I would not characterize it as warm (and certainly not sterile). My former Metrum/Diverter HR combination was immensely dynamic and musical with resolution to die for... the AMR is all of that and more. It (the AMR) imbues a sense of continuity to the overall presentation that the aforementioned combo could not match. Having said that, the AMR is more fleshed out than the Metrum/Diverter HR combo and more resolute (which is a hard trick to pull-off). The AMR simply makes a beautifully musical statement and I could see how some could find an analog rightness to the sound.
The built in attenuator is very very very good (hint: it MUST be used to be broken in, i.e. it is possible to break the dac in and not the attenuator if you leave it in bypass mode and use another method to attenuate the signal). Now as good as it is I think the digital volume control on Pure Music is by far one of the BEST methods for signal attenuation I have heard. PM falls victim to my Music First Audio Copper Classic and certainly to my MFA Reference TVC's. If I had to rank them, I would say MFA then PM and finally the built in Attenuator. The built in unit has just as much resolution as PM, but I think it ever so slightly diminishes image size comparatively speaking. Now granted I probably have 300 hours on the built in attenuators and not he 500+ that I have on the dac itself.
Honestly I usually using some combination of attenuation i.e. I set the MFA Ref to a master level (such that when the AMR is in bypass (no attenuation) and PM is at 0dB)it almost oo loud for comfort. Then I use either PM or the AMR's attenuator to fine tune the volume. WHY NOT just use the MFA for all of my volume needs (the ref is remote controlled); because the crappy switching PS that came with my MFA Ref destroys the sound of my stereo. So until I stop being lazy and build a real regulated (actually it does NOT need to be regulated, but I designed it and have used it in other project already :) and linear PS....
FYI, I control all of this with a Harmony 900 remote control. It works beautifully with the AMR and my PS3 and the Mac Mini. It keeps me from having to manually select inputs and I only need one remote :) For controlling the volume in Pure Music, I use either my iPhone or iPad.
Hope that helps...
The built in attenuator is very very very good (hint: it MUST be used to be broken in, i.e. it is possible to break the dac in and not the attenuator if you leave it in bypass mode and use another method to attenuate the signal). Now as good as it is I think the digital volume control on Pure Music is by far one of the BEST methods for signal attenuation I have heard. PM falls victim to my Music First Audio Copper Classic and certainly to my MFA Reference TVC's. If I had to rank them, I would say MFA then PM and finally the built in Attenuator. The built in unit has just as much resolution as PM, but I think it ever so slightly diminishes image size comparatively speaking. Now granted I probably have 300 hours on the built in attenuators and not he 500+ that I have on the dac itself.
Honestly I usually using some combination of attenuation i.e. I set the MFA Ref to a master level (such that when the AMR is in bypass (no attenuation) and PM is at 0dB)it almost oo loud for comfort. Then I use either PM or the AMR's attenuator to fine tune the volume. WHY NOT just use the MFA for all of my volume needs (the ref is remote controlled); because the crappy switching PS that came with my MFA Ref destroys the sound of my stereo. So until I stop being lazy and build a real regulated (actually it does NOT need to be regulated, but I designed it and have used it in other project already :) and linear PS....
FYI, I control all of this with a Harmony 900 remote control. It works beautifully with the AMR and my PS3 and the Mac Mini. It keeps me from having to manually select inputs and I only need one remote :) For controlling the volume in Pure Music, I use either my iPhone or iPad.
Hope that helps...