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New Amarra 4


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Downloaded the Mac trial version. The UI is way way better than any previous incarnation. Well organized, looks great, and thus far no bugs. Sounds fantastic to me, the normal great Amarra sound with a bit more detail. Has some of Audirvana's good points, while maintaining the Amarra sonic rightness.

 

Scanning my 30,000 track library into Amarra 4 was easy, took about a 1/2 hour. I have 2 versions of Garcia & Grisman, one AIFF from the original CD, and the other an ALAC version from a SACD that's not divided into individual tracks. For some reason, only the original CD version made it into Amarra, not sure why. 154 tracks didn't make the migration.

 

Before offering critiques, want to emphasize what a great job Sonic Studios has done. Have even done their best to work in Roon like info placed in the album info screen.

 

And now the gripes:

 

There seems to be no way to import playlists from iTunes or anywhere else. Audirvana and Fidelia both manage this simple, and huge time saving element, would be great if Amarra could do the same. The prospect of recreating all my playlists is overwhelming. Especially given there appears to be no way to select more than one track at a time to add to a newly created playlists unless you select the entire album. If I wanted to add only 4 tracks, would have to manually add them individually. Or wish they'd allow me to drag tracks from iTunes directly into an Amarra 4 playlist.

 

Another issue is not only can you not import ratings from iTunes, and there's no means to rate tracks within Amarra itself (that I can find). Its rare that I like every track on an album. For the ones that don't make the grade, I often never want to hear them again. Having no means to rate a track, not even a simple thumbs up or down ala Roon, is a royal pain. The only way I can think around this is to create a playlist for each artist and only add the blessed tracks to it. Its not how I wish to organize things and is unnecessarily time consuming. When previewing an album, will need to leave iTunes open and notch the ratings there, then one by one add the ordained tracks to the Amarra playlists. Ugh!

 

There also appears to be no way to edit meta data within Amarra.

 

All of these issues combined make it difficult for me to completely drop iTunes.

 

That said, because I so love the Amarra sound, I'm likely to purchase Amarra 4 at the end of the trial period with vain hopes that Sonic Studios will provide updates that improve the broader user experience. Given their past bug issues, perhaps its good they're not trying to do everything at once.

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Downloaded the Mac trial version. The UI is way way better than any previous incarnation. Well organized, looks great, and thus far no bugs. Sounds fantastic to me, the normal great Amarra sound with a bit more detail. Has some of Audirvana's good points, while maintaining the Amarra sonic rightness.

 

Scanning my 30,000 track library into Amarra 4 was easy, took about a 1/2 hour. I have 2 versions of Garcia & Grisman, one AIFF from the original CD, and the other an ALAC version from a SACD that's not divided into individual tracks. For some reason, only the original CD version made it into Amarra, not sure why. 154 tracks didn't make the migration.

 

Before offering critiques, want to emphasize what a great job Sonic Studios has done. Have even done their best to work in Roon like info placed in the album info screen.

 

And now the gripes:

 

There seems to be no way to import playlists from iTunes or anywhere else. Audirvana and Fidelia both manage this simple, and huge time saving element, would be great if Amarra could do the same. The prospect of recreating all my playlists is overwhelming. Especially given there appears to be no way to select more than one track at a time to add to a newly created playlists unless you select the entire album. If I wanted to add only 4 tracks, would have to manually add them individually. Or wish they'd allow me to drag tracks from iTunes directly into an Amarra 4 playlist.

 

Another issue is not only can you not import ratings from iTunes, and there's no means to rate tracks within Amarra itself (that I can find). Its rare that I like every track on an album. For the ones that don't make the grade, I often never want to hear them again. Having no means to rate a track, not even a simple thumbs up or down ala Roon, is a royal pain. The only way I can think around this is to create a playlist for each artist and only add the blessed tracks to it. Its not how I wish to organize things and is unnecessarily time consuming. When previewing an album, will need to leave iTunes open and notch the ratings there, then one by one add the ordained tracks to the Amarra playlists. Ugh!

 

There also appears to be no way to edit meta data within Amarra.

 

All of these issues combined make it difficult for me to completely drop iTunes.

 

That said, because I so love the Amarra sound, I'm likely to purchase Amarra 4 at the end of the trial period with vain hopes that Sonic Studios will provide updates that improve the broader user experience. Given their past bug issues, perhaps its good they're not trying to do everything at once.

 

Thanks very much for your comments and we are continuing to make improvements for Amarra 4 and for Amarra 4 Luxe, due out at or near end of Q1 2017.

 

We'd like to see what the issue is with the ALAC version of Garcia/Grisman - may I ask where you got the track from and would you send it to us if needed?

 

Regarding your other points, you are correct, we don't import Playlists and at this time, making playlists is a one track at a time process. We also plan on adding editing capability to Album metadata. We expect to continue making improvements with each new release.

If you have any other questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.

 

Best regards,

 

__________________________________________________

 

Sonic Studio Customer Support .:.

Sonic Studio, LLC .:. Trust the transparency

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Avid Roon and A+ user depending on rig, tested Amarra 4 thinking the UI improvements will crash the silky sound of some of the previous versions however this is just ridiculous. Off the map incredible sound. I'm currently not even exploring the new interface Only listening. Well done. I see the CPU being quite busy during even 44khz playback even after library import etc, some black magic obviously happening to create this ouput. wow (mac version)

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The sound of Amarra4 is great, and it runs smoother compared to Amarra3, especially with high rez files. One album imported as unknown artist and unknwon title, although in iTunes the information was present. Now, I wonder, is there a way to edit the files and change names manually? Thanks you for your sensible advice.

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Drifted away from Amarra 3 due to it's terrible gui. Upgraded yesterday. Scanned my library quickly with no problems. I switched back and forth between 4 and A+, JRIVER using my HD650's. After awhile I found myself just listening to the music. (weird eh?). Checked and it was Amarra 4. So now I'll have A+ for MQA and Tidal, JRIVER for it's server and library functions and Amarra for carry me away listening. Maybe the luxe will narrow it down. As long as they don't go crazy with the pricing.

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One album imported as unknown artist and unknown title, although in iTunes the information was present. Now, I wonder, is there a way to edit the files and change names manually? Thank you for your sensible advice.

Well, on: Amarra Support

I found some advice. Apparently, there is helper software to check the metadata, and edit it if necessary. Apparently, it cannot be done within Amarra4.

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Just upgraded from Amarra symphony with irc to Amarra 4

Initial thoughts are that sound quality is very nice, warmer than symphony, a nice "analog" feel.

however there is a few little details that i'd like to feedback that I think could improve appearance and function.

When listing artists any artist name beginning with "the"are listed under T instead of ignoring "the"and alphabetically selecting the first letter after.

Playlists could do with being labelled with duration time as well as number of tracks.

 

However most of the other problems I have so far are because of my tetraplegia disability.

Because I find it very difficult to use a mouse/trackpad creating playlists directly from the computer and not an iOS app is very difficult. I can do it but it takes a very long time to create a playlist. It took me an hour to create a 28 song playlist :-(

Also dragging tracks after creating a playlist to change the order is incredibly frustratingly difficult for me. When using symphony with iTunes I could easily create my playlists and change order using the Apple remote app.

I believe the Luxe version of Amarra 4 Will have iOS app control. Hopefully it will allow most functions of the iOS Apple remote app.

 

So until Luxe is released I'm going to have to go back to symphony as standard Amarra 4 is too difficult for me to create playlists without the iOS Aapp. :-(

Obviously providing accessible software for high levels of disability isn't A big enough market to concern Sonic Studio, but hopefully the Luxe version Will allow full iOS app control like the Apple remote app for iTunes, for creating playlists and changing order of tracks in playlists.

I have to say though the sound quality was nice, IRC integration will be fantastic also.

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I've never had any problems running Symphony 3 with IRC, so before considering this I would need to sure it doesn't mess with metadata and artwork that i have carefully corrected. I'm not sure it offers much to me. I would like an IOS remote app and software that accesses the existing music without amendment. That's all.

Audirvana Plus/Dirac Live - Weiss 202 - Lavardin IT-15 - Art Emotion Signatures.  DragonFly Red - Sennheiser HD600s & IE800s.

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Thanks very much for your comments and we are continuing to make improvements for Amarra 4 and for Amarra 4 Luxe, due out at or near end of Q1 2017.

 

We'd like to see what the issue is with the ALAC version of Garcia/Grisman - may I ask where you got the track from and would you send it to us if needed?

 

Regarding your other points, you are correct, we don't import Playlists and at this time, making playlists is a one track at a time process. We also plan on adding editing capability to Album metadata. We expect to continue making improvements with each new release.

I attempted to import the Garcia & Grisman CD using the "Add to Library" feature, still wouldn't load. There were a few other quirks here and there, tracks that are correct in iTunes not being in correct order once in Amarra 4. But for the most part, all is well. I can send you the Garcia & Grisman ALAC files if you like.

 

I look forward to greatly improved playlist creation, a rating system, and an iOS remote app. The sound is awesome, great job.

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I attempted to import the Garcia & Grisman CD using the "Add to Library" feature, still wouldn't load. There were a few other quirks here and there, tracks that are correct in iTunes not being in correct order once in Amarra 4. But for the most part, all is well. I can send you the Garcia & Grisman ALAC files if you like.

 

I look forward to greatly improved playlist creation, a rating system, and an iOS remote app. The sound is awesome, great job.

 

Thanks for the update and a couple of notes

 

- Once you click on a track, use the Now Playing button at top of screen or in lower right corner, the tracks should be listed in correct order in those views.

 

- If you'd be so kind as to contact me at [email protected], I can send out our dropbox link to send the ALAC files to.

 

thx

Ralph

If you have any other questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.

 

Best regards,

 

__________________________________________________

 

Sonic Studio Customer Support .:.

Sonic Studio, LLC .:. Trust the transparency

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DOUBLE UP AND NO 192K

 

I previously tried to use Amarra for Tidal, however due to bugs it crashed all the time on my top-of-the-line beefed-up MacBook Pro 2014 model.

 

I upgraded to Amarra 4 yesterday. And ran into two new bugs:

 

(1) Albums scanned from my iTunes folder will contain two versions of every song when put into Amarra. Which means I will have to listen to the same song twice when playing an album.

(2) Hires 24 192k files will play as 96k files only, according to the information on the playback info bar at the bottom of the screen.

 

The bugs, especially (1), make another Amarra product useless for hazzle-free playback.

 

Apart from that I like the simplicity of Amarra 4. But it's surprising that Amarra's software releases are so full of bugs.

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Thanks very much for your comments and we are continuing to make improvements for Amarra 4 and for Amarra 4 Luxe, due out at or near end of Q1 2017. [...]

@Amarra_Support, how would you like to get feedback on Amarra 4? Would you like comments on technical issues sent to your email address? For example, things like screen shots, system logs, etc...

2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

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I upgraded from Amarra Symphony with iRC and encountered a problem when trying to import my music files. The import function stalls at 4.8% complete. I've stopped and restarted the import several times; I've even Forced Quit Amarra 4 and restarted it, but it always sticks in the same place. I have submitted a ticket to Amarra Support, but just in case anyone else here has had the same problem and found a solution, please let me know.

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I upgraded from Amarra Symphony with iRC and encountered a problem when trying to import my music files. The import function stalls at 4.8% complete. I've stopped and restarted the import several times; I've even Forced Quit Amarra 4 and restarted it, but it always sticks in the same place. I have submitted a ticket to Amarra Support, but just in case anyone else here has had the same problem and found a solution, please let me know.

 

The progress indicator stalls like this for me also, but at 8%. Then it goes down to 0% and works back up to 8%, etc. etc. But if I let it go long enough, then it finally completes. It takes a while, maybe 15 to 20 minutes in my case.

2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

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The progress indicator stalls like this for me also, but at 8%. Then it goes down to 0% and works back up to 8%, etc. etc. But if I let it go long enough, then it finally completes. It takes a while, maybe 15 to 20 minutes in my case.

 

My A4tidal never once managed to complete a scan. Stalled every time . . .

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

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DOUBLE UP AND NO 192K

 

I previously tried to use Amarra for Tidal, however due to bugs it crashed all the time on my top-of-the-line beefed-up MacBook Pro 2014 model.

 

I upgraded to Amarra 4 yesterday. And ran into two new bugs:

 

(1) Albums scanned from my iTunes folder will contain two versions of every song when put into Amarra. Which means I will have to listen to the same song twice when playing an album.

(2) Hires 24 192k files will play as 96k files only, according to the information on the playback info bar at the bottom of the screen.

 

The bugs, especially (1), make another Amarra product useless for hazzle-free playback.

 

Apart from that I like the simplicity of Amarra 4. But it's surprising that Amarra's software releases are so full of bugs.

 

I got two versions of each song when I ran the scan twice. You might try clearing all the songs and run the scan again. That worked for me.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

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The sound quality is great, and the UI is pretty good too.

The DOWNSIDE is that the meta data and artwork don't work!

Many tracks and albums have missing artwork or data even though their solution (kid3) says it's all there.

 

Hey Sonic Studio--is there a fix for this??????--other than a complete re-load, as this takes a couple of hours (mac).

 

Greg

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DOUBLE UP AND NO 192K

 

I previously tried to use Amarra for Tidal, however due to bugs it crashed all the time on my top-of-the-line beefed-up MacBook Pro 2014 model.

 

I upgraded to Amarra 4 yesterday. And ran into two new bugs:

 

(1) Albums scanned from my iTunes folder will contain two versions of every song when put into Amarra. Which means I will have to listen to the same song twice when playing an album.

(2) Hires 24 192k files will play as 96k files only, according to the information on the playback info bar at the bottom of the screen.

 

When I scanned initially I imported the whole music directory, so that imported the copy in the iTunes library AND the unzipped HDTracks or Qobuz file. In some cases I ended up with 4 copies of tracks as I may have had legacy AAC files before getting HD equivalants. I purged the songs and changed the scan directory to only the iTunes Music directory which is my reference and it only added what was in there, so now only one copy of each track.

 

As to the 192, it says it is playing the files at 192 and the DAC (NAD M51) says it is playing at 192 ... I tend to use ALAC not FLAC so it may be that matters but I would be surprised.

 

Hope that helps

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I'm in complete agreement with y'all about the sound quality, it's outstanding.

 

As for glitches, I've had a few. Nothing terrible and it's likely my long-in-the-tooth 2010 Mac mini with it's 4G memory (Sonic Studio recommends 8G) which I'm using for this test. The occasional glitch has happened when changing to a track with a higher bit/sample rate resulting in no sound. BTW, this is using a Bel Canto mLink USB-SPDIF converter feeding a Chord Qute EX (whose USB driver doesn't work in Sierra). Relaunching the program fixes the issue.

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So the upgrade cost from 3.0 to 4.0 is $25, would someone from Amarra like to say how much the upgrade is from 3.0 to Luxe and for those who have already bought 4.0, the cost from 4.0 to Luxe

MacMini 8Gb OSX > Pure Music / Bitperfect / Amarra / iTunes > Synology DS215J NAS > Schiit Wyrd > Stello U3 > Naim Uniti Atom, Harbeth P3ESR. Meier Corda Arietta Headphone Amp > Sennhieser HD650 Phones (Cardas rewire). Isol-8 Powerline Axis. Isotek GII Orion Power Conditioner. Cardas Clear USB Cable. Tellurium Q Black Speaker Cable. All other cables by Mark Grant.

Vinyl still has it's place. Technics SL1200. Modified with Mike New Bearing, KAB Strobe Disable, MCRU 2 box PSU, Isonoe Feet, SME M2-9 Tonearm > Goldring 2400 >Rothwell Simplex Phonostage.

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