0.9z-8-2 (Windows 7)

[Nick]

Nick, I saw you mentioning the latter elsewhere already, but I don't think it is a good idea. There is too much involved to sort of "claim" that this works out for the better. It may change the sound though.

No problem to try it, if you only know that all the priority schemes are controlled already so the least you will achieve is messing with that hence make it inconcistent. May still sound better, but no logic will apply to anything anymore, especially when people have problems.

That's all !
Peter

Peter,

Thanks for providing the background. To be honest I don't do much OS tweaking at all nowadays because you have covered most (all  ) of the angles. In light of your comments I think I will back the config change off my system.

Cheers,

Nick.

[CoenP]

Anyone with horns who can agree with MORE higher frequency output (W7 !) ?

In the only 2 minutes i listened this morning to 8-2 in min OS, this was not particularly apparent to me.

I will respond again after some more listening, but first I have to sort out some strange power outages in our house (in daytime).

Regards, Coen

[BertD]

Anyone with horns who can agree with MORE higher frequency output (W7 !) ?

My ears (not just that!) are out of service for one week... some f*king virus caught me by surprise.

Bert

[Nick]

Anyone with horns who can agree with MORE higher frequency output (W7 !) ?

Peter,

Defiantly getting more and first rate HF here with 09-z82. I just tried the balanced load setting of 43. Before this setting there was sensible amplitude level in the highs but they lacked sparkle and had a small amount of smear. With the balanced load setting there is plenty of HF output and the sparkle and clarity is back, very very nice.

I tried some ELO (Out of the blue), you absolutely put you finger on ELO recordings sounding grey. I get a great sense of nostalgia from ELO but always just put up with the "Telstar" (remember the label that put 20+ tracks on a side of vinyl) style of compression I was hearing. That is not the case now. There is life in the recording at last  . Great.

I had had to lower the output level on my subs to balance them with the highs as they were. With the extra HF amplitude and clarity, I have just put a couple of extra notches (estimate 1.5 db) into the bass to balance the increased HF output.

Elsewhere I feel the mids can be slightly recessed, vocals stand back in amplitude on some albums. Anyone else getting this ?

Nick.

[boleary]

Geeze, can't wait to get a chance to hear the balanced load setting @ 43.

[PeterSt]

In light of your comments I think I will back the config change off my system.

Oh Nick, no need to do that ! And certainly not if it helps you. But as more often, you know better what to do (AND go back when needed) than others. I don't think it is even dangerous to try. But you know, it is one of the most obviously present settings in the OS and even I never touched it just because I know it would molest the balance XXHighEnd set up.

So please, go ahead. But (for everybody) don't ever forget that you changed this (and that I think it can't be good, but this is really not all that important here).

Peter

[PeterSt]

I tried some ELO (Out of the blue), you absolutely put you finger on ELO recordings sounding grey.

Yea, something like that (era). "Eldorado" times.
And this answers Alain's question which I forgot to answer.

Peter

[PeterSt]

My ears (not just that!) are out of service for one week... some f*king virus caught me by surprise.

Well Bert, so sorry to hear that. You know how often my ears say bye to me for sometimes months never knowing when they come back and if they are. The worst ? demoing and not being able to hear yourself and "hoping ...".
Now ? now it has been over a year that nothing happened. So statistics tell that it should hit soon and hard.

One thing : if you can't hear a f*cking thing there's always more time for f*cking around, right ?

Beterschap man !
Peter

[Robert]

Well with some nervousness I downloaded this new version and following the correct procedure, installed, activated and played some tracks.

Gosh it all worked perfectly and well the sound is something else.

Certainly another step up in sound but I'd say, much more 3D with more weight, detail and clarity. Loving it, now I have to listen to all my favourite tracks again and ignore the family.

I have no interest in W8 yet or can compare to it.

Robert

[Stanray]

Here are my experiences with two nights of listening to 0.9z-8-2. I moved from 0.9z-8-a, and didn’t try W8 (for now).
I listened to Jazz and Rock mostly. What strikes me is that I hear an even smoother, more pleasant sound, much more “analogue” (yes it’s a cliché, but still describes it well).
I hear a more open soundstage and a more realistic tone or timbre. On the Slow Motion album f.i. Andy Narell plays steel drum and these sound so much more “real” (detail and body).

The bass seems lower and has more texture. Very convincing.
The sound stage is wide, deep and open and comes from behind the speakers.
Some albums I used to listen to some tracks only as a reference to make comparisons, but this time I kept listening to the complete albums. It’s amazing to revisit all the albums I haven’t heard for ages.

However, there’s one downside. Because my speakers are not very efficient I have to play some albums at high volume settings (below -12dB). This was already the case with some albums when playing with the previous XXHE versions. With 0.9z-8-2 I seem to play at louder volume settings even further. But with Phase Alignment engaged when I end a track or an album ends I hear a sharp “crack” (high frequency) and my amps shut off in protection mode at louder volume settings (above -12dB =lower number). 
I only wish the NOS1 would have a slightly higher gain so I could use more convenient volume settings. Or is there any other remedy for this?

Stanley

[PeterSt]

Stanley,

Essentially your Q1 (x etc.) will be too low, while highering it may imply a higher SFS etc.

May it help : Notice that lowering the Device Buffer Size will bring a better granularity to Q1. So, set the DevBufSize to 2048 instead of 4096 and a Q1=8 from before now is to be 16. But while before Q1 could not be 9 (at SFS=2) it now may be able to do 17 which is just that tad higher. 18 is the same as before 9 so that won't go.

But the difference will be marginal. Far more can be done with a higher SFS (and then the higher Q1 !!) or by decreasing the SFS strength (unrelated to Q1 I think). Or shut off Phase Alignment at all.
Yea, well ...

Peter


PS: Or, just to be complete, use XLR while at this moment you use RCA.

[juanpmar]

After playing with both W8 and W7 with 0.9z-8-2 I agree with some others here. The sound seems to be clearer and more coherent in the new W7. On the contrary the sound in W8 seems fuller but in comparison with W7 it appears a little blurred, or better said, with some lack of exactitude in the placement of the instruments and voices. I perceive the same effect of misplacement or perhaps maybe it is just less sharpness when using Balanced Load=85 in W7.

With BL=43 the sound seems to have more precision and although some times seems to be a little dry it depends on the album; as in some albums the sound is beautifully smooth I believe that at BL=43 it reproduces with more fidelity what really is in the recording.

So far no problems at all (stops, etc.).

Juan

[M+H]

We just had to post something on this forum after we installed 0.9z-8-2 on W7 yesterday afternoon. As our review on 6moons already might have indicated that listening to digitized music other than through Peter's soft and hardware is no fun anymore - vinyl still is, but that's a different story - the latest iteration changed this perception. It is now, and only after a very short listening session, plain impossible. Whatever the wizard from Oene added to his software brew, one key ingredient is life (with an F). As the signature shows, we use a Phasure PC and NOS1 DAC and the Tweak section of XXHE is kept default except for the Cores setting. Amps on duty are Ncore 1200 based monos now in combination with Arcadian Audio Pnoe horns using full range AER MD3B drivers (100dB sensitivity).   

This combination sounded very good and quite close to live. With the latest 0.9z-8-2 this changed to Scary Lifelike for a reproduction. Where previous versions were very strong in processing the lower and mid frequency band, this version adds superb top range handling. The first strike on the drum kits' ride by Raice McLeod on Cheek to Cheek from the Eva Cassidy Live at Blues Alley album - okay, its a bit corny - just said it all. This is how music is supposed to sound in the home! Again, what Peter did, took or whatever revelation he had to get to this version will always be a mystery, but it works wonders.

With the previous version we already were on the way to get a true sub woofer to fill the void from around 50Hz down to 20Hz. Now we can't wait to add the ordered Zu Submission! 

[boleary]

9Z8-2, with Balanced Load at 43,  is so superior to 9Z8-d that's it's a bit embarrasing to think that my first impression was that vocals sounded better or more present on 8-d. After a good four hour listening session yesterday it became clear that the actual band, each and every instrument, and not just the singer is now present in my room. It's interesting though that this is a new sound and I really needed to do a long enough listening to overcome the bias in my mind for 9Z8-d. The most remarkable moment for me wasn't a vocal track, it was a Shubert violin/piano piece. Previously,with 8-d, when the violin was in the lead, the piano was barely perceptible--almost backround noise. With 8-2 the presence of the piano came to life and the interplay between the two  instruments  just unbelievably wonderful.

What a frickin' ride this is!!!

[CoenP]

Hmmm,

I cant' lock in on settings with 8-2. I start out with sound that has great potential, tweak and tune, only to find myself losing interest in the music very fast the next day and set it all back to start all over. Next to that I cannot zoom in on settings, it sounds like 10 dB less loud (which reflects my volume settings) . It never gets annoying like all my win8 trials, but it refuses to get fantastic. 8-2 is extremely sensitive to settings, sometimes it really sounds strange, sometimes it is frightingly realistic (wood hitting riveted cymbals, never heard that before). The bad thing is that it sounds great one one album but not on the next.

The faults in my preferred 8e settings have become much more apparent.  Anorexic, sharp on the silibants and edges and a vague soundstage. Nevertheless time and again I find myself listening to and ejoying complete abums, never having the urge to leave my chair and change a setting. Dispite its wrongness something fundamental is very very right.

I've been wondering what it is that makes it so easy for my brain. Things that occur to me is that the instruments sound very fast and dynamically nuanced and echoes/reverb never seems to end. Maybe this is a side effect of the 'wrongness'. Drums and bass have impact and are perfectly timed with the rest of the music. 'Loose' and 'unrestrained' are words that come to my mind. These traits are found only with the very specific settings for my system. Even the disabeling of motherboard devices needs to be undone for maximum effect.

I am pretty shure this is more about the pc and dac than anything else. I had to change interlinks the other day because my unshielded diy cables started to pick up interference permanently. To support Peters opinion that cables do matter only little, I have found very little difference in sound dispite the fact that the cables could not be more different (copper vs silver, coax vs braid, wbt vs eichmann, 25 vs 5 years old).

Well, I hope the 8e qualities can be reconsiled with those of 8-2 one day,

Regards, Coen