Voltron

Amarra can output any uncompressed file and any bit rate and any resolution. My files (AIFF mostly) range from 16/44 to 24/192 and they all go through Amarra and into the DAC just fine. The few free downloads I have on that machine in MP3 format also play, but straight through iTunes. Amarra disengages when an MP3 is next in a playlist or library and kicks back in when the next supported file comes up. And that very same Duet you have has been used to output Amarra. Jonathan wrote the necessary code patch to support Apogees when I was testing it out and found out the same was Sherwood did that the optical out was not an option.

Jay Reatard -- Watch Me Fall

Stax 252

It does not. Did I not say that before? I was thinking about it but posting in between working gets confusing. You cannot use the internal audio to output Amarra.

Well, I know it works with AES/EBU output of the Lynx PCI(e) cards into devices like the Weiss DACs. Using Mac's USB out will limit the resolution to 24/96, to my understanding. You can also use a Firewire interface/converter box like the Weiss AFI1 or a USB converter like the Sonicweld Decoder and Diverter that are mentioned in that list. What are you thinking about using but aren't sure it would work? EDIT: Does the following post answer what you after? I did not see grawk's post when I responded to yours.

Amarra software is Mac-only. You can connect a DAC to the Mac either by Firewire or by the digital output of a PCI(e) card, but I am not sure if you can do it by USB.

Better yet, may the Russian pole vaulter visit you while Neko Case sings happy birthday to you a la Marilyn Monroe! Have a great birthday, and start posting in the damn listening thread again! Cheers

I met Acix and he said he is a musician/recording engineer/whatever and I tried the cans in question. They are pretty cool for studio kind of cans and I told him that they sounded pretty good from the Amarra headphone output. One thing I liked was the feel of them, both the rubbery ear pads and the springy headband that clamps to your head (but not terribly tight or anything). One major caveat is that he was playing a mix CD of his own creation and it was pretty esoteric electronica, mostly beeping noises and a beat. Nothing wrong with that, but not an easy way for me to really judge the cans. He clearly likes them and didn't seem shilly. I think he also had some K701 or 702 and spent some time on my rig. I wouldn't assume ill intentions, but I really don't know any more about him than what I just wrote. Except that he is German and has an accent that is pretty heavy at times.

Do they do it like magazine/book sellers for overstock? I think they rip off the covers and send them to the publisher, then they can sell the remnants at reduced cost or get rid of them.

Joe Jackson -- Look Sharp!

What'choo talkin' 'bout? * *Seems almost smiley-worthy.

Thanks for all the supportive comments everybody. Claire is doing fine and doesn't seem to have had any real damage. She is going to start crossing that street at a light a couple blocks away from now on to avoid this bullshit. Hope you're feeling better Reks!

Maybe I could get them shipped directly to Lawton Audio for the full treatment!

This morning was a rather typical Sunday, hanging out with the family and also helping my daughter re-do her room. But my wife went for a run with the dog while the kids and I had lunch at the house. She called 45 minutes later saying she had been hit by a car. I nearly gagged, but she said she was alright and just shaken up. I drove over to where she was sitting on the curb with the young woman and her obnoxious friend who kept wanting to leave. The police had been called by a neighbor/witness who saw the whole thing. Claire was crossing in a cross-walk on a busy street along Golden Gate Park when the person in the closer, right lane actually obeyed the giant PED XING sign but these jerks were still flying down the street in the left lane. Luckily, she saw them quickly enough to turn and try to get back but they were going fast and their side-view mirror hit her arm near her elbow. She did not fall down but she was freaked out. Feeling very lucky but a little freaked out myself.

It's a one-computer license, but if you carry your dongle around with you -- -- then you could easily have multiple locations with the Amarra software in place. The Amarra 4 has all or most of the ULN-8 functionality, and it has one or two tweaks that prevent consumers killing their speakers by having the gain unintentionally high. Anyway, there are 8 channels of analog in and 8 out (4 stereo pairs if you choose), and there are 8 channels of digital inputs/outputs also, so you could have 4 digital sources or two sources in and two receiving Amarra's digital output. The breakout cable I have is two AES in and two AES out. The Amarra 4 has a high quality analog volume control so you can use it as a true preamp as well.

That's cool, but did somebody sell you their set? The first ones -- including Big Beat -- are OOP.

The SR-Omegas are brilliant and they sound fantastic out of Naaman's BH. I don't think they sound as good out of the BHSE, and I certainly don't think the HE90 sounds very good out of the BHSE. Maybe the tubes can make a big difference, but the several times I have heard the BHSE it sounds best with the O2 but too bright and glaring with the SR-Omega and the HE90. Both of those cans sounded really good out of the WES and I have spent some time recently going back and forth between the BH and WES and the WES comes out ahead.

Have fun Stretch!

Mac audio is bit perfect, but that is not the whole story. The Amarra software has EQ but I do not use it. It takes the processing out of the Mac/Core Audio system and in my case, does the processing inside the Amarra hardware to the greatest extent possible. If you use the software only, then it still shifts it outside the normal path. I do not know the details and they do not like to describe the details, but I know what I hear and I like it.

Mac only, indeed. I don't know shit about Foobar and Asio but Amarra sounds great. I just went through a phone intervention with Jonathan today, and fixed up what I had really botched up with the software/hardware combo. It sounds great again and I would never go back to regular iTunes.

Joshua Redman -- Compass

Wut? The Nugget Audio B22?

Ranking just my stats: SR-Omega > 4070 > Lambda Sigs