New Amarra 4

[DancingSea]

3 hours ago, 6rs said:

But there is another issue still: After going through the measuring procedure with Dirac and the UMIK microphone, voices  no longer locate to the center but shift to the right. Has anybody experienced that as well?

 

The issue is Amarra itself.  The programmers simply lack the capacity to make a high quality product in terms of bugs.  Sounds great.  Eternally buggy.  That is reality.

[twist222]

Hi 6rs,

 

Yes there was a known bug were the image moved to right. There should be previous posts on it. I thought it had been addressed in a latter version, but apparently not. I think the work around may have been to use the previous version of IIC for measuring. 

 

I do remember reading a number of posts on the bug, but I only used IIC for a while and did not have the problem so I am only going off memory. I moved my copy of Amarra to a new Mac, but IIC would not register on the new computer. I submitted a ticket to Sonic Studios, received a support ticket number, but nothing after that. So after paying for IIC I can no longer use it.

 

Regards

Mark

[6rs]

Thank you very much for your replies. I will see whether taking another series of measurements might take care of the problem. I have found posts were the center stage moved to the left as well. Maybe this is not really a bug, but more like a sensitivity of the IRC/Dirac algorithm? My room is asymmetric, that could contribute.

I hope you can resolve that issue with the IRC licensing, Mark.

 

[twist222]

Hi 6rs,

 

One issue we did find with AudioLense was that if we did not get the mic exactly centred the image would be off centre. Carefully measuring and centering the mic before taking a new set of measurements fixed that problem. I know you are using IIC not AL and that you take multiple measurements with IIC, but perhaps it would  be worth ensuring the first measurement location is carefully entered between the speakers. Just a suggestion.

 

Regards Mark

 

[6rs]

Hi Mark

Of course, that is sensible advice - I thought I was already careful the first time but I will try to be precise. In an other post where the problem was discussed, it was suggested to use the „sofa“ setting rather than the „chair“ despite actually listening in a chair. 

Thanks, Bruno

[6rs]

I repeated the measurements but the problem persists. 

[DJ_Polaco]

On 5/23/2020 at 6:56 AM, DancingSea said:

As a veteran of the Amarra swamp lands, I eventually gave up entirely on it.  With Roon plus HQPlayer 4 (backend) I'm able to get equally good sound, and an infinitely better library management system and iPad remote.  Amarra was so tedious to use.  Roon is smooth like butter, never a glitch, ever.  I ended up buying a Roon lifetime license.

Hi, I'm interested in trying this solution but what exactly does "Roon plus HQPlayer 4 (backend)" mean? Sorry, I'm relatively ignorant.

[jiminlogansquare]

Roon is a  user interface for locating music in your library or on streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz, creating playlists from that music, and playing the music through your stereo or other output endpoint. Roon integrates access to your local and streaming music in one application and has lots and lots of other goodies that make the whole experience more enjoyable to many users, myself included. Roon also is network based so you can control multiple endpoints throughout your home playing different music at the same time. Think of Roon as iTunes on steroids. 
 

HQPlayer is a separate and optional application that can be used in conjunction with Roon. HQPlayer is not published by the makers of Roon but is compatible with it. It is a signal processing application that allows you to manipulate and improve the sound of digital music files and streaming music using tools like oversampling and various filters before sending the signal on to your DAC. I think HQPlayer was described as a “back end” because it works invisibly behind the scenes after an initial setup process and doesn’t require routine action by the user. It’s not necessary to use HQPlayer to use Roon, but the signal processing HQPlayer provides can be used to tailor/change/improve the sound of your music library and streaming music to your tastes, including changes that can mimic what Amarra does.

[Lio_B]

in addition to this very good description of Roon & HQP,

I will add the possibility of listening to web live radios via Roon, without having to change application, and still being able to take advantage of the excellent sound quality of HQP

[NickDun]

I have gone a different route but with the same end result of being able to get rid of Amarra. I got a Linn Majik DSM with an addition Majik 2100 so I could BiAmp my B&W CM9 S2. This replaced my Rega Elicit-R and Nad M51 DAC ... a big big improvement In sound and I can stream Qobuz, radio etc and use the Mac Mini as a UPnP server. Amarra is gone, dead & buried. No more crashes, terrible library and shocking mobile App. 

[DancingSea]

7 hours ago, DJ_Polaco said:

Hi, I'm interested in trying this solution but what exactly does "Roon plus HQPlayer 4 (backend)" mean? Sorry, I'm relatively ignorant.

 

Excellent replies thus far.  The only thing I’d add is price.  Roon costs $120 per year or $699 for a lifetime license.  HQPLAYER costs $249.   The combo is, in my experience, vastly superior to Amarra or Audirvana in every way except price.  I went the lifetime route, thinking of it as a component purchase.  

[DJ_Polaco]

Thanks for the explanation. This is so frustrating. I found that they perfect solution for me would be Amarra SQ+ because I need to use DJing software and it can still go through the SQ+ and I get other functionality that I want like EQ and noise reduction. It looks like the perfect app for what I need in terms of sound and additional functionality. But alas, it turns out that they stopped supporting it. I downloaded it as trial and it craps out on MacOS Catalina because they didn't update it. I just need this. I don't need the Hqplayer or Roon or whatever. I'm using Mixxx which is free and this would be perfect if they just updated it. Is this the only thing out there?

[DancingSea]

The developer of Amarra, in its many forms including SQ, lacks the capacity to produce a stable product.  It makes no difference if they updated it or not. 

[DJ_Polaco]

19 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

The developer of Amarra, in its many forms including SQ, lacks the capacity to produce a stable product.  It makes no difference if they updated it or not. 

I get that. But is there really no other company making a similar type of product? It seems that they can't do what they do, but neither can anyone else. Is there no money to be made selling this sort of stuff? Why this apparent gap in the market?

[DancingSea]

25 minutes ago, DJ_Polaco said:

I get that. But is there really no other company making a similar type of product? It seems that they can't do what they do, but neither can anyone else. Is there no money to be made selling this sort of stuff? Why this apparent gap in the market?

 

I am unfamiliar with DJ software, this is an audiophile forum.  To my knowledge, there is no other Amarra SQ+ like product in the audiophile universe, something that effects the sound system wide.  I have used SQ+ and the scope of its influence messed up all sorts of unintended things on my Mac.  As for DJ centric products, I truly have no idea.

[DJ_Polaco]

10 hours ago, DancingSea said:

 

I am unfamiliar with DJ software, this is an audiophile forum.  To my knowledge, there is no other Amarra SQ+ like product in the audiophile universe, something that effects the sound system wide.  I have used SQ+ and the scope of its influence messed up all sorts of unintended things on my Mac.  As for DJ centric products, I truly have no idea.

I'm an audiophile DJ. I DJ orchestral music recorded in the 30-40s. I use 24/96 FLAC files which the Mixxx DJ software can play satisfactorily, and I use Dragonfly Cobalt DAC and studio monitor speakers.

AsQ+ did not mess up all sorts of things on my computer. When it worked it did the job perfectly as far as functionality is concerned. The problem is that my trial version stopped working altogether. I got a reply from Amarra so I hope I can sort this out.

[DJ_Polaco]

To follow up, Amarra guy got back to me and gave me the instructions to get the app going again. I think for my purposes if I can use this I will. The problem for me is that these 24/96 high res music files (1) tend to have a sharp edge to them (don't know why), and it makes little difference whether I use Audirvana or DJ software like Mixxx, and (2) they're transfers from shellac records from the 30s and 40s so there's noise. AsQ+ helps to soften the music and make it more listenable, no idea how it does it but it's good enough for my purposes, and the EQ and noise reduction deal with other issues of the tracks. I listen to the music and not the gear, but when become a crypto gazillionaire I'll get the $10k DAC and all the other paraphernalia that audiophiles must have.

[DancingSea]

5 minutes ago, DJ_Polaco said:

To follow up, Amarra guy got back to me and gave me the instructions to get the app going again. I think for my purposes if I can use this I will. The problem for me is that these 24/96 high res music files (1) tend to have a sharp edge to them (don't know why), and it makes little difference whether I use Audirvana or DJ software like Mixxx, and (2) they're transfers from shellac records from the 30s and 40s so there's noise. AsQ+ helps to soften the music and make it more listenable, no idea how it does it but it's good enough for my purposes, and the EQ and noise reduction deal with other issues of the tracks. I listen to the music and not the gear, but when become a crypto gazillionaire I'll get the $10k DAC and all the other paraphernalia that audiophiles must have.

Amarra always sounds great, I hope it will work for your purposes.  You’ll be relieved to know that most of us are not gazillionaires nor own $10K DACs 😂 

[chipbutty]

50% off Amarra at the moment with code PROMOBF50. I trialled it recently and moved over from Audirvana. 

[Stanislav.I]

Hello! I see that the topic is old, but can you help me.
Installed amarra luxe on windows 10 - great sound.
But there is one problem: the sound does not go through ASIO - the program freezes,
a couple of times I just managed to start it. This is how it works through windows exclusive.
How to run via ASIO? I will add that on Asio, if you turn on music with high sampling (88.2),
it plays in slow motion, the higher - the slower. The sound is output through audio gd r2r 11

[DancingSea]

And from the bowels of Mordor a distant sound is heard…..

[sockpit]

Or the ghosts of Christmas past ;)

 

I cannot be of any help about Amarra since I gave up on them long ago as a business. Regardless of the SQ, the software was primitive and very buggy.  Am a happy Audirvana user now for years . . .

 

[Stanislav.I]

8 hours ago, DancingSea said:

And from the bowels of Mordor a distant sound is heard…..

I see you have zombies too.
Stupidity does not need a flag - you represent the international together with ours,the same

[AnotherSpin]

3 hours ago, Stanislav.I said:

I see you have zombies too.
Stupidity does not need a flag - you represent the international together with ours,the same

 

What you're trying to tell? You represent stupidity?

[Stanislav.I]

28 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

What you're trying to tell? You represent stupidity?

If you do not understand what is written - sadness. If you understand, but are trying to kindle - why?
I don't mean to offend, but it's really stupid