Well, let me just say the wait was worth it, though I'm glad it's over. Been listening in Special Mode the last couple hours and, ah, thank you Peter; the sound here is magnificent. Never heard anything like it coming from a stereo system.

Well somewhere between the murkats and the mongeese it occurred to me change core appointment so I switched from scheme 3 to scheme 1. In special mode with the buffer set to 384 and Q1 at 5 all is well. If i reduce the buffer to 256 I have to increase Q1 to 7 or I get distortion. Does this mean that the proper buffer setting is 384? Can't rely on my ears right now cause everyone is sleeping.

Adaptive mode works with the same special mode settings: 384/5. If I go below Q1 at 5 I get the "too may buffer errors" and "device allocated but cannot play messages," which then require a reboot.

Haven't tried engine 3 yet. Am off to work now but first I gotta go to the zoo....forgot my wife was still there....

Wonderful improvement over my M-Audio Audiophile USB for Spdif conversion. GerardA what once was harsh in those hi frequencies, female voices and violins is all very smooth and proper sounding.

But I still can't get Adaptive or Special mode to work. Each time I try I get a message that there are too many buffer errors. When I retry, I then get a message that, "The Device is allocated but cannot play, check dac settings". Once this message has appeared I have to restart the computer cause xx quits working. After restarting four or five times I went back to normal mode with the settings below. Normal mode, for now, is fine for getting how cr*ppy my previous spdif signal was. Damn, gotta love this sh*t.

Those messages occur with xx set for 24 bit only or 32 bit. Also with the wasapi driver, engine 3,it plays for 2 or 3 seconds and then gives a message that the buffer is too large!

So Peter, or anyone else who is sucessfully using the Hiface in Special or Adaptive mode, what settings work for you? 

Can't really test now, but it seems that the higher the split file size the worse it gets. Below are the rest of the files.....don't know what happened trying to send the files before.

Don't know if this helps, but I set the split file size to 100 and played four tracks. Each traCK HAD SEVERAL 5 SECOND PAUSES AND IT SEEMS THEY CONSISTENTLY START AROUND 1.5 TO 2 MINUTES INTO EACH TRACK. aTTACHED ARE ALL THE LOG FILES ASSOCIATED WITH PLAYING THOSE FOUR TRacks.....sorry about the typing.

Looks like the new "new" one will be delivered today, but, now that I've said that it will probably be delayed, given my luck.......

Hi Peter, in Normal Mode in all versions since 9y--5.06 through 9y-8a I have to keep the split file size at 70 or I get 5 second "pauses" on almost every track. Interestingly, it seems to happen about 1 minute into each track. All works well though with the lowered split file size. Just for your info.

Expect to receive the Hiface today and hope to hear the virtues of Special and Adaptive modes

Thanks GerardA, guess i know what to expect with 9y-8. Will be anxious to hear your experience with the Hiface. I think I'll have mine by the end of this week, hopefully. One thing I've noticed with Adaptive mode is that it sounds better with orchestral classical music, whereas it definitely has issues with the higher frequencies of vocal singer/songwriter stuff (my favorite).

  Well, I spoke with the MSB folks a while ago and they confirmed that my DAC is a delta-sigma, so I have presumed that it must be oversampling. It does sound very good. The original op-amps were replaced with B.B. 627's.

Finally had an opportunity to hear Adaptive Mode yesterday. My experience is similar to GerardA's: Adaptive mode presents on my system with too much detail at the expense of the more "organic" sound that I get with 9y-5.06. ( BTW normal mode with 9y-5.06 sounds better here than normal mode on all updates since the "Peak Extension" checkbox was created.)

Obviously, as Peter continues to hone in on the best sound for his NOS dac, folks like myself, using old school stuff, my OS MSB dac was new in 2002, will not be able to experience all the refinements. This is not to say that my experience of XX isn't "worthwhile", cause the sound that I'm getting here with 9y-5.06, given my equipment, is really wonderful.

I have a hunch that one significant reason that Adaptive mode sounds too "detailed" and less "organic" is that my means of usb/spdif conversion just adds to much jitter which then becomes amplified with "more detail".  Will be able to test this theory when I finally receive that frickin' Hiface gizmo that, as it turns out, once was lost but now is found!

Question for GerardA and Peter :

Thanks Mani, green with envy here..... Hopefully, soon, I'll be hearing it too!

So, Peter, what did you find were the best core appointment settings?

Hey Gonz, the way things are going, I think the answer to your last question is Hiface, engine 4, special mode. At this point I haven't seen anyone who says that they prefer engine 3 over 4. Of course now that I've said this someone will surely show up......

Hey All, have a great day.

Hey Gonz, any chance you've gotten into special mode with Hiface and 9y-6 (if its even possible)? Just wondering how it sounds.

No special mode here either. Also, one would think that 9y-6, with AP turned on (2x in my case) and peek extension checked, would sound identical to the same set up with 9y-5-06 (peek extension there by standard) but I think they are a little different. Might just be my imagination on this (more testing needed, the Olympics one upped my listening session last night) but the integration of the mids and highs seems more smooth in 5-06. Anyone else notice this?

Also, with Q 2-5 at 0 the lowest I can go with Q1 is 8 (normal mode).

Okay, so when are you guys going to let us know how XX sound via Hiface? Am presuming its very good. 

Right, no hiface and dac set to 32 bits.