XXHigh End Player & a Firewire interface.

[remco_no1]

Hello people,

Just a small question from a new guy.

Bought the TC Electronic Konnekt 6 Fire Wire interface incl. software package.

Currently I'm using Foobar as one of my players. My goal is to play Hirez audio through my Laptop (Acer Travelmate 7520) & Konnekt 6.

Is XXHigh End compatible with my setup? If yes, how to get the best out of my setup & how to proceed from here.

All feedback is welcome.

Dutch replies zijn geen probleem!

Thanks!

Remco.

[PeterSt]

Hi Remco !

I don't see a problem at all, if only your laptop can cope. I mean, not all laptops excel for their speed, and with XXHighEnd you really can use that for the preprocessing of things (without getting annoyed of waiting).

If you are in for the lowest Kernel Streaming latency (which by itself implies better SQ), don't expect the Konnekt to go as low as other devices. This is not a big deal, but just good to know in order not to think you're doing something wrong.

Have fun now !
Peter

[remco_no1]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your response. The main reason why I bought the konnekt was the fact it is getting very good reviews & market response. Also it price helped a lot
;-)

As far as I understood the AKM DAC it uses is also being found in higher end DAC's from both TC & other brands.

Are you familiar with the Konnekt series or the AKM devices? My only use for it by the way, will be playing back Hirez from my Laptop via a Balanced connection with my Pass Labs pre-amp. So no worries about recording & mixing.

Best regards,

Remco.

[PeterSt]

Well Remco, since you ask it so explicitly ...

I would never buy one. If it works for you, it works, but if not it will be driver related, and I don't think TC has a good reputation on support or solving things. I also don't like the (Firewire) DICE chip they are using, as I don't like that they don't know what they are doing themselves, as I don't like that they anounced a "newly used" chip which is End Of Life already, as I don't like pro stuff at all. Oh, as I don't like AKM DACs.
And of course I don't like oversampling DACs.

If there's anything else you want to ask me ... better don't ! hahaha

I even don't like Firewire (anymore) because it is a completely "shielded" environment, controlled by the pro-world and it doesn't allow consumer stuff (I'm talking audio here). In the very end Firewire isn't even as good as promised, and all kind of strange quirks are in there to let things work (a bit). I know, because I *do* have all the development stuff here, and after buying it I had to throw it aside because of the impossibility to get things to work. Mind you, it was not me not being able to, it was the manufacturer. Oh, this was not DICE, because they were able to sell me development stuff for a chip which (again !) was EOL before I even could start developing.

So yes, you might hear a little "rancune" here, but it really is my conclusion that Firewire is *not* for high end audio stuff, a phenomenon I really wouldn't have thought of two years back.
Let's make it more simple by saying that the Pro stuff (and it really doesn't matter how expensive it is) is just in another leage, and I mean the lesser. Of course I am not talking about recording gear, but which is not "pro" in my terms. So, to throw some oil on the fire for others : I would never trust W**** (beep) but I would trust Prism.

Sorry, *you* asked !
Peter

[remco_no1]

Hi Peter,

No problem, I can appreciate your honesty.

What would you've bought instead for max. 200 Euro's? A USB device not Fire Wire I suppose, or a PCI device?

I was saving up for an Apogee Mini DAC, however other priorities came along 

Remco.

[PeterSt]

Hi Remco,

This is not so easy thinking for me, because I would always like to connect my readily available DAC. So to be clear : my Firewire story wasn't even about using something like a TC or Weiss or RME as a DAC, but as an SPDIF passthrough means. So, I guess it is even worse as you thought (I was telling about). Using such a device as a DAC itself ...

The problem of course is the budget, and how to utilize that best. Well, I guess I would be using a Juli@ because the card itself is quite good (did I see an AKM on there ? yes I did, haha), but mainly because its drivers are good (and mature).

I think we must also be fair to ourselves; I guess if I was listening to a Juli@ (etc.) today, and compared it with the $$$$ DAC I was listening to four years ago, today would win just because of XXHighEnd (improved it so much). So all is relative, and you better listen not to me anyway, because of the rather crazy setup I have myself. The one "10 times better" falls over the other each few weeks, and I'm fairly sure you can't imagine by far what the heck I'm talking about. I *am* serious, but super-spoiled at the same time.
You might hear it some day ...

Peter

[remco_no1]

 

Well, lets hope the Konnekt won't be disappointing (too much) anyway. I know what you mean, I'm kind of spoiled too. My SACD/CD/DVD-A/DVD-V player is a Theta Compli amplified by Pass amplification. So I know how good digital can sound. Do you know what kind of DAC Theta used in this machine? I never figured that one out. 

On the other hand, I've got a Linn LP-12 as well. Its no match for anything digital I heard so far. 

For now, lets wait until the Konnekt arrives so I can play a bit. As soon as I have some experience with the device, I'll go for XXHighEnd.

Cheers,

Remco.

[remco_no1]

Hello Peter, others,

A couple of days back I received my TC-Electronic firewire interface. After some very frustrating days, I finally managed to get the drivers installed. It appears you have to be half a programmer to get this fixed properly. Also Vista does not really help here.

Nervertheless it seems to work now. My initial experiences with this device (in direct monitoring mode) & Foobar (kernel streaming) are very good! All the various sa mple rates are being handled as they should. No drop outs, spikes etc. etc. (I turned off all running sofware, e.g. virusscanners, spybotS&D, wireless LAN, etc.) The buffer(?) setting in Foobar is 1000. The settings in the TC Near software : direct monitoring mode, normal (buffering) mode, 128 samples. I think this is a small buffer setting.

This brought a Latency figure at 176,4 kHz of 2,8 ms.

Is this good or bad?

Can you please explain (in plain language please)?

Cheers,

Remco. 

[PeterSt]

Hi Remco - What is good, what is bad ?

In "ultra low latency terms" of XXHighEnd this is "bad", but it doesn't say much, because you must try XXHighEnd to get lower (and I don't think you did that yet ?). So :

2.8ms is ...

1/176400 = 0.00000566893 sec per sample, or 0.00566893 ms per sample. Thus 2.8 / 0.00566893 = 494 samples latency.
By itself this is not bad at all, but XXHighEnd can do 22 and lower easily. Whether your findings imply the conclusion that XXHE can't go lower either, I don't know. Whether you would ever hear it, well, if you can't go lower you will just never know !

Anyway, your found 494 is a base, and when you select Special Mode you (thus) can always start with that 494. First you have to select a Device Buffer Size that allows the "headroom" of 494, and this is the 1024 setting. This allows a Q1 as low as 7, but in rather rough steps. Thus, once you found the lowest possible Q1 setting with the Device Buffer Setting of 1024, you may hop over to a lower Device Buffer Setting in order to have a more granulated Q1.
Notice that the Device Buffer Setting does *nothing* to the sound for Special Mode (with Adaptive Mode it does). It only allows for other Q1 values.

I hope it is clear !
Peter

[remco_no1]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your answers. I read them a couple of times & I think I got the clue. Fact is, it is tough material to get a grip on.

After ripping a few more Cd's I managed to get the latency figures slightly down, thanks to the socalled Spike Tool that came with the TC software. It went down from 2,7 - 2,9 to 1,5 ms. I also shut down some things in Vista.
Soon I''ll dowload the Demo XXHigh End player, because my goal is to get the best. With the current settings & Foobar I got reasonable soundquality. However since I´m kind of spoiled as well, standard 44kHz Flac files are not being played at the level my Theta does. Hi Rez sounds quiet good though!

The great advantage of Foobar is that it is rather easy to get up and running. You don´t need much know how and experience. But, as mentioned earlier, my goal is to get the highest quality which means XXHighEnd 
Let´s hope I´ll manage to get it up and running as well, since I´m kind of new in this field of expertise.

Happy Easter everyone!


Remco.

[PeterSt]

Hi Remco, thanks for the nice feedback.

Once you're into real problems I sure hope to be able to help you ! haha

In the mean time, have a nice easter too. And stay away from too many eggs.
Peter