Amarra 2.3.2 vs Puremusic 1.82 playback software


I am running both Amarra & Puremusic on my system & for a day or two swapping between each. I find them both excellent.

I always preferred the sonics of Amarra in the past to the others i tried, but this latest Pm version sounds very good. It has a slightly denser image density than Amarra 2.3.

I think the latest Amarra offering is only just better in my system due to a silkiness & beauty in the highs. This may be due to the fact I use a Weiss DAC & Amarra is linked with Weiss.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed any differences between the sonics of these bits of software?
chadeffect
I prefer the sound of Amarra over PM. The sound seems more musical with a nicer soundstage. The highs are just within my hearing range and the detail seems clearer to me. One feature that I really like is MediaMonkey's scanning all drives for all of your music files. A lot less confusing than any other program that I have used.

I just started playing with XXHIGHEND on a Windows laptop. It is not very user friendly but it does produce a more dynamic sound than my Mac programs. It is also available as a free download. I would be very interested in a discussion about this product in its own thread.

My hardware is AudioNote DAC 2.1B, Art Audio Carissa and Dali Helicon 800 speakers. All tube system.
Istanbulu,

I tried Fedelia & found it sounded good. Not that different to Amarra. I just can't stand the interface. I like using iTunes as an interface. Not a fan of a list.
Adding Audirvana Plus to this discussion, as per Wilsnet's suggestion. In my system the sound of Audirvana was somewhere between Amarra and PM, perhaps a little closer to the Amarra side. The Audirvana code is rock solid, however the interface is a little goofy in how much screen real estate it wastes (not a deal breaker). It did not however, have the smoothness or analog-esq magic of Amarra for me. Also, I found the software volume control of Audirvana to be not great sounding, but in fairness I really didn't spend all that much time tweaking the dithering options from the default settings.
When comparing Amarra And PM and others, it is critical to specify what version, for instance Amarra 2.3.2 (4317). This is my gold standard. All other versions of Amarra are not as good IMO. Likewise, PM sound quality has changed over time.

If your system is a bit sibilant, then some versions will sound better than others because they are more compressed on top. If your system has clarity and lacks sibilance, you will probably like Amarra 2.3.2 (4317).

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
PLEASE AUDIOGON, stop messing up the site. Whatever you are doing it is rubbish. Go back to the old site.