[soooowhat]

Does anyone know if CoreAudio is one of the components that has been re-written in 64-bit for Snow Leopard?

If so, this would seem to negate some of the touted advantages of Amarra as the best sounding audio player for Mac OS X.

I've also heard a rumor that Quicktime (used by iTunes for playback, I think) will now also automatically change sample rates during playback - another highly touted feature of Amarra.

anyone?

[planet10]

Does anyone know if CoreAudio is one of the components that has been re-written in 64-bit for Snow Leopard?

I've been digging to see if that is the case -- for the same reasons you are hoping -- but haven't found out anything yet.

On a side issue, it is nice to see the dissappearance of the Firewireless laptop.

dave

[soooowhat]

totally agree Dave.

I use Firewire to interface to my DAC, and needed a bit more ammunition to keep those who would love to bury Firewire at bay.

[dave clark]

In reading about Snow Leopard, I do see true 64-bit being mentioned quite a bit. And all that you mention I have heard as well...

[alan m. kafton]

soooowhat....would it not make sense to contact Jonathan at Sonic Studio to get the facts on this, rather that speculate? As I understand, Amarra does a lot more independently and barely touches Core Audio for its functionality.

Vincent and John of VRS have explained (in detail) how Amarra deals with sample rate changes on AA....perhaps one of them can chime in here with the skinny.

[Tuckers]

I have asked Jonathan Reichbach about this and will post what I get. I do know that Sonic will be supporting Snow Leopard, but it may not be immediately upon Snow Leopards release.

Just because some code is re-written in 64 bit does not mean that its going to be sonically better than the 32 bit code, it may use the same algorithms etc. 

I'd put a bet that overall Snow Leopard sounds better than Leopard though.

[soooowhat]

soooowhat....would it not make sense to contact Jonathan at Sonic Studio to get the facts on this, rather that speculate? As I understand, Amarra does a lot more independently and barely touches Core Audio for its functionality.

alan,

Thanks Alan, but NO, it does not make sense for me to ask Jonathan at Sonic about an Apple update.

I'm just trying to confirm what has already been reported elsewhere, and came to CoreAudio as a list focused on Apple, NOT Amarra.

Not sure what you think is speculation here.

If, indeed, iTunes in Snow Leopard does sound better than running under Leopard, which even John believes might happen, this WILL negate some of the advantage of Amarra.

Ditto for auto sample rate changes.

As seen from here, your apparent role as Amarra cheerleader (on AA, here, and elsewhere) is not very helpful to those posing questions.


Thanks John, for your response, it's much appreciated.

[soooowhat]

In reading about Snow Leopard, I do see true 64-bit being mentioned quite a bit. And all that you mention I have heard as well...

Dave,

it does appear that Quicktime and underlying core audio functions have been rewritten in 64 bit.

iTunes proper (the file mgmt / storefront app) have apparently NOT been rewritten, so that will seem to cause quite a lot of confusion between now and September.  IOW, those with a vested interested in the sound quality though iTunes NOT improving (e.g., I'm a 'PC') will probably deny the likelihood of improvements.

I'd bet on it.

[Tuckers]

I have gotten some response from Jonathan Reichbach.   He says that Core Audio currently uses a 32 bit data path, when they go to 64 bit in Snow Leopard, it will increase the data path to 64 bits, and they will  simply double the math. But the data path does not affect sound quality, unless it is below the sample rate! Sonics products do all their math in 64 bits and that won't change in Snow Leopard.

So simply going to 64 bit will not improve sonics.  Apple would have to decide to improve the algorithms and math in Core Audio, and that is a separate issue, and nothing we could speculate about. 

I suspect that the 64 bit version might sound better because Apple may take advantage of the re-development to add in some little efficiencies of processing etc.  Indeed Apple says that Snow Leopard is more efficient on the whole. I believe that the more efficient the OS is, the better the potential for sonics. In this case, it would raise the bar universally and iTunes AND Amarra would sound better.  We found that Win XP 64 bit sounded better than XP 32 bit, and the same for Vista.

[alan m. kafton]

I believe that the more efficient the OS is, the better the potential for sonics. In this case, it would raise the bar universally and iTunes AND Amarra would sound better.