Pure Music 1.7 Compared to Amarra 2.1.1
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| Posted on January 1, 2011 at 09:42:43 | ||
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Posts: 6581
Location: So. CA Joined: October 20, 2002 |
Over the last week I have been investigating why some people find Pure Music to be “brighter” at the high end than Amarra. Comparing Pure Music 1.65a/1.7 and Amarra 2.1.1 I have come to the following observations. Pure Music is more open sounding at the high end than Amarra. This is why most people hear a wider and deeper soundstage with Pure Music. But certain factors can make this high end extension irritating to some people. Isolation of the SMPS of the computer and external hard drive are a must. Unless this is done, the high end will sound brighter and more irritating with either program. But the more revealing program might be irritating to some. Thorsten correctly mentioned this factor as well as reliable isolation of the audio system and PC ground. My MacBook Pro and external hard drive are plugged into a dedicated PS Audio Premier Power Plant that prevents the SMPS from polluting the AC mains. I have also played with grounding of the computer to get the “best sound” to my ear. The DAC one uses also has a great influence on the high end irritation factor. I am able to switch out different dac chip modules on my Crimson Silver. Gordon’s excellent implementation of the ESS Sabre 32 with output transformers delivers a fatigue-free high end. Changing to the Wolfson dac chip, there is a loss of ease and high end smoothness relative to the ESS Sabre. Pure Music 1.7 and Amarra 2.1.1 both now have a feature to allocate memory buffer. If you have at least 4MB of RAM, Pure Music’s pre allocate memory feature works beautifully. If I select 4 GB of memory for Amarra, I ultimately end up with a lock-up of the program even though I have 8 GB of RAM. Amarra will play my first group of tracks and then lock-up with new selections. Pure Music’s soundstage reproduction trounces Amarra. Soundstage width and depth with Pure Music are much larger and better defined than with Amarra. Some people at first thought Amarra was “quieter” than previous versions. The high end just has limited extension. Pure Music handles bass and bass transients far more convincingly than Amarra. Pure Music has dynamics and speed that is simply lacking in Amarra. Pure Music in the new 1.7 version can now play flac files. Channel D has successfully integrated flac into the iTunes interface allowing remote control of flac files with the iPod/iPad Remote program. It is the support of iTunes graphical interface that is a big plus for me with Pure Music. But yet, Pure Music is a “minimalist program” in terms of its size; less than 6 MB compared to over 59 MB for Amarra and 19.5 MB for AyreWave. One of the programs major strengths, at least for me, is the ability to utilize the iTunes interface. Using Cover Flow, I can browse over 1700 albums in seconds and find what I’m looking for. iTunes is obviously bloated with sales stuff we are not interested in, but that interface is truly beautiful given the multiple ways it can be configured. And the big bonus is that Pure Music allows itself to be remotely controlled by the iPhone/iPad with the excellent Remote program; a far superior method to access music than the many VNC apps available. What Pure Music has pulled off is the ability to utilize this interface without running iTunes in a “ghost” mode and diminishing the quality of the resultant sound. Listen to the feature Less is More to hear what Pure Music sounds like without the iTunes interface. I hear no difference! That in itself is a significant accomplishment. Pure Music’s use of iTunes has no negative influence on playback quality. Pure Music 1.7 has resulted in new improvements to memory management along with other new features like SRC file conversion and flac playback. Given that I paid $995 for Amarra, something inside of me desperately wanted it to be the better sounding and functioning program. (I would like to add that Sonic Studio generously gave me a free version of Amarra Vinyl since the current price of Amarra has fallen to $695.) Both programs sound much better than iTunes. My advice is to extensively listen to the demos of both programs over a period of at least a week to find the one that is best suited to you and your system. For me, Pure Music gets Lucy’s Four Paws Up Award. Steve
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| Excellent!, posted on January 1, 2011 at 20:15:51 | |
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Thank you for all the insights! Just curious ... does it seem to matter what version of iTunes you are running?
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| RE: Pure Music 1.7 Compared to Amarra 2.1.1, posted on January 2, 2011 at 15:44:48 | |
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Posts: 6581
Location: So. CA Joined: October 20, 2002 |
Peter, Follow these instructions for playing flac files in PM.
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| Thanks very much for the reply. (mt), posted on January 3, 2011 at 09:44:33 | |
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I said empty.
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