When you have one core only, there's no effect anyway.

Not so difficult when you followed all a bit;
When I say (said) this, I did not explcitly work on SQ changes. But is is clear now (and this is only since 0.9pd where it's just easily proved) that things beyond my comprehension change SQ too.

So you had an early night Chris ?

Thanks.

I know that when something is wrong in the software, repeating (very) soft clicks occur. Something like prrt prrt prrt prrt (say these 4 times are per second);

Yesterday I had this one time with the 0.9pd version myself, and it looks similar to what others have reported; once it is there it won't go away (but it will be reset when a next track starts), and you'll get rid of it at pressing pause-start or at changing one of the parameters which change settings in real time (like Invert, Q1 position (not priority !)).

It is my guess, what happens is this (derived from the knowledge of the software being wrong, which is not the case here) :

In one occasion the processor was not able to cope with the refill of the buffer towards the DAC (better : soundcard). Say, it went behind.
Because of this the synchronization between the knowledge of the amount the buffer is filled (the buffer of the 48 samples which is talked about more often), and how it actually is, is out of order. Now each and other time the buffer runs empty the DACs keep on repeating the last fed samples (or similar, but that's not important).
For the general sound picture you may not even notice it (but it is dead wrong obviously), and at more wild music you won't hear the clicks.

People report this, I think, since the Processor Core Appointment.
Also, there would be logic in this to happen, because while the sound engine is appointed to its own core, when it itself needs more (within the given time) than the one core can cope with ... you're out of luck, whereas without the Processor Core Appointment, there was the other core jumping in.

If you have these kind of clicks, please report it;
The fact that I had it once in xx days does not worry me. But if you have it several times during a few albums, it is not the way to go.
Please note that you should judge this per 0.9q (and up) were it for comparing with Appoint Processor Core shut off (the older versions were not completely correct in that). When you don't compare, you can use 0.9m-1 and up (BUT when you have 4 cores you'd need 0.9q anyway).


For techies reading this : No, I can't recover (nor signal) such a situation because of the way I deal with the buffers.


My judgement is based on one situation only so it may be premature. Otoh, I combine it with other people reporting similar (which is only similar (ehh, the same) when it is about the soft clicks as described).

Thank you,
Peter

Hi Chris,

Since you reported (here) that offloading your Dell with some tasks helped, I Googled a bit, and you might get it much better when you offload all the unnecessary sh*t the Inspiron loads in the beginning. However ... it will not be you being able to do that ... (there are no official options for it).

Then, when you know how to Google for it ... many people have the same problem as you have, although often it is hard to judge because people report similar for the Sigmatel sound chip which is in there but ... which IMO is not used in your case.
Anyway, the solutions vary so much, that I personlly would give up in advance. But that's me ...

Might you Google yourself, note that the e1505 is the same as the Inspiron 6400.

Anyway, if you are really sure that offloading helps, go to a shop and let them eliminate all the unneeded stuff at startup.
One thing you can do yourself for trials :
If you go to Taskmanager - Processes, there (supposedly) will be a sqsvr (or something like that which starts with sq) process. If it is there indeed, kill it.
Note that at a reboot it will be back.
If it helps I'll tell you how to permanently shut it off.
It incurs for much harddisk I/O at regular intervals (60 seconds after the PC has hybernated once), and if these kind of things (offloading) help you, this will help too.

Whether this all is the right path to go ... I don't know. All of this should not bother in the first place ... but what to do ...

Peter

Hi Chris,

As I noticed earlier (Check your Firewire connection !) this can make a difference anyway ...

Further, this is a difficult one. So, indeed I did not change anything else (for settings), and also it could hardly be possibly to check all in a few hours of listening. But as often, it is the "first notice" thing that makes you decide;

In this case I re-heard the sound of 0.9p which desturbed me for a longer time, BUT, since I was playing MP3's with that only (checking the SQ) I thought it was a flavor of the MP3 compression. Now I don't think it was (but did not re-check).

This is a difficult one because it seems (to me) that the stage is wider and all is more spacious, but -as I found- this can be caused by micro distortions. So, in fact that already is (or might be) an indication that something is "wrong" (better : not enough reality).

To me it appears that more heavy music, though the better recorded - and our Anouk may be an example, gets ugly from 0.9q.
Also there is Emma Chapplin as a high key opera singer, singing through more heavy rockish music, and her voice receives a digital flair. Minor, but noticeable enough.
Keep in mind that I never have let go my boosted highs, so it's more easy to notice for me (and if something is wrong, it gets really wrong from it).

The flair in the highs might be appreciated as more fresh at first glance, but when you play various albums for a couple of hours, they all start sounding the same ... a typicle characterization of a flair ...

But as said, I never changed anything for Invert or Q1, so maybe it is necessary to do that.

If I only could find the relation between random SQ changes caused by a program completely unrelated to producing the sound ...
But I guess it's time to find a means to make all unrelated.

Peter

Hi Leon,

*Is* this MP3/FLAC ?

If so, that's the reason.
I don't check for that under XP (but I should).

Ok, I'll try to implement it in the next version.

Peter

Well ... where 0.9pd "has something", 0.9q has something wrong. It does not have it, it has a flair in the highs IMO. More digital again.


If you don't agree, just say it. 

Peter

Gerner, beautifully said. But allow me to address this to Gerard just the same. I mean, you both spent a hell of a time to find out what's going on, and although in both your cases this is not exacly clear, you are the winners of ... well, your systems.
Whether you may benefit from an improved version (the 0.9q I just put up) I don't know, but the fact is : those who persist will winn. I tried too (0.9q).

Either of your cases are IMHO rare, or better : as strange as could be;

Gerard, yes, you could say that you should not have so much "overhead" on your PC, but how that is related to one harddrive ... it beats me so far. I mean, XXHighEnd is not accessing that harddrive at all during playback (hence in the middle of a track) and still "you" (your PC) accessing that drive stresses XX. "Stresses" or de(s)organizes, in a mater I cannot comprehend.

Gerner, with you the same, but in an even more parculiar way;
You did not tell it out of politeness, but I will :

As soon as you start Foobar, NOT (and never) playing a single track at all, after a few minutes you have ... well, the same as Gerard; completely distorted sound which won't go away, until stop / restart playback.
Added to that : with *NO* Processor Core Appointment only. Well, if one thing beats me, it's this.
What even beats me more is that 0.9pd does not give you this distortion ... and ... you really received one program only (the 0.9pd) which is unrelated to the playback of sound ...

BUT :
As we know by now, 0.9pd not only solves these kind of problems (not for Gerard I think) but it even expresses a (far) better SQ. Those things must be related.


If not already ...
But you can bet I do not only listen to all of you, but I also will explicitly take this experience into account in order to somewhere, sometime determine what is really going on in playback where it is SQ related. Ok, "we" started off nicely, but although I'd say we're near the top already, I'm sure it still is just the beginning of it.

I know this took 10ths of hours of each of you.

Peter

(the Zip for download is completely at the bottom)


The following features have been added :

• Bigger Coverart for 640x480 resolution (see below 09q01.png).
  
  
• Coverart has been removed from the Playlist Area, hence the anomalies at showing not the full width of track data are eliminated.
  Coverart now shows in the left lower corner by standard.
  
  
• MP3 Icons (see below 09q01).
  
  
• Enhanced Gapless playback for MP3.
  As it turned out this could be better afterall.
  
  
• The text field at the bottom of the Library Area ("Galery Root") has become the main source for Search (see below 09q02);
  When nothing is entered there, the Music Root (path) from the Settings tab is taken, but in the end anything which is entered in that text field overrules.
  
  
• Checkboxes for selecting conveniently instead of normal selecting by means of clicking (with the risk of losing your selections at a wrong click).
  Not for deleting covertart at this moment !!
  See 09q02 and the "Chk" checkbox at the lower right corner; When that is ticked (as in the example) a checkbox appears next to each item in the Libraray Aera, and from that point on selection goes by means of ticking those checkboxes in there.
  
  
• Select All and UnSelect All for above.
  See XX09q03.
  Unlike Ctrl-Shift-Click etc., when all the checkboxes at once are to be ticked / unticked, use the respective menu options.
  
  
• Physical copy.
  Careful : thus far this has been applied for copying with Galery data as a source only !! (and applying it to normal data was not tested and may give anomalies);
  Once a Galery has been created (that consisting of meta data only) a "Physical Copy" of real music data can be made by means of that (.WAV only at this monent !!);
  The reasons for doing things like this can be various, and all is to your own imagination. One realistic example :
  Suppose you have 500 albums (CDs) physically present, and you have the idea (?!?) that those are a backup for your ripped data; suppose also that you have another 1000 CDs you lent and payed money for from a library or elsewhere, and you do not have a physical backup of those;
  Now you could put the lent CDs in a special library (the Metadata of them), and you could regularly backup only those ...
  Just enter the (before created) Galery path in the text field at the bottom of the Library Area (see 09q02 again), select all the visible items (e.g. per checkbox as shown before, or by means of clicking the first item and (Ctrl-)Shift-Click the last item, and press rightclick in the Library Area;
  Go as XX09q04 shows.
  Important : When a "Physical Copy" is made, the coverart is taken from the original folders, and *not* from the folder.jpg files in the Galery data. See more below as well.
  
  
• Now a message will follow after saving a to a Galery (or after a Physical Copy) that saving/copying has been finished. A progressbar shows the progress. When the mouse is put over the progressbar, the current number of selections saved / copied will be accurately shown until the process is finished. For the latter, see XX09q05 (never mind the d:\backup\ example from before in this screen copy, which was just virtual).
  Note : currently the process of physically copying (as well as saving to a Galery, but that's not important) can not be cancelled other than aborting XXHighend.exe by means of TaskManager. This by itself is not a problem, and just allowed (though not much official of course).
  
  
• Folder.jpg files in Galeries are allowed to be set explicitly.
  You may have noticed that when you create a Galery, the folder.jpg files are physically copied to the Galeries in the first place. This is to show coverart from your Galeries as well, which is not derived via the meta data from the original source. IOW, you can have different coverart (like a "Blues" picture) per Galery.
  Note that you have to arrange for this yourself (outside of XXHighEnd).
  At a Physical Copy this the original coverart is taken though, as per the meta data (also see more above).
  
  
• Rename of folders and files;
  Just like with Explorer, folders as well as files can be renamed from within the Playlist Area. Just click on the folder / file name once, and once again, and you are allowed to change the data.
  CAREFUL though : In here -and for your own convenience- more is allowed than you know from Explorer; you can change things anywhere in the path.
  Although everything is to your own imagination, see XX09q06a where a filename is selected to change (note the "Blues" in the LibraryRoot field at the bottom) and XX09q06b where the *path* (!!) has been changed to AAWav\ (also look at the top left of the XXq096b screen !) and thus factually the track is moved into the AAWav folder (never mind the meaning of that).
  This may look awkwardish, but when you get aquainted with select - copy the target path (e.g. "AAwav\") and select - replace that in the source (in the 09q06b upper right example), it can be a relatively fast way to change the structure of your (Galery or real (!!)) data.
  
  
• Support for up to 4 Processor Cores.
  Up to this (0.9q) version, Processor Core Appointment anticipated on 2 cores only, and the cores 3 and 4 (when available) were rendered useless;
  From off this version, cores 3 and 4 will be as useful as they are.
  The Audio Engine (see more below) will run in core number 2 always (unless only 1 core is available).
  
  
• Real time change of Processor Core Appointment.
  The checkbox accordingly in the Settings tab can be changed during playback, and it will take effect immediately.
  
  
• Improvement of Processor Core Appointment in general, or IOW : it was not as efficient as could be.
  
  
• Reset of Processor Core Appointment without reboot.
  Whereas before a reboot could reset the Processor Core Appointment, from now on any regular stop of playback resets all to "normal".
  Careful : "Normal" means evenly spread, and any before (playback commenced) appointed processes will not be explicitly appointed anymore.
  On the other hand, in a normal "home" situation explicit Core Appointment will not take place (uhhmm, but XXHighEnd does just hat).
  
  
• Processor Core Appointement for all Engines (also for XP).
  As said.
  The SQ effect of this has not been judged, but it can be assumed it matters one way or the other. Of course this is addressed to XP users.
  
  
• Better support for problematic Activation situations.
  Hard to explain, and maybe not even useful, but situations appear to exist that an Activation Code can not be transferred from the originally Activated PC to a LAN-connected other. For this "debug data" has been built in, which data users can report back in order to find culprits.
  Sidenote : By now it is near 100% clear that dual boot systems (Vista being involved) report wrong data for the sake of being LAN connected.
  All is not worked out as off now, and this debug data may contribute to just this.
  
  
• ToolTips were actualized (the latest were lacking since 0.9o).
  
  
• Selections (per clicking) in the Library Area remain visible when the Playlist Area does not have the focus.
  Just for your convenience.
  
  
• Offline possibility for getting an Activation Code.
  As it appeared, some people just do not have any means for a LAN and/or Internet connection;
  Per this version a provision has been taken to allow for obtaining an Activation Code without any Internet connection at all.
  Payment is then via normal (worldwide) bank transfer. The details will be given as per PM request.
  
  
• Backslashes (\) are auto added to entered path names whereever applicable.
  Before this was not the case always, while they are mandatory in any case.
  
  

Solved issues :

• The Xp/Vista text could stay visible in the Playlist Area after loading of tracks; An attempt was made to solve this.
  
  

General :

• SQ : (far) Better. Relative to the 0.9pd intermediate version no changes are to be expected, although few listening tests were applied compared to 0.9pd.  However ... if anything ... even more better.
  Edit : 0.9q ... no ..... Not better. In fact, worse.
  
  
• Appoint Processor Cores is available only for the non-demo (hence Activated) version.
  Let's say this is a for even better SQ after Activating, because it really does matter.
  
  

Additional issues :

• The Physical Copy can not be cancelled, unless per TaskManager (which can't harm, but check tha last folder copied).
  In a future version a facility for this will be added.
  
  

Which, as it appears now, is not so easy. I tried to solve it in the upcoming 0.9q version, but ...
In a later version I will address it, not now ...

Can you verify that in the "bad" situation(s), the crackles start right in the middle of a track (say 10 secs from start and 20 seconds before the end at most ?

Also (and sorry I don't know anymore if you told it already), how would you describe the "crackling" you have ? (heavy distortion, small clicks, etc. ?)

Could you retry with the XX folder on C: again (music stays at X:) ?

Are both C: and X: connected by the same type ? I mean, both SATA, or might C: be ATA/SATA and X: be USB ?
(etc.)

I don't think that is necessary Gerard. I just wanted to be sure that I understood well.
Where your problem resorts from I don't know. But IMHO not from any late version of XX.
Not that this helps you, but it helps me a bit.