Whether this noise difference is actually responsible for sound differences has not been proven, but it is at least theoretically possible.Īs to listening I have actually heard the difference with Amarra on someone else's system, I've never heard PM though.
#Pure music player software#
But I have done testing on PCs with different bit perfect software and HAVE measured different noise profiles on the internal PS rails. I don't have a Mac so I can't actually test any of that.
#Pure music player code#
There are a lot of hypothesis but most center around the Amarra/PM "path" through the code being much simpler than iTunes causing less memory accesses, processor use etc which will cause lower noise on the internal power supply rails etc. Checks do seem to indicate that its not a bit perfectness issue, iTunes playing a file at the set sample rate and Amarra/PM send out the same bits. Nobody really knows for sure what the mechanism is. Both Amarra and Pure Music do not do this, they send the music out at whatever rate is in the file.Įven if you get the sample rate correct there does seem to be a difference in sound quality.
If the file is the same rate as what you set it passes it through, but if the rate in the file is different it resamples to the set rate. My understanding is that with iTunes you set a sample rate, itunes then outputs everything at this rate. If you listen to a USB or firewire DAC plugged into a Mac, or take the S/PDIF out directly into an external DAC they may be useful, but not for the Touch.įirst off let me say I don't have Macs so this is all second hand information so I'm bound to get some details wrong. So don't buy either of these if the primary goal is to improve the sound from the Touch, they have nothing to do with it. There is SOME contact between them in that SBS can read the music files that iTunes creates, but thats about it. ITunes, Amarra and Pure Music and the SB system are two separate "SYSTEMS" for getting music files into your stereo system. ITunes etc are programs that run on the Mac that read the music files and send the bits to devices attached directly to the Mac (builtin soundcard, S/PDIF out, USB port to a USB DAC etc) The Touch does not show up on the Mac as a soundcard so these programs cannot do anything with it. SBS reads the music files and sends the data to the player. The actual bits of the music do NOT come from iTunes, Amarra, or Pure Music. The SB devices use their own server (SBS) which can run on a MAC, which sends data in its own proprietary format over a network to the SB device. They have nothing to do with a Touch (or any other SB product).
Both Amarra and Pure Music are alternative "engines" for sending music to a soundcard/digital out of a Mac.
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