XXHighEnd Model 0.9z-4-1 (Geeky Tweaky)

[PeterSt]

Edit : Do not use this version with lower Split File Sizes because there are ticks between track parts. For example, when the output is 352.8KHz an SFS of 12 will give ticks every 4 seconds. An SFS of 120 will do that every 40 seconds. An SFS of 120 and output of 176.4KHz every 80 seconds. And so on. The tick (though fairly small/soft) being there every 4 seconds will be noticeable. Every 80 you may catch it, but you may also just miss it.
When the SFS in combination with the output sample rate implies ticks outside the boundaries of tracks (like some 7 minutes most often will), the ticks are just not there (because no track parts as such are there).

A maybe not so common title for a next version, but this one really is in the order of auto-tweaks. It strips down the OS' Services and Processes automatically, but does it in a dynamical fashion. This means that at a next reboot all is restored to normal again.
Although it has been considered, this version does *not* contain Registry adjustments, but chances are fair a next version will even do that. So far this isn't necessary.

Warning : 0.9z-4-0 was told not to be "allowed" for new users. This was partly about the "geeky" stuff being in there to some degree already, but merely was about not being 100% sure static could not happen in all cases and combinations; There has been no report about that, so on that matter it is okay now. Also 4-0 contained (in advance known) ticks in between tracks, which obviously is not a good idea for new users. For this version, 0.9z-4-1 only the geeky stuff remains, but got worse. This time we should say :
Allowed for new users, but maybe these users should be somewhat "PC aware", and they should know that during playback nothing further actually works anymore, because the PC turned into a dedicated Audio PC. After a reboot all will be normal again.
FYI : Maybe it is obvious by now that a thing like this could have been applied 4 years ago - maybe also referring to cics' work, but while this looks similar it is really driven by the "memory requirements" (which just were not there before), and furthermore it all has been setup totally different.
And at the same time, this will only be the start of it all ...

Having said the above about "new users", things like this won't happen without a license. It's a bit similar to the Processor Core Appointment (but worse) : when some piece of software changes the behaviour of your PC all over, you'd better know what you are doing, and that you are doing this on purpose. And the other way around : if you need help on "what is happening !", we better have the feeling from our side that helping out has been payed for somehow - that this is good for the objective of the best sound possible - and that "you", that paying user, is dedicated for that. "Can claim the help" or something like that, progression on all as a trade.

What can you expect ?

Well, first of all you won't know where to start, were this about (your ever) good sound. Things most probably will be so different that the possibility exists that you lost your reference. Also, things can be tuned so much to different sound at far ends, that by itself this will make it more easy. Still, what is good ?

In order to help out with this, here are some advises to help you on some track. Mind you, it is not said that this will give you the best sound, but as it looks here (which is with a Phasure NOS1) it well might. Still, here too it is all mighty difficult.
First the observations (under that, how to get there) :

- No fresh sound where fresh sound should not be (was it all "fake" before then ?).
- Far better colour of cymbals (will match the above).
- Maybe less resolution in the bass. Not sure about this one. Bass output seems also to be more. Tweak your xover if you can do it easily.
- More loud output. Well, as it is perceived. Somehow.
- The somewhat strange combination of more laid back with super detail (somehow detail always went along with being forward).
- An ever creepy feeling "is this right ?". We think it is, but please explicitly not confirm if you think it is not, but try to explain why. Watch drums.
- Hard to explicitly judge the emotion level. Keep in mind this will also be about putting your mind too much to the "is this right ?". Get used to it first.
- But, watch for the foot tapping level. Watch others in the room too. Don't tell, don't ask, just observe.
- Imagine you just bought a new system. Maybe that helps. But is it a good system ?

How to get there

First of all, XP will be too much "under developed" to let this all work as intended. It will play, it will allow you a fair amount of SFS (see below about the SFS in general), but it wasn't even tested for Unattended Playback and all what is connected to that by now. Bugs can be reported of course, and will be listened to and solved. But please notice that XP is something of the past, and what can be done with "sound".

Assumed is Unattended Playback (this is a prerequisite for all !). Also assumed is "Do not start Playback at all", hence do that lateron with Alt-P. This is not a must, but it will matter (and has not been tested otherwise).

The above "What can you expect" is about one extreme setting only, and again it is mostly about the SFS (Split File Size). Set it as high as you can. Of course the highest setting will be achieved with normal "Mixed". Don't be afraid to try that as the first one; For this version it really shouldn't matter much (ok, everything matters, but for the technical reasons it could matter before, this particular (whatever that is to you) is out of the way). Notice that an SFS of 500 will be the physical maximum (32 bit 4GB limit). The higher you go, the more the above will apply and "be strange" to you.
First loading will take longer because of this, but changing the volume really doesn't matter all that much, if not faster the larger the SFS to begin with (!)).

Edit, Important : Using a large SFS like 500 is NOT allowed when having 4GB of (or less) memory only (or when you have more but with a 32 bit OS). Things won't go wrong, but the opposite will be achieved of what's intended and it will go without notice (but for a theoretically worse sound). Because this won't be noticed by the program, there are no warnings etc. about this "opposite behaviour", and the only good solution to be sure, is using Mixed Contiguous (remember, at just trying to use the largest SFS). With 8GB of memory and a 64 bit OS there is no problem with Mixed.

Remove the RAMDisk;
Important : Do not just stop using it. Instead, remove it from the system. Eliminate it. Of course this gives you additional memory (for the SFS).

Try your SFS capabilities just with Attended Playback ! Once you found the limit, maybe go 10 or so under it. When you're really ready to play maybe reboot for one time. When you now really used it (playing, see below too), it will pretty much be useable forever (especially with "Mixed" it will). But if not, accept a reboot, or set it lower again. Also to keep in mind : you will be able to have it way more high than before ayway, so it's only about showing yourself the extreme. Whether this is 320 for Straight Contiguous or 250 ... when you were  used to 100 it is really enough to perceive that extreme.
But 500 for just "Mixed" really takes it to another level ...

Use Invert to recover some (fake ?) freshness and at the same time bring the sound more forward. Remember, it is quite laid back in the first place.

Activate the new buttons for removal of "Remainder Services". If possible, do *not* activate the button for "Keep LAN Services". But, with the latter your LAN connections will go too, so if your music is on the LAN somewhere, you'd have to activate this button. Not too bad, and more convenient anyway.
Keep in mind : nothing within XX will reset this all, so gone is gone. But, a reboot will restore all. Also, using certain tasks may bring up some services and processes up atomatically. Starting playback will remove them again though.
When playback is started and XXHighEnd quits, notice the message telling you that Services are being stopped. Only when it has gone, use Alt-P for Playback. Not earlier. Also notice that at a first playback session after a reboot this can easily take a minute. A next time it will be seconds to none.

At testing the "lean system", not only anomalies may occur, but also processes may be removed you want to stay. The typicle examples are already "hard coded" to not disappear (like Notepad, TaskManager and other obvious means you may need for observing playback), but in the Settings Area you will find two fields where you can add your own Services and Processes to stay. An example of that would be SnagIt to make screen captures. Just add it to the respective field for it (see ToolTips there) and it will stay. Same for services. For exmple (it was not tested for this explicitly), supposed you LAN services stay but you notice Terminal Services to shut down, just add the service(s) for that to the list for Services to stay, and your Terminal Services will keep on running. Of course it is for you to find out which Services are related to this, and such a typicle group could be made known (once found out), for all of us to use when applicable. Don't underestimate the finding out, like keeping the LAN services running to their minimum for useage easily took a full day here. Lastly, don't underestimate what it *really* takes to let a "service" run well, like the example of LAN and your connection can stay up easily, but finding it (the audio PC) from another PC really takes some investigations more. This (for the example of an already covered for one) is in there, but, maybe it wasn't exploited in full and you come up with "but by iPhone won't work !". Here too, please tell about it, and preferrably what it would take to add such a "PDA Group" or whatever.

Now, one of the key settings is the Clock Resolution. That is, for its difference between "Maximum for this system" and anything under that.
Important : As far as we can tell, this "Maximum" can just not apply for Engine#3. Days have been spend on this, and it is caused by WASAPI being too persistent on this on one side, and a load (!) of bugs in Vista as well as W7 (SP1) on the other side. As far as we can tell you will receive 10ms in a normally behaving system, while you asked for "Maximum" (or 15ms which will be the same for Vista, W7 (SP1) (and XP, which can't use WASAPI at all)).
Keep in mind that for the Server versions of all OSes this has not been tested, and things may be different.
When you dove into the several "responsiveness" tweaks which were spread on this forum (or others), you may be in bad luck, because you *will* have made your OS totally inconsistent, and things like 5ms may be your maximum. Or 2. Or anything which is really out of your control (but incurred for by OS bugs in the first place). Want to get that right again ? reinstall the OS. But, 10ms will still be the minimum you can use with Engine#3, and if more, please report.
With Engine#4 this all shouldn't be a problem, but still Vista may not be able to do it (see earlier talks about this, and which still be be in the ToolTips concerned). For example (it's in the forum somewhere), for the Vista we have here it really was so that the Latency Checker could just be removed, and the 1ms it creates just stayed. It really should not, and again it's an OS bug when it does, but keep in mind that it will have been you mangling with the OS in the first place. SO DON'T. You may if you want, but explicit settings within XXHighEnd won't work anymore.
The same accounts for "memory tweaks". You may have applied them without ever knowing what you did (but someone told you to just do it), and next your SFS won't go higher than 20. The moral is : XXHighEnd can do this (almost all) herself now, but not if it's prevented "by you" in the first place. The other moral : while settings in XXHighEnd will let you choose dynamically (all gone after a reboot), now these settings are not available to you, hence don't work out. So, it is all up to you in the end, but please, be warned.

After you picked your choice between maximum and anything else, you can try to vary between 10ms which is the maximum for anything under the real maximum and 0.5ms which is the minimum for normal systems. Otherwise try "Minimum for this system" itself (if it is not 0.5ms it will be 1ms).

When things are perceived as "over the top" for freshness (let's say that this can happen for the lower Clock Resolution settings), do not forget that you may have activated Invert(ed Absolute Phase) in the first place. So, switch that off again for better balancing out (if it did something for more freshness to you in the first place (see above)).

Lastly on this whole subject of hopefully some guidance, let's not forget that you shut off the RAMDisk. Well, don't go back too soon. Try to get used on the (new ??) sound a bit first. Try to "see" whether this can be better afterall, and let's not forget one explicit thing : much of this sprung from wanting to get out the RAMDisk, which from theory is *not* a good thing. That at last came together here, hopefully it will work out at your place the same.


Release notes on this version (only relative to 0.9z-4-0, and still not about anything else which has been solved or added, unless it is of some real importance)

• Ticks in between tracks have been solved. *All* ticks have been solved, so if you perceive them anywhere (including Vista, including DAC Needs 24), please report.
  
  
• The "Only 96/192" option works again (unrelated to the fx button).
  
  
• New fields for shutting down Remaining Services, Keep LAN services On, exclude your own Services to shut down, same for Processes.
  Warning : This can only be utilized with a licensed XXHighEnd version !
  Important : At using the "excluded" services, the XX Logfile (activate Logging in the Settings Area) is organized such that you can copy-paste Service and or Process names from there. Anyway, the XX log file will show you what happened.
  If you run into a situation that you activated "Keep LAN Services On" while still something won't run or give anomalies otherwise, please report. If you are able to find out yourself which Service has to be additionally excluded from stopping, please let know that or those (so it can be obtained in the hard-coded list).
  This all has NOT been tested for XP at all ...
  
  
• Shutting off the Desktop (new since 0.9z-4-0) now works for open Explorer Instances, but still not on W7 (SP1, may that matter, and it probably does). The Desktop will shutdown, but at bringing up XXHighEnd (remember, this is about Unattended) instead of the Desktop starting, a new Explorer instance will start. Unsolveable so far. Solution for now : do not have Explorer instances open under W7 (SP1) when you start Unattended Playback.
  
  
• The "Services" button has been removed (to bring up the Desktop Services); it seems unnecessary. If you think otherwise, please let it know.
  
  
• An error at attempthing to start the "Themes" Service (which just doesn't exist) for W2008/Server (R2, (SP1 ?)) has been solved.
  
  
• The possible SFS size for Mixed Contiguous and Straight Contiguous has been largely "improved". Also see here for a few (32 bit OS) examples : http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1568.msg16089#msg16089 (and below).
  Also, chances that the SFS keeps on working while playback has been stopped (and recommenced) have been largely increased.
  
  
• Although it could not be confirmed that it was really solved, double clicking a Coverart Item in the Library Area could render the Playbutton useless (stayed or became inactive). But, this should be solved.
  
  
• The setting for Clock Resolution "Maximum for this system" now works (before there was an out of range message).
  
  
• The possible values of the Clock Resolution have been set to normally existing values, at least for Vista and W7 (not for XP, which still will report back rounded values to whatever direction (?).
  Watch out : It is possible that your current (always auto-saved) setting was the last one in the list (0.5ms), while the list has one entry less now. This may imply an error at the first startup, and possibly that won't go away unless you do NOT ask te reload Previous Settings.
  
  
• Debug code (for the X3PB log file) denoted by "Ran out" has been eliminated from by now very often used code (if only the latency is very low (figure).
  
  
• Engine#3 can be used again (it did not since 0.9z-4-0).
  Keep in mind : the Clock Resolution "Maximum for this system" can NOT be used with Engine#3. But, if you can afterall, please report !
  
  

Please be careful at switching file formats (Sample Rate, Bit Depth). Some things *have* changed in this area, and it has not been thoroughly tested, other than normal life useage.

One last thing : It has been discovered that keeping music files higher than two levels of subdirectories under the root, will create anomalies at showing the Wallpaper. This is noticeable by seeing more tracks in the "Mirror Back of the Cover" part (switch that On to see it and switch the normal Back off) - which in the end causes the showing of the Wallpaper to be a lengthy process which will debit on SQ (and may create glitches) as long as the Wallpaper is not shown. This, as a notice of importance on your testing (also see the beginning).