[mgunin]

Hello everyone,

I'm still quite new on this forum and would like to thank members for valuable information I've already found.

At the moment I'm in the process of choosing a player strictly for headphone listening (I have Sony MDR-MA900 and HRT microStreamer). My main preference is jazz.

I have evaluated 4 products: Amarra, Audirvana, Fidelia and the new JRiver. The last two have special modules/settings for headphones while the first two do not.

Initial impressions:

There are many good words on Audirvana, but on my system I like its sound the least of all, while it's nuances I talk about (too dry for my tastes) and it has great interface and format support. Maybe it's because it is more suitable to speakers, not headphones.

Amarra is very rich in details, very smooth, warm and close to "analog" sound feeling, while the range of formats and interface could have been better.

Fidelia is more clear and has great soundstage, but maybe not so detailed and I'm not too fond of its interface.

And JRiver (while still in beta) seems, to my surprise, somewhere between Amarra and Fidelia (while maybe not so terrific in sound as Amarra on old recordings), has great interface and format support and costs much cheaper.

So, for now I'm somewhere between Amarra and JRiver (or... maybe Fidelia) and would like to ask for advice regarding possible fine tuning of these products and maybe choosing some proper recordings to test further and make a proper decision for purchase. What are your thoughts? Thank you!

Regards,
Michael

 

[Mediahound]

I dig Amarra. Their built in EQ presets are also really nice. I use the bass boost with some headphones and really like the result and over all sound of the product. 
 
Another one to consider is BitPerfect. It's only $10. and I used that prior to switching to Amarra. I think Amarra sounds better. 
 
I don't like crossfeeds myself. To me, it tends to make the music sound a bit hollow. I know some swear by them though. 

 

[mgunin]

Thanks! Do you use the basic HIFI version or the regular one? I'm not sure if I will lose anything with the cheaper version soundwise (lots of FLACs in my collection, but they can be converted to ALAC without the loss in quality if I'm correct).

 

[Mediahound]

Quote:

Thanks! Do you use the basic HIFI version or the regular one? I'm not sure if I will lose anything with the cheaper version soundwise (lots of FLACs in my collection, but they can be converted to ALAC without the loss in quality if I'm correct).

Amarra HiFi is the one I use and it does all that I want it to do. I believe it can even play and convert FLAC files.