Amarra for iTunes at RMAF...

The BIOS burn in comments I was referring to have been made by guys making CMP PCs, and their claim is that to assess a BIOS change you need to make the change and then let it burn in. This is after the hardware burn in you refer to.

Just saw that Amarra 1.1 is out. The readme says it supports Apple Lossless but not the ones generated from Max. Well, I am bummed since most of my hi-res tracks are just that. I was going to place an order as soon as Apple Lossless support is in but now I guess I am going to wait some more.

I don't buy the bios burn in at all. Doesn't mean it's not true, just means I don't believe it. I know there is a lot of non-sense non-science as it relates to audio and I think the BIOS "burn in" lends itself to that camp :)

Sidssp, sometimes it is just a matter of selecting them in iTunes and telling it to convert them to Apple Lossless and you are done. I had the same problem, IIRC, with Apple Lossless files in another context, and that cured it.

The BIOS burn in comments I was referring to have been made by guys making CMP PCs, and their claim is that to assess a BIOS change you need to make the change and then let it burn in.

What does CMP stand for? Cellular multi-processing?

When you say "assess a BIOS change," do you (they) mean verifying that the revised BIOS firmware functions reliably, as components age, temperature changes, etc.? Which makes perfect sense.

Or do you (they) mean that the effects of the BIOS update on the sound quality of audio being processed by that pc will change during that burn-in period? Which I can tell you, as an experienced digital and analog circuit designer, and also as an audiophile who considers himself to be open-minded, makes no sense whatsoever. And would probably represent failure of those people to recognize and control extraneous variables, which are innumerable when it comes to computers. For starters, just consider all of the operating system files which are constantly changing, disks that are constantly fragmenting, asynchronous background processes whose timing relative to one another is constantly changing in both hardware and software, etc., etc.

And if they meant the latter, did they verify their observations by re-flashing to the earlier BIOS, letting it burn in, then re-flashing to the later BIOS, burning in again, and seeing that their findings were consistent across multiple trials?

Regards,
-- Al