Post by sondale on Apr 23, 2017 10:12:10 GMT
I have played around with a lot of computer based hardware and software from cics cPlay/WindowsXP to RPi/AlloBoss/MoodeAudio, many different dacs from TwistedPear DIY dacs to Beresford Caiman SEG, USB conditioners, cables........
The latest version of the RPi-based player is RPi 3 / Allo Boss DAC / MoodeAudio 3.5; my Windows based computer, on which I had tried AO/jPlay amongst others, went to a friends son as a gaming pc; my MAC OS X system is Hackintosh / Audirvana+ / Beresford Caiman SEG.
I am always looking around for hardware / software that will improve my listening pleasure and just over a week ago I found a mention of Amarra 4 in a competitors thread, the description was a little OTT but I checked it out. In the past I have tried Amarra on my Mac machines but never really got on with any of their software, but a trial never really hurts and it can be removed in an instant.
So software downloaded and installed on my Hackintosh system - I came across the usual problem I have with a lot of music software - metadata. I like things organised in a certain way especially Classical Music and Amarra 4 does not recognise Album Artist so I was against it straight away. Then I find it does not have any remote control feature - Amarra 4 Luxe will have this - since I run my Hackintosh in headless mode this means having to use a Mac Mini to share screens.
As to the sound quality?? The person who sent me on this journey described it as valve-like - I am not sure what aspect of valve sound he was thinking about - all I can say is that Amarra 4 is staying (already bought) and as soon as the Luxe version is available I will be trying that.
Describing an actual sound is difficult beyond the usual 'huge amounts of deep bass, a nice tinkly top end etc. What I will say about Amarra 4 is that you very quickly stop listening to the sound and just listen to the music; the music flows in a way I have rarely heard on any of my systems.
If you have a Mac of some description I would urge you to try the free trial.
To put things in perspective my Hackintosh is based on an Intel i7 4 GHz processor with 32 GB Memory with Heatpipe cooling - no moving parts in here! With the Caiman SEG it is well over 10 times the price of the RPi-based system, it is not as easy to organise / control as the RPi but having heard it I cannot listen to anything else.
I have been trying to think of ways I could bring it to the ASBO but I would need to bring along my home network!
Disclaimer - I have nothing to do with SonicStudio / Amarra.
The latest version of the RPi-based player is RPi 3 / Allo Boss DAC / MoodeAudio 3.5; my Windows based computer, on which I had tried AO/jPlay amongst others, went to a friends son as a gaming pc; my MAC OS X system is Hackintosh / Audirvana+ / Beresford Caiman SEG.
I am always looking around for hardware / software that will improve my listening pleasure and just over a week ago I found a mention of Amarra 4 in a competitors thread, the description was a little OTT but I checked it out. In the past I have tried Amarra on my Mac machines but never really got on with any of their software, but a trial never really hurts and it can be removed in an instant.
So software downloaded and installed on my Hackintosh system - I came across the usual problem I have with a lot of music software - metadata. I like things organised in a certain way especially Classical Music and Amarra 4 does not recognise Album Artist so I was against it straight away. Then I find it does not have any remote control feature - Amarra 4 Luxe will have this - since I run my Hackintosh in headless mode this means having to use a Mac Mini to share screens.
As to the sound quality?? The person who sent me on this journey described it as valve-like - I am not sure what aspect of valve sound he was thinking about - all I can say is that Amarra 4 is staying (already bought) and as soon as the Luxe version is available I will be trying that.
Describing an actual sound is difficult beyond the usual 'huge amounts of deep bass, a nice tinkly top end etc. What I will say about Amarra 4 is that you very quickly stop listening to the sound and just listen to the music; the music flows in a way I have rarely heard on any of my systems.
If you have a Mac of some description I would urge you to try the free trial.
To put things in perspective my Hackintosh is based on an Intel i7 4 GHz processor with 32 GB Memory with Heatpipe cooling - no moving parts in here! With the Caiman SEG it is well over 10 times the price of the RPi-based system, it is not as easy to organise / control as the RPi but having heard it I cannot listen to anything else.
I have been trying to think of ways I could bring it to the ASBO but I would need to bring along my home network!
Disclaimer - I have nothing to do with SonicStudio / Amarra.
