Pure Music

[avi]

PRAT Pace, rhythm and timing.....

 

 

 

[diw]

Many thanks AVI...we learn something every day........and with two Ts as often in the British spelling it means something altogether different.........

 

[rlodad]

See: http://www.tnt-audio.com/edcorner/prat_e.html

 

The link will tell you more than you wanted to know. I think of it as "listen-ability." Ever heard a rig that seems to sound great, but you are just not "drawn in." You think it sounds great, but you tend to jump around looking for songs that sound better instead of sitting back and just listening? The former is crappy PRAT, the latter excellent PRAT. IMHO, the former is native iTunes, the later iTunes + PM 1.65. I was amazed at the difference PM made.

 

[rlodad]

Lars,

 

You're welcome. Thanks for the stuff you post. Interestingly, I was considering a Silver Crimson (I love what of Gordon's stuff I have heard), but after the PM, I don't think I want for anything. I actually think PM made the BADA more tube like, as nuts as that sounds. Last step may instead be a Wavelink or Berkeley's new USB-S-PDIF converter, though damn it sounds great now.

 

[Lars]

rlodad,

 

Yes, the Berkeley is a fine dac. No apologies need to be made for this component. And the good news is, that a "better" sounding Pure Music should be released this month.

 

[roscoeiii]

Wow, I finally got around to the PM demo and am mighty impressed. Enjoying the iTunes integration and Hog Mode makes a nice improvement overall. Can't wait for FLAC support (though I am curious how that will work with the iTunes interface).

 

As someone with too much gain in my system, my main question regards the volume control. I understand that dithered is a preferable mode of attenuation, but for those out there with greater technical knowledge than I have give an indication of at what point sonic degradation begins? I'd like to be able to use a wider range of my preamps volume control to get more precise volume control, but not at much expense in sound quality...

 

[Vincent Borrelli]

I had the same reaction after installing and configuring Pure Music… wow!!! I feel a bit foolish for having doubted the importance of Apple's core audio and how significant PM (and I assume Amarra) can be. With Memory Play, HOG Mode and upsampling enabled, Pure Music has removed what had been a major weak link in my system. I feel like my entire music library may have just been upgraded to hi-resolution… a very dramatic improvement across the board: imaging; soundstage; presence. Pure Music is stunning!

 

[joelha]

I come in peace and not to start a war between the Mac and PC adherents. : )

 

As a lifetime Windows user, I'm wondering whether anyone has been able to compare JRMC, Foobar, Media Monkey, and other similar Windows-based players from a sound quality standpoint to players like PureMusic, Amarra, etc.

 

If there were a meaningful difference I would consider (I can't believe I'm writing these words) purchasing a Mac (probably a Mac Mini) and giving PureMusic (or something similar) a try.

 

Sorry if this has been covered before but my searches didn't turn up a lot of responses to my question.

 

Thanks to those who are willing to post their experiences.

 

Joel

 

[kaka]

I have tried various editions of JRiver, Foobar, Media Monkey and xxHighend on windows, and Amarra and PureVinyl (Pure Music's sibling) on mac

 

I prefer Amarra over PureVinyl 1.65? and 3 on the mac, and also prefer it to any of the windows contenders. PureMusic sounds thin after Amarra to me.

 

I have used an Empirical Audio Overdrive dac and Empirical Audio offramp+Altmann dac on both platforms. My best dac is a Metric Halo Lio 8 which I only have running on mac.

 

I have tried Ayrewave on my mac (actually it is a purpose built Intel box running my mac O/s) but it implodes straight away.

 

 

[SteveS1]

I have Amarra 2.1 and PM 1.65a, neither should sound thin.

 

Amarra badly needs the next release (2.1.1) to cure some irritating bugs and the remote volume adjustment issue. PM1.65a is working flawlessly for me and sounds great. Audirvana and AyreWave are also working without issues and sound excellent to me. PM wins out - but it's very, very close and I don't think anyone would be disappointed with any of them from what I hear from my tunes here. A bigger advantage with PM for me currently is the full remote control via iPad/iTouch 'remote'.

 

Steve

 

[Forehaven]

The bad thing about using an ipad/itouch/iphone to control itunes Steve is you have to use wifi. But turning off wifi during critical listening does improve the sound. It's audible to me.

 

[ted_b]

bothers you during listening (cuz that is what the Apple remote talks to, NOT your music server's wifi connection)? Your music server should be wired ethernet; turn off it's wifi antenna. Family members (who use wifi in the house) would not be open to me turning off the house's wifi during critical listening.

 

[Forehaven]

Ted,

No, I was talking wifi only. I hadn't known that Apple Remote worked with LAN connections...though it makes sense.

Thanks for pointing that out to me. I'll use an ethernet cable from now on during my listening sessions from now on.

 

[Lars]

Some systems and dacs are more affected by wifi than others. I don't hear a problem with my setup.

 

[barrows]

I am a little surprised that with your system (which I would expect to be very revealing in general) that you do not hear differences with local wifi turned off. I would be curious as to the general environment ie: is it one with neighboring wifi that cannot be defeated, etc.

Additionally, I assume your Synergistic cabling is "actively" sheilded, and wonder if this might contribute to the apparent immunity of your system to "outside" RF influence? What do you think?

 

 

[bluedy1]

Hi Steve, I see that you are using audirvana and it works ok on your dac 202. On mine the sound is awfully distorted. Ayrewave is fine (and PM is fine as well). Any specific setting?

 

[SteveS1]

The Weiss is the preferred Audio device, exclusive access and use max I/O buffer size are checked. The max memory allocation for pre-load 2048MB. Apple remote and auto check for updates are ticked but not auto update.

 

Intel MacBook, 4Gb RAM directly connected by Firewire. Spotlight and other stuff is disabled as per the recommendations on Amarra's site for best Mac results.

 

Audirvana, Pure Music and AyreWave all work fine and without any problems. The only problems with Amarra are those noted by them and scheduled to be fixed in 2.1.1.

 

Steve

 

[Lars]

Barrows may have a good point about the Synergistic Research cables and the wifi in my home. My dac may also be less influenced by wifi with its tube output that probably has less bandwidth than some of the solid state dacs. The Levinson 32 is also well shielded.

 

Even though we live on a street with large lots and have no close neighbor in the front or back of the house, I can detect wifi networks from my neighbors on either side of me.

 

 

 

[Vincent Borrelli]

Lars, Barrows is right from my experience too. I turned off Wifi last night and did not notice any difference at all... and also have all actively shielded Synergistic Research power cords and cables. So, I think they do the job of rejecting RFI/EMI as advertised. I now realize I made PC and cable choices in backwards order, and should have had Pure Music (or Amarra) installed before A/B demos of various wires. While there were some obvious differences and preferences comparing speaker cables, etc. through iTunes/Apple Core Audio, it would have been a much easier process to fine tune after Pure Music. Berkeley confirmed and strongly recommended Pure Music (with Memory Play) or Amarra. It certainly removed a layer of unnatural warmth and lack of detail I had ascribed to my cable choices... now, with PM, at least I know what was separating me from the music was not a poor cable choice. I would now say having a high-end software player like PM is right up there with major improvements like getting your speakers off the floor, DAC choice, and power quality.

 

A side note: a 'thank you' to Barrows for your strong endorsement of controlling your system with a laptop. I'm using screen sharing over ethernet on an old MacBook Pro and it's a complete joy!

 

[christ mark]

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[cylax arnold]

Really mind-blowing mind mapping applications you posted here and i used 2 of them, but i like the mind genius.File Renamer ,but i like the mind genius.

 

 

 

[igork007]

Hi, I have an off topic but important question. Does using Net Send affect sound quality? I have a headless mac mini in my hifi rack and a huge iTunes library on an iMac in my office. It's too much of a pain to manage dual libraries and Pure Music doesn't work on a shared library so I thought of using Net Send. Is Net Send my best option or can someone offer a better alternative?

 

Another question: I'm outputting the Mac Mini to a Naim DAC using an Audioquest glass toslink cable which was great for the previous Airport Express. Should I just use the optical output since the cable is awesome or does going to USB/Firewire via Hiface or Weiss make more sense?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[satbaba]

Pure Music v1.7

 

Download

 

http://www.channld.com/download.html

 

 

 

[avi]

I haven't had chance to download and try 1.7 but quickly comparing the latest product feature list to what was listed previously in the "Q4 upgrade" some items don't get a mention anymore i.e. Native device integer support, Internet Radio (iTunes streams).

 

Does anyone know if these are included in this update ?

 

Avi

 

[Bob Stern]

The download package for 1.7 includes a User Guide, the last chapter of which (p. 36) lists the changes and new features.

 

@Avi: The two features you mentioned are not included in 1.7.

 

The greatest new features are:

 

1. Native FLAC playback using a very clever method of integrating FLAC tracks into your iTunes library.

 

2. The somewhat confusing memory dial is eliminated. Instead, there is a new option to Preallocate Buffer for memory play at launch, for computers with 4 GB or more RAM.

 

3. More options for upsampling and downsampling.