Hitting stop when a track is playing sounds like manually picking a needle up off a playing record. Actually its sorta cool.......

Thanks Peter. Had to change my signature again. Kernel Streaming  is unbelievable.

With my M-Audio Audiophile USB I am able to adjust the latency. Marcin, are you able to do the same?


By setting it to its lowest point I am now able to set q1 to 1, though special mode still doesn't appear in the X3PB file. Below that I get distortion. Yesterday, without realizing, the latency was at the highest setting and I had to set Q1 to 7.

I am able to play 24/96 here with no problem.

Okay, not being too techy, I have only skimmed through the posts about latency and buffer size cause, until now, kernel streaming just sounded wrong. It now sounds quite wonderful but very different from engine 3 (I still need more time to work through "preferences"). So could someone breifly explain what it is about latency, buffer size and sound quality that I just don't really understand. I guess I could go back and try to figure it out, but a brief explanation might be easier.....  Thanks.

The release notes of 9y--5-05 & 6 describe how to reach "special mode". This is for listening to engine 4, kernel streaming only. Chances are if you didn't do the procedure described by Peter and your using engine 4 you are in normal mode. To know which mode you are in you must tick the log activities checkbox at the very bottom of the settings tab. When you do that a temp data file is created in your 9y--5-06 directory. Each time you start a listening session an X3PB file is created in that temp directory. Go in that directory after starting a session and open the x3PB file. When the file opens look towards the bottom, you will see what mode you are in.

According to the release notes, you should start your Q1 setting high, around 30. Play a song and check the mode, if it is Normal then stop playing and reduce the Q1 setting. Repeat this until you reach the first instance of Special mode when you play a track. According to Peter, Q1 settings below the initial instance of Special Mode will cause distortion. I think one of the things Peter is trying to determine is whether all of us are able to initiate special mode.

When I did this my music distorted when Q1 reached 5 0r 6 so I set it to seven and it sounds great but the log file still shows normal not special mode.  So I guess I haven't heard the best of kernel streaming. This doesn't surprise me given my system.   However, I've been listening to engine 4 all day and it is VERY pleasing.

Hey Gerard A, Han, Marcin and Tony S, what mode are you in, normal or special?

Been experimenting with 5-06 all morning. Here's what I find:

1. Unable to get into special mode,
2. At Q1=5 distortion is profound and X3PB file shows normal mode.
3. First time kernal streaming sounds REALLY good on my system.
4. Settings for REALLY good: Q1=7, Q2+3= 4, others 0, 2x arc prediction. (these are vastly different from engine 3)

The sound is different, suddenly engine 3 sounds more digital and engine 4 vocals no longer sound recessed in a hall. I need more listening to know if one is preferable, could be a more refined level of sound options have finally sprouted here. 

Might I be in special mode though normal is what the log shows?

GerardA, not yet, as my Hiface has taken a rather long journey seeking a kernel streaming tuneup.....however, the update, based on what was emailed to me several weeks ago by m2tech, is supposed to have a wasapi driver, so maybe we will get an Engine 3 study done as well!

Okay back to 9y--504. Gave it another try this evening and both engines just don't sound as life-like (artist in your living room) to me. Rather they sound smeared and lacking that depth which makes you feel as though....the artist is in the room. Of course for all of you guys to experience this you'd have to go buy an msb gold link dac..........or trade me for yours! 

I'll give it a longer listen tonight. Am off to work early today. I must admitt that what I posted was a first impression and I was in a "Super Bowl Sunday" frame of mind    (The Saints won!). But I'm fairly certain I heard "something" with both engines that was causing the sound to be "off".

Hi Peter, don't know if I'm doing something wrong but 9y--504 just doesn't sound right. Both Engines 3 and 4 seem to smear the HF's. Also both seem to place vocals way down inside a hall where they sound very muted and incorrect on my system. I used the settings in my signature for both engines. Wish the news was better.

Sounds great Roy. Are you using AP with the high res material? Just wondering.

Wow, your experience is interesting. I'd really like to hear your impression of engine 3, Ap versus a Linn recording, if you have time of course, and only after kernel streaming has been absolutely perfected so I can get my hiface working!  .

Also, is there an explanation for why the Linn high res is better than the Yes high res?

Okay so my "favorite sound" continues to be 9y-5, engine 3, with arc prediction. To me it sounds amazingly "true" or natural or analogue like. Recently I've been playing a recording I purchased from Linn Records ( http://www.linnrecords.com/ ) which I downloaded from their site in 24/96 flac format. It's Marianne Thorsen's Mozart violin concertos. Given my dac I can't use Ap when playing this file. However, it too sounds very very good but not in the same way as my "favorite sound". Rather than true, natural, or analogue like, I'd call the Linn Records recording exceptionally detailed with great balance and separation between the instruments. It is absolutely the best "digital" sound I've heard. It's so good that I think its not a sound that one wants to go beyond or change because it sounds digital. Rather it is a wonderful alternative to the more natural sound of AP, engine 3, especially for classical music. What's remarkable about it is the balance between instruments. With redbook recordings, engine 3 with no AP, this balance just does not exist and whats "bad" to my ears about digital (harsh, edgy with some part of the music too articulated compared to the rest (no balance) of the music) jumps out at me.

On the other hand I have a high res recording of the Yes Album and that recording just sounds awful. Way to bright and "tinny" sounding, so I don't get why the Mozart recording is so different.

Anyone else compared a Linn recording to 9y5, AP, engine 3?

Slow learner here.....

Hi Peter, have you noticed that engine 3 in 9y-5.02 is much more stable than in 9y-5.03? With .02 I don't get the messages at the beginning of this thread when playing tracks from the same rip or cd, or even when playing a series of tracks that used different ripping software. It seems with .03 I get the messages whether the tracks were from the same rip or not.

Here's another invalid buffer error. This was changing tracks from the same cd. (9y-5.03, #3, AP) Last track failed and error message appeared. Logs attached.