For what its worth I tried linear 5v supply to the molex on the Paul Pang card (when I was using it) and I could not hear any noticeable difference compared with the ATX supply. Although I realise that is a bit different from the Silverstone etc.

Paul

Hi Peter

I have just clean installed W8 and everything seems OK but when I start XX just before the XX GUI comes up the desktop wallpaper reverts (maybe not reverts as the wallpaper is smaller than the normal full screen size) to the W8 default from the sold colour I had selected.

Deleting the std windows wallpaper is a workaround but is the above a problem?

Cheers

Paul

Hey Anthony,


well yes with the music but I was also watching the ODI (on mute) as well - can't you guys let us win at least one match?

Cheers

Paul

Peter - no problem your secret is safe with me I will not mention it to anyone !

Paul

Whoops again!!!!     how easy it is to over look something. Last nights listening was (accidentally) done with the internal DVD player left connected (from an earlier driver install). In my system the DVD player when left connected is a BAD thing for sound quality. So now I have disconnected it and it has really changed things.

Q5=1 with larger latency settings just does not sound right. This is very unexpected given my experiences last night.

Elvis Costello (Wise Up Ghost) develops a very noticeable lisp with the high latency settings. Reducing SFS to 2 (from 210) and reducing Q1 to 14x1 (from 6x24) greatly improves things. The sound becomes crisp and precise and more dynamic sounding.

The difference is not subtle - it is like back in the day when the bigger latency settings just did not sound right in this system.

I will now have to re assess the difference between Q5=1 and other settings. Watch this space.

What is clear is that now even the smallest changes to settings make a big difference in sound quality.

Cheers

Paul

As Mani reported in his recent post comparing stock NOS1 versus NOS1 with Dexa clocks (at each end of the USB link) the Dexa's provide a substantial improvement. He found like I did that the sound becomes smoother less "pixelated". Smooth and coherent and fundamentally clearer sounding. This is the sound I have been listening to for some time now and I have to say it is really fundamental to how system is sounding now.

As mentioned in Mani's post I could not use Q5=1 at the time but now I can and I have been trying different settings. Just now I am using 6x24  1 1 1  & SFS 210. This is the best setting so far and without doubt improves the sound further. It is difficult to describe the improvement but the best I can come up with is that it removes an "unevenness" to the sound - the top end sounds better more coherent. Also it has significantly helped to detach the sound from the speakers - and is a real experience on good quality recordings.

The point is that both the Dexa's and Q5=1 provide a clear improvement and IMHO they do different things.

Of course this is not a complete test and I need to try Q5=1 and Dexa comparisons with both stock NOS1 and modified NOS1 - watch this space though as soon as Mani gets his Orelo's we shall be doing exactly that.

Cheers

Paul

Woops  -  OK with some embarrassment    Q5=1 seems to be working now with wallpaper switched off.  Wallpaper only causes a problem with Q5=1 though - I have had it on (with other settings) for some time without problems.

Ah well got there in the end.

Now onto my hard disc problem!!!!  Why me?

Cheers

Paul

Well this is typical of my luck with computers. After further investigations another fault manifested at the same time - my USB music disc has gone faulty - accessing files takes an age and I tried the disc on another computer and the same problem. So that caused XX to be slow just when I started to test Q5=1.

But Q5=1 is still a problem I shall continue investigations later when I have some time. Watch this space..............

Meanwhile it looks as though I may need a new disc.

Cheers

Paul

As it happened I did not need a "next time" I got a wallpaper error message when I brought XX GUI back up. Then when I tried to use XX again it was so slow as to be unusable. I went back to full o/s - no better - so then I restored the o/s back to an earlier time that did not work either so this morning I will try a reinstallation of XX.

MMmmm


Paul

Hey Peter,

I just checked performance with the following settings:

20x1  1  1  2  & SFS=2   

Processor usage around 5% memory 32%

with the following settings

6x10 1 1 1 & SFS=2 processor usage was higher at 8% and memory about the same.

This time I did not have any problems all worked fine when Q5=1 but next time?

Cheers

Paul

Peter - just to be clear Q5=1 works under 1.186 only insomuch that I can listen to it - but then often I cannot stop it because if I use Alt X or U or D say I get problems and usually I will have to reboot.

The above happens regardless of latency settings.

Cheers

Paul

I need to check processor usage and will report back.

Peter,

I would really grateful if you would clarify exactly what you mean by


I am sure I misunderstand what I think you mean by it.

Regards

Paul

Mani you gave a very good summary and yes there is more bass energy but that is not the most important part of the bass story. I have spent literally months getting the bass of my system right. My big transmission lines generate a lot of bass energy and there are some big interactions with my room which is an absolute dog for acoustics. They needed a lot of love and care in room position, changes to the "stuffing" and crossovers etc.  Also obviously I have done a lot of listening whilst modifying NOS1.

IMHO the single most striking aspect of the bass now is its quality. Really this is bass of the highest quality it is tight fast & accurate. I did warn Mani that for many recordings he may even find them reticent in the bass - because if there ain't any bass they don't play it.

For sure I get fewer room interaction problems now with the BG's and that is counter intuitive given the "increased energy".

When Nick came down we walked around the room and the previous big room interactions are now much reduced. This absolutely is not just about bass energy.

Peter has made a very good point in that he has voiced the Orelo's with a stock NOS1 and we have to be careful.

Mani  -  obviously it is entirely up to you whether you want the BG caps installed but as I will be coming up to yours with the modified DAC we can spend time to find out which you prefer. We can try your other "Stock NOS1" (the joys of owning 2 NOS1's ha ha) compared with the modified NOS1. But also it would be pretty easy to move the Dexa's to your unmodified NOS1. So all combinations are possible.

It's good that you will be able to spend some time with the Orelo's and your stock NOS1 before I come along.

As far as Q5=1 is concerned I can actually listen to Q5=1 but it is also possible that I won't be able to stop it either and a reboot could be required.

The latest settings  6x10 1 1 1 &  120  Peter advised work well here and I can clearly hear the difference. But I have to say I will be very surprised if Q5=1 can do what the Dexa's do. But there again I have been wrong before (many times ha ha). But hey we can try it when I come up.

Actually it has to be interesting that I CAN hear the Q5=1 difference with the Dexa's installed.

Could be a long day.

Cheers

Paul

This is the full post for what its worth. I thought that my PC did not have enough "grunt" at the time to run Q=1 because IIRC at the time you mentioned that low powered PC's may have problem. But really I don't think my PC is that low powered. Also it may be nothing to do with memory I did not test enough to be sure.

Hi Peter - I actually did mention in a previous post that I could not get Q=1 to work properly prior to 1.186 but I did not post it as a support issue as the little I heard the sq was not so good.


With 1.186 it is better in that music plays without stuttering but problems will be inevitable. Also now your latest setting 6x10  1  1  1  & 120 does seem to sound promising.

So no Q=1 has not worked for me yet.

Paul