Amarra luxe review full#
Amarra luxe review software#
Amarra luxe review free#

It supports MQA unfolding/playback for non-MQA DACs and, of course, full-hardware MQA DACS.Īnd there is a nice EQ capability. Native DSD playback (via DoP) was “coming soon” when I tested it – it’s not clear from the site if that’s still “pending” or actually available (the UX says one thing, their feature list another). It can up-sample your content and do on-the-fly conversion from DSD to PCM (allows playing DSD files on a non-DSD capable DAC). It’ll play from local files and stream from TIDAL, has iTunes library integration and a very pretty interface. It’s very easy to use, sounds excellent, is stable, fast, and is under constant, active, development. I use this one personally, on my laptop, mostly for when I’m travelling (at home I use Roon). Has metadata editing, library management, integration with iTunes, playlist creation and an optional remote-control app for smartphones.

Amarra luxe review free#

This is particularly nice if you use Audeze headphones, as it provides a very simple and effective way to utilize their free “Reveal” plug-in. Supports “Audio Unit” plug-ins for all manner of DSP, EQ and other processing, using both the built-in plug-ins from OS X/macOS as well as third-party/commercial ones.

Amarra luxe review full#

Supports MQA unfolding for non-MQA DACs and MQA renderers, as well as auto-identification of DACs with full hardware MQA decoding. High-quality resampling/format conversion is supported via iZotope and SoX. And it’ll play native PCM or DSD content, with the option to convert DSD to PCM for non-DSD capable DACs. Dual high-end resampling engines, with the ability to do on the fly conversion to higher bit rates and/or PCM->DSD conversion. System optimization to turn off unneeded-high-load services during playback.

Will play your local content, stream from TIDAL, Qobuz and from Virtual Vault. This outcome wasn’t surprising as they all claim bit-perfect replay … so any other changes have to be down to something other than manipulation of the data … and the degree to which other factors can be influenced is HEAVILY dependent on the system in question.

In BLIND testing I was not able to discern between most of them (your mileage may vary) – exceptions there are noted in the comments on the application/player in question.

Amarra luxe review software#

The point here is just to catalog, and highlight, some interesting software choices for music replay.Ī good while ago now, I did some basic testing with these applications to see if I could determine a sound-quality difference between them, as most of them claim to improve replay in some way or other. The purpose of this post is not to debate the “sound quality” of these applications - that’s a much broader, and far more controversial topic. More information for each is available by clicking the links (product names/titles). I will probably post something similar to cover various “secondary” applications, such as EQ tools, headphone correction, room simulation in the near future. “Primary” means it’s not a plug-in to something else and either plays music directly (with, or without additional features) or affects the audio of the system as a whole.Īt some point I’ll likely review each of these applications in a more comprehensive fashion this post is more to kick-start some discussion and comment on a few of the products I’ve used (and/or still use). This is a summary of some “primary” applications for Music Playback on the Mac (OS X and macOS, as well as some cross-platform applications … but I can’t comment on how the non-Mac versions are).