I'm running Lion so will check out the trial version. I'm loathed to spend more ££ on music players as I forked out for Amarra which I hardly use as I find it takes an age to load the cache on memory play from my QNAP NAS which is RAID configured...... If it sounds better and loads quickly then it could be worth it though...
Well , after spending sometime comparing bare iTunes with A+ and Amarra I've concluded I prefer Amarra.
A+ can be just as clunky to use as Amarra so no easier to use and I think Amarra sounds a little more full bodied if that makes sense.
There's not worlds of difference to my ears from bare iTunes for either so will use 'Remote' with iTunes for casual use and continue to use Amarra in cache mode for serious sessions......
Any A+ users, would you mind trying something for me?
In preferences, under 'advanced parameters' in 'audio filters' try setting 'pre-ringing' to .74
Damien, the developer, recently said this was his preferred setting, as well as explaining what pre-ringing was.
I tried it tonight and would be grateful to know what you chaps hear. I think I like it, a subtle change which has become more significant as I dialled in to what is happening. Even if it's all psychosomatic, I'll probably leave it like this.
Is rebuilding the library where you re-select the destination folder in prefs & let it process everything again? If so, that's what I did and it cured my problems too, namely interminably slow loading of tracks and ages to process new files and artwork.
They're not the PLIST files, they're the ones in the iTunes folder on the Mac - with names that include 'library'. See this page http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391.
Ah, I hadn't realised. I have set my media file to be on the NAS (obviously), and I assumed the itunes library file on the MAC were like an index if you will, or a map of where all the music is and how its organized.
Still, it's all working so I haven't messed anything up too badly yet!
The library files are like an index - of the media files on your NAS, or wherever you put them and tell iTunes in the Advanced settings in Preferences.
fyi - I've just updated my Amarra Mini to the latest version and I'm pleased to say that the bugs that were frustrating me have been sorted out.....
It's sounding great and to my ears sounds better than A+. The EQ is handy too and helps me overcome some of the issues with my listening room environment !
To my ears the sound seems fuller and more up-front than bare iTunes. Bass seems to have a little more impact too. I struggled to detect much of a difference between bare iTunes and A+ but that could be my ears not being as well tuned as they probably could be. I've not tried A+ with and additional EQ which maybe I should.....
Going back to my Audirvana+/iTunes crashes, I think I may have found the answer.
I narrowed it down to iTunes, not A+, that was causing the problems. From observations, it seemed that iTunes sometimes hesitated before a track started and then the whole kit and caboodle froze.
Much Googling didn't lead to any answers, so I went back to first principles. If iTunes was playing up on Snow Leopard, and the latest version (the one I'm running) is Lion-era, perhaps I should upgrade my OS.
I did that yesterday, and so far, so good. No crashes, although the communication between A+ and iTunes can still be a bit flaky.
I've installed the beta version tonight and so far so good. No clicks or skips, as someone mentioned on the ComputerAudiophile forum. Good to see the Hiface two is working fine even with direct mode.
I'm getting the occasional clicking noise realmassy. It happens about every 30 seconds.
Do you get a time delay between clicking play on the first track and the track actually starting? It takes about a minute for anything to happen with my DAC, then it plays fine. Weird.
Yep, same here. My albums are basically classical works, so usually only 3/4 tracks long, but still it takes 30 secs to start. Maybe the player is scanning the playlist first?
I can't hear any click though, playback and transition between tracks are smooth. Sound is great, still different from PureMusic in integer mode, which is my reference player, but very good.
Comments
Do you want to borrow my EVA? My channel imbalance might be less severe than yours.
Things seem buggier than they did somehow.
In preferences, under 'advanced parameters' in 'audio filters' try setting 'pre-ringing' to .74
Damien, the developer, recently said this was his preferred setting, as well as explaining what pre-ringing was.
I tried it tonight and would be grateful to know what you chaps hear. I think I like it, a subtle change which has become more significant as I dialled in to what is happening. Even if it's all psychosomatic, I'll probably leave it like this.
I deleted and rebuilt the iTunes library as I've noticed some inconsistencies creeping in.
It looks as if iTunes was missing a beat as it tried to find a track/ file and the whole thing crashed.
I'll see how things go.
Maybe the recent iTunes have been slightly buggy?
I remember deleting PLIST files when A+ and Decibel were in Beta to iron out bugs.
Still, it's all working so I haven't messed anything up too badly yet!
Submitted by damien78 on Fri, 12/23/2011 - 04:34. Joined: 09/06/2010 .:. Offline .:. Comments: 276
As a matter of personal preference, I tend to use a value between 0.7 and 0.8 (0.73 currently).
This is the tradeoff I found experimenting. Though, as usual, it is also a question of taste...
All other values to max quality, as the algorithm is so efficient the computation will always be 3-4x faster than realtime.
Damien
MBP 15", Audirvana Plus, AMR DP-777, exD DSD DAC (for DSD), QED interconnects, Marantz SR7000, Cabasse Sumatra MT420
In what way do you find it better? I've not tried Amarra for a while so will give it a try.
Cheers,
James
http://audirvana.com/?page_id=216
I'll try it tomorrow.
Do you get a time delay between clicking play on the first track and the track actually starting? It takes about a minute for anything to happen with my DAC, then it plays fine. Weird.