We all fell in the W7 pitfall

[PeterSt]

Brian, maybe wait then. Ok, so you noticed it yourself too. But supposed you can't live with that bass eh ? Just take it easy. Maybe it turns out all negative afterall.


About the SFS ... I sure think that can be right. But *now* we must connect it to some lack of resources or something. All very vague, but if I "claim" that W7 is doing things in between which Vista does not, and this is about some limit of things which end up audible, any system which is not on par may exhibit the same.

Btw, to me the I/O priorities (which are new in W7 !) have to do with this somehow. Not that it is about priority which goes to the disk instead of playback or something, but I suspect that in order to let the I/O priorites work, the OS has to look regularly to "something", which it before (Vista) did not (need to) at all. It's just noticeable in everything (a.o. build up of screens), especially now it's gone.

Btw2, I sure won't rip out the new means of "SFS" for 0.9z-3. But I hope it's not needed anymore to mangle it. Also it might be good to know that in my opinion the SFS "tweaks" were not there to improve sound, but instead it could deteriorate. To my findings, the lower the worse (never mind you could receive more detail from the lower settings).

Blahblah.
Peter

[christoffe]

Home premium is what I would be inclined to buy so I could wipe my OS hard drive, (WITH WARRANTEE) and install Vista....   I sure hope that XX operates as well as it does now.

Hello Bolery,

Home premium 32bit Service Pack 2 is ok (32bit for RAM 4GB, RAM more than 4GB a 64bit OS is recommended), and than tweak VISTA as proposed in the topic
http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=548.0

The main target is, as Mani wrote a couples of weeks ago "speed, speed, speed".


best
Joachim

[Marcin_gps]

And regarding sound in Vista, it's very smooth and detailed, but I get the feeling that bass is shy?

Hello Marcin,

try engine3 with Q1=5, the others Q's at zero

best
Joachim

I tried, but I need more time with the new sound. As I get used to it it will be much easier for me to tell a difference between KS and Wasapi - like it was with going from W7 to Vista after few months.

Regarding bass, I reverse my previous assumptions. I listened to 'wrong' CD and should have waited a while before posting my impressions.

[boleary]

Thanks guys, I'll sit back and let this unfold for a while before I purchase Vista. Seems Roy's cooking something up that's going to be worth checking out.

Btw2, I sure won't rip out the new means of "SFS" for 0.9z-3. But I hope it's not needed anymore to mangle it. Also it might be good to know that in my opinion the SFS "tweaks" were not there to improve sound, but instead it could deteriorate. To my findings, the lower the worse (never mind you could receive more detail from the lower settings).

Thanks for keeping those "options" in Z3. For me, the best sound has generally been from increasing the SFS above 70. (90-115) With older, what seem to me to be cr*ppy, recordings, lowering the SFS and bringing forward the details helps those recordings, but they are the exception, not the rule.

[Telstar]

My next music server will utilise Thermalright HR-02, the successor of HR-01 - currently the best heatsink for passive cooling.

Oh yes this is the one I referred to, the HR-01.
If you dont have the space for a tall heatsink like that, the only other choice is the ninja mini like i have.

[Telstar]

But ... In my case I *need* to upgrade or something. So, I can't perform a clean install because I will be looking for days and days for all my install keys for all the development stuff (plus that stuff itself -> undoable).
I suppose that can't be done ?
Ok, if not I guess it will be another boot, just for playback.
Ah, but indeed, I guess I won't be able to "develop" much with such a slimmed system anyway. Ok.

Thanks,
Peter

Yes i think you should use a separate, clean installed OS for playing only. The dev stuff with all MS ddls can impair the sound somehow
I never upgrade. It takes 2 days of reinstalling all stuff but it will be clean and put.

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Well I did a (very) slimmed version install of vista,

And guess what, it has the sound i am looking for, but its way over-done, overkill, to much bass, over-emphasised.
Something is way off again, probably killed some services I shouldn't or something like that.
XX plays very smooth, it all runs like it should.

Although i run in demo mode, while i should use the "scheme 3", it think this shouldnt matter that much

Peter ?

PS: will do some more testing, and more listening, have several vista versions preped, hmmm
 

[crisnee]

PS: if people are interested in slimmed and pre-configured versions of Vista, just PM me !!

Hi Roy,

I'm curious as to what you mean by that. If you mean how to slim down Vista or how to pre-configure it's installation it might be good to make a sticky post of it, or at least post the process. I've slimmed down my installation some and it's been a pain; if you have a tried and true method, or any method really, I think it would be valuable info for quite a few folks.

I didn't want to bother you (pm-wise) for this, since I'm not sure what you mean, and others might feel the same.

Chris

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Not bothered at all chris,

I will try to make something that can be of use for everyone. 

I want, like many others, the OS question out of the way. (no mistaking again)

For sure its better to use Vista, but will try do make it as dead as possible. (if this is for the better !?)
Will take some time though.

If its good, Peter will make it sticky.

grtz

[crisnee]

Hey all,

I hope this is kosher to mention, if not let me know and I'll delete it.

I also have J River Media Center and I recently installed it on a Windows 7 machine and thought to myself, "boy this seems to sound better." I didn't do any in depth listening but just got the overall sense....

I'm just wondering if the sound has less to do with the version of Windows and more to do with the combination of hardware, other running software/services and the ver. of Windows, not to mention what's enabled/disabled in the depths of device madness. If so, it will take a mighty lot of experimenting and a never ending battle with obsolescence, making even audiophile tweakheads seem sane in comparison.

Is it the quest or the music? 

Chris

[DannyD]

Why I didn't want to reinstall Vista. 

It hasn't been an easy process and now I'm stuck.  When I run XXHE, it imediately "stops working" with the following error

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:   CLR20r3
  Problem Signature 01:   xxhighend.exe
  Problem Signature 02:   1.0.3826.32428
  Problem Signature 03:   4c223e27
  Problem Signature 04:   XXHighEnd
  Problem Signature 05:   1.0.3826.32428
  Problem Signature 06:   4c223e27
  Problem Signature 07:   29bd
  Problem Signature 08:   106
  Problem Signature 09:   System.InvalidOperationException
  OS Version:   6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
  Locale ID:   1033

Any idea what's wrong?

Thanks,
Dan

[Per]

Dan, have a look at this thread

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1254.0

Your problems appears to be similar.

Per

[christoffe]

I also have J River Media Center and I recently installed it on a Windows 7 machine and thought to myself, "boy this seems to sound better." I didn't do any in depth listening but just got the overall sense....

Hi Chris,

on my system the SQ of the "J River Media Center" is very analytical, in overall it is ok,  but there is a great lack with the room image. The music plays between the speakers only,the SQ has no 3D image with a higher SPL.
XXH with engine#3 under VISTA is superior on a very high level. The holographic replay is stunning.

best
Joachim

[PeterSt]

Why I didn't want to reinstall Vista. 

It hasn't been an easy process and now I'm stuck.  When I run XXHE, it imediately "stops working" with the following error

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:   CLR20r3
  Problem Signature 01:   xxhighend.exe
  Problem Signature 02:   1.0.3826.32428
  Problem Signature 03:   4c223e27
  Problem Signature 04:   XXHighEnd
  Problem Signature 05:   1.0.3826.32428
  Problem Signature 06:   4c223e27
  Problem Signature 07:   29bd
  Problem Signature 08:   106
  Problem Signature 09:   System.InvalidOperationException
  OS Version:   6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
  Locale ID:   1033

Any idea what's wrong?

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, are you okay with this ? Don't hesitate to ask further because it's a nasty thing *and* my fault.
But better continue in the topic Per referred to, ok ?
Just ask or tell anything you think is relevant.

Thanks and sorry,
Peter

[Nick]

With so many Vista builds happening I thought my experience this weekend with vista SATA drivers could stop a few dead ends for sound quality.

I won't go in to the process of learning but the out come is this:

HDD and SDD installed in IDE over SATA MODE and using the default MS driver for this config.....music absolutely excellent and dpclat scores of 1us to 3us.

Set both drives to run in SATA AHCI mode and installed the Intel AHCI drivers......music really takes a step back, aggressive and not so smooth. The dpclat scores more than tripped to 7us to 9us.

My mobo uses an ICH10 northgate so the AHCI drivers are for that Intel chip, but to be safe when you build your Vista I would not install any drives in SATA AHCI mode.

I am trying to work out how to roll back my drive controller drivers to the MS default SATA IDE driver, not easy when one of the drives is the boot drive. Any suggestions ?

Nick.