1.186-a on W8 is a breakthrough

[pedal]

I write this post for 2 reasons:
-First in gratitude to Peter, because the last month have brought me more music hours than the whole previous year.
-Second, because I urge all new comers to try out my settings.

I entered the 1.186-a arena a little late, but now after one month of frequent listening, I am 100% convinced: The 1.186-a sets a new standard for SQ. It bests on all areas; tonally neutral, huge soundstage, pinpoint imagining (depending on the recording), micro-dynamics and details, naturalness and lack of any hardness or edges.

Ok, ok, I know that the above adjectives are the usual hype we have been repeating in here since the morning of time in the XX world. BUT it is the truth, never the less; 1.186-a is a benchmark. Period. Previously, I was a little jealous – or even skeptical – about the ravings from Peter when he described sonic nirvana from old classic rock and 1st press CDs of the 80s. But now I have achieved it too! The last month I and my family have been playing music for breakfast, dinner and evening. Workday and weekend. Jazz, classical, pop, rock. That has never happened before. So, clearly “something” has happened with the SQ.

Maybe it has reached a level of “Higher Fidelity” where the sound is so pure and resolved, that all kinds of music pass through with (next to) no colorations, simulating a live experience? My in-laws have an out-of-tune piano, but when my kids play some random keys, I listen up and enjoy the sound of it. –The “realness” of the instrument, and how the notes decay in the living room. There is a certain kind of magic from live music, even if it is amateur playing. 
With 1.186-a in my Hi-Fi system I get the same feeling; The kind of live experience taking place in my living room.

PRESENT SETTINGS:
XX 1.186-a (it has a few playback irregularities, but who cares when it sounds as good as it does?)
Engine#4 Adaptive Mode, Scheme = Core 1-2, UnAttended, All Services Off,
Q1=6, Q3=1, Q4=1, Q5=1, Q1Factor=1, SFS = 1 (max 120), ClockRes = 0.5ms,
Dev.Buffer = 4096 / / Memory = Straight Contiguous / Include Garbage Collect / not Invert / Phase Alignment Off / Playerprio = Low / ThreadPrio = Realtime / Not Switch Processors during Playback /  Keep LAN - Persist / No WallPaper / No OSD / No Running Time / Minimize OS / XTweaks : Balanced Load = 43 / Nervous Rate = 1 / Cool when Idle = 1 / Provide Stable Power = 1 / Utilize Cores always = 1 / Time Performance Index = Optimal / Time Stability = On / Octo Arc Prediction (x8 only) Upsampling

Basically, I copied Peters settings as a starting point, although my PC needs minimum SFS = 1 for faultless playback of hi-rez files.

SOME NOTES:
OS is W8 Pro with W7 GUI.
My PC sounds the best with its own MOB. I tried the Silverstone soundcard, both with/without isolation etc, but it gave a kind of artificially coloration in the treble. (Ground lift on both ends reduced this coloration, but didn’t remove it).
“Minimize OS” is mandatory. Also, Unattended playback sounds better (background is blacker, there is less glare, more ease, etc).  Even enabling the CoverArt functions during playback reduces glare in the treble!

Generally, the most important settings are the Q-values (copied from Peter) and SFS and ClockRes to be set as low as your PC can go.

Finally, I do prefer the NOS1 DAC working on x8 sampling frequency 352,8/384kHz, rather than the x16. It sounds fresher and with better micro dynamics.

Again, big thanks to Peter for the marvel of 1.186-a!

[PeterSt]

Thank you very much for sharing Pedal. And for the mountain of kind words of course.

Now I can only hope that the weather is as beautiful in your garden as it is over here and that you just enjoyed a most peaceful breakfast as how we both know it can exist.

Peter