Amarra Music Player

mercman · « **Reply #260 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 01:23 am »

Dave,

The bracket titles and _ stuff works fine here with 3177 . Did you clear your preferences before installing 3177?

dave clark · « **Reply #261 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:12 am »

No idea by what you mean to clear my preferences... how would that make any difference? Info shows that I am running 3177...

here's a sample of files that 3177 will not play (reverts to iTunes for these)

public:Dave:Music:Mocean Worker:Home Movies From The Brainforest:01 What's Wrong.aif

public:Dave:Music:Aphex Twin:Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 [Disc 1]:1-05 Mould.aif

public:Dave:Music:Atlas Sound:Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel:03 River Card.aif

public:Dave:Music:Bill Ding:Trust In God, But Tie Up Your Camel:13 Vaporize.aif

public:Dave:Music:Brian Eno:ENOBOX I _ Instrumental (Disc 1):1-03 Dover Beach.aif

public:Dave:Music:The Chemical Brothers Feat. Beth Orton:Come With Us:07 The State We're In.aif

public:Dave:Music:Iarla O'Lionaird:I Could Read The Sky_ Original Soundtrack:05 The King.aif

public:Dave:Music:Jon Hassell:Jon Hassell_Peter Freeman:The Vertical Collection (Sketches):01 PowerMalay.aiff

public:Dave:Music:Medeski, Martin & Wood:End Of The World Party (Just In Case):07 Shine it.aif

public:Dave:Music:Radiohead:OK Computer Vinyl 24/96:07-Fitter Happier.aiff

public:Dave:Music:Medeski, Martin & Wood:Friday Afternoon In The Universe:05 Baby Clams.aif

public:Dave:Music:Miles Davis:Bitches Brew Vinyl 24/96:-Unknown Track-6.aiff

dave clark · « **Reply #262 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:13 am »

and here are samples of what will play...

public:Dave:Music:Moby:Play:16 Guitar Flute And String.aif

public:Dave:Music:Kraftwerk:Minimum-Maximum [Disc 1]:1-03 Tour De France Etape 1.aif

public:Dave:Music:Medeski, Martin & Wood:Notes From The Undergound:10 Querencia.aif

public:Dave:Music:Nine Inch Nails - aiff:Ghosts I-IV:36 36 Ghosts IV.aiff

public:Dave:Music:Olive:Extra Virgin:08 Blood Red Tears 1.aif

public:Dave:Music:Orbital:Blue Album [UK]:08 Easy Serv.aif

public:Dave:Music:Puscifer:_V_ Is For Vagina:09 Sour Grapes.aif

cryoparts · « **Reply #263 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:16 am »

Quote from: dave clark on 15 Sep 2009, 02:13 am

public:Dave:Music:Puscifer:_V_ Is For Vagina:09 Sour Grapes.aif

Go Maynard!

Lee

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #264 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:22 am »

Quote from: dave clark on 15 Sep 2009, 02:13 am

V_ Is For Vagina

I always wondered what V stood for. Now, I know.

mercman · « **Reply #265 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:25 am »

Before installing 3177, SS suggested that you go to Extra in the Amarra application files and run "clear preferences". Then install 3177.

Perhaps over the next few days I'll find some files that won't play.

dave clark · « **Reply #266 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:32 am »

Mercman, tried that just now, then downloaded amarra again, and..... still not working with same files. oh well....

mercman · « **Reply #267 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 02:52 am »

Sorry to hear that Dave. I guess Amarra is a work in progress.

dave clark · « **Reply #268 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 03:00 am »

I sent Jon a list of what works and what does not so he can see perhaps what I am facing here. It is odd in that there appears to be nothing consistent from either set... some that have "_" work while others do not. Some that have [] work while others do not... oh well. iTunes sounds quite fine here, but so does Amarra. 3162 works with all that files that 3177 does not... I could go way back to 3139.

cfmsp · « **Reply #269 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 03:12 am »

Quote from: mercman on 15 Sep 2009, 02:52 am

Sorry to hear that Dave. I guess Amarra is a work in progress.

Apparently so.

And until your post on AA today, somehow I imagined that early adopters were getting a 'discount' for suffering the indignities of being 'beta testers'.

Although I'm confused on the new three-tiered pricing strategy.
Is it just me?

clay

ted_b · « **Reply #270 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 05:31 pm »

Quote from: dave clark on 15 Sep 2009, 03:00 am

I sent Jon a list of what works and what does not so he can see perhaps what I am facing here. It is odd in that there appears to be nothing consistent from either set... some that have "_" work while others do not. Some that have [] work while others do not... oh well. iTunes sounds quite fine here, but so does Amarra. 3162 works with all that files that 3177 does not... I could go way back to 3139.

I'm having identical (I think) issues. And even on the problem files (files that leave iTunes in charge, and that don't light up the Amarra power on and channel/volume lights) Amarra seems to try and auto sample rate change the Weiss DAC2..but only to 16 bits. So at the end of the handoff of a problem 24/96 file, for example, Audio midi is now 16/96 and iTunes is playing. It will reset to correct sampel rates when I pick a non-problem album. Dunno how many albums this seems to apply to, but it's album specific (i.e all tracks in the problem album behave the same, in no instance does one track get read correctly by amarra but another not). Just got off the phone with Jonathan and i'll check path and filename lengths on a few examples. He says he's remote-ing into Dave's computer in the next 24 hrs (or maybe today, don't remember)..

ted_b · « **Reply #271 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 05:58 pm »

Update: I can say for certain that the issue is filename length and/or path name length. I changed 5 albums that were causing problems and they now work (change it in iTunes and it immediately ripples to the folder names, etc.). For example "Charlie Haden & Antonio Forcione" is the artists name for a wonderful 24/96 album called Heartplay. I edited the artist name to "Charlie Haden" and Amarra now sees it, auto sample rates it and plays it in Weiss DAC2 at 24/96. Same with Bill Evans "The Complete Village.... 1961" edited down to "Vanguard 1961 (disc 1)" for example.

I'm not a techy but this looks like an easy fix for Sonic?

mercman · « **Reply #272 on:** 16 Sep 2009, 01:48 am »

I must be very lucky guys. I have been unable to find files that stop Amarra.

kaka · « **Reply #273 on:** 16 Sep 2009, 06:28 am »

I have just been reading through the last 7 or so pages on this forum

I started computer based audio with a Squeezebox 3+ Slimserver + Altmann dac on Vista. It was better than my old Meridian 508.24 player

The next move was to a Foobar + USB + Emprical Audio Offramp 3 + Altmann which was a step up. The USB cable was the bundled one

Next came JRiver + USB + Emprical Audio Offramp 3 which was a step up again
My notes at the time : Now that I have got the WASAPI side of JRiver Media Centre 14 going (under Player - Playback Options - Output Mode Settings there is a box ticked on "present 24 bit data in a 32 bit package.." - get rid of it) I am most impressed with the sound. It offers detail and dymnamics that Foobar simply doesn't, and is the best computer based sound I've heard so far.

Then I decided to branch out to a mac + Amarra mini
One second hand Powerbook later I was off. I didn't keep a lot of notes, but I did note that I preferred it to JRiver. Certainly the best computer player I have heard, and on the mac there is the advantage that it is easy to play Amarra+iTunes out of a ramdisk which adds a little.

The other tweaks have been some audio grade Locus USB cables and a battery power supply for the Offramp. They both do a surprising amount. There are a great deal of dynamics, detail and separation coming through, the old starting points (Meridian and Squeezebox) have been left far, far behind.

My advice to any one wondering about whether Amarra presents value is to try either the free trial (there will be gaps in your tracks) or the $50 iLok based trial. I doubt you will head back to what you are using now, but see what you think.

And if you are using USB then cables make an appreciable difference - your 50 cent computer cable is not delivering anything like what is there. We tried a generic cable vs a Locus Polestar while demoing a Dac Magic at the local audio club. No one was left in any doubt that there was an appreciable and very welcome difference.

jhm731 · « **Reply #274 on:** 16 Sep 2009, 05:15 pm »

Quote from: kaka on 16 Sep 2009, 06:28 am

My advice to any one wondering about whether Amarra presents value is to try either the free trial (there will be gaps in your tracks) or the $50 iLok based trial. I doubt you will head back to what you are using now, but see what you think.

I sent the iLok back and went with a PWT.

I'll wait for Audiofile-Engineering's playback software.

drubin · « **Reply #275 on:** 16 Sep 2009, 05:25 pm »

Has anyone tried Rowmote, specifically with Amarra?

Crimson · « **Reply #276 on:** 16 Sep 2009, 11:05 pm »

Quote from: drubin on 16 Sep 2009, 05:25 pm

Has anyone tried Rowmote, specifically with Amarra?

I downloaded and installed the standard version last night. Pretty straight-forward: install the app on the iPhone, install the helper app on your mac. Start Amarra, Amarra remote, iTunes, and the Rowmote helper app on your mac (

). Once you start using the app on your iPhone/iPod Touch a dialog box appears asking you to point to the path for Amarra Mini (which I don't have, so I pointed it to Amarra and all was fine).

Seems to work well (more so for wired machines vs wireless; when controlling my Macbook via wifi, there can be a lag at times and/or it can register a double-click). It controls Amarra's volume and transport functions.

I personally don't think I'll be using it much because I use Apple's Remote app quite a bit, and switching back and forth between apps is a pain. It's easier for me to use the Remote app and control Amarra's volume via the little white Apple remote.

Crimson · « **Reply #277 on:** 1 Oct 2009, 03:13 pm »

Found a minor bug last night, although I'm not sure if it's Amarra or the OS: when switching between multiple external dacs the output is not routed to the newly selected dac even though it's highlighted in both Sound Preferences and Audio Midi Setup, and the name of the dac is correctly displayed in the main Amarra window. Amarra/iTunes needs to be restarted when switching dacs.

cfmsp · « **Reply #278 on:** 1 Oct 2009, 03:36 pm »

Quote from: Crimson on 1 Oct 2009, 03:13 pm

Found a minor bug last night, although I'm not sure if it's Amarra or the OS: when switching between multiple external dacs the output is not routed to the newly selected dac even though it's highlighted in both Sound Preferences and Audio Midi Setup, and the name of the dac is correctly displayed in the main Amarra window. Amarra/iTunes needs to be restarted when switching dacs.

I've experienced this as well.

Indeed, almost anytime something is 'switched', Amarra/itunes has the potential to get lost, and requires restart. Given I don't notice these issues when just using iTunes, I'm fairly convinced they belong to Amarra.

jtwrace · « **Reply #279 on:** 1 Oct 2009, 04:06 pm »

me too. I just restart the Mac and it works. Yes, it's annoying...