Did I get it right ?
Almost.
1. There needs to be potential in the version. Could be something drastic like W11.
2. I need to install it. No big deal, but it should be a "native" version (not destroyed by bloatware).
3. I need to make it technically work. No Blue Screens at going to MinOS.
4. From there it should have SQ potential. If it has :
5. I will need to eliminate all the extra new services and processes. That is, usually there is support for many more things. It all needs to go out. This requires the 100+ boots, because use a wrong combination (too many) and all may never be booting again. -> Reinstall and after adjustments reiterate. Possibly one month further (throughput) :
6. I need to install it in the RAM-OS environment because this is my reference. Like MinOS, RAM-OS makes a serious SQ difference. This requires installing till you drop, and that from a ready guide (of 12 pages or so).
7. If the RAM-OS version does not sound well, I could try to tweak for the better with the virtual one million parameter possibilities, but it may lead to nothing. W8 is an example of that - it took a year to get right and that with the help of "all of you". Luckily this is an exception. But FYI, W7 SP1 also did not sound and was given up upon quickly. W8.1 ? too poor to continue with.
Now you know why it is still 14393.0 we are using. Actually it is simple : there is nothing wrong with it. Of course if you use the audio playing PC as office PC, then this can't work. But audio (when done well) requires a dedicated PC ...
Btw, we will only know whether there is nothing wrong with 14393.0 when W11 has been tried. See 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 above. Haha.
Peter