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New Amarra 4


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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

 

From desember newsletter:

 

[h=3]Upcoming Amarra 4 Release[/h]The excitement grows as we're on the verge of releasing Amarra 4! We appreciate the continued support of our loyal customers and want to inform you about the paths available to enjoy our new products.

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[TD][h=4]Amarra Hifi Users[/h]Upgrade to Amarra 4 for just $29.99 and take your musical enjoyment to the next level. Easy and fun to use, Amarra 4 supports your entire music library including FLAC and DSD files, with complete independence from iTunes. Select tracks by Song, Album, Artist or your own Playlists, sit back and enjoy the award-winning sound of Amarra 4!

...Learn more about Amarra 4

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[TD=width: 20%]amarra4_stepug_newsletter.jpg[/TD]

[TD][h=4]Amarra & Symphony 3.0 Users[/h]Can't wait for Amarra 4 Luxe? Get your upgrade in steps, starting with Amarra 4 and graduating to Amarra 4 Luxe upon its release in Q1 2017. The total of the two step upgrades will cost you just the same as the future upgrade from version 3.0 directly to Amarra 4 Luxe:

Amarra 3.0 to Amarra 4 Luxe Available Q1 2017 for $49.99

 

    Step Upgrade
  1. Upgrade your Amarra 3.0 to Amarra 4 $25.00
  2. Upgrade your Amarra 4 to Amarra 4 Luxe $24.99

Symphony 3.0 to Amarra 4 Luxe Available Q1 2017 for $19.99

 

    Step Upgrade
  1. Upgrade your Symphony 3.0 to Amarra 4 $10.00
  2. Upgrade your Amarra 4 to Amarra 4 Luxe $9.99

PLEASE NOTE: Amarra 4 Luxe will provide many new features not available in Amarra 4, including DSD playback using Native DOP, realtime Upsampling, integrated TIDAL support, Surround Sound Headphone processing, iOS Remote support, and an option for iRC Room Correction. Please refer to the Amarra 4 Luxe product page to Learn More about these great new features!

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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.

 

Thanks for your comments and we have good news:

- TIDAL integration is planned for Amarra 4 Luxe. Our target for A4L is end of Q1 at this time.

- We are continuing to work on library functions, improving playlists, artwork, editing metadata and other features to make it easier to navigate your music in A4

- we're in contact with MQA and will have more information available shortly

 

btw, A4Luxe is expected to retail for $99.

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

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

Darn. Let us know if you get a fix from @Amarra_Support. Does this happen on your primary folder where you first do a scan?

 

For what it's worth, I choose a primary folder with a small number of files. I scan that easily, and then subsequently use "Add to Library" to add my main collection. The latter takes about 20 minutes, give or take and this is the step where the progress indicator stalls, goes up and down, but ultimately completes.

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

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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.

 

Thanks for your note, regarding the 2 copies of tracks, a couple of things:

- click on the far right of the track list on the 3 dots and select Open File Location. Make sure both files are in the same location and you haven't inadvertently set up iTunes to copy all of your tracks that are added to your library.

- When you clear songs and scan, you should have only one copy. If you scan again without clearing, duplicates may show up. If you want to add tracks to an existing library, use the Window->Add to Library command at top of screen.

- Regarding the 192k tracks playing at 96k, what output device are you using and how is it connected to your Mac or PC? Amarra 4 will down-sample a track that can't be played back natively due to limitations of your hardware. If you DAC only supports up to 96k (or you're using built in output), then 192k tracks will be down sampled.

- Amarra 4 Luxe will include real-time up-sampling functionality.

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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@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...

 

We commonly use 2 email addresses. For strictly support related issues, how-to's, not working, and the like, use [email protected] or, better yet, go to our support portal at: Amarra Support. As you enter your question, potential solutions will come up that may help to minimize response time. This is a good place to write if you want to include screen shots which are very helpful. System logs don't typically tell us much. If we need to get a log, we will contact you and let you know. When you report problems, we need to be able to reproduce them reliably to resolve them so details of steps taken and screen shots/error messages are most helpful.

 

You can use [email protected] to send any comments, suggestions for improvements, questions about functionality, clarity on pricing and purchasing, etc.

 

Best

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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I have been using Amarra 3 for a couple years and have been very happy with the sound. I will probably get the v4 upgrade this weekend, but I really wish they had a method to import iTunes Playlists (I have a lot). Editing metadata and artwork should be close to the top of the list for v4.1

 

On it's way, top or our list too!

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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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

 

Shouldn't matter with ALAC or FLAC. We can play both at 192k if it's a 192k file. If you can send me the name of an example file exhibiting this behavior, I'd like to test in house. If one of the tracks is from HDTracks, even better. You can send info to me at [email protected]

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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Darn. Let us know if you get a fix from @Amarra_Support. Does this happen on your primary folder where you first do a scan?

 

For what it's worth, I choose a primary folder with a small number of files. I scan that easily, and then subsequently use "Add to Library" to add my main collection. The latter takes about 20 minutes, give or take and this is the step where the progress indicator stalls, goes up and down, but ultimately completes.

 

We have found that a lot of the issues are around corrupted metadata in files. We are addressing that in our code to eliminate the crashing and allow you to scan your full library at once.

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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Sonic advertised the upgrade from Amarra 3 all last fall as costing $5 bucks. You click on the link to upgrade and it's actually $25 dollars. It's freaking annoying. It's not the money (it's a small amount) but why do they have to lie about it and spring the higher price on us at the checkout page? It's typical of Sonic who seem to think they're so good they can get away with anything and their customers will just take it.

 

Also, the upgrade's to Amarra 4 because Amarra 4 "Luxe" is not available yet. Luxe is the version with DSD, up sampling, TIDAL, headphone processing, etc.

 

Sorry for any confusion. To clarify, we really expect Amarra Hifi users to move to Amarra 4 and Amarra 3/Symphony 3 users to move to Amarra 4 Luxe for comparable features. That's what the $5 upgrade was for new purchases at the end of last year. That is still the case. However, if users want to use Amarra 4 initially (with it's reduced features as compared to A4 Luxe), we wanted to make that available to them at 50% off the retail price of $49.

 

We're doing our best to keep prices down however continued development does cost money. We hope that the nominal re-licensing/development/admin fees that are charged for upgrades are not a burden on our customers and they see the added value in the improved listening experience.

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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Just downloaded the trial version and listened to some albums. Very good sound, but it is unfortunate that Amarra cannot play DSD files directly. Features are limited and user interface not very transparent. For example, I cannot find a way to delete an album from the library. Any suggestions?

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Just downloaded the trial version and listened to some albums. Very good sound, but it is unfortunate that Amarra cannot play DSD files directly. Features are limited and user interface not very transparent. For example, I cannot find a way to delete an album from the library. Any suggestions?

 

I'm pretty sure the more expensive Luxe version will deal with DSD. I agree, the user interface features are at times rudimentary. Playlist creation, editing, library management, the ability to edit what plays next, etc are all lacking. The sound is phenomenal, thus hoping Sonic Studios will improve the rest soon.

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Thanks for that. I'm not signed up for their newsletter so didnt see it. Had a look around their website but couldnt find it there.

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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The sound is as good as it always was. Unfortunately, again, I can't really use it. I am trying to "add to library"; it goes to 1%, then starts again (and this in a loop).

 

I guess it remains the buggy software...

 

I think you are supposed to select a folder and then do an initial scan. The "add to library" part is a separate function that is used after you've done the initial scan - its to add stray files to the mothership.

 

Which OS are you using? In El Capitan I've completed, deleted, and completed again several rounds of the initial scan. Only tried the Add to Library once, which didn't work, but it may have been the file.

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Thank you. I did scans, but it does not even keep those, that is why I tried to add to a library. Well, I'll keep trying a bit more, but at the current stage not too hopeful.

 

Finally got that to work! Now I am looking forward to improvements in library management (some albums are hard to find), but the sound is superb; always has been.

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Thank you. I did scans, but it does not even keep those, that is why I tried to add to a library. Well, I'll keep trying a bit more, but at the current stage not too hopeful.

 

I found the trial did not keep the scanned library. Once I upgraded it did. It scanned my library with no hiccups but I have spent a lot of time getting the metadata right for A+ and JRIVER.

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Metadata issues for me:

Loading a two-disc set, e.g. Maria Pires's Schubert, gives me this in all the other players I use (A+ here as an example):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]33067[/ATTACH]

 

Whereas in Amarra, the order is "strange":

[ATTACH=CONFIG]33068[/ATTACH]

 

The files also show up correctly in Kid3 and other tagging software. Is there a way to fix this now or is that in an upgrade release?

 

I've had similar tag related issues here and there.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

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Issues, so far (after few days trial on Mac--current system):

Full scan: Some files added incorrectly. Re-load does not do them correctly. Even though some read correctly they do not file/sort correctly.

Metadata is really buggy. It appears that PNG files are not supported. The metadata supported is very limited--I still need iTunes to keep track of many things.

Metadata fix (as per Support portal) doesn't work at all.

Complete scan must be done to integrate any change in iTunes library--and takes a couple of hours each time during which app is unusable.

Cannot add or subtract songs or albums--"add to library" doesn't work at all--the app falls over. "Refresh" doesn't work.

Options not saved on re-start, and there are few options.

 

Positives:

Sound quality is the best so far.

User interface is simple, (maybe too simple).

 

Conclusions:

I like using it to listen to music, but I'm VERY disappointed in the bugs that make it almost unusable otherwise.

 

I may or may not upgrade to 4 from 3 to get the better SQ, but I certainly won't be upgrading to 4 Luxe as I don't trust that any of the more advanced options will work.

 

I will update this if things change.

 

Any help from the forum most welcome if there are ways around the issues.

 

Greg

p.s.--How come 3 could read the files correctly from iTunes into the Amarra Playlist and 4's reads are a disaster area?

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