Amarra for iTunes at RMAF...

The Amarra software for Itunes was $355 at the RMAF. Add the price of a Mac computer if necessary.
A new version will be avaiable on the 15th of this month.
Heard the software in a couple of rooms, with upgrade, and it sounded great. Opens up the sound and takes care of Itunes nasties.

The big problem with Amarra is that it handles only uncompressed files.

I am probably moving to a Mac system using Amarra. I am not happy with having a switching power supply in a computer near a signal source, but such a system has sounded good in several suites at RMAF and CES, and it is certainly convenient and more user friendly than using crap like Foobar which lives up to its name. I also hate remote desktops for control. Weiss had a wireless mouse that worked well.

I guess it is okay to use USB2 for data exchanges, but certainly not for sending information to a dac. I will only use firewire.

In my opinion there are enormous differences among digital hard-drive music systems, and most are unlistenable. My present Exemplar music server sounds great but it is too finicky, often driving me to pull out what few hairs I have on my head.

I just ordered the Amarra mini, I'll have to check it out.
It's currently 10% off as a RMAF discount, don't know how long that will last.

>The big problem with Amarra is that it handles only uncompressed files.

There will be an update soon to accommodate Apple Lossless.