Nigel G

I have exactly the same issue. Mac Mini running ML with SSDrive through a Metric Halo LIO 8. Great sound with A+ 1.4.3 but it seems to randomly skip (usually with the second track on a album...it jumps to another track on that same album...or a track from another artist entirely)

...with Amarra 1.1 (3189).... Periodically (after my Mac Mini has been sleeping for a while) it will tell me that the iLOK is not recognized and Amarra will enter demo mode; this requires a reboot. Also I seem to have the random problems from time to time of Amarra not properly "playing" with itunes. Usually just futzing around (closing them down and oening up again, or sometimes just rebooting) gets them to work again, but I haven't noticed a lot of rhyme or reason to the problems (not that I have scientifically noted all the details) Most of these problems occur when I start up the system in the morning; one it is up and running for the day it is fine. BTW, for reference, I use a headless Mac Mini intel 1.83 with 4gb of ram, hardwired via ethernet to my "storage files" on an HP Mediasmart Ex 470 server. Output is via firewire to a Metric Halo ULN-8 (which is awesome) and then to a Naim NAC 282/NAP 250.2 preamp/poweramp combo and into Verity Rienzi speakers. The system sounds great when it is working (most of the time), but it is frustrating on a periodic basis due to these Amarra issues.....and also sometimes in getting the ULN8 and MIO software to restart properly after a reboot.

I have a Rudistor RP5.3 which I find to be excellent (Phones: AKG 701, Denon D2000, Shure 840). Compared to the headphone out on my Lavry DA10 and Metric Halo ULN8 (which are also both very good) it just adds a weight and warmth without giving up clarity. The Rudistor website has a nice range of amps. They are not discussed that much on Headfi but there was a great review of the Rudistor RP5.1 (predecessor to mine) on Soundstage.com a while back Nigel

I also had a problem with Amarra 1.02 not playing some AIFF files which were previously playable under the original version. I will look tonight and see if all the problem files have similar characteristics

I would be interested in understanding exactly how to use an SSD with Amarra and a Mac Mini. I have been lurking here for a while but thought I would share my situation and experience. Basic Set Up I have a reasonably high end computer based outfit: - Mac Mini (2008) 1.83ghz Intel Core 2 duo with 4Gb - Amarra (full version) - Snow Leopard/itunes 9 - Music files held on an HP EX470 home server and connected to the Mac Mini via ethernet - Metric Halo ULN 8 ADC/DAC firewire interface - Naim NAC 282 Preamp/NAP 250 Power Amp - Verity Rienzi speakers The Metric Halo ULN8 hardware is the same as Sonic Studio Model 4, and sounds phenomenal. My main basis for comparison is the Lavry DA10, which is itself a very good DAC (especially for the price ~ $1k) but the ULN8 brings a significant extra level of detail, dimension and air. Uses of my System I mainly use it for playing back a variety of music via itunes (mainly ripped CDs in AIFF, but also a smattering of downloaded high rez files (Linn, HD Tracks, B&W etc), and also digitized vinyl. BTW one neat program I use for creating automatic playlists is MUFIN for itunes, which creates very good lists based on DNA fingerprinting of the tracks in your library (better than GENIUS IMO, which works with a different MO) The ULN8 is especially suited to the digitizing vinyl role as it has outstanding ADCs and mic preamps. It also has a built in high quality RIAA curve in its built in software, so I bypass any phono preamp and simply plug the outputs from my turntable (Well Tempered Amadeus with Dynavector DV3D cartridge) into the ULN8 and record at 24/176 or 24/192. I was using Pure Vinyl software (anxiously waiting for v3 which has improved functionality) but have recently been experimenting with Audiofile Wave Editor ($79) for recording, cutting the recording into individual tracks, and saving them to AIFF files, which can then be played in my itunes library. This works very well, although recording vinyl is clearly more time consuming than ripping CDs. One thing though, the recorded vinyl tracks sound as good as the original vinyl playback and usually way better than the equivalent CD (example, I have both vinyl and CD of James Taylor's "That's Why I'm Here" and the recorded vinyl is so much more engaging than the CD, even though the CD is not bad by itself) Anyway, I think this is a great website and forum - I seem to check this more than any others these days. A bit of a rambling thread, but - back to my original comment - I would be keen to experiment with an SSD drive but am unclear how to go about it. Does this mean replacing the internal Mac Mini HD or is there an external SSD drive I could use? Thanks for listening, Nigel

I had originally ripped all my files to ALAC, and was surprised - when I tested AIFF - that AIFF sounded better in my system. I also found that reripping the CD's to AIFF sounded better that converting them. Nigel