Amarra sound enhancement

[cfmsp]

 

so, thanks for your posts on the -30db issue.

 

In your opinion, do we have a real issue here, is Amarra compromised by this iTunes muting property?

 

I have a difficult time believing this is an issue for the simple reason that, anytime Amarra is also set to zero volume, it would seem that one could hear a signal (being played by iTunes) if it were only down by 30db.

 

thoughts?

 

clay

 

 

 

 

[pj]

Clay,

 

iTunes 9 definitely mutes output at minimum volume so the comb filtering etc cause by the outputs mixing won't happen. I wonder whether this has always been the case with iTunes, say in version 7 or 8, if not Channel D could be partly excused on the grounds they hadn't updated their documentation otherwise it does appear they are being misleading in this regard.

 

regards

Paul

 

 

 

[pj]

PS, this was good for a laugh, as well:

 

"That is, in essence, using it as a toy, instead of as a tool for serious music listening"

 

Denigrating (potential) customers based on how they might want to use your tool and/or disguising a (potential) design flaw (as in, misunderstadning what the market might want) as a feature is an interesting sales strategy, IMO.

 

I thought your inner dj would enjoy that comment

 

It does represent a bit of an attitudinal shift from the way a lot of people use iTunes, and perhaps it's a good (if somewhat confrontational) way to flag that to potential customers.

 

Memory playback seems to present some issues to developers. The main benefit is that you avoid disc access during playback but that is a problem if you want to play more than one track at a time. You have to either load a playlist to fill available memory, or you need to load the next track into memory before the previous track finishes playing, or you could simply wait til one track finishes and then load the next. From an Audiophile perspective it seems that loading the playlist to memory is going to result in the best playback conditions. But the "downside" is that you need to approach playback as if you were listening to a cd or dvd and program a block of music that fits within the constrains of available memory.

 

cheers

Paul

 

 

 

[pj]

ramagochi

 

interesting post. If I'm reading this correctly Amarra seems to have some kind of comb filtering effect and higher levels of distortion below 100hz?

 

Could you tell more about your test setup.

 

cheers

Paul

 

[ramagochi]

Hello Paul,

 

I couldn't do it in digital, the test was in analog (The numbers wasn't good as possible due my ADC and DAC) (I did the test to see if it was true the idea that the Amarra equalizes the signal)

 

The test setup is simple.

 

Computer A: Sweep tone (from Fuzzmeasure)>iTunes>Amarra>DAC (Apogee MiniDAC)

Computer B: Sound Devices USBPre (ADC)>Fuzzmeasure.

 

The 3º harmonic distortion is higher below 100Hz, but I think that is due a psycoacoustic's dither, the 3º harmonic in the mid band is much better with the Amarra (our ear do better the job in the mid band).

 

The frequency graph is ultra magnified, between -5 and -6 is just a 1dB of diference, we are talking about a comb of 0,1dB below 30Hz. I don't believe that this be a comb filter, looks like a noise (?).

 

Is very curious the impulse graph, the Amarra takes 300ms for processing (Or buffering), but the amplitude is higher (due the higher the frequency response?).

 

I'll try to do a better test in digital with the RigthMark http://audio.rightmark.org/index_new.shtml

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[barrows]

I have to back up what the PV folks are saying here regarding memory playback. One cannot expect a true memory player to be able to respond instantly to direct track access demands, or to fast forwarding to specific places within a track. Perhaps at some time code will be developed that is sophisticated enough to accomplish these things, but I am not so sure. My experience during the development of the PS Audio PerfectWave Transport was that the code writers struggled mightily to get the player to work, and track access was one thing that was very difficult to manage.

I would suggest that those listeners who require instantaneous direct track access, and who often fast forward, track back, etc. might be better served by using a playback engine that is not a memory player. For me, none of this matters, as I prefer to listen to albums, or perhaps a playlist, but I rarely (ever?) am switching all around within a track. I think may have to try PV, as the memory player approach really appeals to me

 

[cfmsp]

 

"I have to back up what the PV folks are saying here regarding memory playback. One cannot expect a true memory player to be able to respond instantly to direct track access demands"

 

I don't always listen to my inner DJ, but some times I do. I could see using a memory player when I sort by artists, click on the first Neil Young, or Natalie Merchant song, and just listen.

 

BUT, when I'm demoing a new component (e.g. music player), I want to listen to several of my favorite songs, but not necessarily in a playlist.

 

thanks for your comments on memory playback.

 

clay

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HiFiInsider]

I have severe ADD so PV may not be good for me. Good thing I bought Amarra Mini.