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Strange Amarra / Mac Mini thing going on


jtwrace

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I'm running Amarra 2.0 with a Mac Mini (4GB & SSD). All works fine but occasionally the actual tone of the music goes really strange. I was listening to Norah Jones and she went from a beautiful midrange to about ear piercing. It was really strange.

 

I closed down itunes and Amarra and restarted. All is fine now.

 

Anyone else have this happening?

 

W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs

 

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No, I never experienced this. My only problem with Amarra (Junior) is that it sometimes drops the first few seconds of a song when playing playlists. I'm thinking about upgrading to Amarra Mini but wouldn't dare so before I cannot resolve this problem. Tonality in my system mac mini with Amarra -> m2tech hiface -> Accuphase DP-67 is always the same.

 

Mac mini (Mojave, Audirvana/Amarra/Roon) -> Dirac -> Audioquest Carbon USB -> devialet 200 -> MIT Shotgun MA -> Verity Audio Leonore

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And I believe it's FFF (far from flawless). Sometimes it stops playback, sometimes it creates a 1 second loop on the fly. I honoustly don't believe it has anything to do with iTunes or the rip quality. It must be Amarra.

 

Fully Balanced Differential Stereo: Jamo R909 < Emotiva XPA-1 < XLR < Emotiva XSP-1 < Weiss DAC2 < Oyaide d+ FW400/800 < iMac < Synology DS1815+ NAS

Software: Amarra Symphony iRC, XLD, iTunes.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have had various problems with my Amarra full version. Emailed to support but have not heard back from them from a few days now.

 

Problems include:

 

- Amarra loses sound randomly. iTunes keeps playing with sound, but no sound when switch to Amarra. Have to start and restart Amarra to fix.

 

- Amarra repeats the same song even after the whole song is completed. If I switch to iTunes I can hear that iTunes is playing the next song, but Amarra stays at the previous song.

 

Other problems not yet reported:

 

- Amarra loses to first second of a track

- Amarra goes into an endless loop with 1-2 second of a track

- Tracks play with weird speed, like 45 rpm with 33 rpm or vice versa

 

Configuration:

 

- Mac mini Snow Leopard

- 4GB RAM

- Firewire to Weiss DAC202

 

Sucks that such an expensive with bugs and no response from developer for days now.

 

Also disappointed that they promise "free upgrade" for limited time (I think 1 or 2 years). At that price they should offer lifetime upgrade. Not sure if they could even fix all the bugs after expiry.

 

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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I've had the endless loop, crashes and freezes with Amarra. But this started only after I switched from a MacBook Pro to a Mac Mini, and from firewire 800 to USB hard disk. I have discovered chaining my hard disk via firewire 400 from the Weiss DAC2 solves the problem, although I still can't run another process (such as converting a file via Max) at the same time as playing. I don't understand why running the hard disk through Firewire 800 should make such a difference, as I have 8GB of memory on my Mac Mini, but it does, it just does, apparently it's a bandwidth thing.

 

Desktop: SonicTranporter i7, Ubiquiti switch, optical, OpticalRendu, Musician Pegasus, Linear Tube MicroZOTL 3, ZMF Verite Open

Main: SonicTransporter i7, Uniquiti switch, optical, EtherRegen, Lumin U1, Bricasti M3, Naim 252/250, DeVore Gibbon Nines

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Thanks John

 

That is Weird! I do have my Mini connected to via USB to a HDD. I actually made a point to buy a dual USB/Firewire HDD since I had a HiFace connected to my Naim DAC before, so I figure I need Firewire to avoid devices on the same bus.

 

It is counter-intuitive but I will try to connect via Firewire.

 

Come to think of it it is probably the fact a Firewire performance advantage. I heard that Firewire bandwidth for each port is independent.

 

BTW, I notice that you have Naim 282/Supercap/200/DAC2. I used to have 282/Hicap/200/DAC2! Nice system :)

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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Yes, it's a nice system, and I had thought about Living Voice speakers too, but there was nowhere accessible I could audition them. I'm very happy with the Gibbons though. Anyway, I'd be interested to have the Firewire advantage confirmed by you, as it will stop me obsessing about this. One thing I do wonder if whether I should look for a F/W hub instead of chaining, as there seems to be a lag still and an abruptness in starting a track which I hadn't noticed previously – I might check out whether this can be mitigated. Oh, I'm still obsessing...

 

Desktop: SonicTranporter i7, Ubiquiti switch, optical, OpticalRendu, Musician Pegasus, Linear Tube MicroZOTL 3, ZMF Verite Open

Main: SonicTransporter i7, Uniquiti switch, optical, EtherRegen, Lumin U1, Bricasti M3, Naim 252/250, DeVore Gibbon Nines

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Well thanks again John I am swapping it to Firewire but it will take a couple of days to determine if the gremlins are gone. My system shares living room with the wife and she has the right of first refusal so listening time is previous little for me.

 

I didn't notice your speakers and what nice speakers! Also surprised that like the LV the Devores are apparently good with tubes, are quite efficient and have some attention paid to the crossovers. Your Devores are probably much robust and better built. The LVs are nice but very flimsy for their asking price.

 

I also used to own the DAC2, and also the Naim DAC which is a nice DAC.

 

Funny enough, I have always been very curious on the Opus 21, my friend owns one and I have always wanted to listen to it. Small world.

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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Sorry John I am confused. Apparently there is only one firewire port in my mini. Did you mention that you are using the second Firewire port of your Weiss DAC to connect the Hard Drive? I didnt know you could do that.

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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Agentsmith... Assuming your HDD is FireWire 800 device, you'd do better MacMini --> HDD --> DAC202 as that way you will get full speed to the HDD as the DAC202 will be limiting you to FireWire 400 speeds (if that makes sense). Metric Halo have a FireWire "primer" sheet you should be able to find via Google which explains things better than I can.

 

Eloise

 

Eloise

---

...in my opinion / experience...

While I agree "Everything may matter" working out what actually affects the sound is a trickier thing.

And I agree "Trust your ears" but equally don't allow them to fool you - trust them with a bit of skepticism.

keep your mind open... But mind your brain doesn't fall out.

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That's wonderfully logical, Eloise, and I'll be trying this too!

 

Desktop: SonicTranporter i7, Ubiquiti switch, optical, OpticalRendu, Musician Pegasus, Linear Tube MicroZOTL 3, ZMF Verite Open

Main: SonicTransporter i7, Uniquiti switch, optical, EtherRegen, Lumin U1, Bricasti M3, Naim 252/250, DeVore Gibbon Nines

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Just saw this, yes, that's right. But check what Eloise has suggested.

 

Desktop: SonicTranporter i7, Ubiquiti switch, optical, OpticalRendu, Musician Pegasus, Linear Tube MicroZOTL 3, ZMF Verite Open

Main: SonicTransporter i7, Uniquiti switch, optical, EtherRegen, Lumin U1, Bricasti M3, Naim 252/250, DeVore Gibbon Nines

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Thanks for the Firewire tips.

 

Would the signal passing through the HDD first through to the DAC potentially affects the sound in any way?

 

Macbook Pro/MacMini/dCS Debussy/Cambridge 650BD[br]Vitus Audio SS-010/Living Voice OBX-R2 Speakers/Ultrasone Edition 8 phones[br]Airport Express/Meridian AD88[br]

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  • 2 weeks later...

In response to the very first question, the full version of Amarra 2 played without iTunes via its own Independent Playlist window sometimes has that nasty sonic effect. There are bugs in 2.0

 

So it isn't the relationship with iTunes, as I'm not using it.

 

Bring on 2.1

 

Source: Pink Faun Ultra - Chord DAVE

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Speakers: Trenner and Friedel RA

Cables : JCAT reference USB, Tellerium XLR, Kubula-Sosna Elation speaker

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Jtwrace,

By any chance you have the ayrewave running in the background?

 

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Hi,

 

I'm having some issues with Amarra Mini and my DAC (Wyred 4 Sound DAC2), regarding the Sample Rate, which Does Not Change With Soundfile.

Listening to some 96/24 tracks and some 44k1 files and it doesn't change automatically, i did configure in Audio Midi the DAC as the device for sound output, also i purchased a few albums from HDTracks 96/24 and in one of them i got this message:

 

"Could not add all Tracks to Playlist.

The Sample Rate or Format is not supported"

 

The strange thing is that the format of that particular album is the same of the others and the others play without any problem?

 

Other thing i've noticed is that the musics played from Amarra"Playlist" are stopping before the end, quite weird..

I've tried to listen them in other player (Play) and there's no problem at all, they'll run 'til the end??

 

In some tracks i also hear a strange "hiccup" sound sometimes, what can it be?

 

It's obvius and i'm missing something?

 

 

 

 

 

In the beginning God made 'the light.'

Shortly thereafter God made three big mistakes.

The first mistake was called MAN, the second mistake was called WO-MAN, and the third mistake was the invention of THE POODLE.

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Hi,

I used to have problems with dropouts at the beginning of tracks when I was using Amarra Junior. I also trialed Pure Music, but I prefer the sound of Amarra. Albeit the problems, I decided to upgrade to Amarra mini, because I wanted 24/96 capability. Ever since I've had no issues with malfunctioning of Amarra. I usually use Amarra mini in playlist mode, but also the iTunes mode works ok.

 

Finally, I'm quite happy with my current setup. Jkeny's HiFace is underway and I'm curious whether this will give a further improvement. :-)

 

 

Mac mini (Mojave, Audirvana/Amarra/Roon) -> Dirac -> Audioquest Carbon USB -> devialet 200 -> MIT Shotgun MA -> Verity Audio Leonore

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I tried recreating what you described by attempting to add an AAC (unsupported), a 24/96 and a 24/192 (unsupported) to an Amarra Mini playlist. It simply loaded the 24/96 and gave no error messages. If I try to load an unsupported track only, it gives a message saying you must select a track in Itunes.

 

Aside from that, I find that I can pretty easily make Amarra Mini go astray in playlist (memory) mode. It handles small playlists just fine (e.g 20 or less tracks), but if I use a large playlist with multiple sample rates, I've had it get stuck on one track and then playback something else. If I try to jump around within a playlist, it may playback with wrong sample rate and give you the Alvin and the Chipmunks effect. I've only experienced this garbled sound in Amarra.

 

I have the same issues with AyreWave in memory mode. It still has sample rate changing issues, although that is improved.

 

I find Amarra Mini to be rock solid playing back Itunes playlists though. I guess in this case, AM is following Itunes lead. For all the bashing Itunes gets on this site for its sound, it is very solid from a database standpoint. Most importantly to me, I can jump around from one playlist to another using Remote with Amarra Mini in Itunes playlist mode and it never gets wigged out. I can't say that for Amarra playlist mode.

 

If I want either player to be stable, I don't use memory mode.

 

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