Mac Music Software Frustration


Hi Folks,
I use a MacBook Pro laptop to play hi-res and other music files through my rig, via a Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 and a Musical Fidelity M1 DAC. My software situation is something of a mess right now and I am eager for your advice.
I have Decibel, which was the first player I got but I haven't used it in awhile.
Most of the time I've been using Audirvana 1.x, which works great in iTunes integrated mode. I'd had Audirvana generate proxy files in iTunes for my hi-res files, which worked just fine. I especially liked being able to control the iTunes/Audirvana combo via the Apple iOS "Remote" app on my iPhone.
I recently "upgraded" to Audirvana 2.x, which has been a big disappointment to me. I don't detect any improvement in audio output quality, and the Audirvana iOS app is a mess; very slow to load playlists and frequently becoming unresponsive to input.
I finally broke down and bought Amarra during a recent sale. I hate the kludgy, non-Mac compliant interface. That would be fine, but waiting several minutes for large playlists to load is maddening for software that's this expensive. 
Finally, I just downloaded the demo of Pure Music. It sounds quite good, but of course doesn't know what to do with the Audirvana proxy files in iTunes.
So... I’m wondering what my fellow Mac users are doing for a Mac-based hi-res server solution. I'd like to find something that works smoothly and sounds great and be done with it.
Thanks in advance!!

rebbi
Why don't you go back to using the earlier version of Audirvana?  You liked how it worked and don't like anything else.
I've been doing just that recently! Thing is, I think I like the sound of Pure Music and Amarra the best, and I'm wondering how I can get those to work well for me.
I just moved from Pure Music to jriver...very pleased. I tried all the others.  I really disliked audiavana...very clunky...and somehow harsher.   I know this is heretical for this site...but I actually like the subtle surround settind....and the other Dsp features like night mode and adaptive volume.   To top it off...jriver's about half as expensive as PM.  Oh, and Jr also has volume leveling!  I'm just sorry I recently paid to go to the latest version of PM.

The only negative I've  noticed about JR is that it consumes more cpu...and you need to be mindful of getting the right balance with buffer settings etc.
Hi Rebbi,
I was also using A+ 1.x iTunes integrated mode with proxy files for flac, hirez etc.
Yes, it is some work, but I find that A+ 2.x (especially 2.4) sound MUCH better in non-iTunes integrated mode. That means no proxy files. Everything will play straight thru, flac, dsd, etc. Therefore after adding the flac/dsd/wav folders to your settings for A+ library folders to sync, the result will be duplicates where you previously created proxy files pointing to iTunes. Those proxies will need to be deleted from A+ to get rid of the dups.
An awkward transition for sure, but sonically worth it. The new interface is being upgraded regularly and Damien monitors the threads on computeraudiophile for issues and suggestions. Cheers,
spencer