XXHighEnd

Ultimate Audio Playback => Chatter and forum related stuff => Topic started by: manisandher on August 02, 2013, 09:30:24 pm



Title: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: manisandher on August 02, 2013, 09:30:24 pm
Just read through this thread on CA:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/would-technical-explanation-why-software-players-could-sound-different-16991/

Click on page 6 and scroll down to Peter's posts and you'll find this:

Quote from: PeterSt

Code:

Tablet -> Audio Engine on diskless Win PC (W7/W8) -> DAC
                         ( ^ )
NAS etc./ File Server / PC with any OS of choice

With the explicit notice that during playback there is no network connection (and certainly no WiFi) anywhere. This is why the (^) is between braces.

The "diskless PC" is also without without the OS on USB, might one think that. There's just nothing.
Tablet controls the Audio Engine.

The fun of this (and explicitly by design) is also that this allows to have a music PC (some call that Server) at first, while the "Audio Engine" PC is obtained newly to its best, while all you need to do is connect it and continue as you were.


The above merely responds to someone who asked whether the NAS etc. could be shut off with caches etc. Well, that's an XXHighEnd feature for ages by now, but the latest version arranges for this all dynamically.

Anyway, this scheme is my latest in the quest of eliminating all from the PC which implies noise. So no disks, no LAN, nothing.

But now I am not completely honest because I am using an USB(3) connected DAC. Well, sh*t happens. Will get rid of that someday too. :-)
Also, this PC runs on 470MHz (and a cpu usage of virtually 0% at 32/705.6 real time upsampling). Sounds better ...


(The bold is all mine.)

Wow! Looks like my computer audio dreams may soon be met...

A couple of questions Peter:

1. Can the Audio Engine PC be a low-powered PC, something like an Atom, that can be run off a 12V linear power supply?

2. Will the NOS1 require any updates? (I mean, will the NOS1 need a 'true' USB3 connection, as opposed to its current USB2?)

3. When is this due for release?????????????????????

Mani.


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: Jud on August 03, 2013, 01:15:22 am
Just read through this thread on CA:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/would-technical-explanation-why-software-players-could-sound-different-16991/

Click on page 6 and scroll down to Peter's posts and you'll find this:

Quote from: PeterSt

Code:

Tablet -> Audio Engine on diskless Win PC (W7/W8) -> DAC
                         ( ^ )
NAS etc./ File Server / PC with any OS of choice

With the explicit notice that during playback there is no network connection (and certainly no WiFi) anywhere. This is why the (^) is between braces.

The "diskless PC" is also without without the OS on USB, might one think that. There's just nothing.
Tablet controls the Audio Engine.

The fun of this (and explicitly by design) is also that this allows to have a music PC (some call that Server) at first, while the "Audio Engine" PC is obtained newly to its best, while all you need to do is connect it and continue as you were.


The above merely responds to someone who asked whether the NAS etc. could be shut off with caches etc. Well, that's an XXHighEnd feature for ages by now, but the latest version arranges for this all dynamically.

Anyway, this scheme is my latest in the quest of eliminating all from the PC which implies noise. So no disks, no LAN, nothing.

But now I am not completely honest because I am using an USB(3) connected DAC. Well, sh*t happens. Will get rid of that someday too. :-)
Also, this PC runs on 470MHz (and a cpu usage of virtually 0% at 32/705.6 real time upsampling). Sounds better ...


(The bold is all mine.)

Wow! Looks like my computer audio dreams may soon be met...

A couple of questions Peter:

1. Can the Audio Engine PC be a low-powered PC, something like an Atom, that can be run off a 12V linear power supply?

2. Will the NOS1 require any updates? (I mean, will the NOS1 need a 'true' USB3 connection, as opposed to its current USB2?)

3. When is this due for release?????????????????????

Mani.

Yeah, noticed it too, Mani.  :)

Peter's been hinting around about this for months, if not longer.

Of course you know the answer to the release question: When it's ready.   ;)

I want to know where he's hiding the OS, if he's saying it's a W7/W8 PC with no disks and no USB stick.


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: acg on August 03, 2013, 02:02:15 am
Sounds like a tablet with a wired connection to the XX pc.  Maybe the os is on a battery powered CF card like this one...http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wm_9sgCroP4/URc5pvfZWhI/AAAAAAAAAjk/wzgl1A_VjWk/s1600/PICT7386.JPG (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wm_9sgCroP4/URc5pvfZWhI/AAAAAAAAAjk/wzgl1A_VjWk/s1600/PICT7386.JPG)


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: AlainGr on August 03, 2013, 02:19:11 am
Hi Anthony,

I am quite sure that it will not ressemble anything we expect. It is always exciting ! Peter has a sense of drama that will surely "knock our socks off", technically and sonically :)

I am rotten at predictions, so I am sitting here with a lunch, a sleeping bag and a roll of toilet paper - to besiege the place ;)

Alain


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: manisandher on August 03, 2013, 07:26:06 am
I suspect he's using something like VirtualBox to create a virtual PC for the audio engine. I only came across the concept of virtual PCs yesterday and I can't quite imagine the configuration he could be using, so could be totally off.

For those of us who have played around a lot with PC hardware, and the affect the various pieces of hardware have on sound (e.g. the type of playback drive, etc), it seems obvious that getting rid of everything in the audio engine PC (including even the OS drive) can only be a good thing.

Some of us, led primarily by Nick's thinking, have doggedly pursued the idea of minimizing (electrical) noise in the PC by doing things like having only one HDD in the PC, removing all fans from the PC (including PS), disabling all USB drives except the one necessary for the DAC, etc, etc. I can see how using a virtual PC for the audio engine would take this thinking to the ultimate level...

Mani.


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: Mamba315 on August 03, 2013, 08:38:57 am
I took the last part to suggest that the audio-engine-pc thing and DAC would/could be combined into one piece of hardware.  Which makes tons of sense to me, if the goal is to have a user friendly piece that can achieve NOS1 SQ from any type of music library.  I could be way off base though..

And of course, there are other variations that I believe Peter intends to tackle one day.  ADC and 8-channel NOS1 (active crossovers in the PC Peter style), as well as a few other related things.  If only we could clone the poor bloke!  I don't know if he even sleeps.

In our little niche, he's Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak all rolled into one.


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: manisandher on August 03, 2013, 09:27:20 am
Nah, I think Tablet -> Audio Engine PC is bluetooth. Audio Engine PC -> NOS1 is currently USB3, but I think this might become bluetooth in the future too.

Really exciting stuff...

Mani.


Title: Re: Peter's up to something... and it's BIG
Post by: Jud on August 05, 2013, 02:23:01 am
Puzzled about how a virtual OS/PC would change anything - still need hardware and drivers.