Hi Peter

Notes on sound quality to follow

At present I seem to only be able to play just one track of a playlist.  At the end of a track the player just stops and will not respond to pushing any buttons. After about a minute I get the message "engine 3 did not start within the expected time."
 
To play each next track I have to turn off XXHighend and reload it. 

Cheers Chris

 Time for a group hug 

The two tasks of audio playback on one side and burning the CD on the other, will interact. They will, say, vibrate, resonate.
Looking at the phenomenon "resonate" you can already feel why I think it is a coincidence; something resonates at certain frequencies only.
Btw, keep in mind that both processes (playback and burning) are 100% time constraint processes. So (persistent throughout) resonating can be there indeed.

There is an analogy in Chemistry.

Most pharmaceutical drugs are isolated through a process called crystallisation. Any one chemical can crystallise in a number of forms (polymorphs). Some of those forms have desirable characteristics such as enhance solubility and can be patented in their own right.

So workers throughout the world have often raced against each other to crystallise a particular polymorph and many workers dedicate years of research to the process.

There are a number of cases in history where a worker has crystallised a difficult, wanted form, in one Continent only for the same form to be isolated almost at the same time in a different Continent.

The phenomenon is known as morphic resonance where the blueprint for the crystal form somehow finds its way around the world instantly. Like the effect with the CD it cannot be proven or disproven at present.

Thanks Peter,

I really do appreciate your continued help in this, even though it is not an XX Highend problem.

Not being that gifted with computers I have to look at this simplistically. The underlying problem from what I have read is that some computers treat sound as a 'second class citizen' and its priority in the processors etc falls well behind video etc.

You did refer earlier to a PCI latency tool, which adjusts the internal relationship between sound and video. Unfortunately I have not found software for Vista yet.
http://www.theatertek.com/forums/showthread.php?p=58821

I will continue to turn off bits that aren't needed (with extreme care) and eventually I will find a configuration that does not distract the sound.

Meantime listening on a latency of 128 is not too bad 

Hi again Peter

If I am allowed, I would like to adjust my opinion of q

I had a long listening session yesterday and this gave me the chance to evaluate q on an additional set of criteria.

My first listening is often at what I call the conscious level where I listen actively and evaluate the normal Hi-Fi attributes such as soundstage, frequency extension, distortion, coherence of performance etc etc. This is what most of us do when we audition bits of new gear in the shop.

Prolonged listening gives 'signals' that enter the brain at a subconscious level. If there are failings then the following happens to me without any real thought.

1. I tend to track hop rather than get engrossed in a whole album.
2. I tend to turn the volume down rather than up.
3. After a few hours I find an excuse to close the system down rather than an excuse to listen into the night.

Well q failed at this subconscious level compared to earlier versions.

Hope this helps
Cheers Chris

Thanks Russ

I have carried out all the tweaks and there is a definite improvement in glitches

Here is a record of my current glitches per hour (measured as errors on the Fireface 400)

48 samples - about 80
64 samples - about 10
96 samples - about 4
128 samples - none

So there we have it. I now move my default setting from 256 samples to 128 samples.

I consider that a good afternoons work.

Thanks for the tips, this is the first sign of improvement for months. 

Chris

Hi Russ
I am very interested (desparate) to try anything that can cure the glitches. If you have the time can you run through where to make these changes. I can follow instructions but dont have an intuitive flair for finding my way round the relevant areas in the PC - I think its called old age!

In particular, disabling the Virtual Memory sounds promising.

Strange Peter, because I find 0.9q very enjoyable. I listen on 14 with invert unchecked.  For me the sound is relaxing and very detailed.
However, I may not be the best person to judge as I have made several changes to my system very recently including a  plug-in Firewire card, PS Audio Noise Harvester and PS Audio Power Plant mains regenerator.

The latter in particular is burning in and may have brought about the improvements I noticed.  Overall this is the best my system has ever sounded.

Just an update.

The problem with glitches (drop outs) has never really gone way. At 48 samples on the Fireface 400 I get a recorded error about every 15-20 seconds (random) and at higher positions the rate of glitches gradually decreases. So I set the Fireface to 256 samples and all is well, though SQ may be compromised a bit.

A couple of days ago I got the Expresscard firewire plug-in card to see if this will improve communication between the laptop and the Fireface.
Well the SQ improved a bit when switching to the Expresscard, but the rate of glitches is unchanged.

So I continue to run at 256 samples and continue to seek out the holy grail that will allow running at 48.

I have been reading Gerards thread (though he had different issues to me - clicks and distortions) and tried putting XXHighend on the same hard drive as my music is stored, but it made no difference to the glitches. 

On the positive side version q is wonderful

Which buttons do you push to find the screen with CPU usage 

Comforting also, that I was told by RME that there is no SQ difference between the 400 and 800

If you haven't read it, there may be bits of interest in this thread. Lots of good advice on fixing glitches.
http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=75.0

Despite eventually having a new, more highly specified computer and with driver updates I only get a glitch every 3 hours or so, but I do run at a latency of 256
When I get my bum in gear I intend to replace the built in firewire connection (poor) with a card adaptor (good) , but its an Expresscard and there aren't many about for Vista in the UK. XX is brilliant and the Expresscard (and hopefully lower latency figures) will just add icing on the cake.

Hi Russ
Can you stick your system in your signature. I have been plagued in the past with glitches like yours.
Cheers Chris

Thanks Bert
I have already reported just how good 0.9m is but thought you guys had discovered more in m-1. No need to rush to download it now

Are you guys saying 0.9m-1 improves on 0.9m cause Peter reckoned they should sound the same.