Amarra 2.1 Released!

[kaka]

I used Amarra 2.0 a lot via it's own player without iTunes.

It was buggy but better sounding than with iTunes in the mix.

 

2.1 using its own player and the new play from memory option seems better again. My usual test tracks delivered extra musical textures and nuances, but there is more listening to be done.

 

It is a lot more solid than 2.0 - while 2.1 seems to start up iTunes at the end albums, but at least it doesn't start playing the first album on the hard disk. I got so sick of that album.

 

I would have settled for a bug fix release, I wasn't expecting such sonic advantages.

 

 

 

[ajay556]

Yes i am getting ticks and pops too on my Amara Mini. But i did noticed closing and restarting Amarra has no issues, when i simply play songs. The ticks and pop start when i change settings or features in Amarra or iTunes. But too early to tell for sure.

 

Additionally, i was playing the Hi Rez Flac files directly from Amarra. Its much better than AIFF from iTunes.

 

[Bob Stern]

Ted stated: "I keep getting an error screen (Amarra quit unexpectedly; report or ignore) when I start PM (which has an itunes autostart link). It's as if the itunes plug in is getting ping'd each time, whether Amarra or PM."

 

The iTunes plugin sends a notification to Amarra whenever any change in status occurs in iTunes (play/pause, change selected track, etc) The plugin doesn't know whether Amarra is running.

 

One solution might be to disable auto-launching Amarra when launching iTunes.

 

If that doesn't suffice, another solution would be to launch Pure Music using an AppleScript that disables the Amarra plugin before launching Pure Music. The AppleScript could move the Amarra plugin to another folder, or perhaps the following would suffice:

tell app "iTunes" to set visuals enabled to false

 

When you want to use Amarra, you'd need another AppleScript that re-enables the plugin before launching Amarra.

 

The Amarra script could quit PM, and the PM script could quit Amarra, making it easy to switch back and forth.

 

I don't have Amarra, so I cannot test it.

 

[jtwrace]

To answer the above question, I'm using a USB dac and get clicks n pops.

 

I will try to disable spotlight tonight and see what that changes.

 

Does disabling Spotlight disable anything that I need to worry about? I only use the Mini for audio playback and uploading of Cd's.

 

[thequietman]

A substantial change for the better, rich, vibrant, lots of space. Using memory play.

Still has intermittent bug though, false start followed by track playing.

 

 

[StephanLJ]

Does the 2.1 version play FLAC. And does it do it with high resolution files from HD Tracks?? Here it quits. Is there another piece of software necessary?

 

Thank you

Stephan

 

[DanRubin]

In 2.1, am I correct that iTunes volume is no longer set to zero when Amarra is working? This means that I can use the iTunes volume slider I see in the Remote app and it's controlling Amarra? Used to be that if that slider was visible at any non-zero setting, iTunes was engaged, but apparently no longer.

 

Update: playing with the volume slider on the iPod Touch, I'm getting some strange doubling of the sound. It appears that Amarra and iTunes are both operating. WTF?

 

[Purite Audio]

Amarra can convert and play FLAC files on the fly,and every sample rate up to a d including 24/192.

Keith.

 

[dmccombs]

Jwtrace,

 

Definitely disable Spotlight. You will probably hear a sonic improvement and it may stop the ticks/pop.

 

Spotlight does background indexing so word and file searches go faster on your mac. You can still do word and file searches, they just may run slower without Spotlight enabled. It has no audio use, and you won't miss it. We turn this off in our build...

 

Darrell

 

[RayBan]

You just shipped a Mach 2 to me yesterday, what version would be installed??

 

I will be using a Lavry Black DA10 with it.

 

[dmccombs]

Rayban,

 

I don't recognize your CA id. Can you email me at mach2music, so we don't divert the thread?

 

Since Amarra 2.1 just came out yesterday, you probably have 2.0 It is easy to upgrade though. ;-)

 

Thanks

 

[dennis88]

Just a quick question:

Is Amarra supposed to change both the sample- and the bitrate on the fly, or only the samplerate?

 

Thanks

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Last time I tested Amarra and Pure Music neither changed the bit rate. This is usually not an issue as many DACs have a static 24 bit input from the computer.

 

Can someone confirm this is still the case?

 

[HiFiInsider]

Which version of iTunes should I be on before I update to 2.1?

 

[SteveS1]

"Update: playing with the volume slider on the iPod Touch, I'm getting some strange doubling of the sound. It appears that Amarra and iTunes are both operating. WTF?"

 

I'm getting that too. I think the sound in playlist/cache mode is a step up, but that volume slider issue is a pain.

 

Steve

 

 

[JR_Audio]

I have tested this very quick with my 16 and 24 Bit True tests. So when I use for example the optical digital out of my MacBookPro 5.5 running on 10.6.5 and set this output to 16 Bit, than 16 bit goes 1:1 Bit True to my Audio Precision, but when I use 24 Bit Test signal, then the signal is truncated down to 16 Bit.

 

This is with Amarra 2.1 and with Pure Music 1.65a, with and without exclusive Hog Mode. So neither the Midi Setup changes the bit width, nor internally the path is opened to 24 Bit.

 

But the other way round, setting the interface to 24 Bit and playing back 16 Bit is 100 % Bit True, because Zero is Zero, no matter if it comes from padding or from cutting.

 

Sample Rate change does work with Pure Music 1.65a with and without exclusive Hog Mode, all the time and this is in real, measured at the output and also looking at the Midi Setup.

 

But sample Rate change does not always work with Amarra 2.1, but has worked always with Amarra 2.0. This is measured at the output as also looking at the Midi Setup.

 

Juergen

 

 

[Purite Audio]

Steve Rob the volume control thingy has been fixed already, couple of other small things 2.1.1 soon, Keith.

 

[jtwrace]

How soon is soon for 2.1.1?

 

dmccombs-I'll do spotlight tonight.

 

[jtwrace]

I did mdutil -a -i off in the terminal.

 

[bottlerocket]

I've had good luck just turning off spotlight on my music folder. The manual says to turn it off on your music drive if you have a separate drive (i don't). I don't see the value in turning it off completely? Any reason to do that?

 

[jtwrace]

That seemed to solve the click and pop issue.

 

I'm really diggin' Cache playback.

 

[sjohnson]

that limited and/or expensive support, inadequate documentation, and obvious issues exist with software that is priced at a level that one would expect better.

 

Volume control integration with SS model 4 isn't working for me and there are regular crashes and out of memory errors when several gigs are free. It has changed the sonic hardware gain settings on it's own which in the wrong circumstances could be a real issue.

 

So far there are some things better sonically but questions on other aspects I need to explore further.

 

Maybe a patch release will follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[agentsmith]

Disabled SPotlight as recommended in the manual

 

Still clicking with 24/192 tracks

 

Not good

 

[agentsmith]

Also more noticeably crapped out with refusal to change sampling rate etc., even worse than 2.0

 

[dennis88]

Thanks for your input regarding my question. Does anybody use a Benchmark DAC1 (the classic model) via Toslink with Amarra 2.1 ?