html

 
Ok, I will ask for a new trial then since I used mine up already.
 

 
No idea what I did to do that. Nothing jumped out.  But just remember not to go over 0, and you are golden.  I upsample to 176.8 for all my lossless CDs and it's just amazing on a good DAC.

 
I might have messed with that slider indeed. I always put very software volume control on maximum which would have been over 0 in the case of PM. Another one to try out then. Will be in a day or 10 before I can do that in a serious way though, a bit too much on my plate atm.
 
I am between Dacs for the moment, Marantz will be releasing a lot of new stuff at the High-End show in Munich over the next 3 days so I am waiting what they will come up with. There will probably be a version of the NA7004 in their Premium Range and something called "Consolette" which is said to be the interface between a high-end amp and the new media types. Really curious as I am rather fond of Marantz gear.
 
Right now I am using a cheap Dac, the TEAC UD-H01 which is amazingly good I must admit.

 

[rosgr63]

Quote:

 
Right now I am using a cheap Dac, the TEAC UD-H01 which is amazingly good I must admit.

 
Cheap does not necessarily mean bad IMHO.

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

 
Ok, I will ask for a new trial then since I used mine up already.
 
 
I might have messed with that slider indeed. I always put very software volume control on maximum which would have been over 0 in the case of PM. Another one to try out then. Will be in a day or 10 before I can do that in a serious way though, a bit too much on my plate atm.
 
I am between Dacs for the moment, Marantz will be releasing a lot of new stuff at the High-End show in Munich over the next 3 days so I am waiting what they will come up with. There will probably be a version of the NA7004 in their Premium Range and something called "Consolette" which is said to be the interface between a high-end amp and the new media types. Really curious as I am rather fond of Marantz gear.
 
Right now I am using a cheap Dac, the TEAC UD-H01 which is amazingly good I must admit.

 
 Amarra MINI has an integrated playlist, while Amarra (Full) has a separate playlist window. I have the latter. Hope this helps!

 

[drunkn]

Just a sanity check, but if one uses a usb or optical output does the music player really matter? Am I missing something?

 

[liamstrain]

The player software still includes a layer of decoding/processing - especially with any of the compressed formats (mp3/aac/alac/flac) - so you want one that does its best to push the audio data out cleanly. 

 

[drunkn]

Ah got it thanks for info, yeah I guess I should look into an alternative if does make a difference .

 

[liamstrain]

In my experience, it is a subtle (but noticeable with better recordings) difference.
 
For most listening (especially while at work and running a lot of memory intensive graphics programs), I still use iTunes and feed through audio hijack pro, to control any eq and crossfeed. I have no complaints about this set up. 
 
For my better recordings (high resolution files and really well mastered recordings), and dedicated listening time, I'll run through Fidelia. For me, Fidelia was the trifecta - better sonic performance, stable programming with a great interface, more than reasonable price. 

 

[uelover]

Quote:

 
Ok, I will ask for a new trial then since I used mine up already.

 
Quote:

 Amarra MINI has an integrated playlist, while Amarra (Full) has a separate playlist window. I have the latter. Hope this helps!

 
AppleheadMay, why don't you request for a trial for the full version instead? I am not sure what an integrated playlist is but if that implies a detriment to the SQ, going for the full version trial may be more meaningful.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

 
Cheap does not necessarily mean bad IMHO.

Certainly not and the TEAC proves that.
There's another mid-level Dac people seem to be fond about, the Onkyo DAC1000. Slightly higher priced but still affordable.
Quote:

 
 
AppleheadMay, why don't you request for a trial for the full version instead? I am not sure what an integrated playlist is but if that implies a detriment to the SQ, going for the full version trial may be more meaningful.

 
Quote:

 
 Amarra MINI has an integrated playlist, while Amarra (Full) has a separate playlist window. I have the latter. Hope this helps!

 
Well, I would like to see how the integrated playlist works.
And there's the huge price different for not all that much extra.
If Amarra is indeed the endgame player for me and if they had quick updating whenever a new version of OSX came out the price would be less of a concern to me.
I think if I go for Amarra I would start with the Mini and I can always upgrade to full at a later time.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

In my experience, it is a subtle (but noticeable with better recordings) difference.
 
For most listening (especially while at work and running a lot of memory intensive graphics programs), I still use iTunes and feed through audio hijack pro, to control any eq and crossfeed. I have no complaints about this set up. 
 
For my better recordings (high resolution files and really well mastered recordings), and dedicated listening time, I'll run through Fidelia. For me, Fidelia was the trifecta - better sonic performance, stable programming with a great interface, more than reasonable price. 

 
Have you tried the Fidelia FHX upgrade?
I wonder if I am the only one having a problem with the headphone processing since it used to be really good before.

 

[liamstrain]

Quote:

 
Have you tried the Fidelia FHX upgrade?
I wonder if I am the only one having a problem with the headphone processing since it used to be really good before.

 
No. I was having stability issues with the beta's so I've been sticking with my previous full version and using an external crossfeed plugin via AHP (redline monitor). 

 

[Jmstrmbn]

During the beta I thought the FHX seemed to boost the mids too much for my liking, now it appears they tried to fix that and reduced them too much.

 

[devkerr]

Quote:

During the beta I thought the FHX seemed to boost the mids too much for my liking, now it appears they tried to fix that and reduced them too much.

Hi Jmstrmbn,
 
I just wanted to assure you that the sonics of FHX have not changed from the beta to the release version. There was a change made to ensure that no digital clipping could occur regardless of the 'Crossfeed' or 'Equalization' settings, so I suspect what you are hearing is simply the change in volume when FHX is enabled.
 
If you want to hear what the crossfeed is doing in a level-matched way, I suggest moving the 'Amount' slider from 0% -> 100%, instead of toggling FHX On/Off. Assuming you have the 'Equalization' set flat, FHX has no effect at 0%.
 
Also, website is now updated with more info on FHX: http://aeng.me/fidelia
 
Hope this helps!
- Devin
 

 

[Jmstrmbn]

Thanks for clearing that up.  I just tried to match the settings you posted above and its a very natural sound.  Definitely an improvement over the settings I had been using.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I downloaded the new 2.4 version a few weeks ago and it works while iTunes is running in 64-bits now.
The SQ is indeed really good though I haven't done any real comparing lately.
I like it's versatility of iTunes integration or playlist and the ability to play and convert from and to FLAC.
I got the new version of Amarra at $200 by the way, with two extra seats at $60.
I'm pretty happy with my purchase and only hope they'll have fast upgrades when a new OS comes out and they'll develop a 64-bit version of Amarra as well in the future.
 
One thing I miss though is the FHX I had in Fidelia, at least the way it used to work before the full version and last few Beta releases. I still get the reverse effect of what I used to get when I enable it in the full version I bought. But since others don't have it I think I'll need to delete it completely, reboot and reinstall it, maybe that'll solve the problem. Didn't really get to it yet.
 
So I'll try that over the weekend and maybe compare a little between the three the next weekend.
 
 
Quote:

 
Please do yourself a favour by running the Amarra in the independent mode (without iTunes) and add tracks to the Amarra playlist and play solely via Amarra itself.

 
The sound far bests any other players I have - I have Audirvana Plus, Fidelia and Decibel and they cannot come close to the Amarra SQ when songs are played via the Amarra playlist.