XXHighEnd

Before I join the Phasure Club with the Stealth III and the NOS1a 2 years ago I tried numerous playback software: Pure Music, JRiver, HQPlayer, Euphony, a few others and Bughead. Among all these the one I preferred was Bughead by a good margin. What stopped me from using it on a regular basis was the very long waiting time from the moment I hit play to the time the playback begins. The typical waiting time was 5 minutes. During this time Bughead rewrites the music files, processes it and does all kinds of tweaks to the OS. I won’t go any further in these explanations. In fact, I believe very few people really understand what the author really does with his software. Suffice it to say that the end results were quite good even on a modest Mac mini which was far from the recommended hardware. The author of Bughead is a Japanese guy by the name of Hiroyuki Yokota, aka oryaaaaa on the JPlay forum. In addition to Bughead Mr. Yokota also created software named ‘’All core any cures’’ and ‘’High Grade CPU Any Cures’’. From these 2 software stemmed Minority Clean, the subject of this thread.

A few weeks ago I was curious to see how was Bughead doing so I went on the JPLay forum to get the latest news. It’s there that I learned of the existence of Minority Clean and the fact that this utility software can be added to any Intel Core or AMD Ryzen based computer running audio applications. On the JPlay forum according to everyone who tried this utility in addition to their regular setup, the gain in clarity and definition is significant. So I downloaded and installed it in the Stealth III PC. By the way it’s free. It’s a single 20 MB .exe file. Sorry for the long intro but I felt it was important to put some context to my experience, mostly for the ones not familiar with Bughead.

To run Minority Clean one only has to double clic on the MinorityClean.exe once and it will run as a background process. According to the author the process load on the CPU is almost zero. The Task Manager shows 0% and 0.5MB.

Now the verdict. Given the fact that XXHighEnd in MinOS is already very aggressive in stripping Window 10 of all non-necessary processes and services I was not expecting much. But I was wrong. I very quickly recognized an increase in clarity and definition, as the JPlay members are saying. Fine details are more precise, the whole listening experience is more enjoyable with a better feel of relaxation. This experience has been repeated several times and the result was always the same. Minority Clean gets revised quite often by the author. The current version is #28. So far, I installed versions #24, 27 and 28 and each new version brought an improvement over the previous one.

I’d be curious to know your feedback if some of you decided to give it a try. The procedure couldn’t be simpler. You go to the MinorityClean site and download the Zip file, open it, copy the MinorityClean.exe in your PC and launch it. That’s it. If you don’t like the result, just delete it. 

Impact on XXHighEnd. In my experience there is no impact on the behaviour of XXHighEnd except for the following. When the Play button is hit these 2 messages appear consecutively: ‘’Asked for clock resolution setting wasn’t met. Asked for: 15ms Received: 1.0007ms’’ and '‘You may delete / ….Playback will restart after this message’’. I hit enter for each one and the playback begins. If there are more than 1 track in the playlist these messages don’t show again for the subsequent tracks.

Of course, I’m curious to know Peter’s opinion on the SQ and technical aspects of this addition to XXHighEnd. Are there possible negative impacts that are not obviously apparent?

I also installed MinorityClean 28 on the Music server and the result is similar. The server is an old Mac mini 2011 connected to the house network router/hub. The Mac runs Server 2019, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 8.5 and the MinorityClean 28 is installed in a RAMDISK. Every time MC 28 runs in the server the SQ gains in the same way as with the Audio PC.

If you’re interested to know more or even try it, these are the links to the MC site and download.

MinorityClean web site:  http://www.mics.ne.jp/~coolverse/MinorityClean/ (http://www.mics.ne.jp/~coolverse/MinorityClean/)
MinorityClean download:  http://www.mics.ne.jp/~coolverse/MinorityClean/MinorityClean_2020_Rev28_x64.zip
JPlay forum:  http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/3063-pink-hq-minorityclean/page-19

Voilà.


Michael

Hey Michael, thank you for this great tip (but I did not try it yet).


You may also set the ClockRes to 1ms to avoid the message (I assume).
Anyway, if you only understand that this overrules the XXHighEnd (same parameter) setting of your 15ms and accept the SQ implication of that parameter alone, then OK.

Again, thank you !
Peter

PS: Yes, I know that Japanese guy from when he had a first version out. All very mystique.

Michael,

Thanks for this I have tried it and it definitely removes some low level hash from the sound so its a keeper for me.

Where I find it particularly useful is in Attended at low SFS settings of say 0.69 which I use to preview and not so critical listening.

Its useful to be able to turn MinorityClean on and off for comparison purposes so I use a really simple batch file to kill the process. Text for simple batch file is:

@echo off

taskkill/F /IM MinorityClean.exe

Pause



Cheers

Paul

Hi Paul,

Glad to see that it's working for you too. In fact there was no doubt in my mind. I'm using the same SFS at 0.69. I agree with your description that it removes some hash on the low level details. For examples the shimmer of cymbals are more vibrant, we can better hear the metal hit by the sick. The benefits apply across the spectrum.

I originally used Minority Clean (MC) with 2.10 but it's as much efficient with 2.11. The combination of MC + 2.11 pushes the SQ to a new level in my living room.

I created a shortcut of MC and put it on the Desktop. To start it I simply double clic on it and I stop it with the Task Manager. But in reality once MC is running it stays on.

I'm using MC in Attended mode and I believe that it comes close in SQ to the Unattended mode without MC. I have difficulties running Unattended, it's unstable. Often the RDC link gets lost and can't be recovered. The PC must be rebooted. So I put it on the side for now.

I encourage others to give a try to Minority Clean. It's a good deal. :yes:


Michael

And by the way I got rid of the error message ‘’Asked for clock resolution setting wasn’t met. Asked for: 15ms Received: 1.0007ms’’ simply by setting the Clock Resesolution to 1.0ms which doesn't affect the SQ if Minority Clean is running.

Michael

Hi Michael and thanks for the suggestion. I'm giving it a try.

One thing-


Do  you have the stop W10 services checked? I always have trouble eventually if I try unattended with that checked.

I have no trouble playing unattended and keeping the remote connection with only Stop Desktop, Stop Remaining, Stop WASAP, Keep LAN and Use Remote checked.

Best,

David

Hi David,

All the parameters you mentioned are checked plus Stop W10 Services. I will try again with Stop W10 Services unchecked. Thanks for the tip.

Michael

Don't forget to check/uncheck this "Stop W10 Services" in Normal OS and BASE for those using RAM-OS) (and then go back to MinOS (and RAM).

Thanks for the advice Peter.

All right, Michael,

I tested it and it seems to me that indeed it could be for the better. Not sure yet, as at first I had the idea that things possibly became "too white". But, I used the SFS of 10.19 (as I am doing fro a long time), actually being quite sure that making it lower would even worsen that (whiteness). But it did not ! So the last couple of hours in yesterday's session I happily used 0.69 ...

Otherwise things seem not to be right with your setup or (incomplete ?) description. Like for example, that it could well be that you use WASAPI. From there, it could well be that you don't use your NOS1. And from there people could be set on the wrong foot.
Of course this is a bit pretentious, but I derive it from your announcement of running into a few problems (like not being able to use Unattended (duh !)) and more deviates.

Anyway, the most important message I may present is that nothing is wrong with anything that I can see. One quite crucial thing : I never booted into Normal OS from running Minority Clean. And there the problems could start ... Mind you, would I have run it when in the BASE of MinOS. And that I explicitly won't do. Understand ? So when doing it from RAM, then all is and remains harmless because no disk settings will be influenced (except for XXHighEnd settings when saved, but this is harmless).

On another note, and as I just tried to explain in the "RDC" topic, I would be very wary of software which changes things all over, while XXHighEnd also does that, and which could work quite "opposite" up do destructive. But as said, when done in RAM only, nothing can be destructive as such, because "destructive" as such is what I regard unrepairable.

So please be careful,
Peter

Hi Peter,

Minority Clean does some 'cleaning' or rearranging SSE and MMX processor instructions. There is source code always included in package, it is written in Basic so
for you it is very easy to determine what it actually does. It can be loaded as one of Win processes (using sexe64.exe) or put in startup folder or started manually.
No matter audio player used, it does have positive effect on audio playback.


Rgds,
George

Hi Peter,

I confirm that I don't use WASAPI. I use KS Mode Adaptive with the Buffer size at 4096. The output device selected is KS:Phasure NOS1..., and the box Stop WASAPI Services is checked. I also never used Minority Clean in Base OS, I only listen in RAM OS.

Regarding the issue I have with Unattended, I will give it a try again with the Keep W10 Services unchecked. I will change this parameter in Normal OS and Base. Then I'll go back in MinOS and RAM. I'll report on the outcome.

Thanks,

Michael

Michael - well, odd then. So the least what should happen is that all normally works. This, btw, includes that "0.0007" message. This is how I arrived at WASAPI and the rest. However, not sure at all what happens when you're in Normal OS *and thus* WASAPI being active. It's a kind of inconsistent situation (well, not of course, but for what we do with XXHighEnd it is).

I hope you can get it to work normally and otherwise we may be able to work on it.
As said, I have no issues ...

Thanks a lot for this,
Peter

Hi Michael,

this is an older string, but I did a ctr-F on Audiophile Optimizer and Fidelizer on this forum and came here.
I,m using XXHe for a long time. It's the best player imho. But: last week I found some nice music on Bandcamp and wanted it to try via my systems other OS disk. The music sounded dull and considerably less nice than via my phone and buds. So I tried to find a way to upgrade the sq via a search on the net. I stumbled on Fidelizer (Free version) and was so bold to try it on Foobar first (not tried it with Bandcamp yet..)
Foobar sounded suddenly almost as well as well as my XXHe in min OS!
So I tried it also on XXHe (in min OS), at first in Consumer mode..
THAT SOUNDED VERY GOOD INDEED!! Better than before at least
Then in Audiophile mode: THAT SOUNDED LIKE I WAS IN HEAVEN!!
My questions are:
I see you use Audiophile Optimize, Fidelizer Pro and MinorityClean icw XXHe.
Is XXHe then in min OS?
What are your settings for Audiophile Optimizer and Fidelizer? For with me XXHe looses a lot in min OS: gallery- and Cover functions are almost dead then!
How is your start-up procedure with these 3 programs icw XXhe?
Did you write a batch for it?
How is it with the stability of XXHe icw the 3 programs
Pls advice
Best Regards
HW

This is a link to the latest (and possibly final) version of MinorityClean:

http://www.mics.ne.jp/~cdorya/9038/Rewrite_data_4_37_MC282_LE44_x64.7z

He changed the name to MajorityClean, but appears to have misspelled it as "MajiorityClean"

The unlock password for the 7z file = HUSTLER

The 7z file also includes an app called LemonadeElitest. I have not tried either one, so use these at your own risk. I will report back when I do.

Documentation is in Japanese and "broken" English. I'm going to copy the Japanese into Google Translate to see if I can come up with something that's easier to read.

Cheers,
Joseph

Thank you very much, Joseph.

Somehow I myself never got around checking this out. I really wanted to, but ... (always something else at hand)

Best regards,
Peter

I copied the Japanese text from the License.txt file found in the MajorityClean 282 x64 folder and translated it into English using Google Translate.

The revised text is shown below and is followed by some notes about installation. There are some minor edits which make it easier to understand. However, some of the notes contradicted themselves and I deleted a few sentences that made no sense.

The License text for LemonadeElitist 4.4 is identical.

---------------------------------------------------------

Majority Clean (formerly Minority Clean) 2.82 Notes

Majority Clean works by repeatedly rewriting the internal state of the memory chip by using inversion processing,

Repeat 1111 ... 0000 ... twice, then 0000 ...

Assuming an average memory state, when you copy this state to the register of the CPU, the circuit status is based on the internal circuit of the memory chip.

You can judge the ability to suppress digital jitter by hearing improved imaging and sound quality.

In places with a widely distributed central AC power supply, such as large buildings and other large facilities, the improvement in sound quality may not be audible.

When you run the EXE file, an icon will be displayed on the SysTray, which  is found on the lower right section of the taskbar and contains some other hidden icons. Right click on the tray icon ^ to display the "Exit" command.

The "Show" icon command displays the number of core threads. The X in the upper right corner ends the task and also closes Majority Clean.

Even if Windows is restarted, Majority Clean will still work due to the physical characteristics of the CPU. If the CPU power supply is completely cut off, it will reset itself automatically upon reboot.


Operating and development conditions

Majority Clean 2.82 requires a Windows 64 bit SSE2 supported CPU. It was developed and checked on a PC running Windows 10 Home Edition with a 64bit Intel Core i3-10300 CPU.


Execution method

Majority Clean is activated when you run "MajorityClean.exe" by double-clicking on it. The process will continue when Windows is restarted.


How to exit

Select "Show" from the tray icon and exit the app with the X in the upper right corner.


Internal specifications

The thread priority is set to 28: above normal.


Sequence

Standard creation and core processes are performed every 12 seconds. Core processing is repeated 8 times every 2 seconds. SetAffinityMask's core allocation causes a small amount of activity, so discontinue its use.


Automatic execution at setup for beginners

Copy "MajorityClean.exe" to the startup folder. You can still operate (show Exit) from the tray icon.


Automatic execution setup for advanced users

Register "MajorityClean.exe" as a service. No arguments are required. Stop Service processing is not implemented. When registered as a service, you cannot exit from the tray icon. Instead you can stop “MajiorityClean.exe" using the task manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and selecting Task Manager from the menu. "MajorityClean.exe" should appear in the first (far left) tab near the top. Right click on it and select Exit to stop the process.


Usage example confirmed in the author's environment

Google Chrome + U-NEXT + Lemonade Elitest> HDMI output to BRAVIA. Play before (F12 + Right clicking the refresh icon clears the cache and reloads the data).

The EXE icon and resource icon are of poor quality, so do not use them if visual quality is important to you..


For electronics majors

In the multi-process circuit, there is an ON state and an OFF state. When considering such an electric state, what is the voltage range that activates the ON state? What is the voltage range that turns it OFF?

Assuming that the CPU is made up of innumerable multi-process circuits, subtle differences occur in 1-bit units. Due to the subtle differences between bits, when Digital Audio was implemented, it became jitter and the image quality and sound quality deteriorated. Lemonade Elitest is designed to eliminate this subtle difference.

---------------------------------------------------------

Additional notes

In order for MajorityClean to start automatically, you have to copy the EXE file to the Startup folder. To do this, press the Windows + R keys to open the Run feature. Then type "shell:startup"  (without the quotation marks) and hit Enter. This command opens the individual user's Startup folder. For the default (all users) Startup folder, type "shell:common startup" (without the quotation marks) and hit Enter. This will open the Default user's Startup folder which contains programs that will turn on at startup for all users.

Copy the MajorityClean.exe file to either Startup folder and it will run every time your PC boots up or restarts. To exit, hold down the Ctrl+Alt+Del keys and select Task Manager from the menu. MajorityClean.exe should appear in the Processes Menu on the far right tab. Right click on it and select Exit to close the app. To prevent it from restarting automatically, delete it from the Startup folder.

~Joseph

On to my own personal experience. I ran Majority Clean 2.82 and Lemonade Elitist 4.4 separately and together from short cuts on the desktop. I also installed them in the Startup folders -- both my personal user Startup folder and the Default (all users) Startup folder. They were only installed in one or the other.

Regardless of how they were executed, with the Task Manager open, I always saw them appear in the Processes list. However, every time I started XXHE, both disappeared. The icons in the SysTray also disappeared. In short, when XXHE was activated as I normally run it (Minimal OS, unattended), both apps automatically exited. Under the XXHE System configuration, I also put them in the "KeepProcessActive" box, but they continued to be turned off automatically. Therefore, I was never able to hear what either app could do and am not sure how to proceed in order to keep them active.

Suggestions, anyone? At the moment, the only changes I can think of to keep them active may be to uncheck the "Stop ALL Services" and "Stop W10 Services" buttons. To be continued...

Thanks,
~Joseph

Joseph, isn't there an associated service involved ? If so, you obviously must put that in the list of Services to keep.

Regards,
Peter

There are no associated services for either app and putting them in the "KeepProcessActive" box and "KeepServicesActive" box had no effect.

However, after a couple of hours of trial and error, I did find the solution which was to deactivate both "Stop Remaining Services" and "Stop ALL Services" (keep the button indicators blue). I did keep "Stop W10 Services."

Curiously, to go from MaxOS to MinOS, I had to reactivate  "Stop Remaining Services", but once in MinOS I was able to deactivate it again.

Now both Majority Clean and Lemonade Elitist remain active and perform as outlined in the Notes above.

Next task is the listening test, which I will report on in another post.

Cheers,
Joseph

First listening impressions were positive. I put together a playlist of mainly male and female jazz vocals, plus a few pop numbers in a similar style. To begin, I listened without Majority Clean and Lemonade Elitist and then with both activated.

Together they removed a slight veil, which was more noticeable on some cuts than on others. Their effect was subtle and seemed to vary with the quality of the original recording. While I didn't feel the improvement was as dramatic as some  listeners reported, it may be a function of the source material (ripped to .wav files, rather than streamed), the associated equipment, the XXHE settings, and so on.

Most importantly, the apps didn't do any harm or change the fundamental SQ of XXHE, which is very high to begin with. Next, I plan to try them separately for further evaluation. As usual, your perceptions may vary.

Cheers,
Joseph

Joseph, I am afraid it does not work like that. Removing stuff from the OS - which is what happens when shutting it off in Normal OS - is totally different from not having it so-called not active during playback. And you can see it happening by means of Minory Clean now keeping on running. It surely is not the only thing which keeps on running.

So this is a severe apples and oranges, and comparing is not possible (unless you are able to compare over boots - one with all shut off as should and no M.C. and the other way less (up till nothing) shut off with M.C. active).

:sorry:
:-)

After much trial and error, that was the only way those apps would work for me in MinOS. I did not hear much of a difference with or without Majority (Minority) Clean, so running it isn't critical to my listening enjoyment. Any other processes that continued to run did not have any negative effect that I could hear.

Update: After further experiments, I found that it was possible to engage the Stop Desktop Services, Stop Remaining Services, Stop WASAPI Services, Stop ALL Services, and Stop W10 Services options in MinOS and keep the apps from shutting down.

As long as MinOS was kept in "attended" mode, Majority/Minority Clean and Lemonade Elitest continued to be active. However, as soon as MinOS was run in "Unattended" mode, they disappeared. If anyone is using an earlier version of Minority Clean that persists in "Unattended" mode, please mention which one.

Thanks,
Joseph

Hi Michael,
it is necessary to "wrap" the MajiorityClean.exe program (and other programs too if necessary) into a Windows service. For this purpose the tool sexe64.exe is available, which you can download here:

https://www.nanshiki.co.jp/software/sexe_en.html

On this basis you can register a service for this program, whose name you can enter in XXHighend and which is not stopped in unattended mode.

Unfortunately there is no magic recipe. Some deeper knowledge in Windows would be advantageous to understand the context. Maybe you can find someone in your circle of friends who could do this for you - if there is no one here in the forum.

Georg

Let's help a bit more:
- There is small software with more options than 'sexe.exe' that will install MajiorityClean/LemonadeElitest as a Windows process(es), called 'nssm.exe'. Link for download: https://nssm.cc/download
- There is also a batch file made by a user on another good audio forum that will automate installation/de-installation (cleaning) of several MC/LE instances, called 'HungyBears MC installer v.9'.
   When installation is completed, 'nssm.exe' is closed - no unnecessary active processes exist.
- The link for downloading two most positively described & rated versions of MC/LE pairs together with a/m mentioned batch file: https://mega.nz/fm/OogmGYzZ  7z files passwd is in txt files.

 How I use MC as Win process:
- Create folder named for example 'MC' at HDD/SSD's root
- Copy MC/LE of choice (or more versions of them)
- Copy nssm.exe and HungryBear's installer to same folder

Run installer which will ask simple questions and open nssm's small GUI. Simply point nssm to the file's path and click Install. Choose process priority (there's MC/LE author's suggestion).
Few more questions to answer with Y/N and all is set. File should normally run without administrator's privileges.

Expect Peter to comment MC/LE and in case his findings are good, how it could live on systems with OS in memory.

HTH
George

Hey you both ... great stuff !

I created the root folders as mentioned, but could not find HungryBear's installer anywhere. Also, I have a Mega account and was able to login but the link to those versions of MC/LE no longer lead to those files.

Otherwise, I downloaded nssm and was successful in loading MC 2.82 and LE 4.4 as services, as well as processes. I also put them in the Keep Service and Keep Process boxes in XXHE. However, they still disappear or are stopped when XXHE is in Unattended mode.

What am I missing?

Thanks,
Joseph

Hi Joseph,

Link I posted before is still valid and contains HB installer v.9 (zip file) and I added the latest version of MC/LE pairs (7z files + passwd files)

Here is the link again: https://mega.nz/fm/OogmGYzZ
And a link to developer's blog I forgot to mention, for MC/LE future releases: http://www.mics.ne.jp/~cdorya/MajiorityClean/

- You need only one folder and all files in it (nssm, installer and MC/LE pair(s) - it is possible to run more versions of them at the same time.
- 'Keep this process' field in XXHE settings should be active in minimized OS as well. Have no activated XXHE on PC I'm writing right now to check.

Brgds
George

Hi, George,

When I use that link, it defaults back to my personal folder on Mega. I believe that I need the username and password of the original creator (possibly you) in order to to access that folder.

Since I have the latest version of MC+LE and was able to install them as processes and services using nssm.exe, I actually don't need those files. I just mentioned it to see if anyone else was having the same difficulty.



That is the problem I am having. In MinOS, the Task Manager shows both MC and LE installed and running. Even though MC and LE are in the "Keep this process" and "Keep this service" boxes in XXHE, they are not being kept active in Unattended mode in MinOS. They do stay active in MinOS, just not in Unattended mode.

I feel like there should be a setting to keep them active in Unattended mode, possibly via the Task Manager, but am not sure what that might be.

Thanks,
Joseph

Hi Joseph,

I've posted same Mega link on some domestic forums - no issues w/ download. Here's the link for HB installer if you want it (I find it very useful): https://ufile.io/3pp84nqf

If I understand well, after session in Unattended mode MC/LE processes are not listed/seen in Task Manager any more, right?

Brgds,
George

I found my mistake. In the Keep Processes and Services boxes, I forgot to enclose them in brackets (  ). MC and LE seem to work now in Unattended Mode.

Onward to the listening tests!

Ciao,
Joseph

:-)

Hi, George,

Thanks for the direct link -- so much easier!

It's a good app and made installation seamless. No messy syntax to worry about.

Cheers,
Joseph

Now that they were enabled to persist in Unattended Mode, I ran the listening tests again and my impression was the same as before. This tells me that it does not matter in which mode they are active  -- Unattended or not, what I heard was the same as described earlier.

I also tried listening with MC alone and MC + LE and heard very little difference with the addition of LE. At least 99% of the benefit seemed to come from MC. At the moment, I'm really not sure if LE made any improvement at all or whether I was just imagining it. However, it did not seem to do any harm.

As usual, your impressions may vary.

Cheers,
Joseph

One final observation. Today I listened with either Majority (Minority) Clean 2.84 or Lemonade Elitest 4.4 activated, but not both together.

With only Majority Clean activated, I felt more involved with the music than with Lemonade Elitest. While LE did not degrade the music, I just found it less captivating and no longer have it set to start automatically. Sometimes less really is more.

I encourage listeners to experiment with both and draw their own conclusions.

Cheers,
Joseph