Amarra or amarra symphony???

Audioengr - Srosenburg - yes its called 4318/19

I am constantly reminded that this is not an exact science. Our ears, system synergy (Source, speakers, amp, cabling, etc) & room dynamics all play a role in the perception what we hear. I read in another post Steve's comments regarding the sound of the older version of Amarra and downloaded that version for an A/B comparison to current version. The newer version was better to me in warmth (less analytical), better macro/micro transients, bit better staging and overall closer to what I would expect from the master recording. After reading numerous blogs I came to realize there are others who feel the same. That said, the best means to make a decision is to try them yourself and choose which you like the most. Reaching audio nirvana is like sand through your fingers - and the search goes on.

Srosenburg - yes its called 4318/19.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

thaks for all the input guys. Will, I have tried all three (audirvana, amarra and PM) and must say that I think amarra sound better. I did have some problems with PM, but the other two worked very well. So I'm going for amarrar

@ Steve...

"...Once you have Amarra, just go to the "extras" folder, do a "clear preferences" and then install version 4318..."

did you mean version 4319? this is the next thing i want to try with my late 2009 mac mini setup. i'm extremely impressed with this little rig (SSD, 8 gigs mem) running audirvana and would like to give amarra a listen.

All of these players have versions that sound different. The best thing is to get advice from someone who has tried them all. I selected Amarra and I use an older version which can be loaded here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=105236.0

Once you have Amarra, just go to the "extras" folder, do a "clear preferences" and then install version 4318.

Full Amarra has the huge advantage of not only sounding superior, it has an EQ built-in that is the best on the planet. Totally transparent. I use it at home at at shows. Its like replacing your $10K speakers with $100K speakers. EQ is mostly useful for the speaker and somewhat for room bass resonances. Here are instructions on how to use EQ:

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/recommended-systems

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I understand the creator of A+ is now working on new plug ins for the next version so the EQ might be in the works but there was an offer to buy the software at the current price before it gets upped with the new features.

If you don't need DSD playback, I wholly recommend BitPerfect from the appstore.

I think A+ sounds better than Amarra when A+ runs in Lion with Direct/INT mode but BP sounds surprisingly close to A+ and is a lot cheaper

Take a look at their website and compare the different features to see which one will meet your needs.

Also try a free demo of both. I demo'd Amarra HiFi and Amarra and choose to purchase Amarra because it had the eq and gap-less play back, which is essential for my purposes.

I also tried Audirvana + and found that I liked Amarra better.

i just went through the amarra / audirvana decision process... went with audirvana. a 2009 mac mini and audirvana is resulting in the best computer based playback i've yet attained (have not yet tried amarra).

@Drubin - the next release of audirvana, v1.5, will have eq capability (and will be free for all 1.x users).

Audirvana is getting the spotlight these days. Less expensive and great sound, but no EQ, if that's part of your reason for choosing Amarra.

I used amarra trial for 2 weeks, I did not like it cause colored the sound
I rather listen via iTunes Aiff format trough DAC USB connection mo natural than with amarra.
Was my exp doesn't mean is not good.
My 2 cents

Mgattmch, thanks. I actually was not considering Amarra Hifi. I was looking at Amarra at $189 or Amarra Symphony at $495.
BTW, I did also try pure music, there was a problem with it through. After playing music for a few seconds, it started sounding very strange, kinda like spinning/skipping vinyl.

See my previous post on this subject. The problem with the basic Amarra HiFi software is it does not support HD (24/96 and above) FLAC playback directly. You need to either first convert FLAC to AIFF or upgrade to the full version of Amarra. In the end I went from Amarra HiFi to Audirvarna Plus to play HD FLAC files directly. To me, Audirvarna Plus was a very good $50 investment.