These tracks are live 1964 NYC recording from Tidal MQA album "Nina Simone's finest hours" from Verve. They sound on my system occasionally as a bit "hot" especially in some strong vocal passages. But they have such a "live" quality, close miked in a large concert venue and piano is apt. And the content and emotion are still so current after all these years that I want to recommend! I would be very interested to know others' comments regarding her voice's quality in their systems.

https://tidal.com/album/77629244

2. Wild Is The Wind
7. Mississippi Goddam
15. Don't Smoke In Bed

Wow I will check out Cowboy Junkies too! Thanks.

Regarding audio playback quality of NM recordings in general, I always thought her particular voice seems to have a subtle hard glossy edge to it from time to time. With a lesser quality playback, her voice can get relentless. When her singing is fully resolved in playback (like MQA decoded properly), it just shines. It is especially so, when an incredible variety of instrumentations intertwine with the vocal.


Zheng

Hi Peter,

I have been reading to gain some knowledge regarding MQA decoding. I am intuitively attracted to the idea about MQA's ability to address "timing blur" issue in DA conversion in general.

I am wondering if this correcting "timing blur" process happens in software decoding"? If so, we are already listening to the "time-corrected" playback via XXHE with MQA encoded albums.

Or, is it that MQA core only carries additional info of how to correct "timing blur" and then provides MQA DAC specific instructions to achieve the final "time corrected" resolution in a particular hardware?

It is interesting to me to do an AB comparison regarding the specific "time blur" issue.

Best,
Zheng

Thanks, Peter,
Always learning something from you! This makes total sense to me. I don't have a MQA DAC yet but it's good to know once I have one. I do have some other MQA decoding related questions but I'll post separately.
Best,
Zheng

Peter,
Finally I got what you meant! Duh, I feel a bit foolish...
Thanks, as always,
Zheng

Hi Peter,
Did I understand correctly that for MQA playback, XXHE's volume should be set at -0dB? Anything changed in 2.10?

The reason this is important to me is that I'm considering taking preamp out of my audio chain and let XXHE audio PC directly output to amp.

Currently I set volume fixed at -0dB in XXHE and use preamp to control playback volume. BTW, what's dBFS stands for? I presume it means same thing.

Best,
Zheng

Peter,
Occasionally I still lost connection while on RD session especially listening to the whole album in Unattended. The consequence is that I had to force reboot audio PC and then XXHE will think she is in an XP machine.

Remedy is what you told me. Change ..W10.tss to .tst. then boot into Normal OS, then play something, change back to .tss, boot into Minimized, all is good.

My question is: Is this hurting anything? Is it degrading SQ? I am worried because 2.10 sounds so good.

Best,
Zheng

Totally agreed!

2.10 has kept me in seat finishing whole albums, definitely a good sign. It is hard to describe this very addictive sound but let me try:

Gentle yet assertive, wide sound stage yet focused, smooth with an attitude, rich with powerful crescendo.

Natalie Merchant Natalie Merchant album sounds mesmerizing...

Thanks, Peter

Hi Peter,

I know its way too many questions...
Now that audio PC has no internet connection, Tidal, MQA album search TT and prepare are not possible anymore.

Is it general practice to do these tasks in music pc in a second install of XXHE? Are these activies possible in a Windows version other than the recommended ones. My music pc is running win 1709 (OS Build 16299.309). Please advise.

Thanks,
Zheng

Hi Peter,
I remember you mentioned once that when playing MQA albums, xxhe volume needs to stay at -0dB. Is it still true under 2.10?
Best,
Zheng

Hi Arvind,
I hate to butt in like this but when I see something I need to say something.

From your first picture, "Burn" album is not prepared (no skinny red border yet). That maybe why it refuses to be moved.

Respectfully,
Zheng

Peter,
I feel I need to have a summary regarding my problem of audio pc became unresponsive at the end of Unattended play under RD sessions.

1. Initially I was only doing one RD session from iPad->audio pc, or music server->audio pc.

2. Later by your diagram, I started to use two RD sessions simultaneously like most of you've been doing. iPad->music pc->audio pc

3. In both instances (under minimized OS, LAN on, Persist off), my audio pc became non-responsive after an Unattended play.

4. Final resolution: turning off internet function in audio pc by leaving Gateway field blank in Ethernet adapter properties.

Best,
Zheng

Hi Peter,
When I look at my diagram, I feel it needs further clarification.
It is how physically they are connected which is different from your usual practice because audio pc's Ethernet cable goes to Switch instead of to music pc.

From point of RD sessions, my flow is NO different from yours:
iPad -> RD -> music server -> RD -> audio pc (internet disabled via leaving Gateway field blank in adapter property)

All works properly now. Next, 2.10

Thanks,
Zheng

                                              |-->audio pc
iPad -> wifi-> router -> switch []
                                              |-->music server

This is my diagram.

ZH

Good news Peter!
Since I don't have two Ethernet ports on music server at moment, I did some my own experiment. the whole point is about audio PC not having internet. So I killed it by removing Gateway numbers in Ethernet adapter property. Then make sure there's no internet connection by running browser. And make sure RD and LAN still work. Viola all worked as meant to be! No freeze, no loss of RD or LAN connection and alt-x alt-s all work! All this without adding a second Ethernet port.
Good night,
Zheng