Amarra for iTunes at RMAF...

Hi Antipodes_audio,

for the time being as long as your files in your library are universal, ie WAV or AIFF etc. I personally feel it is just a waiting game. It is all fine and better than it was. It will get better and probably cheaper too.

I use itunes on a mac and have got used to itunes. I have Amarra, but I am not using firewire interface for my hifi. I just tried a few out to see what did what. I have a DCS set up and DCS are working on the Amarra/itunes input situation. They have gone with USB input, but the Asynchronous flavor.

I suspect your own HD library will be bypassed by the time all this comes of age. Sites like Spotify will make all this obsolete, as you will rent your library and have access to insane amounts of music, including really rare albums at very high quality sample rates.

Regarding Pro audio interfaces, do you mean software or hardware?

Absolutely agree re online HD libraries. The problem is there are so many firms that need to change their models for this to happen. It ought to be here now given the capabilities of the technologies. But I know from first hand experience those that have dominated the existing value chains that are converging are more frightened than excited by the possibilities.

In one of your earlier posts, and I may have misinterpreted it, you made a reference to pro audio software interfaces. I am aware of a lot of the hardware. For example, I am aware of the Lynx card, but not so much aware of the software you might put on the computer to take full advantage of it. For example, digital crossover software to make use of the computing power and all those output channels - I am a real convert to active speakers.

I usually rip music to FLAC, as my preferred storage standard. I then convert to AIFF 24/96, and play those, keeping two copies of the FLACs as a backup. This is probably a sign that I still haven't converted my thinking over to the Mac world. I inherently don't like proprietary models when an open model of equivalent quality is available, but it is not entirely rational - ALAC files can be readily turned into an open format without loss at any time.

I keep looking at the DCS stuff but have never taken the plunge. Right now the top USB stuff sounds better to me than the ethernet stuff, but I can't help feeling ethernet will become the dominant transmission standard for anything. It is a steamroller with a lot of momentum and has all the attributes one would want. The reason why USB is dominating is that the R&D to get it to perform is so much less and audio firms are small. In the end, the standard that wins is the one that attracts the R&D, not the 'better' technology, so maybe the start USB is getting will be unassailable in the audio world. Both Firewire and ethernet are harder for small audio firms to develop for.

I was originally very resistant to Amarra. I didn't like spending that much on software, there was little info on how it worked and getting support seemed to be a bit of a lottery. But with all the tweaks I now accept as being part of the recipe for great computer audio today, Amarra does something that none of the others quite do, and so I now consider it to be essential - for how long, though, is the big question - as you say.

Antipodes, I have always used Foobar thus far and don't at all share your satisfaction with it. It has no user friendliness and fails often needing a new control file. This happens so often that I have the file on a stick. Were Amarra and its use of Itunes not so superior, I would not be giving up on a Windows system.

I find synchronous USB just awful and have little experience with asynchronous USB. I have not tried Firewire, but everyone that I know says it is the best way to go, although its transmitter and receiver are much more expensive and capable than USB.

I have been focused on just putting cds on a hard drive as my existing dac is capable only up to 24/96. But HiDef is in my future.

Tbg, I loved how Foobar was so customisable so that you could pretty much make it work however you wanted. It is certainly not friendly till you familiarise yourself with the myriad of options to customise, and that takes time. I have never had a problem with stability, so that is a new one.

As I have said above, I have a 24/96 DAC too and find that converting the files to 24/96 AIFF, so that my DAC doesn't do anything more than straight D to A conversion, is a good thing. DAC chips are not perfectly accurate in their conversion and they get less accurate, the more work they have to do, so while there can be a benefit in upsampled files, there is a dis-benefit of asking your DAC chip, or DAC, to do it at the same time. This is one of the reasons , for example, why say DCS do the upsampling in a separate box.

Hi Antipodes_audio,
there seem to be many deals in place regarding online libraries. The frightening part of it is the people who created the music see very little in return. It really is bad, but that is another topic.

For my work I use many different types of music production software. They are not much use for a library playback system, as they are mainly geared towards recording/mixing and manipulating audio.

Professionally I use a wide range of software and hardware, but the software of choice for me is Steinberg's Nuendo 4 which is 64 bit on PC. Although I also use Cubase (a baby brother of Nuendo) on PC, Protools on Mac, Wavelab on PC, Digital performer on Mac, and the various plugins associated with them too.

The hardware I use differs depending on the software in use, but I have RME fireface 800, which is a firewire 800, 24 bit 192k preamp/ converter, Apogee Rosetta converters, Digidesign HD 192k, MOTU 896mk3 firewire which is also 192k.

I have found the DCS Scarlatti converters the finest hifi playback I have heard. Every time I am taken with their resolution and lack of character.

You say you have been eying up DCS. If you can get one and try it. But I must say that for sometime I passed by DCS, until I had one at home. I was shocked at how much better they were, and have had them ever since. I am sure there are others coming out now which are capable and hopefully cheaper, but DCS set the bar IMHO no matter which input.

I am also a firm believer in the optical input ( I am not mad). Everyone trashed it, but when I had the old Ref ML Transport/DAC, the dealer at the time told me to try it. I had always used AES/EBU with an expensive cable. I popped in a glass cable and was shocked. It was a 10th of the price and sounded as good if not better, especially for midband speed. Ok so it is limited to 24/96, but if you find yourself around that resolution, give it a go. Not dissimilar to Amarra's effect over firewire. Like a lightness or freedom to the sound.

I have upsampled to DSD from glass on the DCS upsampler for 16/44.1k and 48k. It works well and means the source can be a long way from your hifi without any problems.