NOS1a and Q5 & W7 vs W8

[CoenP]

Ok, so the daisy chaining of rdcs is documented on this forum?

PS: So I should finally take out the video card from the audio PC (the whole PC consumes 49W at this moment, during playback).

This will shave off another 10 watts. The e series don't have a gpu do they? In my case the bios will default to the igp, don't know if it will be for the better...

Regards, Coen

[manisandher]

Those are still mine, and I am pretty sure I can't let stay them like that when switching off Hyperthreading. So what were yours and what are yours ?

Actually mine are identical to yours (my sig was out of date and stated nervousness =30 and not =1 as it really is). No issues here with hyperthreading on or off - everything works fine (and this is without a RAMdisc, which I haven't used for quite a while now because I haven't got around to reinstating it yet).

FWIW, I actually prefer the sound of hyperthreading ON. It's a cleaner sound, and the bass is more tuneful. But if anyone finds W8 too clinical-sounding, hyperthreading OFF will probably cure this. It's not to my liking but might well be to others' liking.

Mani.

[PeterSt]

Thank you Mani. Loud and clear.

Peter

[CoenP]

After some moderately succesfull powerplug reorganisation I managed to get the RDC thing going, with much less fuzz than expected.

Both pcs have a gigabit ethernet port so no crossover cable was necessary. Fortunately I have the win8 pro version for the music PC so enabeling RDC access was a matter of a couple of clicks (in maximised OS to have all network services available). Setting up RDC on the "server" win7 (atom) PC worked in one go, unbelievable  .

Because this worked so well I unplugged the KVM connectors from the audio PC.

Now at first it sounded like the regular win8 sh*t, only worse, but booting back into min OS seemed to be the magic bullet.
I cannot believe it myself but I think I hear actually music being played by win8. For the first time in this room. To be shure I am not fooling myself I will let it play for a couple of days and see if I am still percieving this.

Now the next thing on the plan is to strip the music PC. That will include transferring the music Disks to the server pc and play the tunes from there. Now I wondered how to make the connection from the audio pc to the server. Do I really need the LAN services in min OS for that?

Regards, Coen

[AlainGr]

Hi Coen,

I have my all purpose PC with my external music hard drive connected to it with Esata. My all purpose PC is with W7 pro 64.
The all purpose PC is connected with the music PC with an ethernet cable (1gbit for the two of them). The music PC is with W8 pro 64.
My all purpose PC allows me to go on internet with an added  wireless USB network card.
Like you I connect on the music PC through RDC. The music PC has no monitor, keyboard nor mouse connected to it. I simply turn it on then I do all through the all purpose PC.
When you are in normal OS mode, you mention that you want to keep the LAN on but it has to be "non persistent".
Then you go back in minimize OS after.

I use a ramdisk on the music PC

Hope this help

Regards,

Alain
PS: I am not sure if having two network cards on the all purpose PC could complicate things for the connection between the 2 PCs. I did something additional to prevent this, but I suggest that you try first to see if it works for you. If not, please say so ok ?

[CoenP]

Hi Alian,

Thanks for the response.

I have my all purpose PC with my external music hard drive connected to it with Esata. My all purpose PC is with W7 pro 64.
The all purpose PC is connected with the music PC with an ethernet cable (1gbit for the two of them). The music PC is with W8 pro 64.

This is exactly how I have set it up now.

My all purpose PC allows me to go on internet with an added  wireless USB network card.

This is also the not executed plan, but:

PS: I am not sure if having two network cards on the all purpose PC could complicate things for the connection between the 2 PCs. I did something additional to prevent this, but I suggest that you try first to see if it works for you. If not, please say so ok ?

This is also my concern. Who will be issuing the IP numbers? This is of lower priority, for now I don't really need the internet and music will be local to the win 7 " host".

Like you I connect on the music PC through RDC. The music PC has no monitor, keyboard nor mouse connected to it. I simply turn it on then I do all through the all purpose PC.

This seems to be a distinct advantage for SQ in win8. SQ wise the music started to flow but overall it is not on par with win 7 yet.

When you are in normal OS mode, you mention that you want to keep the LAN on but it has to be "non persistent".
Then you go back in minimize OS after.

I use a ramdisk on the music PC

So: keep Lan services "on" and Persist "off".

Because of the RAMdisk you do not need the LAN when playing?


regards, Coen

[PeterSt]

Coen,

Because of the RAMdisk you do not need the LAN when playing?

Not the RAMDisk in particular, but any Playback Drive (when not in the LAN ).
But generally Yes.

Also though : This is not related any more for the NOS1a as far as I can tell because you can just leave on the LAN in general (so Keep LAN Services - Persist).
Uhm, saying this, I don't see how it can go otherwise anyway with RDC. So or I read wrongly, or something was said wrongly; With RDC the LAN is not allowed to drop at any time, or you won't be able to reconnect after a first nice play session).
Edit : But I think I see where the miscommunication is : Persist does not do anything when Keep LAN is in order.

Peter

[CoenP]

I realize I've been careless with this. Keep Lan is Unchecked, I did however not play unattended and made a connection with the IP address of the music PC.

If I read the "persist" button tooltip correctly XX will bring up the LAN again after unattended playing when it is checked...

When the LAN services are present, XX can collect the files from a shared directory on the "server PC" right?

regards, Coen

[PeterSt]

Coen,

Not really responding to yout post(s) :

The LAN thing (including that ToolTip you read) has been setup for operation *outside* of using Remote Desktop (RDC/RDP). This, while there's also a button for RDC;

It is to be regarded that when RDC is used, not only the button for that needs to be active, but also the LAN is to be On all the time.

To understand the button for RDC : This again *adds* services, and is thus detrimental for normal NOS1.
Thus, using the LAN (all the time or not) is one thing, and using RDC is another. But when using RDC (I think) the LAN can be shut off in the program, while nothing prevents you from making that combination (but RDC won't come up after playback).

Got that ?
If so, the reason for this combination allowed is because the RDC thing has been setup for the PAN usage (Bluetooth). And *now* things start to be different, because the PAN consumes way less than the LAN.

I suppose it is hard to make clear, but while the same set of settings combinations allow the same for LAN and RDC, this is a coincidence; nothing was made for that explicitly (but it works).

For the NOS1a there's more, like not even shutting off the Desktop Services (and thus Remaining Services) once being in MinOS Mode (only then !), which suddenly allows the Wallpaper to be operative, which it otherwise is not in Windows 8 (but don't use Q3,4,5 = 1,1,1 or oterwise the Wallpaper again doesn't work).

blablabla
Peter

[CoenP]

Got that ?

check!

blablabla
Peter

Thanks,

recap: the running services matter less for the 1a so we can have a better experience without the SQ penalty.

Excellent!

regards, Coen

[AlainGr]

Hi Coen,

Sorry if I could not answer earlier to your other questions (different timezone), but Peter has the best answers

Regards,

Alain (or Alian)

[CoenP]

Thanks Alain,

a small update:

Last evening I managed to connect the computers on the LAN and played some tunes on the win8 music PC from an internal and an external HDD on the "server" PC.

SQ was not very satisfying though. Naturalness: mwah, details/refinement: mwah, instrumental colors: mwah. I know the 1a can do better, much better. It was also VERY sensitive to parameter changes. Changing the core scheme form 2-3 to 1-2 for instance rendered the sound brittle and nervous. On the positive side this indicates tweaking potential but is is not what we would expect from the 1a.
Otoh I still have to scrutinize the smpsses in adjacent rooms that are on the same power circuit and put the USB " isolation" back in place. So on the hardware side of things I have work to do.

All in all another bumpy road with win8 and hopefully not to nowhere.

regards, Coen

FWIW: I briefly connected the 1a to my MacBookPro and played via Audirvana+1.5.10. This sounded very natural and musical, but with a floppy bass and to much echoes. Now, this sound has some crucial elements of my target sound: if we just could add the xxhe bass and realistic macro and micro dynamics...

[PeterSt]

Coen, this could be superfluous :

Do not take it for granted that the XXHighEnd software can change the sound. You seem to have adopted that idea by now.
Of course ... in your case it does. But it means that you (we) need to sit back and think what could be causing this.

Not much helpful, I know ...
Peter

[CoenP]

Coen, this could be superfluous :

Do not take it for granted that the XXHighEnd software can change the sound. You seem to have adopted that idea by now.
Of course ... in your case it does. But it means that you (we) need to sit back and think what could be causing this.

Not much helpful, I know ...
Peter

Hi Peter,

Like you say, I consider the mere fact that I percieve clear changes by changing xx settings indicative of something that is not right in my system. Not that it is the cause. Another is the struggle I have with win8 to sound good like most posters on the forum.
Something present or lacking or bloody obvious is escaping me each time .

Now the RDC has allready brought something unexpected, but the pc might very well be still the culprit. It may (not) contain a component that is crucial to the solution. First I aim to get closer to a setup that mimics yours.

Regards, Coen

[mod] updated forume profile with more detailed pc specs.

[Mamba315]

FWIW: I briefly connected the 1a to my MacBookPro and played via Audirvana+1.5.10.

Do you get sound in both channels with the 1a and Audirvana?  I gave it a try and only one channel would play.  I'm guessing this is due to the old driver