Amarra for iTunes at RMAF...

Oh my goodness. There is just too much irrelevant BS there to respond to mate. Let's get back to topic.

In my experience I have gotten better sound from MACs than PCs, despite being prejudiced against MACs. Particularly when Amarra is brought into the equation - provided you use an appropriate device for getting the bits off the computer. And I have found the MAC is better to be fairly powerful and have 8GB of RAM. All of this is IMHO of course.

Now its your turn. This time, instead of wondering about my biases and motives, and my insistence on spelling using English rather than an American version of it, how about you let us know what you think sounds best.

You're very special indeed. I thought as much. Probably just a child too.

You're right on one point, all of your commentary as it pertained to me, was irelevant BS... or you would have substantiated it with facts as anyone would. I dispatched each one of your statements in turn.

you had your opportunity to stand up for yourself and you chose to ignore it. it should be quite clear now you are the one full of BS and not worth another moment of my time.

Good luck.. and IMO, BTW... I'd not bandy about that English vs. American business around here very much, or keep using it as a crutch. Relations, good manners, and all that. Do try to show a better face down the road. Right! Carry on mate.

Incredible.

Sorry Chadeffect, we must have posted at the same time and then I got distracted. I agree that it is hard to see the current state of the art of computer audio being at all mature, and that is one of my concerns about Amarra. Right now it is worth the price, for what it does, but who knows whether something might hit the market for under $100 or even free that can do most of what it does. The good news is that being immature computer audio will only get better.

I agree big-time with one of your other points too that close to the best with an interface that fits your needs is better than accepting a poor interface. One of the things most people that use computer audio talk about is how they get more out of a large collection when they have a computer audio interface then when they have to find, handle, catalog etc physical CDs.

The interface I prefer is Foobar, and I don't like iTunes at all. And interfaces like J River make me really angry, especially since its sound is so good. But I am getting so much better sound with iTunes/Amarra that I am putting up with it for now.

My feeling is that ethernet will dominate in time, and that its implementation will get to a point where the precise setup or flavour of the computer will become unimportant. This will mean DACs will be more like the Sonos and Squeezebox but with much better interfaces, or perhaps the player interface could still reside on the computer because of its interface superiority, and it will signal the DAC what to play. For now the ethernet interfaces aren't that flash given their theoretical advantage. Perhaps the PS DAC with ethernet bridge will be the first of the new breed.

Can I ask what pro audio music interfaces are worth having a look at?

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?