Vadim in Tuapse

Trim Enabler doesn't work for me in Yosemite too. But I found another one app that works - Chameleon SSD Optimizer. Give it a try Chameleon SSD Optimizer

I can agree. 2.5.1 Amarra Symphony sounds amazing in my system. I can't stop listening to all my music collection - sonically rich, ballanced and detailed.

There is a fairly simple way to get rid of the inconvenience regarding the activation Amarra registration ("...a weird thing" © Cycleman) which I usually use upgrading to new version of Amarra. :~) Your licence information is keeping in the Amarra program file: /Applications/Amarra.app/Contents/MacOS/Amarra.cdm Before completely uninstalling the old Amarra version, copy this file to any place. After new Amarra version installing, copy the file in the same path. Good luck!

Thanks, omasciarotte and goldsdad for the detailed analysis of the XDL rips. Considering the identity of the rips, it is obvious that the difference between them is not in my ears but in my head due to self-suggestion. :-)

Leigh, in order to get the better and accurate XLD rip quality, I still recommend my settings. Although you made ??a choice in favor of PT, it is maybe not very important. ) @f1eng May be worth a try than to believe rumors? ) In any case, with PT I like more listening to music rather than analyze sound. And it does not mean that Amarra is worse. Everyone chooses what fits him best. :-)

Hi Leigh, Thank you for the XLD original files. The checksum of Secure Rip and Burst modes is same. I understand at least why I can hear the CD Paranoia mode difference. It is interesting to see the CD Rip settings in your XLD Preferences. Leigh, please, look at this one http://i4.fastpic.ru/big/2011/0316/f7/d383ad5a44f0caa3b498cfbd579e44f7.png Do you have any difference in the settings that I marked with red dots?

In the process of importing PT records the left and right channels to separate files adding the letters L and R to the file name. When I wrote "If all three XLD rips have the same checksum before getting into the PT" I was referring to other files which are due to XLD rip: Moonlight Serenade XLDSR2.aiff, Moonlight Serenade XLDCDPIII102.aiff, Moonlight Serenade XLDB.aiff. And only Leigh can tell us what their checksum is. I believe XLD and EAC (for Windows) is the best rippers because they have such accurate ripping features as: CD driver offset correction, retry count setting, suspicious sectors verification with slowing down ripping. Lets imagine that we have a perfectly readable CD. In this case, both XLD and iTunes extract the same information. The checksums would be the same. If we have a difficult to read CD, XLD will try to read the bad sector repeatedly reducing the drive speed until it receives all the information. iTunes in this situation will just skip bad sectors. Of course, the checksum of XLD and iTunes should be different. Unfortunately, I do know nothing how PT technically performs rip. But for me it is obvious that PT adds some data in the rip files during import. @souptin ...compost is a dull brown but it sure does make the green things grow nicely Cool. Thanks...LOL what was it that happened to Faust in the end anyway? About the grey and green quote, it was a replica of Mephistopheles. I think you know what kind of guys he is. :~D Probably, this is not the best place for my retelling of Faust. You can find it here http://afronord.tripod.com/plays/faust.html :-)

...if there's any way of re-saving the files from PT so as to get checksum-identical files, and if so, what happens to the sonic differences you guys are hearing? If all three XLD rips have the same checksum before getting into the PT, it is reasonable to assume that the sonic differences we are hearing is the result of: - our self-hypnosis; - impact of PT on the sonic material. Rather, the first one. :-) But in this regard, I like the quotation from Goethe's Faust: "Dear friend, all theory is grey, And green the golden tree of life." ;-)

Liegh, Thank you for your work and for the files sharing. The difference between the files really are and I can agree with you about the quality of the PT rip. Strange, but XLD CDParanoia rip I liked least - more mid bass though not so natural highs. I must say also that a comparison of different rips in our case may not be entirely correct because importing in a session format PT could theoretically make changes in the rips separating the left and right channels in different files. I'm afraid also that this test may be interesting more to those who have PT. In a way PT - a thing in itself. Make rips with it makes sense for someone who is going to keep them in the format of the session and play also in PT. True, the quality is worth it.

Leigh, Here http://www.ehow.com/how_2246689_upload-megaupload.html you can find HowTo upload at Megaupload or use multiuploading site http://uploadbud.com/. You'll get the links to your files after the uploading.

Hi Leigh, It's actually an interesting test. Everyone to be able to compare the results, could you put somewhere in the file-sharing network (rapidshare, hotfiles and so on) the same samples you ripped with PT and with the XLD Secure Ripper mode?

@iocomposer But if you really want to hear a big difference, try syncing good hardware to a solid clock. If you're impressed by the small jump between native PT9 and Amarra, then you'll be floored by the giant leap you'll hear by losing all of the jitter. I can imagine it...LOL O_o If seriously, I'll try to find such a possibility in the future. Why do I hear a big difference just now? Perhaps because my DAC Minerva has the ability to be master clock to the computer via Firewire, which makes it easier to maintain excellent jitter performance. In my case it really takes place, look at my Audio MIDI Setup http://i1.fastpic.ru/big/2011/0301/ad/62ab6d4a0deee10eb42fcfa3091718ad.png Once I chose the DAC for this feature. Otherwise I do not know how to explain it all.

Leigh, Pro Tools imports alac files without any problem. Your import instruction works also good. Thanks you. @iocomposer Ultimately, I do not care whether PT for professional use or not. The main criterion of choice for me is the pleasure of music listening. I trust above all to my ears. And now after two days of listening I prefer PT others like Amarra, Pure Music, Fidelia. Of course this is my IMHO. I understand that with another system, all may sound differently. :~)

Hi Leigh, Although, I believe you can create a new session with songs exported from previously created sessions. Any songs in any order, but then it is fixed. A bit like the home compilation cassette mixes of yore. For me it's probably the best way, because I've converted hundreds of my CDs using XLD. So far, I figured that XLD is a best accurate ripper in Mac. My music collection is stored in an external hard drive via usb. The name of each folder matches the name of the album. Inside the folder containing the songs in Apple lossless format and a subfolder with the arts. I'd not want to transform all this into the Pro Tools session format - it'll take a long time. For each listening every time I could create a new session by importing into it the songs from the existing collection. How to make it easier on the basis of your experience? Simple dragging them into the Editor window? I don't have to be worried about adding album art and then losing it. Pro Tools has no capacity for album art. I'm not particularly worried about it. If I want to see album arts while listening, I run into the right half of the screen an image viewer (CocoViewX) in slideshow mode. Like this http://i2.fastpic.ru/big/2011/0228/6b/862f4b7e507696968fab6469137d516b.jpg :-)

Leigh, Many thanks for the detail HowTo! Of course, this procedure is much more complicated than in other players, but I think the quality is worth it. Thanks again for your help, I think it'll be appreciated by the many who put the sound quality above convenience. Best regards.