Any Sonic Studio's "Amarra" Users Out There?

[Lady Clara]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Clara and the tradigic tale of my Mac Mini's death can read here...

I love music I have thousands of CDs all accutretly ripped with dBpoweramp. Which is finally in beta for OS X at last! I am no audiophile though I don't have a fancy sound system or any CD player other than my computers(s).

I have always ripped music to iTunes at first I used Apple Lossless then I read that even though it was lossless there was still a compression algorithm used to slightly reduce the file size. If this affect quality to a discernible difference I can't tell but I take no chances and now use AIFF.

For the first time in my life I am without an machine capable of running OS X. Typically a few days later I stumble across a program called "Amarra" from Sonic Studio's.

I've never heard of it, don't know anyone who uses it and can't try the free trial until I get back to civilization (OS X). Are there any users of Amarra out there that can let me know if it's worth purchasing or not?

Again my audio equipment isn't the best it's hardly even equipment I use a pair of Sennheiser HD 800's (thanks Mum!) and a cheap headphone amp from Musical Fidelity which I bought just an experiment.

So if you use Amarra or have in the past what do you think is it worth it?

Thank you very much for reading, Pass auf dich auf!

Clara

 

[mtasquared]

Amarra simply adds coloration to your music. A better program is Bitperfect. Its also only $10. Another example of expensive doesn't mean better.

 

[Lady Clara]

Thank you I had seen bitperfect in the App Store I will pick it up once I get my new Mac.

Ciao

Clara

 

[sfsoundmix]

Thank you I had seen bitperfect in the App Store I will pick it up once I get my new Mac.

Ciao

Clara

Old thread, but possibly still relevant reply: I have used Amarra for several years and find it a noticeable sonic improvement over the basic iTunes/Apple sound output. Amarra wraps around iTunes, which you still use as your library, but it takes over the CoreAudio functions of the Mac and gives a clearer, fuller output. There are other programs that also take over the playback function, including JRiver and Audirvana. In a listening test a few days ago hosted by the SF Audiophile Society, many listeners preferred Amarra. Caveat: Clara, you are on the right track by ripping at full .aif resolution, but users will need a good enough playback system including external Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) to be able to appreciate the difference. and WARNING: El Capitan is known to BREAK the digital audio functionality of USB.