Amarra Symphony with iRC

[Umetaro]

I recently purchased Amarra Symphony with iRC and experienced a noticeable improvement over the iTunes-Ethernet AIR setting which I was using prior to Amarra.  I have miniDSP UMIK-1 USB mic and tried Amarra Symphony twice in the past (2013 and 2014).  I, however, was not very impressed then.  This time I found Amarra produces very smooth sound and I was totally impressed.  With iTunes-Ethernet AIR, I felt there was harshness when I turned up volume.  With Amarra, I didn't hear any harshness and oveall music experience is much better than before.  I have not done comparison between with iRC and without iRC and this will be my next probe.

I use Ethernet AIR with Amarra and it works very well.  I tried USB as well but Amarra seems to lose USB connection when Devialet turns off and I had to re-do output setting within Amarra.  With Ethernet AIR output, there is no such issue.

Any Amarra users here?

[Umetaro]

Here are the charts for frequency response and impulse response measured by Amarra Symphony (Dirac).
   
   

[Vivialet]

if you use the target curve from your screenshot it will sound flat and lifeless. You should only remove the peaks. Try to follow the uncorrected level of your speakers as close as possible. That means about 5db more level under 60Hz. And avoid big level increases, the maximum should be 3db. Do not try to get a flat frequency response. That is my experience with Dirac and other correction systems.

[Umetaro]

Vivialet - thanks for your suggestion. I will try it. If you don't mind, could you please share your correction charts?

[Vivialet]

not really...I have decided to not use Dirac. I tried it 4 times and always came to the same conclusion. It helps to sort out room problems, but I can achive the same with the jRiver EQ. Dirac is reducing the level by 8db which is somehow hearable as reduced dynamics. I'm using REW to measure my system response and only reduce the peaks where I have room resonances with very narrow filters. That gives the best results for me. SAM is already giving me the phase correction, so I'm not missing that.
If I use the jRiver EQ to get a nearly flat response the sound is thin and sterile. But you can check that easily by using different target curves.

[Umetaro]

not really...I have decided to not use Dirac. I tried it 4 times and always came to the same conclusion. It helps to sort out room problems, but I can achive the same with the jRiver EQ. Dirac is reducing the level by 8db which is somehow hearable as reduced dynamics. I'm using REW to measure my system response and only reduce the peaks where I have room resonances with very narrow filters. That gives the best results for me. SAM is already giving me the phase correction, so I'm not missing that.
If I use the jRiver EQ to get a nearly flat response the sound is thin and sterile. But you can check that easily by using different target curves.

I think the good results of Amarra Symphony comes mainly from Amarra part rather than Dirac part.  Even without Dirac iRC, the sound of Amarra is very good.  If you haven't tried Amarra, I would recommend you try it.  I have licenses for Pure Music, Audirvana Plus other than Amarra and Amarra provides the best sound quality. 
With the two trials of the previous versions of Amarra, I felt the same with you that dynamism is somewhat lost with Dirac iRC.  However, with the new version (3.03), I don't find any degradation of sound quality and that is why I decided to purchase  Amarra Symphony which is not cheap for music player software.

[Vivialet]

I'm using a Windows PC which is working fine without Amarra. Amarra was created because iTunes is not able to output bit identical data. This is not a problem in a Windows PC using WASAPI.

[PhilP]

I'm using a Windows PC which is working fine without Amarra. Amarra was created because iTunes is not able to output bit identical data. This is not a problem in a Windows PC using WASAPI.

iTunes can now output bit perfect data so does that make Amarra redundant or does it somehow magically improve the sound i.e. make it better than bit perfect 

[Umetaro]

I'm using a Windows PC which is working fine without Amarra. Amarra was created because iTunes is not able to output bit identical data. This is not a problem in a Windows PC using WASAPI.

iTunes can now output bit perfect data so does that make Amarra redundant or does it somehow magically improve the sound i.e. make it better than bit perfect 

I wouldn't say magical improvement but I find there is a noticeable sound improvement with Amarra-Ethernet AIR over iTunes-Ethernet AIR.

[PhilP]

I'm using a Windows PC which is working fine without Amarra. Amarra was created because iTunes is not able to output bit identical data. This is not a problem in a Windows PC using WASAPI.

iTunes can now output bit perfect data so does that make Amarra redundant or does it somehow magically improve the sound i.e. make it better than bit perfect 

I wouldn't say magical improvement but I find there is a noticeable sound improvement with Amarra-Ethernet AIR over iTunes-Ethernet AIR.

Umetaro, that's interesting.  Do up have any ideas why Amarra sounds better than iTunes when both are, at least in theory, feeding the same bit perfect data into AIR? 

EDIT: This isn't a trick question - I just wondered what reason there could be for Amarra sounding better

Thanks.