Can you please try to explain as exactly as possible

- what you are playing (title) incl. subsequent tracks and where it happens;
- Messages which may popup (with message content please);
- File types (like 96/24) you think the subsequent tracks are;
- The DAC settings in XX (DAC is and DAC Needs).
- Whether it's repeatable (always start at the previous track where things were OK from the beginning).

Thanks !

Thank you very much.
As I said elsewhere, the CD10 (as the only April Music product I think) officially states that it supports 96/24 for input in the specs.

Do what you like with this information.
And don't blame me !

Quite impossible.
You can test that though by playing at e.g. -6dB with the preamp attenuating (a little less opposed to 0dB).
Just in case, please be careful.

Hey Leo,


This is from your signature. Could you please eloborate a bit on

a. what GainClone you use (could be the "official" GainClone obviously);
b. what hypex you use, and what for ?

Sorry to be OffTopic, but since we were so much in seek for amps in this direction over at BD-Design (assuming yuo know) you can imagine my interest.
Don't hesitate to express your perceivements on them. You won't get flamed ... 

What were your "Dac is" and "DAC needs" settings here ?
And could you please post the Notapad report of your DAC with the "DAC Test" setting ?

Thanks,
Peter

I'm working on that since hybride. Some "interesting" things came up though. I will report on that soon.

Since I see that you have a CD10, a few people would be interested to know whether you can (over USB) play 96/24 (or actually any "DAC is" 32 setting) !

Ah ! but you can't use ANY USB device once you use an USB DAC !!
The way the DAC plays over USB, say, has no priority (well it has, the lowest).

You could try to find another USB "hub" in your laptop plus withgoing connection. But I'm not sure whether that can help (all may end up in the same interrupt pool).

Well, then !

Where I live we kind of say it the other way around : "I'm only a city boy", but we mean the same by it. We must have respect for country boys ?

Anyway, if you have any infrared connected devices (could be keyboard, mouse), disconnect them.
If you have Wifi on board, shut that off too.
Bluetooth ? the same.

Everything only for trials of course.
If you don't have those devices, then actually I don't know (apart from that it sure is not XX related, but you guessed that I suppose).
But let's first see what your answer is ...

As you know (I think), set the priorities to Nothing.

Not that this is part of the subject, please pay attention to Vista not just having shut down one of the services. That is, I recognize what you say here (including some crackles you reported before) but with me this in 100% of cases goes along with a sutdown service.
Things won't restore indeed without Stop and Play.

It's related to a post elsewhere;
If indeed it is so that the best SQ now comes from Attended Playback, I will not be able to retain that. It's just the influence of the, say, GUI (and all in there) and I just *must* be able to mangle in there what I want (hell, if one needs an additional checkbox the sound changes !).

But if you perceive the best SQ from Unattended, or just are satisfied with that, there's no problem.
Btw, what are "problems" actually ? hehe

This already happens for the part that can be checked, although I can expand the checks here and there. Example :

If you'd delete the first byte from the music data part, exactly what you experienced would happen. The byte order now is wrong, and the plus and minus voltage indications are not read and instead random data for that is read. A solution to this which I can apply : check for the file if it has a number of bytes that can devide by 4. Still not waterproof, but better again.
For 96/24 this check doesn't work, and instead now the data bytes must be devideable by 6.

This is just an example of things which can be applied, and many more exist (while all the normal are already in there).

I will do my best ...

Hard to explain for someone not deep into it, but it comes briefly down to this :

Vista Exclusive Mode is *very* formal when it comes down to accepting formats. Say, it only accept formats which are defined by standards officially. An example of unofficial formats is what WMP produces at ripping. So, this already can't be played with Vista's own audio playback means.
But it works the other way around as well :

If you have followed this forum for that last 2 or 3 weeks, you may have noticed the difficulties with DACs just not wanting to play where they should. Their format is rejected by Vista Exclusive Mode (and all other means of playback just allow for it). So it needed tweaking which in the end comes down to, you could say, allowing too much. Too much in a technical sense because Vista actually doesn't allow it. Not that such can cause cracks, but all the variations must be dealt with by me now. Including holding back those actually not allowed.

Lastly, please note that XX does more than e.g. Foobar to the sense of exploiting bits in the DAC which just the same can just be thrown away. The 96/24 which can be played by Foobar with the April Music (like Stello) DAC is an example. So, Foobar allows it, but it really plays at 44.1/16. This by itself caused by Vista Shared Mode (!) which can make it that. Say, a hoax.

All 'n all, sadly, that other players allow things doesn't say much for this environment.

In the end all can be solved, with the WMP rips as the example again. XX can deal with them, after me for some days working out that format, and convert it back to normal RIFF/ Red Book. FIRST though, we must recognize that things are not right, and how to know it ? There is no way that a bunch of bytes can tell whether it's music data or a coverart photo. Okay, except for what I said before : I could examine the voltage leaps. They can only be normal/legal to a certain extend.

Please keep in mind : even something like Wavelab (which is, rather well known software) doesn't do it right. It destroys the header data according the official format.

I know, all look like excuses, but it is really Vista WASAPI flawing. The only thing I can say is that I can work it out if time allows *BUT* / *AND* if we first know what the wrongies are.

It is strongly advised to not use your system without a preamp (or the pre-amp at max volume for that matter) if you or your speakers won't be able to handle a situation that e.g. the file contains wrongly formatted data or otherwise - because of which cracks may emerge with an energy beyond imagination.

I added this text to the Release Notes on each of the versions that support the Digital Volume. The least I could do.


To emphasize the potential danger : you may have heard of the Densen CD. This CD contains a special track that "demagnetizes" the equipment. The track contains rather rubbish tones. Throughout times I smoked both of my Infinity R90 tweeters TWICE by playing this track too loud. "Too loud" meant : the volume at 10-to while normal music played at 15-past easily or at full for that matter.
It's the harmonics which are dangerous, and the cracks as can be experienced are full of squares, producing those harmonics.

Ever heard of UDIAL ? this is a kind of SRC test file and there too 19KHz harmonics (inaudible) exist. That smokes speakers easily.

Somehow I suddenly lost the energy to continue on XX development