What the Heck! Ouestions,impressions of not very knowledgable music lover....

[boleary]

I've been listening to music out of the computer for about ten years. About three years ago I started ripping to wave files instead of mp3's. Recently I seriously tried using foobar and media Monkey, but neither of them provided a very significant difference in sound from WMP with kmixer disabled (To disable kmixer I followed these directions: http://extra.benchmarkmedia.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_XP_Audio_Playback_-_Setup_Guide). Because I have made dozens of my own playlists that I listen to more than "cd's", I stuck with WMP; Foobar won't read WMP/Import WMP playlists and I couldn't get Media Monkey to work, though I didn't try very hard.

Today I purchased xxhighend and have had my world rocked. The 93 bucks was very well spent!

But, because I am not very knowledgeable about computers and have only recently learned about and obtained an external soundcard and (used) dac, I am a bit overwhelmed trying to understand what the best settings should be for my system.

Though i have read through the various threads for several hours today, and I do understand that personal preference is the final answer, I'm afraid I still have some pretty basic questions:

1. My system is as follows: Windows XP to M-Audio Audiophile USB scoundcard to MSB Gold Link Dac via spdif to a vintage tube integrated amp. The DAC allows for upsampling to `132khz, which can be turned on and off. It is currently set to 96khz.(Though it's clear that Peter doesn't prefer upsampling, I find the sound with xxhighend substantially smoother, musical and better overall with upsampling turned on. Maybe my ears are just not that educated.)  I was listening to a classical guitar piece and turned the right "green" digital volume (up or down?) from v-138 to v-6 (going one further at either end turns the left control from black to red) and was stunned at the clarity at v-6! Thought the guitar was in the room. Could someone explain this to me? I thought that you always set the digital volume to 100% in the playback software? Is there a better setting for the volume control then v-6 for my setup?

2. Is there any way xxhighend will read WMP playlists?

I have a LOT more questions but I'll try asking them one at a time and see what happens. Thanks in advance for any/all replies. Again, I really can't get over the jump in the sound quality of my system. Thanks!

[PeterSt]

Hi boleary,

Very nice to hear it goes so well for you. Thanks !

WMP playlists currently can't be read, and I guess those kind of things have a lower priority thus far. Later maybe ...

Your observations on the digital volume are most interesting, since the volume itself won't change in XP (or Engine#1 and #2 for that matter). That is, I guess is doesn't ?? The "problem" here is that those little notch up/down buttons are not disabled when they should. I small bug I saw myself the other day.
This does not mean, however, that sound can't change during "Attended" playback (the GUI staying), which is the only means of playback under XP. So ...

So, are you sure this influences sound ? I won't be surprised of these things anymore, but it sure is not intended (and don't be afraid to persist on it !)

Btw, might you use Vista and Engine#3 your observations about using the digital volume instead of (partly !) the analogue volume, sure are true and intended in this case. There's justification for that for sure (my own) ... but this can't be what you are "suffering" from now.
Besides that, using the digital volume in XXHighEnd is by itself 100% OK, because it is, say, special, and does not destroy anything (and that is the reason for the kind of rough ~1.5dB steps). But again, Vista/Engine#3 only ...

Regards,
Peter

[boleary]

Thank you for replying Peter. I have listened and relistened and now believe that the slider doesn't change the SQ as I first thought. This "phenomenon" occurred right after I made a trip to the basement to "inspect" some green vegetable matter!  It must drive you crazy trying to decide which user observations are objective and "real" versus subjective and "not repeatable" by another!

Okay, other questions:

1. Will Vista with engine 3 be a substantial improvement over XP and engine 1, assuming I'm getting bit perfect playback with XP? (Also, if I invest in Vista, how should the volume sliders work in relation to the volume control on my amp?)

2. With XP, what are the intended differences, if any,  with the various processor core appointment schemes? (This time I'll ask before I go spouting off on what I think!)

Thanks for your patience with these basic questions!

[PeterSt]

Ok ...

1. Yes. The XP implementation is a kind of surrogate for those not owning Vista. It still might be the best you ever heard (alll to one's own observations, but many think so) but Vista is where it really happens, and where all is explored to all the detail *I* can imagine.
Also, in Vista/#3 the digital volume works, and besides you will be able to do without preamp, you can also use it to more or less (more with more digital attenuation) counteract the analogue volume, which latter just works very different (and to my humble opinion ... wrong(ish)). So, many use a preamp, but include digital attenuation to their likings. By this means alone you'll have quite a bunch of "quality settings", and it really makes a difference. As I said before, you will loose nothing with the digital volume of XX, but, this counts for 16 bit material played onto a 24 bit DAC.

2. Not much different from Vista/#3, but, with #3 all is more sophisticated. There is just more to "spread" there, because the kernel making the sound is another process again. See Description of Processor Core Appointment Schemes. An honest answer though would be : With XP there is much less control, and for the stuff where it really matters, there is no control at all. On the other hand this depends on the setting. Take for example Scheme-1, which just can't be fulfilled with XP (better : #1 and #2) because the audio runs in the middle of the GUI, and it will go along with it. Not so with #3, where, btw. the GUI can be completely removed.

HTH a bit !
Peter

[boleary]

Thanks again. Is there a particular version of Vista that you recommend? Does it matter whether it's 32 or 64 bit?

[PeterSt]

No, it doesn't matter that I know of. However, people report more "stability" from Windows 2008 (which is the Server version of Vista).

The only real difference with a 64bit version is that you can use net (!) some 700MB more of memory, which only plays a role for 60 minute tracks *and* keeping everything (hdd) to sleep all the time. This is not the biggest deal though, and I'd choose the most convenient for other reasons (whatever they are).
Think about RDC for instance (Remote Desktop Control) which may come off handy at some day ...