At this moment all is too vague - and even worse than how it was with MQA alone. Probably this just *is* MQA as per reports that people's MQA DAC lits blue or green or whatever MQA colour.

Tidal itself is not to be trusted, like them just ditching software that can decode MQA which they or someone don't like ?

All 'n all I am waiting a little till the dust drops. But I will also try examples and see what comes from them technically, but also audibly.
Keep in mind that this is about the Spectrograph thing again and that you could do the same tests as you did (with so much efforts) before. If you only have that download means first (and I think you have that).

I am not sure yet how to approach this. I mean, if it would be decoded MQA, it should be possible to compare it to MQA-decoded files we decoded ourselves (IOW, the Unicode files again - you know about it all, Colin).

Notice that I don't/didn't trust the Max stuff from the start.

Best regards,
Peter

Hi Tore,

I have been working on something on and off, and it is in the stage of CoverArt not wanting to show.
When I see a minute, I am working on it.

Regards,
Peter

Nice to read all that feedback, Steve.

Glitches I never received with XXHighEnd. So this must be / have been some external situation. For example, I can imagine that if you don't play from RAM (accidentally), the VHD OS file may incur for anomalies. But a too long shot already.
Fact is also that you shouldn't leave it in because it impedes. This is in general (consumes power) but it also might incur for interrupts by the OS. This is because officially it is taken out (actually by OS means) but meanwhile it is - or could be the hardware that asks to come back again (it is hot-plug organized).

For the memory - maybe don't bother; First of all this is just (my) theory and/but secondly I coincidentally tried it because one DIMM went bad in my server board (I had 6 of them laying around for Hexa config), and after 3 weeks of being annoyed I bought new non-ECC and all was good again. But mind you, this is after having set settings for that non-ECC situation which built up in ... 5-6 years ? This includes all kind of ^2 and ^3 cable settings. So it possibly is just what one was used to. And don't ask me whether there are 1 million or 2 million+ parameter combinations (including cable configs) ... it is all just crazy.

I'm sure you are good ...
Peter

Haha - Steve You ...

If the PC boots that slow, it's the wrong BIOS you are using. This is really the reason why I had to stop with the Mach III (say Mach IV) - the later Scalable Xeons only run on new boards with general BIOS instead of ASRock's own BIOS (or maybe by now I forgot the exact combination as it must already be 3 years ago I last tried).
The current Server Board used in the Mach III is still available I think (I still bought a couple 2-3 months back) - but at USD 500 or so (ouch). That boots under 2 minutes, but get the right processor (they are EOL for 3 years indeed).
The speed of HDD vs SSD really does not matter one bit - the loading is way too slow anyway.

Steve, you *must* use MinOS *AND* remove the SSD after booting. You will see ... (no need to buy a new DAC yet).

If you use a server board, do not use ECC memory. Sound will become cr*ppy because of that. And use the memory at the lowest speed, which means that you need to find that first (like 1433 or whatever it exactly is). Processor the same thing : use it at the lowest speed bearable (like around 500MHz). Switch off two cores if you have sufficient of them (see Boot Menu at the bottom). Switch off Turbo Boost in the BIOS.
There is so much more and most can be arranged for by XXHighEnd. Switch on Hyperthreading so you can achieve lower clock speeds in the first place (namely half).

There is much more to respond to (in your nice post) but let's say that PCs are a big mystery. A lot is related to how USB works, and you can see that by means of the crazy differences on the configs of the Lush^2 or Lush^3.

Kind regards,
Peter

Sent you an email Steve !
Peter

Hey Steve - long time.

Yes, 14393.0 is quite "ultimately" better. But it is also more robust towards XXHighEnd (or the other way around).
The best description for 14393.0 is that it is more consistently sounding over various music types (and albums as well). More smooth - less digital. This latter allows for interesting different XXHighEnd settings (because all is inherently more smooth, you can dial in more extremes without them disturbing).

Small issue (kind of) : If you don't have 14393.0 on your RAM OS Disk, you will also have a more old XXHighEnd. And *if* I would be able to add 14393.0 from the distance, then still that upgrade is needed as well, and I've always thought that people shouldn't do that themselves (for RAM OS).
So I think the better option is this :

You obtain a new RAM-OS disk against cost only. This is the disk, the little work and the shipping (say that this totals to EUR 160 including PayPal costs).

You will then have the exact same 10586 with possibly even the same XXHighEnd version in there (but it could be a few versions newer).  The 14493.0 which also is in there, will contain XXHighEnd 2.11 (this is the latest version).

Let me know whether you currently have a HDD or an SSD. This matters for the memory size (both more and less than you currently use, won't work out and the storage type determines the memory size).

We could make it tomorrow and then you'd have it on Thursday.

Kind regards,
Peter

Yes. But if you ever obtained 2.x then it's still for free.

Peter

Hi Dave,

There's an S/PDIF (coax) connection looming in there, but not more than that, so No. .
In the very first incarnation S/PDIF was there, as a kind of gadget. Then with the first upgrade I asked everyone (individually) whether they wanted to keep that connection, and 100% said No.

I should not worry too much because everything "streaming" doesn't sound too good. So the DAC might be the same, but it still won't sound good.

Regards,
Peter

Hey Hey Telstar,

All beyond 14393.0 (W10) is a dead end. This is mainly because I can't keep on "trying" for any new version to get it going. This with also the prospectus that the newer sound worse.
Together with this, 14393.0 is still as good as it ever was, so there is just no need.

Anyway W11 won't work for you because it won't go into MinOS.

Kind regards and nice so see you again !
Peter

It is actually ridiculous that they can do such a thing (not even announced - just pulled the plug). They have no idea how much work went in there.
And you don't know how the new (ever ?) due XXHighEnd 3.x was supposed to present an all new means of Search (finding all the related artists, which is ... ehh ... was a great feature).

Colin,
Less flaky means exist but I am not sure how to go about with that on a public forum. Anyway, I am looking into integrating that means by some sort of backdoor means.
I will work on this when time permits.

Thank you for your concerns, guys !
Peter

Hi Ramesh,

Thank you for sharing these nice messages.

If you found a nice configuration for the XLR^2, don't hesitate to mention it including the exhibits;
IIRC there is zero feedback about these cables, which may me logic because everybody will use them in a completely different setup (unlike USB).

Best regards !
Peter

Yes, but I am afraid I have to announce that this has come to an end.
I hate it myself ...

Two days ago I stopped with fighting Tidal Support which doesn't seem to say more than that Tidal stopped to support the "feature". This is 10 or so  email exchanges further.

What I can make of it, is that software players are not supported any more. Maybe, when time permits, I can tweak it, but time does not permit me much lately. But I want it for myself, so that should help. :-)

Best regards,
Peter

OK. This has been an issue for a longer time, but I now suddenly solved it. If all is right, that is.

Can you retry ?

Nah, this is an issue with the web server. I will send a link by email (and try to solve it).

Peter

In the end the login issue - tested by phone - was caused by the phone being behind a VPN.

So far 5 back and forth emails have exchanged with Tidal support, but I am not able yet to make clear what a Tidal Partner (like Phasure) is.
So, still working on it ...

Peter