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Mach2Music mini and Amarra : Huge disappointment

I invite all the fellow Audiogon members than own both the Mach2Music Mini and Amarra to share they experiences.

Mine has been a huge disappointment .

The sound I get from the Mach2Music mini even with the advantage of playing Hi-Res files is mediocre at best and way inferior to the sound of a common CD.
Mach2Music tech support after checking that every setting is correct and everything is as it should dropped the ball. They blame the mediocre sound I'm complaining about on Amarra newer version of software they say more stable but sounding not so great.......

To me It doesn't add up. When there are problems the old music start playing: It's someone else fault. May be it's just that the Mach2Music mini is not so great as some say to start with.......

After spending over $4000 on the Mach2Music web site purchasing all the best available upgrades to possibly get the best possible sound from this computer based system, including their top of the line cables (power, USB, Firewire) an optional solid state SSD hard drive besides their special sandwich case to reduce vibrations and the expensive software Amarra, I get instead the sound you would from a cassette player.........at least that's how it sounds to me in my audio system....

My audio system as you read below is of high quality and well balanced where everything from acoustic treatment to power treatment has been closely matched starting from a dedicated room 20x24x9H fully treated with massive use of acoustic diffusers Gikq7 and bass traps Soffits and Tritraps by GikAcoustics.

Audio components connected to the Mach2music mini are:

DAC : dCS Debussy 24/192
Pre: BAT VK52SE upgraded with 6H30DR supertubes Reflector 1987.
Amp: 2x BAT VK600SE Mono
Transport ; Oppo 95
Speakers ; Magnepan 20.1
Speaker cables : MIT Oracle Matrix HD90
Interconnect : MIT Oracle Matrix XLR
Power: 2x Torus RM20 (one x each amp on two dedicated 20 amp circuits)
Power cords all MIT Oracle ZIII
Audio rack Adona Zero reference
All internal and external stock fuses replaced with HiFi Tuning Supreme.

I rarely write on the forum but this is too big of a screw up to pass and I hope to save to somebody the frustration I went thru.

Besides if some of you has a very positive experience with other computer based systems please share . Help is always appreciated.

I hear good things about Solos by Meridian or the USB Thumb reader by Bryston and I'll probably move on one of the two.... life continues......

so if you'll see my Mach2mini for sale on Audiogon in the near future you already know why..............................
128x128alessandro1
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Pettofficer,

You are probably right. I must be some kind of digital single processor goth as I thought that was funny. Computer music has finally crushed that last bit of hope out of me.

In fact now you mention it I just realised I am a machine. Not the HAL9000 Dave disliking type, more "The hitch hikers guide to the galaxy" Robot type...Marvin. And in a kind of Apple mac silver finish. Only my ASIO dithers all high sample rates to really low bandwidths. I always wished for an old anologue circuit to give me meaning.

Step away from the magnets! It's ok though. I was cheap, downloadable & very convenient.

I burned my CDs, and I love the smell of charred CDs in the morning.
pettyofficer
462 posts
 
Shortcut Computer Audio Style: Pick two points, start a line and head westward circumnavigating the Globe, come
around to the second point only 1 inch from the first
point. CD: jump the one inch! Bypass: Wasapi, Kernel Streaming, Hard Drive Errors, File Fragmentation, Meta
Data, Hard Drive Crash, Back-up Hard Drive Crash, Computer
Viruses, Three hour High Rez. Downloads, Ripping Software,
Media Player Software, Configuration of both, and endless
amount of time and tasking to handle "ALL" of these. It is like going to the Moon via Mars, are we lost here? Reasonable question before dumping a 1,000 times more tasking on us, as a replacement for simple plug-n-play CD?
Why do we need the 50th extra Wheels required for Computer
Audio? Because a CD is too heavy for you? Simple- I want
Music, not to have to decode the "Matrix" to get it! Your
Computer Audio is just getting in my way of my Music in a
big way! Add more steps, run more interference, "WHY"?
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Talk2me,
as you went to all the trouble of getting your wadia modified, obviously even Wadia were not good enough for you. I had a statement wadia with full GNSC mods too. It was eclipsed by my multibox DCS which was the same as my computer with Amarra/FireWire into Wiess DAC. If anything the computer had better dynamics.

So if you are saying they cannot compete, you need to go and look again.

Why on earth would you be using jittery toslink? That alone will be half the problem. I seem to remember there was a issue with MacBook and which USB port is used. Could be the old ones.

You go on about your GNC mods, but then made no effort to use decent software on the computer or a better quality connection to the DAC. If you want to compare apples with apples a little more effort is needed.

I keep saying set up is everything but no one is listening. You want to listen to green pens and CD mats, but when it comes to a computer you cannot even download some playback software to try.

Its easy. Keep away from PCs and use a mac. PCs take more effort. Macs are easier to deal with. Keep audio as Aiffs with no compression( it keeps meta data in its file). Use FW port. Use bolt on output for iTunes I.e Amarra/ Puremusic etc. use decent FW cable. Keep computer power separated from system. Buy great DAC. Then you have a hope of decent sound.
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Pettyofficer,

I used a PC yesterday to playback some stuff, & I must admit it
was a pain in the ass. As I nearly always use my mac controlled via iPad
it was a very different experience. No where near the delightful experience of choosing which album to play.

So I am with you to a point. But as I keep labouring, get a mac. It just doesn't need all the knowledge & fine set up. PCs are clunky for life style use. Somehow macs are much less so.

I did the set up & now I just play music. It hardly ever dawns on my that I'm using a computer. I just see the art work on the iPad & select.
pettyofficer
462 posts
 
Computers are clunky Period, with File Fragmentation, Hard
Drive Errors, Hard Drive Crashes, Back-up Hard Drive
Crashes...etc. Of course Mac's require less maintenance; But I have never had to defrag a CD, nor had a Hard Drive
error on one. CD's are more reliable without requiring
"ANY" Software. You damage a CD you lose an Album, you damage a Hard Drive and lose your entire collection of Music. This is a pain in the Ass! Some want to tinker with
Software for their Music, some of us just want to cut thru
this B.S. and go straight for the Music. No ripping, Software anything- just straight simple Plug-N-Play. I see
no necessity that anything replace anything, especially
when an Audio Market has a real need for both- many like it
that way! It gives Consumers choices- and we detest anyone
giving us Ultimatums to remove our choices. There will always be an Audio Market for Plug-N-Play. Compared to CD,
Computer Audio ain't it- it is that simple! We can have
both, it is you with the Ultimatums of Impending Doom (One
size fits all) from Computer Audio squeezing everything else out. It sounds like the MOB taking over the Audio Market, with the militant attitude of Computer Audio Supporters as enforcers. Well, there goes the Audio Market
Neighborhood! It used to be a nice place, now stray bullets everywhere.
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