Opinions on Pure Music by Channel D

[thxtheater]

Greetings all,

 

I've downloaded the demos of both Amarra and Pure Music. I'm sure that there are battle lines across both camps; however, I'm interested in folks who are using or have used PureMusic to give me suggestions on the best setup and configurations. I'm outputting iTunes/PureMusic on a Musical Fidelity USB to S/PDIF connection on a MacPro that then runs to an Anthem AVM50v and I've chosen to use the DAC in the 50v to process things. In very, very casual listening, Pure Music seems to make the highs of the music a bit more delicate (in a good way) adding more air. There's seemingly more separation and definition in the music and instruments. I'm playing both lossless, CD ripped, and iTunes purchased music on the DAC. Much of what I listen to is classical and orchestral, but also lots of female vocals, with rock, acoustic, folk, acoustic, jazz and more.

 

Thanks for any insights or feedback on what I should be focusing on.

 

Regards,

Theo

[Bob Stern]

Since you like classical, I suggest looking for:

 

1. Orchestral violins: delicacy and openness (as you already have noted).

 

2. Richness and variety of timbres of different instruments. By "variety" I mean whether the differences among the timbres of different instruments (pay attention to woodwinds and soft brass) are enhanced rather than diminished. Another aspect of variety of timbre is whether the differences among recordings from different labels are more apparent, or whether all recordings are overlaid with a common tonal signature.

 

3. Clarity of subtle inflections by the performers. However, beware that treble glare or distortion can enhance apparent clarity at the expense of richness and variety of timbre.

 

Piano also is a great test, especially powerful piano music.

 

(If I correctly understand your question, I suggest that you re-post your question under a new title such as "What to listen for in music player software?". The existing title suggests you are soliciting our opinions about Pure Music, which is a different question.)

[thxtheater]

Thanks Bob. I probably should have posted in a different section. I was jumping around the forums and ended up posting in the same section as a previous thread. Regardless....

 

I'm specifically seeing if there are any best practices in terms of the settings and setup of Pure Music. Memory play, for example. Are there any settings like upsampling that consistently yield good results or should that be avoided, etc. It appears as through there are lots of places to tweak the settings in Pure Music and I'm curious if any Pure Music user has found any particular features or settings to be good bets.

 

 

Since you like classical, I suggest looking for:

 

1. Orchestral violins: delicacy and openness (as you already have noted).

 

2. Richness and variety of timbres of different instruments. By "variety" I mean whether the differences among the timbres of different instruments (pay attention to woodwinds and soft brass) are enhanced rather than diminished. Another aspect of variety of timbre is whether the differences among recordings from different labels are more apparent, or whether all recordings are overlaid with a common tonal signature.

 

3. Clarity of subtle inflections by the performers. However, beware that treble glare or distortion can enhance apparent clarity at the expense of richness and variety of timbre.

 

Piano also is a great test, especially powerful piano music.

 

(If I correctly understand your question, I suggest that you re-post your question under a new title such as "What to listen for in music player software?". The existing title suggests you are soliciting our opinions about Pure Music, which is a different question.)

[Lizard_King]

Amarra Rules! Itunes stinks.

[antigrunge]

Puremusic does indeed give you quite a bit of flexibility: in my experience memoryplay, hog mode and less is more should all be used. There is some debate about whether integer mode or upsampling are preferable, I have preferred upsampling because it allows for inverting polarity which integer mode doesn't. In terms of filters I prefer Classic NOS to highest fidelity but some experimentation is required.

Thanks Bob. I probably should have posted in a different section. I was jumping around the forums and ended up posting in the same section as a previous thread. Regardless....

 

I'm specifically seeing if there are any best practices in terms of the settings and setup of Pure Music. Memory play, for example. Are there any settings like upsampling that consistently yield good results or should that be avoided, etc. It appears as through there are lots of places to tweak the settings in Pure Music and I'm curious if any Pure Music user has found any particular features or settings to be good bets.

[Lowlands]

Thanks Bob. I probably should have posted in a different section. I was jumping around the forums and ended up posting in the same section as a previous thread. Regardless....

 

I'm specifically seeing if there are any best practices in terms of the settings and setup of Pure Music. Memory play, for example. Are there any settings like upsampling that consistently yield good results or should that be avoided, etc. It appears as through there are lots of places to tweak the settings in Pure Music and I'm curious if any Pure Music user has found any particular features or settings to be good bets.

 

Theo,

 

Yup, this question would fit best on the software section... :-); there are multiple threads on PM...

 

1st... trust your own ears & experiment. It's part of the hobby.. (at least, for me). There are more opinions on the pro's / con's of various software players, then there are software players..... Also, use music YOU like, since that is most likely what you will be playing.

 

I use Pure Music (a.o.). Never tried Amarra (too expensive at the time). Have tried Audirvana (free) and Decibel (or more accurate, the free test versions of it). I found differences in sound between these various bit-perfect players (using their optimum / similar settings) all very subtle... But then, I also use FLAC (instead of uncompressed) these days and try to not bother too much on the last few drops....

 

By contrast I found the difference between upsampling & no-upsampling (in PM) rather large. Sense of space is vastly different. I very much prefer non upsampled into my Berkeley Alpha Series1 (which is an integer/synchronous upsampling converter in itsself as far as I understand). Your ears on your Anthem may tell you very differently... Strenght of PM is that you can experiment (various filters, synchronous vs a-synchronous upsampling). I use (hybrid)memory play & hog mode because it comes at little / no cost. Less-is-more has not convinced me; but I am lazy & convenience +user experience is a big factor for me. On the latter, what bugs me in PM is the glitchy samplerate switching... (buffer flush glitch). I find use of JRiver (on Windows7/64) less glitchy and more FLAC fliendly as aposed to PM/iTunes. Soundwise I dare not say I can tell them apart blindfolded... Perhaps I can. I don't mind that mutch. Both sound great.

 

I did read you (also) use iTunes downloaded material. Last time I checked iTunes was stricktly lossy DL's (no ALAC in store). Moving to all lossless would potentially reap more benefits then any player tweak discussed here ..

 

just my 2c's

 

Hans