XXHighEnd

Ultimate Audio Playback => Download Area and Release Notes => Topic started by: PeterSt on September 04, 2009, 11:37:59 pm



Title: XXHighEnd Model 0.9y-3 (Library Area w/ Warp Speed)
Post by: PeterSt on September 04, 2009, 11:37:59 pm
Download is at the bottom.

The following changes have been applied :

  • A bug sneaked in the latest 0.9y versions, causing the Memory management to be disordered.
    It is believed that this may have been influencing sound in a negative fashion for some (quitely depending on your system), and while this has been restored now, all should be back to normal (hence to 0.9x or first 0.9y versions).

  • A new filtering means has been implemented for 44.1 to 88.2 (active at checking the AA checkbox and Double/Upsample).
    Possibly better than the before implementation, but still not the best (watch 0.9y-4).

  • When Rightclick was performed in the Platlist Area outside of the listed tracks, an error would occur. Solved.

  • At the bottom of the main area now not only the album name shows, but also the track name.

  • Folder names containing dots did not behave properly at clicking on them in the Embedded Explorer (folders would not open). Solved.

  • The showing of Coverart in the Library Area never has been something known for its good response. The amount never has been the problem, but the size of it (the main Coverart showing there) was.
    Although it was known forever, the more or less akward way the dot-net routines covering for the mechanism concerned, now have been covered for with a dedicated "cache", that taking away most of the anomalies. In the Settings Area a new parameter has been added for that, named "Thumbnail Cache size" which amounts in number of Thumbnails. The higher the Size, the faster things will be. Blazingly fast in fact.

    This change also affects the textbox at the bottom (Library Area active) where the "hot search" characters can be entered for down narrowing the result list, and which previously often failed because of the (cpu) time spent on reordening the list in the first place. Not so anymore, and evrything has become amazingly responsive because of this change. You even might find more albums opposed to before, because before (at scrolling) many just were skipped without notice.

    Notice that the cache not only involves the (reading and) rendering of the pictures, but also the finding of the Coverart location(s).

  • The option (rightclick on a Coverart Item in the (3rd) rightmost pane) to save an existing picture as 500 x 500 has been changed into saving it to the size the setting "Wallpaper Max Height" (Settings Area) implies). There seems to be logic in using the parameter for this purpose, but otherwise you can change it temporarily to your needs in this.

  • In the same context menu a new option "Save [size] to Folder.jpg" has been added, which anticipates to you wanting to make a Coverart file smaller with the purpose of the main Coverart being smaller. Since that is preferrably named "Folder.jpg", this seems good sense.
    Notice that - opposed to the before mentioned function - here the saved file always be Folder.jpg, and a possibly existing file Folder.jpg will be renamed to Folder-1.jpg (with the before function this works (and worked) the other way around).




A repeat from earlier Release Notes :


Very important :  Only when AutoHotkey has been installed, and is at least working to the extend XXHighEnd can be startup with a hotkey (default is Alt-X), it is allowed to tick the checkbox "Stop Services" in the Settings Area, and use Unattended Playback mode (checkbox at the bottom of the main screen). For AutoHotkey See AutoHotkey Install (http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=724.msg5220#msg5220). When this is not done, hence XXHighEnd can not be brought up with a hotkey, at Unattended Payback - no desktop icons will be visible, no Taskbar will be there, no Startbutton will be around ... nothing. You might, however, may be able to use the "Windows" key which will bring up the Start Menu and find something in there to find your ways again. So, be careful, or maybe you will not be able to do anything, except for listening out the playlist concerned, and wait until that finishes and XXHighEnd will popup automatically, which by itself will bring back everything.
A reboot is a solution as well. :yes:

This all sounds more dangerously than it really is, and with the hotkeys available there is really nothing to fear.
And remember the objective : better Sound Quality.


Edit : It is believed that the sound engine (XXEngine3.exe) as contained in below XXEngine3-09-y3a.zip sounds better than the one contained in the main zip file. After unzipping the main file, rename the "old" XXEngine3.exe in there to e.g. XXEngine3.exo, and unzip this additional file over the folder concerned. Notice that the "0.9y-3a" version is 201,216 bytes (there's nothing else to discern the two versions otherwise).

Edit : There's a Delete function in this version (and a few earlier), which should NOT be used. See http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=926.0