Thanks!

Hi Peter, will the zip download you posted yesterday for backround color also work for 9-Z2? Just wondering.

Though I haven't tried any kind of remote, I can say that being connected to my wifi modem always created unwanted clicks and pops (sometimes barely perceptible) when playing XX in Vista. My current dual boot setup has no internet connectivity whatsoever on the vista side and the sound have never been better. With Win 7 I had no clicks and pops when wifi connected but Win 7 sound sucks.

Just my 2cents.

Thanks Telstar. Though the MSB was made in 2001 it does sound great, but I am limited to 2x arc prediction for 16/44 material. I'd really like to hear 4x and 8x, but only if its going to be substatially better than the msb.

The EVO sounds great too. The Four Seasons, Annie Mutter, never sounded so good 

I've bee using the evo for a couple of weeks. One of the reasons I got it was to use the AES/EBU with my dac. Unfortunately, my dac cannot lock onto the evo AES/EBU signal, though the rca spdif is not a problem. This issue was reported last summer when a limited release of evo's were distributed. I assumed it would have been solved with the October release of evo's here in the US. Apparently not.

On the other hand, using the spdif connection is a great step up from the original hiface, like lifting a veil on all frequencies. I'm using a 9v 2200mah battery pack, and that really is an improvement over the wall wart that it came with. But I'm thinking I might send it back and wait for the m2tech "Young DAC" to come out  ("cheap" octo 32/352 listening?).....or maybe I'll hold onto the evo and save other nickles and dimes for the 32/384 dac we've all heard about.  But then, given financial limits,  I'd be saving for a much loooonger time...... Decisions, decisions.......on the other hand, I'm so very pleased with my current sound I can't believe I want "More"! Should I be screaming HELP or are these perseverations normal with this "addiction"....

If I was to stick with the interface instead of the dac I would probably get the JKenny MK2. Here's a decent review comparing it to the Evo:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1110/m2tech_hiface_evo_dac.htm

This has been largely my experience too, though I haven't tried Scheme 4. I also find that Z2 is generally fuller sounding, but less forward, than Z3 set to 00. Mani, have you compared your current Z3 setting to your older Z2 setting? Would like to see what you think about that comparison.

Gave Z3 a good listen again last night. On many tracks it did have that "removing of a veil" quality but, after a while, like the initial impression of setting the SFS very low in Z2, it started sounding too thin. I then went back to Z2 with a sfs of 100 and received that fatter sound that is so pleasing to me when listening to the women's voices (say what you will Peter, its okay  ). I want to go back and listen to Z3 again with the ini set to 00 and compare it again to Z2.

Another thing that I've noticed about SFS is that I don't have to change it as often as I used to when I had the laptop. Changing to a desktop seemed to make its effect "deeper", more consistent with varying types of music.


From the beginning SFS has seemed to me to be that "fine tuner" that would be influenced by everything, like even the quality of the mic used to make the recording, as well as the range and type of frequencies particular to each singer. (Patty Griffin requires a setting way higher than any other singer I've listened to) Thus, I will say once again, lets put the adjuster for sfs on the face of the GUI for instant access. I wouldn't feel disappointed about it still influencing, Peter, because it may be a kind of fundamental discovery that, however you "solve" it, helps to keep your player better than anything else out there!

Well, after a quick listen it seems that 9-Z3, in all of its various SFS combinations, has lost a great deal of the midrange that my latest iteration of 9-Z2 is producing. Setting the SFS in the ini file to "00", which I believe is the same as 9-Z2, still leaves the Z3 midrange lacking. Its sorta hard saying this knowing all the work that has gone into Z3 and knowing that I am getting the very best sound I've ever heard short of a live performance  on my current Z2 setup. I had both Z2 and Z3 on the RAMDisk and i had the SFS set to 98 in each.

Thanks Roy!

Okay, does this ("...folder where your original Vista ISO is....) mean that you copy the installation disk to a folder on the hard drive?

Just learnin'....but getting sorta geeky......,
O'Leary

Thanks Josef. Has anyone done a direct comparison of SQ between Vista Tweaked to Death per this forum and a vlite installation? Just wondering what the differences are.

So, putting a "master tone control" on the face of the GUI wasn't the SFS solution?  Ha!   :)Look  forward to hearing it. Right now I'm blown away by how good special mode sounds with Ramdisk and the desktop.

Maybe my ears are getting old but I hear a little more distortion when I manually copy music to RAMDisk, though it is a tad more clear sounding. To me its very much like lowering the SFS, first impression is great but after a while its sounds a little thin.

I tried everything you suggested in your last post, I even had my wife, a former DOS programmer give it a try, all to no avail. Am reinstalling now. Really, this is good experience for when I partition the desktop with a Roy inspired version of things.

Anyway, until this happened, all the "Nick and Marcin" tweaks I had applied from this thread improved SQ quite substantially........ now what the hell was it that I did????? 

Thanks Mani. Am working on a fresh install now. Did I say something earlier today about being educable?

Anyway, its good for me to learn, however marginally, this sh*t!

You see, today is Columbus day here in the US, so I had too much time on my hands.....

 

Well I tried it the way Nick suggested and it didn't work; I then tried Peter's suggestion and I can't get the computer to boot. Each time I end up with the "Safe Mode" screen and I can't get it to boot from there either, it just goes into a loop. Have put the installation disk in and booted from the disk. The start up repair utility is unable to fix the problem and when I attemp to use System Restore, it tells me that its  already running???? Any suggestions?

Damn, I was having such fun! Let me know if a reinstall is what must be done.....