XXHighEnd

Peter,
        I updated to 2.08d today and reloaded into Ram. Trying your new settings works now. I really don't know what I did other than reload DAC driver. These settings sure sound better more of everything.

Do have a problem with background ticks especially in first track of an album played, on second track disappears. Second or more albums it doesn't occur.

I tried this on W10 10586 - 2.06a and still the same tick. Don't think its a 2.08 issue possibly something I've had for a little while.

Robert

Hi Robert,

Is this 16/44.1 or 24/xxx ?

Is the interval of the tick related to the SFS ? -> it should. But you need to try it. So if you can easily perceive it and double the SFS, you should perceive it half of the time from the previous setting.


Windows 10 is somehow poor in something "first". Just think of the long time it takes for 14393.0 before the "Services Stop" screen disappears and you know what I mean; only happens once for the day's session (even when the PC is on 24/7).
So what happens if you start that first album, let it play for a second, stop, and restart playing it ?

Peter

So far 16/44.1 files.

Changed SFS up to 120/120 and Q settings back to old no difference in ticks. Restarted Ram OS no difference. Funny thing ticks seem to go when playing whole albums after first  track. Crossed out Xx in Ram OS still ticks.

Going back to new settings .9SFS and Q settings still ticks.

Robert

Robert,

Have you considered that it could be your new DAC ?
Can you prove that by means of another DAC, perhaps ?

On a side note : it is quite well possible that with 2.08 you suddenly perceive this (which it has been there prior to 2.08). This is a bit how 2.08 unveils "detail".

Regards,
Peter

Thanks I certainly feel the ticks were there before 2.08. It is intermittent, today I loaded Ram OS and screen only reset once and no ticks at all.

I have changed DAC to the Oppo 205 which can take 32/768 files. It has been ticking intermittently since this. Sold Benchmark Dac2 it only ran at 24/192(4x on slider) max.

Interesting from a process of elimination I have discovered that reducing the slider from 16x(705) to 8x(352) the ticking stops. Arc prediction is engaged. Does this mean the computer is running out of power?

Robert

Hey Robert,


No, that seems impossible to me. The playback itself virtually does not use CPU (you can check in Taskmanager). And with Arc Prediction (no Custom Filter) it can't be a bug in the filter programming either.

If it is so that the ticking is constant for its frequency/occurrence, regardless any XXHighEnd setting (but that sampling rate of course) I'd consider "electrical error" and a capacitor doing this to you. This is a bit tough to explain but think like a capacitor loading too much energy (if that would be possible in the first place) and that needing to escape. The loading builds up slowly until it bursts.
I am completely making this up and maybe it can't exist at all, but the lower sampling rate might draw just that little lesser of energy the capacitors must provide.

A software bug in the DAC is much more likely of course, but I think this won't express with the time period you imply (and rather each sample and then you will perceive it just as poor sound).

HTH
Peter

Where would you suggest to start to look for electrical error: Computer hardware ie: motherboard, power supply?

Could well be software bug in Dac. 

Robert

Robert,

I would ask the manufacturer (and learn a few new languages on the fly :)).
(btw, I talked about the DAC and not PC or something)

Easiest would be to lend a DAC from someone (or a shop).

I am just thinking ... You will have a kind of strange problem, because you can not ask it to anyone (e.g. CA) because there will be nobody with 24/768 playback software. AFAIK only XXHighEnd and HQPlayer, but both do that explicitly for the NOS1 as there is no other DAC functioning like this. And your Oppo will have an AKM D/A chip (32 bit) I suppose.

But thinking further again ...

The Driver software you will be having for that, should be Chinese XMos stuff. Nothing about the Chinese, but it won't be much official.
Can I be right ?

Peter

Robert,

I must call back on my idea about the DAC. I mean, I suddenly recall "the first track only" and how could that be the DAC ...

Possibly it is the 32 bits which I *do* pass on to the DAC. So for me and most they are cut (to 24 bits), but not for your 32 bits DAC ...

Regards,
Peter

Well today I booted Oppo and computer/Ram OS into action and everything worked perfectly all day. Mind you I removed Intona before doing this. Need to repeat this.

The Oppo can definitely take 32/768 input.

Your new settings are better sounding.

Robert

Thank you Robert.
Peter

From above reply all went well until I tried to play a hires album 24/192 and ticking returned. Only stopped with reducing sample rate to 32/384 on slider. Going back to 16/44 files it continued to tick at 32/768 but also stopped at 32/384. This without Intona which I'm warming to now.

I rebooted Ram OS and it ticked from start even into subsequent tracks. Only stopped when reducing to 32/384.



Got this reply from Oppo. Have tried another USB port and still ticking. No other cable at the moment. Then on second album ticking goes on second and the rest of the tracks. This with 16/44 and 32/768.

Think I might need to get the "Lush" now as a result of removing Intona.

Robert

Robert,

Can you try to elaborate on the frequency of the ticking ?
I think you said it is always constant. But what is the time interval between two ticks ? And are they always as loud when there ?
It starts to be intrigueing.

Peter

Late reply but it is now apparent that when I reboot the Oppo the ticking is stopped. I've removed the Intona now and it definitely sounds better without, especially with the current Xxhigh2.08 version.

I suspect its in the Oppo that's causing ticking. Interesting its not happening at all with 16/44 files only when I change to 24/96/192 in a listening session.

I was interested to see you suggest SFS 1.50. I have been feeling lately, the sound, in particular the treble has been subdued at .90 and 1. I do prefer SFS at 1.50 treble its more lively. Better balance with the bass.

Robert

Robert,

That other night I just changed the SFS to somewhat higher without having in mind to what exactly. Day before yesterday I found that I had set the SFS to 1.80 (so apparently I doubled it). This is also good for the volume change (hardly any stutter with this SFS setting) but it wasn't about that for me. A more friendly sound it was about (mostly related to MQA) and I think it helps for that.

Thank you for the feeback on the Oppo.
You could try to stop 16/44.1 playback, kill the Sound Engine (click blue led in the right hand border), select the 24/96 etc. and start playback.
This re-engages the DAC in a somewhat different way and it could be interesting to know whether this makes a difference (now no ticking).

Also revisit your own observation with the first track vs the second. You may have a different opinion on that now, which could be helpful, also to me.

Regards,
Peter

Hi, Peter,

I am having the same tick issue under 2.07. As you mentioned, it seems to relate to the SFS setting. When the setting is higher, the ticks are less frequent. However, when I change SFS to 0.1 or greater, the music does not play at all.

This started after I changed DAC's to one that only plays 16/44 files. FYI, I only play 16/44 rips from CD's and the ticks do not occur with other playback software, like JRiver Media Center 23.

Since I am using a conventional PC specially modified for XXHE, what settings do you recommend? Right now, SFS = 0.09. While the ticks are no longer very noticeable, they happen during the entire playlist, not just the first cut. I sold my old DAC and no longer have an immediate way of making a comparison with the new one. However, in the near future, I can borrow it back from the friend who bought it (he lives some distance away, but visits about once a month).

Thanks,
Joseph

Hi Joseph,

I don't know whether it can be related, but yesterday I coincidentally used 10074 myself to try how it sounds these days, and I couldn't get it to work without something I'd call sheer distortion. Notice that it will always have been like that, but now I can hear through it better. This is actually the ticks you are talking about, as I heard them just the same (but also at very high frequency - a bit like you desribe it "it goes unnoticed" (but now is continuous distortion).
This was at Q3,4,5 = 0,0,0. Then I set that to 1,1,1 and the problem was gone. What remains though is the "lead in" of a playback session and how 10074 can 30-45 seconds (maybe even more) exhibit ticks and scratches. After that it settles.

So can't this is a sheer 10074 problem ?

N.b.: I played with an SFS of 1.8 which is not particularly low.

Regards,
Peter

I forgot :


This has been so from the start of 10074.


This is because this is all related to buffers and various other settings which "squeeze" in XXHighEnd. However :


that seems a bit odd to me. Did you try to combine with larger S1 (xQ1) settings ?
And what kind of device are you actually using ? (WASAPI or KS). And if KS, what buffer settings (like Special, Adpative, size of it). Many many things to change ...

Regards,
Peter

Hi Peter,
           I applied 2.09 today and it all worked fine except ticks on 16/44 tracks which did not stop during album play track after track. Ticks are close together but do seem to get louder and more intense when a track peaks.

I stopped play and killed Sound Engine with blue LED. Then started play ticks gone. Then tried 24/44 album and no ticks.

After tracks in Ram are loaded a message comes on the screen. When its ticked Yes, play starts. See photo below. This normally happens at the start of play after new boot. Then doesn't happen again.

I rebooted Ram OS and no ticks with either album. Havn't been able to repeat ticks today.

Robert

Hi Robert,

This is very interesting because it is exactly what I wanted to suggest to you : try with switching off Garbage Collect (I think in the Memory section of Settings). But I didn't suggest it as I felt not confident this could be related really (meanwhile you getting mad of trying). Still ... this message is 100% related to that. It tells you that your PC tried to clean up the memory, but after some waiting for it, it is still busy with it. Too busy regarding my "standard" (FWIW) and thus it is spending time on that while it should be spending time on glitchless playback.

Why I did not suggest it, is beause it theoretically can be counterproductive only. OTOH, when this "Garbage Collection" works out right away, we can be assured nothing needs to be done during playback. What you do is something in the middle : the system first was forced (by XXHighEnd) to deal with this, it tells you "uh-ohh" and then you click Continue and THEN you hear it is busy with Garbage Collection indeed.

Still there ?

Apart from understanding, it could be an idea to switch this GC off and see what might happen somewhere underway of playback. Maybe nothing. At least you now don't force the system to do it "now" which your system can not do (sufficiently quick).

Don't ask me when a PC/OS can be too slow on this, as Garbage Collection is one of the most complex processes in the OS and it also always changes per OS version.
Notice that GC is about the freeing of physical intern memory which is not in use any more. The OS does this when it thinks it has time for it, but at some stage it needs to (because of a lack of memory).

It could also be related to Virtual Memory which should be switched off (some Advanced Tab in PC properties, starting with RightClick on This PC in Explorer). This looks counter productive in itself but it has been proven (to me) that this is overall better.

Kind regards,
Peter

Hi, Peter,

I studied your responses and have basically solved the problems.

The music now plays with an SFS of 0.10 or higher because earlier I had the buffer size set too high. Actually, I could see that the music was being played by XXHE -- the slider was moving and the time was advancing, but no sound was coming out. When I changed it from 4096 to 1024, this restored the sound output. But I also had to change Q1 = 14 to Q1 = 0 and also set Q3, Q4, and Q5 = 0.

Now that the buffer can be larger, with the size set to 10.0 / 60.0, the ticks are so far apart, that they never seem to appear.

This may not be a true cure, but at least I no longer hear the ticks. Turning off Garbage Collect made no difference here.

Thanks!
Joseph

Hahaha. Well, yes. Or really not.  :)

If you discover more data about this let me know, OK ?

Thank you and regards,
Peter

Yes I checked and the Virtual Memory was on in OS14393.

I've turned off but dam it the computer will not boot into RamOS now. I've also tried this with OS10586 and the same no Ram boot. I managed to get back to Base14393 and all seems ok, music plays in min OS. This is a new problem I suspect. Files are not blocked.

Could this be a hardware fault or ram disc? I did remove the Ram drive from the computer to use another, on putting back today no Ram bootup. Yesterday it took 3 trys to get it to Ram boot not normal.

I also turned GC off. Ticking did return in Base mode. Rebooting everything stopped ticking. 2.09 does sound bloody good.  

Robert