JPlay Part Deux: A new controversy?...

[Flecko]

Flecko: Thank you for your observations!

Was it done before you found jumpers to disable oversampling or after?
And could I bug you for 32 vs 64 bit test?

It was done before the oversampling changes (8xOs with filter).
Now I use 4xOs with filter. The sound is very different now. Much more highs. will do the 32/64 test later. I must buy some food now :starving:
greetings

[Josef]

Josef: My system priority has programs selected, I see your pic has backround services selected. Which is preferable for jplay and/or xx?

In principle, this shouldn't have an effect - However, it IS messing around with _very_ important parts in a running system as opposed to Background setting which leaves things more 'at ease' so to say

Uh, uh - I should have gone with my gut instinct about that 'more at ease' part.....

Believe it or not, I actually planned to change that setting to Background directly in latest jplay: I decided against it as setting & reverting back whatever user had before (there are a few more possibilities besides Foreground/Background) meant manipulating Registry which means I'd be messing with users machine and I don't like that..... Even worse, I would be manipulating a setting that affects ALL processes! No way in hell....

But, as chance would have it, I am now in the process of testing a new tweak specifically targeting Windows 7 & 2008R2 users and which (surprise, surprise) is going to be yet another first among _any_ PC audio players 

As I was perusing needed literature I also read some parts on these 'Priority' settings which is important to understand in order to 'predict' the impact of this new tweak. Long story short:

I think I can now see a rather plausible theoretical reason why JPlay should preferably be run with Background setting!

Uh, oh, ah -  Does that sound like yet another controversy? 
Betcha! 

In fact, in the new episode of "JPlayer Controversy" series I will also reveal how you can push Windows to the MAX (in terms of making it 'sweat' the most, LOL) so, once again, you can be the judge for yourself and decide what/if these mysterious 'Priority settings' can do for SQ! (and test it very easily too    )

[BrianG]

Chaps can state of mind effect how we perceive the sound of things:

The aussies are getting pummelled by the poms in the cricket so I took a break from viewing that and had a play with JPlay64 on my music server ( running Vista 64 ).

 

but if Calibrator had said:

The aussies are "pummelling" the poms in the cricket so I took a break from viewing that and had a play with JPlay64 on my music server ( running Vista 64 ).

 


perhaps we need to know what state of mind people are in to understand their comments too?

 

[Flecko]

I made a short test between the 32 and 64 bit version. If there is a difference in how they sound, it is very smal. Maby 64 is a tiny bit better but this is in the range of imagination/placebo.

[Calibrator]

perhaps we need to know what state of mind people are in to understand their comments too?

 

haha ... hi Brian,

the woeful performance of the aussies in the recent match merely allowed me to play with JPlay earlier than anticipated, but you do bring up a valid point about state of mind when listening to music. I'm sure we've all had those days when the music just seems to have lost it's sparkle, yet the previous day everything was great.

The human mind is a complex beast and I've learned to accept that our perception of some things can change from day to day. It also illustrates why it is prudent to judge differences in sound quality over a period of a few days rather than an individual snapshot. It's quite possible that the same comparison today may bring forth a difference result, but the purpose of my comparison a couple of days ago was to give some immediate feedback.

Cheers all,

Russ       

[BrianG]

Hi Russ,

Some very valid points and I was enjoying the test match results the opposite to you of course (any chance we get to beat the aussies is a bonus) 

 

The other day I found an old hard drive that I had marked with a sticker many years ago.  The sticker was meant to make the drive "friend and not foe", stay with me, as the theory was that the music would be better received from something that wasn't a possible threat.   At the time I did it I didn't see, feel, sense any difference and put it down to snake oil.  This must be 5 years ago and when I saw the sticker I immediately felt relaxed about the hard drive, a warm, this is my friend kind of thing.  Very odd and I know it's not scientific or rational but that's the way it was for me, something had been implanted and I triggered the response

Sorry chaps, back to the JPlay
Brian

[Chriss]

One fast question Josef,
I can play anly 3 tracks at a time ( I'm ok with it) but why everytime when I copy new 2 or 3 tracks I have to reboot?

[PeterSt]

In case Josef isn't around (allow me please) ...
This would be normal; It is about the "necessity" Josef talked about earlier that the player always keeps on running, so it can re-use its own memory. You now restart it, and in the mean time the memory is too scattered to allocate enough contigious memory.

I think I myself can work around this, but I'm not at that point yet (not much time either).

HTH,
Peter

[Josef]

One fast question Josef,
I can play anly 3 tracks at a time ( I'm ok with it) but why everytime when I copy new 2 or 3 tracks I have to reboot?

Hi Chriss,

Peter pretty much answered your question - I can only add that jplay experiment is meant to demonstrate  & get feedback on so far unused software techniques that apparently (as everyone so far is attesting) have a positive effect on SQ. I never expected it to sound as good as it does and as I spent only a week or so on it I think you'll understand why it may not work all the time.

Having said that, I am myself annoyed when this happens (e.g. on my 'dev setup') and maybe I will look into fixing this (which is interesting to me as, in a sense, the fix will benefit SQ) but I have some other priorities on my mind at the moment so there are no promises...

In the meantime, if you are interested in a 'quick fix', have a look at my 'audio-only vLited Vista' post - I played many tracks on that setup and never encountered this annoying Windows issue.... (similar steps can be taken with Win7 if you prefer that OS: just keep in mind that 'less running processes = less chance of memory fragmentation'...)
 

[Chriss]

Thanks for the awnsers Peter and Josef,
you're my new PC Audio GURU's (I'm not joking )
Regards, Criss.

[Per]

...and in the mean time the memory is too scattered to allocate enough contigious memory.

Would the Gamebooster utility be of any use - defragmenting RAM? Have at look at this thread

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1400.0

I am using version 1.6 as I do not feel comfortable with the new version 2.0 GUI  - says I that use XXHE 0.9y-8 for the same reason  I find that XXHE and other programs are running faster and smoother but I do not have a tweaked Vista, so the only benefit for those who do - will probably be the RAM defrag. Thanks to Calibrator for mentioning Gamebooster in the first place.

Happy Holliday

Per