Peter,

Thanks a lot, your feedback is really helpful.

It is good to know that Win7 isn't the "solution" for general computing, and that you think Vista can be fixed, and that Vista has an efficient core processing engine.

My Dell is actually a Mini Tower, but still not the best machine.  It is relatively new and has a dual core processor, 2 gig ram, and probably a modern PCI bus, etc. but I recently noticed the NIC is only 100MB and I am using a NAS.

In any case, your general impressions of Vista and Win7 are a big help to me as I will go to work getting Vista to behave using all the good technical post about Vista Tweaks.  I will also pay attention to SFS.

I know you are seeing the OS from the inside out, and that is most important to learn about.  I can do work on the PC, like using Word or Excel, with everything else shutdown, and unless I am saving my documents, I think that I can certainly work with XX taking most of the memory and IO.  I wouldn't try to use Photoshop at the same time.

Again, thanks so much for the feedback, I know you must be very busy and very excited about the first shipments of the Phasure NOS.  I am fascinated by your development of a coherent theory of audio signal reproduction.  I was always curious how real sound energy could be reproduced with samples taken at just twice the frequency (20k to 44k) and reproduced assuming a sine wave shape for everything with Fourier math.  Your investigation into square wave signal reproduction, transients, etc. and how this flows through the entire signal chain is very interesting.  I expect your work with the NOS will provide some insights into line stage and drive stage amplification as well.  I don't understand everything, but I am enjoying being a spectator of these experiments and theoretical development and I think I might learn how to get some really good sound without a lot of money by understanding how things work.

Cheers,

Jamie

I recently upgraded my work PC from XP SP3 to Vista SP2, and I wanted to share some of my general experience and ask for a bit of help.  I will probably always be something of a "beginner" using XX since I do not have the experience or equipment to "hear" SQ differences, but I want to do the best I can with the limited time and resources available to me and I believe XX is much smarter than I am.  I don't think my experiences will be much help to the more experienced people here, but maybe I can represent one "beginner" experience.

I decided to upgrade my XP PC at work to install the latest XXHighEnd.  I have avoided Vista like the plague and I have liked XP for many years now.  Despite the audio problems I think XP is a very good OS.  But, I cannot upgrade to Win7 without re-installing all of my software and the XX community recommends Vista for the best SQ.

I used Vista Ultimate 32 bit (Red) version for the upgrade and for most of my software upgraded in place just fine.  I installed XX, which was very easy, and I was able to play music right away without any problems.

I do not use anti-virus software, but I automatically install ALL critical updates from MSoft to keep my machines "plugged" for virus holes, so I have SP2 for Vista.  Of course this took a long time to download and install all the patches.  I also installed all the latest drivers from Dell.

So, everything is okay except now my PC is really acting badly.  Halting, hanging, etc.  Even Excel and Word run poorly.

I am thinking that all of the same Vista Tweaks posted elsewhere in this forum will also be very good for eliminating Vista performance problems.  Peter has provided at least two threads with step by step instructions and some others have provided batch files I can use.

I know that a work PC is a very bad place for high end audio, but I believe that Peter's XXHighEnd will certainly run much better on my busy PC than a player which does not manage resources as well.  And, I control the PC completely and I don't see why I can't work on a spreadsheet and listen to music at the same time.

Since Vista was abandoned by MSoft, I might consider upgrading to Win7, but I know it is not the best for SQ.  Although I want to follow the best advice for SQ, I might be happy with Win7 and KS under XXHighEnd.  Knowing that I'm not using the best equipment or experience, would anyone be willing to offer some advice about using XXHighEnd with Win 7, or should I stay with Vista and fix performance by using the "Tweaks"?  (I really think this Vista OS is cr*p the way it performs, but I'm willing to work with it to give XX the best environment.)

I know that XXHighEnd is about the absolute best sound, and my question may not help anyone, but it would be nice to have a PC that works for other things AND can get "good" sound from XX, if not the "best" sound.

I understand if my "lazy" approach is not a good experiment for experienced audiophiles, but I think XX could be a good solution for a lot of other beginners.  One day I expect to be able to "hear" the difference, but for now I need to start somewhere and I want to use XX on my PC's using the best advice until I can hear for myself.

Cheers,

Jamie

My PC is on fire!  Oops, no that's just Vista trying sort itself out:)

Vista Ultimate is just more bells and whistles around the kernel, 32 or 64 bit are alternative versions of the memory addressing schemes that I believe is available at each "trim" level of Vista, home, bus, or ultimate.

I suggest trying Amazon, they have about a dozen different shrink wrap colors for you to chose from and your likely to find a supply/demand balanced supply of this stranded OS for years to come.  It still sucks though.

If it weren't for XX I wouldn't come near this cr*p OS.