Peter (et al).

You strongly recommend the use of a NOSDAC to get the best from XXhighend. I know this stands for non oversampling DAC, but how do you recognise this type of DAC. For instance every early CD players operated at 16 bit 44.1KHz so are these all NOSDACs or is there more to it.

(I asked the question on AA and got a lot of conflicting answers, so I came back here for a bit of sanity )

Cheers Chris

Peter, I think you've cracked it. I just spoke with the RME UK distributor, who was more than helpful. The SPdiff channels can be adjusted for volume using the fireface mixer. Quite independant of this one can adjust the volume of a pair of the 8 x ADAT channels which need to be assigned as optical output in the settings box (to make it compatible with Toslink).
 
Once this is done you click on the channel title at the bottom of any volume control till it turns orange. Then, everyone you do this to, is controlled by a single volume control. 

I guess this is meat and drink to the professional boys, but I am impressed.

Just got to find a NOSDAC and amp to experiment with and I am ready to go with Layered Sound.

  Sitting in front of my system I have just realised that option 1 is a non starter as there is nothing to link the volume of the two Dacs/amps.

So option 2 becomes favourite . Does anyone know of this Y piece connector that will allow me to connect two power amps to a single preamp??

Thanks Peter

The alternatives seem to be:

1. Take additional output from the Fireface - need another DAC and amplifier, but is simple for someone without electronic skills. The panels will receive the full frequency range output.

2. Y split the connections between pre amp/DAC (Tact) and power amp - need just another amp, but dont know if one can do this? Also the signal to the panels will have had the same room treatment as the main horns and will have a low pass crossover filter (not best case)

3. Take a further set of cables from the output of my main amp - need to add some sort of volume control, but dont know if one can do this? Also the signal to the panels will have had the same room treatment as the main horns and will have a low pass crossover filter (not best case). Also there may be issues with balancing volumes as my horns have a sensitivity of 100+ and the panels about 90.

Hence my opting for option 1. Unless anyone thinks better.

I am looking for a Hi Fi related project for the Winter.

One improvement I believe I can make to my horn system is the implementation of the concept of Layered Sound. Put simplistically, this is the introduction of a pair of panel speakers to play alongside, but below the horns in volume. These speakers are truely omni directional and load the room with the subtle background clues that make up a musical performance. Well thats the theory anyway  . At least one reviewer has tried it and delared it to make "stereo obsolete", but I take this with a big pinch of salt.
http://www.layeredsound.com/indepth.html

OK, to my questions.

I need to find a second outlet to the sound to feed the panels. The Fireface 400 looks to have an optical output and if I read the manual correctly this can feed out a simultameous signal to another DAC. Is this right?

I will need to buy another (cheap for experiment) DAC and am looking at the Sigtone Shek D2 non oversampling DAC. It looks to have an optical input. Do I just need to ensure it works with 16bit 44.1 signal?

Thanks Chris

Hi

This was a dilemma. I have the Record Collectors book and many seemed to be worth reasonable money.

I have about 300 albums and have been trying to sell them as a batch for about 3 months.

Here are some of the reasons they will not achieve the sort of money I hope for:

1. "True vinyl collectors have copies of most of what they want by now"
2. "The second hand market for vinyl is nearly dead"
3. "Most are fit only for Oxfam"
4. Peoples tastes are very different and they want to cherry pick the best albums
5. "Unless covers are pristine they are worthless"
6. E Bay people buy records and after recording them complain they are scratched and expect a refund, you then get bad feedback
7. I cant be arsed with all the aggro on E Bay - the thought of going to the Post Office with that many albums one at a time
8. The albums weigh about 80Kg in total and postage as a single lot is prohibitively expensive.
9. True collectors only want them if they are a particular pressing by a particular factory and have a particular letter etched on the vinyl - bloody anoraks.

As for archiving, I did think about it with the Fireface 400, but life's too short and in a way its cathartic to just let them go.

So they are being collected for £150 this week by a chap who will play and appreciate them. Its a bitter pill, sweetened only by the SQ of XXHighend

Here you go. It was early days in this forum with only a few of us around - you could hear the echos
http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=52.0

Hi Gerard, I have written about this elsewhere on this site.

A little while ago (around about version d) XXHighend caught up and passed the SQ of my Linn Sondek, Ittok,
EAR 834P phono etc.

The record deck is now sold and my record collection goes next Wednesday. There is no going back and indeed no need to .

Had exactly the same late last night. I was playing with a few of the buttons on XX to change settings and the computer rebooted. 

Yep attended.

Hi Peter, the following is an observation not a criticism. 

As a scientist I am well acquainted with experiments that explore a number of variables, and the ever increasing complexity of deciphering the data that is derived from these additional variables.

I think XXHighend is moving into dangerous territory. We have Q1 (34 options - non linear), upsample (2 options), invert (2 options), double (2 options), core appointment (5 options - non linear), player priority (7 options), thread`priority (7 options), unattended (2 options).

Given that conclusions at any given selection are subjective and cannot be inserted into some complex mathematical equation, I think even Einstein would struggle to find optimum conditions.

Of course your on line guidance gives a tangible starting point, but I think you need to be thinking about simplifying the process or you may be in danger of scaring away the 'casual' person who is trying the software for the first time. 

After my glowing report on 9s-1, this version allows further meaningful improvements in sound using the Scheme settings.

At present I favour scheme 3 as being that bit more 'analogue' (less digital). Using this setting (no upsample, no invert, no unattended) I have been able to push the Fireface to 96 samples from 128 samples without my normal glitches .

Couple of minor issues.
When I push 'next' I always get track 2
At one point I got the infamous red cross in the playlist box, not sure what I pressed.

Great stuff, I'm just loving the detail. Normally in Hi Fi you only get this if some frequencies are uplifted, but its everywhere.

Good description and I seriously thought it meant leaving the room while the Hi-Fi was playing

I haven't tried unattended yet - perhaps more delights are in store

Glad you've fixed the problem 

I cant grasp the concept of unattended operation, how does it differ from just loading lots of tracks and going away? I must be missing something

Yes, I did note the new schemes and how they might help with glitches. Till now I have just run on SQ 14 with nothing else checked - so lots of experimenting to do

Despite the bugs, this is the best version of XXhighend by far.

In my opinion all the incremental changes since its inception do not add up to the one single improvement made by 9s-0. Dynamic and revealing of small detail, yet without a hint of harshness. It gets my vote