Hi Robert,

That definitely does not look right. But now why.
Can you show me a screenshot of the XXHighEnd's boot menu (the one behind Stop-RichtClick - Boot into) ?

It is not necessarily harware (chance is even small, Id say).

Peter

Hi there Zheng,

Glad that you got all workng with 10074 !

The idea of today's computer audio is that the audio playing PC should do as few as possible on tasks other than audio. Each device connected (never mind it is totally idle) degrades audio.
This is really the long answer. 

To comply to this, our Stealth PC contains exactly nothing. OK, a CPU and a LAN port. It boots from RAM and when audio plays there is really nothing in there (also no HDD/SSD/USB Pen etc.) but there is a LAN connection. And even that is mostly shut off during (Unattended) Playback.

Kind regards,
Peter

There are other situations which Refresh under the hood. So once that happens (for the sesssion) it shows the actual state.


My (serious) response : so what ? if you only understand that the need for Refresh means that it does not show the actual state. "That needs a Refresh first", you are told.

Regards,
Peter

Hi Arvind,

I don't think that is correct (what you are saying, I mean). The below shows the two subsequent stages - 1st is before doing anything, 2nd is after Refresh.
I'd agree that it is hard to get confused, especially if you don't make a screenshot of the stage before doing anything ...
Anyway, the one which does not need Refresh as such, is easy to come by. The other one requires some deeper access in system's properties and for that reason it isn't obtained just when accessing Settings (99 out of 100 times you are not interested in these specific parameters).

OK ?

Best regards,
Peter

Hahaha. Well, yes. Or really not. 

If you discover more data about this let me know, OK ?

Thank you and regards,
Peter

Hi Brian,

You surely can do this when in RAM Boot. But you'd need to do it all the time again after a boot.
So actually the answer is No.


But that ain't necessary either. Just boot into the BASE OS of concern, appy it there, check a few things - and boot into RAM OS again as if nothing happened. 

Regards,
Peter

Strange things ...

Is this solved now ?

Peter

Nick, beware, this is what I wrote on Saturday Morning (but I never posted it because I got unsure) :

---

The very special sound of 2.09

This time I will be the first myself with expressing about the SQ of a version. This is because I already have it, and you don't.

I describe the sound as "very special" because it is at a so large distance from what we are used to that again it is hard to grasp what happened.

Important : Although I describe this sound officially from 2.09, I can not tell whether some or all of it was already in 2.08. This is because only 4 days ago I discovered a combination of settings and other matters, which possibly would have worked out the same 2 months ago (say the start of 2.08).
You will see below that the special sound possibly is not for everybody, but it is hard to see how the same would work out with different hardware etc.

[...]

These are the two most special exhibitis from this sound :
1. The bass which is now playing super-separately as if the bass player has his own amplification in the listening room;
2. The highs which seemingly are added with 6dB but only beyond at a certain threshold of frequency (say of 8KHz).

Ad 1.
Any electric bass now exhibits as the individual fast keys being audible (can I say bass walks ?). They just jump out so much that tracks become unrecognizable of it.

Ad 2.
This implies a detail unheard. So, people may recognize (vastly) more detail in a similar realm from the G3 - well, this makes that 10-fold (maybe this is figurative, but as long as you hear me say "infinitely" than it's OK ).
This makes my "electronic music" unrecognizable. And I mean completely.

Yesterday I was playing something from Ron Boots (this is a synthesizer artist) which was in my Demo Gallery and which I thus play more often. Well, no-way I heard it ever before. The combination of mentioned bass and highs make his (analogue) synthesizer sound so full and warm and inmensely detailed on the squares which are super square *and* super soft, that from start to end (of 10 minutes) you listen with open mouth and a "how can that happen".

[...]

---

I left out a few passages because they were subjective to reasons which I invalidated later. As a matter of fact, I thought that it was because of a combination of settings, but by now I already know it is merely just 2.09. And Nick, your post certainly helps me with some confidence. But I'd say we both write rather similar about 2.09 ...

Thanks man,
Peter

PS: People should not look at my sig at this moment.

Hi Robert,

This is very interesting because it is exactly what I wanted to suggest to you : try with switching off Garbage Collect (I think in the Memory section of Settings). But I didn't suggest it as I felt not confident this could be related really (meanwhile you getting mad of trying). Still ... this message is 100% related to that. It tells you that your PC tried to clean up the memory, but after some waiting for it, it is still busy with it. Too busy regarding my "standard" (FWIW) and thus it is spending time on that while it should be spending time on glitchless playback.

Why I did not suggest it, is beause it theoretically can be counterproductive only. OTOH, when this "Garbage Collection" works out right away, we can be assured nothing needs to be done during playback. What you do is something in the middle : the system first was forced (by XXHighEnd) to deal with this, it tells you "uh-ohh" and then you click Continue and THEN you hear it is busy with Garbage Collection indeed.

Still there ?

Apart from understanding, it could be an idea to switch this GC off and see what might happen somewhere underway of playback. Maybe nothing. At least you now don't force the system to do it "now" which your system can not do (sufficiently quick).

Don't ask me when a PC/OS can be too slow on this, as Garbage Collection is one of the most complex processes in the OS and it also always changes per OS version.
Notice that GC is about the freeing of physical intern memory which is not in use any more. The OS does this when it thinks it has time for it, but at some stage it needs to (because of a lack of memory).

It could also be related to Virtual Memory which should be switched off (some Advanced Tab in PC properties, starting with RightClick on This PC in Explorer). This looks counter productive in itself but it has been proven (to me) that this is overall better.

Kind regards,
Peter

I forgot :


This has been so from the start of 10074.


This is because this is all related to buffers and various other settings which "squeeze" in XXHighEnd. However :


that seems a bit odd to me. Did you try to combine with larger S1 (xQ1) settings ?
And what kind of device are you actually using ? (WASAPI or KS). And if KS, what buffer settings (like Special, Adpative, size of it). Many many things to change ...

Regards,
Peter

Hi Joseph,

I don't know whether it can be related, but yesterday I coincidentally used 10074 myself to try how it sounds these days, and I couldn't get it to work without something I'd call sheer distortion. Notice that it will always have been like that, but now I can hear through it better. This is actually the ticks you are talking about, as I heard them just the same (but also at very high frequency - a bit like you desribe it "it goes unnoticed" (but now is continuous distortion).
This was at Q3,4,5 = 0,0,0. Then I set that to 1,1,1 and the problem was gone. What remains though is the "lead in" of a playback session and how 10074 can 30-45 seconds (maybe even more) exhibit ticks and scratches. After that it settles.

So can't this is a sheer 10074 problem ?

N.b.: I played with an SFS of 1.8 which is not particularly low.

Regards,
Peter

The Full Download (2.09) is at the bottom.
UpgradePatch on to 2.04 and beyond is below the Full Download.

For those without Paypal - other means of payment and Activation are possible. Contact sales (at) phasure (dot) com for that.

---

Because 2.09 is largely about bug solving for 2.08 and 2.08 was only recently uploaded,
look here for the Release Notes of 2.08 : XXHighEnd Model 2.08 - Easier Install, More Tidal, MQA Testing, SQ improved.

For the Release Notes of 2.00, look here : XXHighEnd Model 2.00 - New Filters & Extended Remote Control.

---

Install any new full version in its own folder (your 2.00 Activation could be violated otherwise).
Install the UpgradePatch only over version 2.04 or any newer version (up to 2.08d). Thus, the UpgradePatch209.rar file does not go into a separate folder but is to be pasted over the XX folder you are currently using (and don't forget to unzip it)

XXHighEnd runs fully fletched on Windows Vista, Windows 7 (advised SP1), 8, and 10 , advised Builds 10074, 10565 (both formally expired now), 10586.0 and 14393.0. Please notice that for Windows 10 it is best to use the advised Builds (see the four mentioned) because each Windows Build changes and when not anticipated, it is usually not for the better regarding Sound Quality.

Release Notes 2.09

• When working without the Coverart Wallpaper, XXHighEnd's Volume did not want to change. VolUp quit playback and VolDown just did not do anything. This is now solved by being able to apply the old means of (slow) Volume Change. In order to let this old method work, rename the VolumeForNoWallpaper.tss file to VolumeForNoWallpaper.tst (in your XX folder).
  
  
• MQA Albums can now show their native sampling rate like this :
  
  
  
  
  Notice once more that XXHighEnd can not "unfold" beyond 96KHz but that you may still find the 192KHz sounding different from the 96KHz. Or, that generally 192KHz albums sound different from 96KHz albums.
  
  
• Because by now you may have MQA Albums in your Library listings which lack the "Hires-Audio Logo" like you see in the picture above, you may want to "re-render" this, hence re-apply the embedded MQA and Hires-Audio Logo. This can be done with RightClick on the (selected) Library Item(s) of concern, choose this :
  
  
  
  
  and answering Yes to the question popping up :
  
  
  
  
  which causes all the Coverart to be re-generated. This is also distributed to your Galleries, might you have them.
  Notice that the same counts for the MQA Logo itself, might you not have that in an MQA Album for some reason.
  
  
• When an MQA Album was searched for, Prepared and the data was moved to the Streams data folder, the MQA Album did now show in there when you right after that switched to the Streams data environment (Srch Tidal instead of Srch TT). Now this works.
  
  
• Anomalies have been solved with switching "envorinment" (change of the Search button's caption) vs. selecting your own "Source" in the field at the very bottom. This could become inconsistent, you not finding (by Search) anything any more.
  
  
• Similarly, things may go odd with your denotation of the Intermediate Files folder and also Streams Files' Data Folder regarding the "Tidal\" part in there. This part is NOT to be in there, BUT it is auto added by XXHighEnd to the Source field at the very bottom (Library Area active). This see these both screenshots, which are consistent with each other :
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ... but which is not the most intuitive. Also notice the Streaming Files Gallery which sure is allowed to contain anything you like.
  Watch out : It may have happened that because of applying the unknown rules wrongly, you will now find your streams data in other places in the structure than you were used to. Actually this can only happen when you had the "Tidal\ part in the data fields (see first screenshot of the two above), which now is not allowed any more. However, when you have it in there at this moment, nothing is going to take that out for you. Only when you enter the (both) field(s) then it is taken out, accompanied by a message telling you so.
  
  
• Similarly, things went odd or beyond comprehension when you removed a last Album in metadata fashion (or Prepared and moved away) from the Intermediate Files folder - in the Tidal structure. This removed the Tidal\ part as well, and it was not added again. Now it is and this alone may make you by now see a list of Artists in the root (denoted by the Data field for Intermedeiate Files Folder) and at the same level a Tidal sub folder. This is all not the idea of it, and all "Tidal Intermediate files" should be subfolder of the Tidal subfolder.
  
  
  
  
  
• A Cancel button has been added to the (first) question about whether you want to search Tidal or Locally. Cancel as such just aborts the Search process.
  
  
• An attempt has been made to allow for more PC's to deal with MQA Decoding. Notice that it hardly has been a subject in the forum, but PC's do exist which won't swallow the decoder program. This is related to the two .rar files which accompanied 2.08 but *if* they were needed because something not working out, they did not help in the first place. Currently two new files have been added to the Install and they sure can help, but situations exist that they still won't.
  How to recognize this : Well, there can be a plain error varying from "this program can not start" to something with a 007 error and it will already happen when the tracks metadata is obtained for an MQA Album from Tidal. Thus, press Load on one of them or Show/Compare Tracks on them (in 2.07 it only happened at Prepare).
  The solution ? -> find another PC. The problem is too stupid to even exist but it is dedicated to Windows Update failing (in the past). Something with W8(.1) PC's becoming W10.
  
  
• It was found that the .XXSS files (daily backups of the .XXSI Settings Preset file) was not copied to Permanent Storage with RAM-OS Disk usage. Maybe for a normal RAMDisk this problem was the same, and maybe for there this is now solved just the same. Look in your XXData folder to see an .XXSS file per day you used XXHighEnd.
  Of course the copying of these files will only happen at the moments you choose to save to Permanent Storage.
  
  
• Although the 2.07 Release Notes told that URL's for Tidal Tracks could be pasted in the Search form, this appeared not to be true at all. Now its is : Paste them in the Track Name field.
  Watch out : Doing this for more than one Track of the same Album implies a situation which was not really by design, but works; this enables you with ease to create structures with tracks only (the last part of the folder structure looks like "\- Track [Track Name] {Track ID} ...") which thus implies a dedicated folder per track you "apply" like this. Notice that this only happens when you answer "No" to the question whether the full album must be enumerated for the found track, or that one track only. Because you get to answer this question after the finding of the meta data (which happens when you give the Track ID to XXHighEnd per description above) and you (are thus allowed to) Prepare the track in a later stage, you are also allowed to create two of the same folder structures for one album ... which can't be. The erroneous situation has not been tested, but expect some.
  
  
• Abusively it was not possible to copy the URL of a Tidal Playlist to the clipboard so it could be pasted elsewhere (like on a forum). Only for the internal Albums in that Playlist this copy was possible. Now there's a new option "Copy URL of Playlist to Clipboard" in the RightClick on the Coveart Pane in the left and all is fine.
  
  
• 
  
  What you see here is that the good old HDCD Decode button now is named "Decode HDCD + MQA". This means that when this button is set to not active (Blue), no MQA decoding will take place.
  This was done to allow for the comparison of Decoded MQA with Undecoded MQA and maybe also for the comparison of a normal CD with an MQA one but undecoded (some promise that this latter already sounds better than the former).
  Maybe interesting : When all is set to not decode MQA, any Spectrogram asked for, will also not decode MQA. This allows for easy comparison between decoded and undecoded MQA.
  
  
  
  
  (MQA Undecoded 24/48 - MQA Decoded 24/96 - Normal Redbook 16/44.1)
  
  

---

Reminder for Windows 8 users : As an option, don't forget to install the Windows 7 Shell provided with XXHighEnd. See the Windows7_Shell folder in your XX folder and don't forget to read the readme's in there !
Notice that this Windows 7 Shell does not work for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 and instead it will render your OS Install useless (black screen) when you install it anyway.
New since XXHighEnd 2.03 the Windows 7 Shell is mentioned "as an option" because Windows 8 now just runs as well on the Metro Desktop *IF* you get the habit of selecting the Windows Desktop first from where you do all with XXHighEnd.

---

After copying / unzipping the install files, just start the XXHighEnd.exe file; no Install as such is needed. See below at the mouse arrow.


However, when you are running Windows 8 or higher - have not used XXHighEnd before - and are not connected to the Internet, first read this : Windows 8 Tutorials - Install .Net 3.5.

We urge you to read this : Windows 10 Tutorials - Wallpaper, Core Schemes, Q4,5 and more.

Please report as much as you run into but do so in a dedicated topic with a catching title.

---

Right below here you will find the full install of XXHighEnd.
Below that you will find the UpgradePatch install which can only be used on/over the previous XXHighEnd version, but only from of 2.04. Do *not* installl this UpgradePatch on its own in a new folder because nothing will work ! Only paste and unzip over the contents of the existing XX folder where 2.04 up to 2.08d (and beyond) is installed.

For the existing XXHighEnd user, in order to avoid anomalies which are difficult to comprehend, it is best to kill XXEngine3.exe and AutoHotkey.exe (via TaskManager) prior to the install.

Edit, Nov 18, 2017 : The XXEngine3-209-X3-AlwaysPasteAsLast.rar you see below is a patch for "Noise" which in rare occasions can emerge for some. Also see here. Always unzip this patch over the either of of the other two (below).

This only counts for people using the RAM-OS Disk, which allows the Operating Sytem to be booted from RAM. Setting the Timers as we like to have them, is a special procedure - especially for those using the RAM-OS already prior to XXHighEnd 2.07; they see a state in the BASE boot which will not resemble the state once booted in RAM-OS. So, the procedure explained below is for when you see these states (or one of them) when booted from RAM :


and you want to have them both "at their best".
And, when you see this in combination with what you see here when booted from the BASE :


then this procedure is for you.

---

From the 2.07 Release Notes :

For the RAM-OS Disk and booting from RAM, the Timer settings could not be applied previously. Now they can. In order to let this work, apply this (you 'll need to do this one time only, but for each OS you boot from RAM) :

Boot into the BASE version of the OS you want to change the Timer / Timing settings of :


Go to XTweaks and always start out with Refresh :


Take good care that Time Stability reads "Not Stable" and Time Performance Index reads "Not the best" (watch out, because this probably implies that you FIRST must set to "Not Stable" and "Not the best" and after that change back) :


Now change the first (Time Stability), Reboot and check whether it worked out :


Apply the same for the other one. After that boot into the RAM version of the OS (see first screenshot above at the mouse pointer) and see that both will have worked out now (booted from RAM !) :


If you counted correctly, all together this required max 6 reboots (start out from RAM - end up in RAM).
This will again improve SQ, a bit depending on how your system (PC) responded to this, outside of the RAM-OS Disk appliance hence how you judged that yourself.

Yes, and the same happens when I give your link to Chrome - the main page appears. But I also wouldn't know what will happen when it works (like you see something, as I understand it). Anyway, although we can, I suppose (!) we should not focus on getting things to work in Tidal's player, but in XXHighEnd. And this ID of an Artist will never work out, already because it is non-sensical. So that ID stands for an Artist Name you already know, and *that* can be given to the Artist field in the Search form. Now you'll get everything of that artist, and with willdcard (*) maybe more. And with MQA ticked, only MQA's. Or just not.

Peter

Hi Anthony,

Both ways work; give the link to the Album/General field in the Search form (XXHighEnd will find it in Tidal) and rightclick on the Coverart in the left pane to obtain the URL from a Tidal album (and paste elsewhere, like in e post here).

The only think I found not working (forgot to work it out decently) is obtaining the URL of a Playlist, once loaded in XXHighEnd. So all 2.08 can is obtaining the URL of the individual album in that Playlist, but not the Playlist itself. This is solved for 2.09 see below's last option).

Regards,
Peter