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HD Tracks downsampled in Amarra


ppennock

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Hi There,

 

I am new around here and trying to wrap my head around a few things.

 

I am running Amarra through an iMac into a pair of B&W MM-1 speakers. Here's my problem.

 

I have joined and downloaded some albums from the B&W Society of Sound. These 48/24 files play as expected in Amarra. I can switch between sources (iTunes and Amarra), hearing the difference between the two sources. When playing through Amarra, I can see that the file is playing at it's natural sample rate (48000).

 

With albums from HD tracks though, they all seem to downsample to 44100. I can't wrap my head around this. The majority of the files are 96/24 files, although one of the albums is 48/24. In all instances though, the ability to switch between the Amarra source and iTunes is disabled (only iTunes is available as the source), and the sample rate is identified as 44100, while the majority of the tracks are actually 98000.

 

Do I have a setting wrong here, or is the DAC in the MM-1's the limiting factor. What am I missing?

 

In the meantime, I have tried for days to find a reference stating the sample rate limit on the MM-1's, with no luck. I have sent my questions to Amarra, but have heard nothing back as yet.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

 

 

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What is the connection between the iMac and your powered speakers? Are you connected with a 1/8 to 1/8 jack? If so I wonder if the ability of Amarra to auto switch rates might be limited versus a USB or Toslink connection. That's nothing more tha a guess.

 

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open."
Frank Zappa
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Yes, that is the limiting factor. It is only capable of 16 bit, 44.1 kHz. I have them in my home office. They also do DSP.

 

If you want to improve them without spending a lot more money, you can either run them via analogue out from your computer's built-in DAC, or for $100 get a nuForce microDAC and use that thing's analogue out to the MM-1.

 

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Thanks... this is helpful.

 

I was led to believe that the MM-1's DAC was vastly superior to the computer's, and that therefore using the included USB connection was the way to go. I guess you are suggesting otherwise.

 

I really want to take advantage of the higher bit rate recordings, so am thinking of investing in a Peachtree product.... maybe the Decco65 or Nova Pre. Any thoughts on those products?

 

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I have the Peachtree Nova.

 

If I were starting today, I would give a very serious look at the Nova Pre + their class D amp, or their iNova, or Grand Integrated. Get the best speakers you can afford.

 

I had the same initial impression and let-down with the MM-1 speakers, by the way. They aren't terrible, but they are a bit of a rip-off at $500. I still use the USB connection, fwiw.

 

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Cool. I've been reading up on Peachtree for a few days, and saw their equipment at a retailer a few weeks ago. I'm really enthused by what I'm reading.

 

I'm thinking of starting with a Nova Pre in my home office, which is where I do most of my listening. Eventually I could see starting a second system with the Nova Pre + a Nova amp... but first things first. Now to begin looking into speakers :-)

 

I like the MM-1's... they are for sure the best computer speakers I've owned, but they are still just computer speakers.

 

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To offer some clarification, converting the file using the Amarra convert FLAC to AIFF commands is not the issue. We have seen a small number of isolated cases where tracks ripped with XLD into ALAC format has issues and the workaround is to use the internal ripper on your Mac in those cases.

 

The primary issue why Amarra is not playing back is likely the 44.1k support of the internal DAC. Amarra will not do realtime downsampling as this results in non-bit perfect output and potentially inconsistent results. We recommend downsampling the file offline using the Amarra Background Manager and then play the new file back at it's new native sample rate.

 

Thank You, Sonic Support[br][email protected][br]__________________[br]Sonic Studio, LLC .:.[br]__________________[br]

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