Ok, I've spotted it now. Thanks. I think it would be a good idea to add the Peak Extend setting to your sig as well. At various times, I've seen this recommended to be off and other times on. It's set to on out of the box, I know.

Geoff

On that subject Peter; in your sig you show "*Ultimate* / Time Performance Index : *Optimal*"

... But in your release notes you're recommending: "not the best"

What is your current thinking on this?

Thanks,

Geoff

Solved by Peter identifying all the processes and services which might need to be kept on my machine. Now I just have to do some more testing to get these down to the minimum. (Hopefully just one)

Thanks again Peter.

It's happening with Metro as well. In fact that's where I first experienced the crash, before I installed the W7 shell program.

Could you provide a list of those services so I can try shutting each one down manually, in an attempt to find the cuplrit?

Well I know the culprit is you!! Ha, ha.

 

No virus scanner on either. About to try with Metro.

Thanks Peter,

Sounds like you're on the right track. Shutting down remaining services produces the crash, under normal os as you advised.

Unattended works with only Desktop services off.

Looks like this machine thinks it needs one of those services.

geoff

I thought I'd give W8 a try and managed to install it on a mid 2010 Mac Mini with 8gig of RAM.

All settings are the same as yours Peter, as a starting point, including xTweaks, except PA is not selected.

Plays fine in attended mode and I can hear some of the qualities you and others have been describing.

Got the W7 shell installed as well.

Minimised OS.

The only problem is I can't run in unattended mode.

The "stopping services" message stays there for a while, then flashes on and off before disappearing. Then music plays for a few seconds and then the machine reboots itself.

Any ideas?

Perhaps I've run into the limitations finally of this Mac Mini. I'd like to get it working having got this far though. Win 7 works fine.

This is now a triple boot machine; MACOSX, W7, W8

I haven't tried disabling xtweaks, so maybe I should try that.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

geoff

Solved!

Thanks

I've just activated the latest version 0.9-z8e. All features that require activation appear to be available; but the cover art frame remains cream and when I turn on Phase Alignment, it does not show the Phase Alignment indicator *~*. This, of course all in Unattended mode and all other conditions for Phase Alignment appear to be met.

Thanks again Peter. That's clear

geoff

OK Thanks Peter, it's getting clearer.

Now if you don't mind, here's a list in order of worst to best.  Please advise if you agree or disagree in whole or in part.

1/ Wifi enabled on machine running XXHighEnd. Files pulled from NAS via wifi LAN, XXHighEnd controlled via iPad or similar via wifi or similar using RDC. (I haven't tried this and assume it's truly evil for sound quality and may not even work)

2/ Wifi disabled on machine running XXHighEnd. Files pulled from NAS via ethernet LAN, XXHighEnd controlled via iPad or similar using Airport or similar access point into the LAN.

3/ WiFi disabled on machine running XXHighEnd, files pulled from locally attached USB HD. LAN used only for XXHighEnd control via iPad using Airport or similar access point to the LAN.

4/ As 3; but LAN off. XXHighEnd is either not remote controlled or is remote controlled via bluetooth dongles and an additional PC.

geoff

"The problem I would have with this, is that it requires WiFi in the audio PC. In this is not "allowed" ... says me.
Maybe with some intermediate product, like an Apple Airport (Extreme) (a wrireless router). But I don't know much about it."

Peter, this is your text I was referring to.

I don't claim to be doing anything special. It's a configuration I've used for years, to for example hook up my AppleTV to a high speed reliable ethernet connection whilst still being able to control it from an iPad via wifi.

...and I'm sorry; but no your conclusion is not clear to me at all. Are you saying that my PC will be screwing up SQ because XXHighEnd is pulling the files from the NAS? That's not what my ears are telling me.

Not even any ticks or pops despite Phase Alignment being definitely engaged.

This idea was mentioned by Peter in an earlier thread. "Best remote app for iPad".

In that thread Peter suggested an Apple Airport Extreme WiFi interim router might work. Since wifi is "not allowed" on the machine running XXHighEnd.

This solution seems to be working well for me and I prefer it to the solution using an interim PC and blu-tooth dongles.

If you connect an Airport extreme to your ethernet network and the machine running XXHighEnd to the same ethernet network, your wifi devices connect to the wifi network provided by that airport extreme. The wifi devices and your XXHighEnd machine are all using the Airport Extreme as their router and their IP addresses are all served up by the Airport Extreme.

Now your iPad can talk to your XXHighEnd machine, because they are on the same network. WiFi is disabled on the XXHighEnd machine, so can't pollute it.

On the iPad I've currently experimented with PocketCloud and Splashtop.

So far I'm liking Splashtop better.  PocketCloud can connect via RDC. With all bells and whistles of XXHighEnd activated, including Phase Alignment and MinOS, PocketCloud can remain connected when the music starts to play in unattended mode. This is not good, because in my case I heard some pops and ticks along with reduced SQ. This I think is the objection to having the LAN switched on. Note though, that I was also pulling the music from a NAS Drive connected to this LAN.

Splashtop relies on a server app (Splashtop Streamer) running on your XXHighEnd machine.

When you start the music in unattended mode using the Splashtop client on your iPad, Splashtop complains that the network connection is "weak" and it can't keep it up. Poor Splashtop 

This is good though, because XXHighEnd continues to play the music you selected on your iPad, sans ticks and pops, with great SQ.

Hopefully you will be able to reconnect, once your selected music has stopped playing. I'm waiting until I get to the end of the Madredeus album I'm currently enjoying.

Hope this helps anyone who's looking for a similar solution and has an external wifi/ethernet router like the Airport Extreme.

geoff

OK, Thanks again Peter. I'll keep you posted as to how I get on with resolving it.

Thanks Peter. No they are not 100% the same. One is accessing a NAS. This is the one where minimise OS works with the LAN on. The other is not accessing a NAS. This is pointing me in the right direction, because it seems I need to look at Windows settings rather than XXHighEnd settings.