Any opinions on the AMR Digital Processor 777 Dac?

Kzhloo,

The importer of lampizator, Ming, had his own passion project which was a USB only DAV that was out of this world good, but it was still a prototype when I heard it and msrp should be like $6k+ ouch!

David,

Which part do you disagree with? I've directly compared them as did a proud (at the time) amr owner who ended up kicking his to the curb in favor of the ~$1k DAC. Its nice, but not worth the asking price. Fwiw I compares it on Daedalus Ulysses speakers with a Shindo Aregies and Tube guru d2a amps and my own Zu Def 2s with a Melody AN211. Two pretty resolving systems which consistent results.

Do you disagree with my findings or with my general feelings that its over rated?

My honest opinion of the AMR after four listening sessions with it, including one in my own system, is that is is way overrated. Its not bad, and its features are great, but I actually PREFERRED the Metrum Octave, as did my buddy the AMR owner who sold his and bought a stock Metrum, chuckling all the way to the bank.

Lots of hype, but it is NOT special, IMO. The met rum had better weight, texture and impact.... the amr may have had better air less PRaT, though it was admittedly a splash sweeter.

I'm not denying the AMR is a Swiss Army Knife.Its features are wowonderful and the interconnects, powercords and extra bixes it makes unnecessay makes it a good value if you our these things to use as you obviously do.

For those of us that use it solely as a DAC, however, I think similar or even better results can be had cheaper. I won't name people, but I've spoken privately with a handful of former AMR owners who reported similar findings with less expensive competition. In fairness one of then hated the Metrum Hex but still slightly preferred a DAC in the sub $1500 range that even did DSD.

Look, I'm not suggesting the Octave is better, but if your needs are limited to a dac, you are still paying for the unused features so it has to be compared MSRP for MSRP.

As a compliment to AMR, I significantly preferred it to the LampizatOr I previously owned, which was beautiful and seductive, but so colored and romanticized as to play a large role in dictating what I listen to.

Oh and for the record we compared both DACs with the LampizatOr Transport and a Bolder Cable Co Modified Squeezebox Touch with Deluxe power supply and Music Rail upgrades .

David,

Thinking further about it, the fact that your using def 4s makes a bit of sense in your preferences. I have a set of those nanotech drivers for my def 2s and as impressive as theyare, they are a good bit more neutral in presentation and I can.see that extra sweetness of the AMR making a nice synergy.

Beyond that the DACs presentations were more similar then different, don't mistake me for saying the AMR is a poor performer.

Partial retraction: I was just informed the AMR DAC I'd listened to was an older one and there is a new main board, according to distributor Dareen that sounds much better. I haven't heard this version so I don't want to taint waters/reputation.

My feedback stands with regards to the older version.

Audiofun,

In which ways do you feel the DP777 is in another league then the Octave? I concede my buddy's (actually a friend of Jriggy's too) AMR had the older circuit board which is said not to sound quite as good, but it wasn't that there was a difference we struggled to hear and gave the nod one way--we both flatly preferred the Metrum to the extent my friend sold his at a loss.

Yes indeed both my friend and I are using the AMR fuse and it makes a big difference. So did Herbies footers I found. I'm selling my Metrum now to try a LampizatOr Gen 4/Level 4, but if it doesn't live up to my hopes (like the Gen 3/Level 3 didn't) I may return to Metrum.

Kzhtoo,

Give Darren at Avatar Acoustics a buzz for the fuse. They're like $20. You need the 20mm .25amp one. Stock value is .20amp, but going over is OK.

Then you just open the power supply chassis from the screws on front, pry the black fuse protector open, pop out old fuse and plug in new one. 3 minutes work.

I noticed Create Audio has cheap audiophile fuses as well at $10. Their tubes are praised so I bought one to try in my new DAC once it breaks in.