Sonic Studio, in conjunction with their representative VRS Audio
Solutions, has provided the first public showing of their new
ultra–fidelity music server, Amarra. Taking place at the Rocky
Mountain Audio Fest in the mile high city of Denver, VRS staged
demonstrations of the newest member of the growing media server class
in their demo room.
Based on Sonic Studio’s line of professional linear PCM products,
Amarra is an integrated software and hardware alloy that leverages
Sonic Studio’s history in pro audio with the industry’s longest
running digital audio workstation. Amarra’s hardware is drawn from
the exclusive FireWire–attached, Series 300 line of DSP I/O
Processors while the software derives from soundBlade, Sonic Studio’s
high end production application.
Unlike prior audio server products, Amarra runs Mac OS X. To ease
user interaction, Amarra also coordinates with iTunes. Able to play
uncompressed audio files up to 192 kHz, Amarra is architected to
accommodate future enhancements as technology and the server market
advances, according to the folks at Sonic Studio.
The same technology that produces the master files used by record
labels large and small for music distribution on Compact Disc,
DVD-Audio and for download, is also used to create the music server.
Sonic Studio says that Amarra provides the highest quality playback,
coupled with the convenience of iTunes. It will be available through
select dealers soon. Pricing hasn’t been announced. For more
information about Amarra go to http://www.amarraaudio.com