Amarra for iTunes at RMAF...

In many ways I agree with our passionate friend Blindjim. Unfortunately in the real world bits are not only bits because they get transported from one place to another through all manner of software and circuits. It would seem the moving of the bits is where the ideal world starts to fall away and problems arise.

I have Macs and PCs all geared towards music production and playback. I like both formats. The fact is that Macs straight out of the box seem better suited to music applications. However a PC built and programmed to deal with music will be as good if not better than any Mac. But every PC I have owned has taken some effort to make it work to its best. But if you factor in the price difference, the PC will be a "better" machine although you are on your own with it.

This is why I think many go for the easy Mac option. Each model is exactly the same wherever in the world you are. This cannot be said for most PCs which can be built from an huge range of components from different manufacturers, causing many of the issues and compatibility problems found on the PC platform. ie This motherboard with that chipset etc.(sometimes an advantage)

Regarding Amarra mini, I found it worked very well over firewire with Weiss equipment. I have not had time to try it with other firewire interfaces to judge it. (I have a few different interfaces for pro audio work (RME/MOTU/Apogee), and some do work with Amarra.)

However I would not say the little Weiss is the last word in digital on its own, but at that price the Weiss DAC/Amarra/itunes is extremely good and hard to beat.

It is pointless to use itunes/Amarra from the digital output of your computer to a DAC. Amarra made little if no difference. The Little Weis DAC was average using it non firewire from s/dif and optical inputs. But I must say running itunes firewire with Amarra to the Weiss was significant.

Blindjim, you have accused me of a few things, and with no justification. What is it you have to hide? The statement that bits is bits does say it all. Timing of those bits is critical to great sound and I am surprised there are still people that don't get that.

Let's take just one of your accusations - that I am biased towards Macs. I have owned computers since the first PC in 1980 and the first Mac I purchased was about six months ago I think. I am typing this post on a PC, because I like it better than the Mac. I have always very much disliked Macs as I am an old DOS-head who knows how to wring every last bit of performance out of a PC and I am pretty ignorant when it comes to Macs. Those are facts. The only reason why I have a Mac in the house is that I had just spent months comparing different PC builds, file format and software player combinations, including the cMP builds, and then tried a bog standard Mac and was utterly surprised to hear what a Mac could do without breaking a sweat. Not anywhere near perfect but detail resolution, dynamics and PRAT were superior to any iteration of PC I had tried to date. So much so that it was screamingly obvious that the Mac had something very important going for it. That fairly standard Mac did in fact suffer a bit of glare compared with the PC and so I set out to see what could be done to remove it.

This is a forum Blindjim - a place where people state their opinions without the need to state their scientific evidence, or have to repeatedly say IMO ad nauseum. Your attack of me for stating my opinion says a lot about you buddy. Your accusations of bias and some percuniary motive show you up for what you are. No I don't sell Macs. Do you accuse everyone that has an opinion that is different to yours of being a vendor of what they like?

I stated my opinion on my conclusions about what sounded best to me following man months of effort to try just about everything I could. You stated your opinion, not about equipment, but of me. Where do you get the right to do that Blindjim. You don't know me or anything about me. Search my posts and you will see I have declared my interest as a designer and marketer of cables. I refrain from commenting on cables in any way that might be a conflict of interest. I do not have anything to do with any computer audio products. At one point I looked at doing that but have decided against it - so I feel I should be allowed to post my opinions without personal attacks.

Lets just take one last point from your rant. You state you disagree with me that we should attempt to create a sound system in its own right. I believe that deciding an USB device should perform well on anyone's PC is counter to just about anything else audiophiles seem to agree on, therefore I use a Mac for music (only) and PCs for everything else. Your position is that that is unreasonable. Do you, Blidjim, insist that your speakers should be good plant stands too, use your DVD player as a CD transport because they jolly well should be able to do both jobs, insist on a teflon coating on your amps so that the fried eggs don't stick? So why insist that computer audio should be dumbed down to run on your workhorse, general purpose PC?

I have to say I am a bit stunned at how expressing opinions on Audiogon that others don't like or don't agree with gets personal attacks, accusations of bias, of not having actually heard what I have expressed a view on. Is this normal here? Why is it not easy to just express a contrary view without making it personal?

I apologise to you Blindjim for getting angry at your attacks. I will try harder to keep my shirt on. Please make an effort too.

Chadeffect, you can also tweak the Mac (much as I haven't enjoyed that much - Apple does not make it easy), and with the latest versions of OS X, you can install it on a PC build. I do agree that the way Mac vertically integrates the OS and the box is a pain as none of the standard Macs are ideal. I came to the conclusions that I did by trying OS X on similar, and sometimes the same hardware as the hardware that worked well with PC builds. That may not be practical for the average joe - but that is true of the better PC builds too, and arguably true for all high end computer audio at the moment. There is a long way between the best builds and plug and play, sadly

Antipodes, I guess that I'm an anti-DOS person. I have had Apples since the Apple II and the 128 Mac. I could never understand why anyone would tolerate a 1960's operating system. But I digress.

I have a music server presently that uses Foobar and Exact Copy. I have to use VNC and a remote desktop to run it-an HP netbook, the only MS computer I have owned and the last. All of these programs work okay although with disinterest in being intuitive. Overall the server sound it quite good. I am told by a friend, however, that a Mac Mini running Amarra and using the Minerva handily outperforms my Exemplar server. I must say that I will rejoice in the convenience of Amarra and the Mac.