Thank you, David.
Peter

Hi Tore,

No, nothing you can do. The albums of 44.1 are fake-MQA anyway. Just avoid them.
And Yes, I know, there are most probably no normal 16/44.1 albums left in Tidal (once you see an MQA version of that album existing).

In the upcoming XXHighEnd version you can recognize them ("real" MQA-44.1's exist just the same).

Best regards,
Peter

Not really new (see the tutorial I made for it), but if it does not work I have no idea "why not". So something seems to block the approval of "logging in" to the network shares. Maybe someone has a hint for Tore.

Peter

Start with RightClick on the Album (Library Area).

Hi there Shreekant,

So far I did not run into any album from Tidal that has a problem whatsoever (OK, MQA's left aside).

Wat you could try is convert the FLAC's to WAV and retry with the WAV. You can do this via XXHighEnd or any other program which can do that.
If this does not help, you could even try to convert back to FLAC from the WAV you just created.

Kind regards,
Peter

Hi all,

This must be the longest "review" I experienced ever. Say that from day one I loved it, but it is so good that it seems "wrong".
But I now finally decided to come forward with it.

A:W-Y-R-G, B:W-G

This is from July 17 (2021).
It was handed by a nice man Roberto Herrera and he plays music himself. He and his band, also record music and to me it sounds as the finest recordings.

What he himself tells about this configuration, comes down to "very realistic" (my words).
I will make this of it, after more than 2 months of listening :

This is what I wrote down during the very first moments of listening :

First impression, … too technical. Not analog.

This kind of thought remains until today. But it is always immediately followed by my impression "but hey, this can't be more real !". It really and seriously is so much representing all realties imaginable, that, well, I am still listening to it with open mouth.
It once again is something that changes your existing and well known music so much, that you are sure you are playing a coverband or something.

The detail in the mid is enormous. Things which should be forward just are that. Laid back ? then it is there in the back indeed. It just all fits.
The old music is now even more new than it already was. And yes, music from that era of concern (say mid to end 60's) show even better what a lack of compression was (but avoid the remasters).

It is like what happened with the NOS1-USB version : we could not tell about its sound any more. This now happens to this config too. I can't describe it other than "so good" (which should mean : so real).

Notice that the real stuff happens (for me) in combination with these XXHighEnd settings (this is really crucial) :

Q1 = 14, xQ1 = 4 (the xQ1 4 disallows Hi-res to play);
Q3,4,5 = 0,0,1 (the most crucial of them all);
SFS = 10.13
ClockRes = 10ms
Core Appoinntment Scheme = 3-5 (just saying as I am using this always).

I hope you will be shocked. And oh, somehow I am very sure that this config requires breaking in. Not sure whether this is "my mind" needing that or that it is physically in the cable. But even after this more than 2 months on a daily basis I judge it as better again. This is really odd.
Possibly this relates to my first impression of "not analog"; so indeed it really is an other direction of the sound (it could be quite opposite to what we know from the introduction of the Lush^1).
Anyway my message : try not to give up too soon. Instead try to envision all the extra "messages" now present. See though how the drummer hits a cymbal. It's really these things which were added. More visuals on the artists. But also stuff like cymbals themselves. More metal. Less analogue ? no, more metal because a cymbal *is* metal ! That kind of thing(s).
Thus, force yourself a couple of days into this. Try to watch yourself smiling more and more.

Best regards,
Peter (now updating his sig)

Dear people,

There is no single way that such software will be doing anything good to your sound. I don't know whether it is in this topic, but with some tricks I once had it running, and it totally kills the sound.
Of course we all have our standards, and for example Robert's can't be judged, but for anyone owning a NOS1 this really is not working out.

Best could be to try e.g. Foobar and get a bit used to the sound, and then try something like Dirac Live. You sure will be able to "equalise" the room (better : listening position), but there will be no listening joy. Thus my promise : net it will be worse.

I did not read Kal's review, but know that he is (almost ?) exclusively in multichannel. That is fine, but maybe not for us.

Peter

A bit late to the show ...
Yes, that repeat is normal, although not intentional. But I can't solve it either.
It's just XXHighEnd and not related to the PC at all. Is not related to shortcuts or keypresses or click etc. whatsoever.
It is only related to buffer sizes (of the various kinds present).

Kind regards,
Peter

PS: Yes, I should finally be firm in my current settings as of 2 months by now. A real game changer.

Thank you very much, Colin.
I currently can not test that anymore because all has been realised / finished by now months ago. But because there's a huge make-over for the search engine for Tidal, I can not upgrade without finishing that. The mere point is : it is difficult to cope with the sh*t Tidal throws at us, because if they keep on changing, I better wait until they finished their changes (if ever).

Anecdotal : More than 10 years ago I stopped the support for Amazon (which was used for obtaining coverart) because they kept on changing things, leaving the developer with a week of work each 6 months or so. With Tidal it is worse because Tidal just "does" it without notification and without documentation. Unbelievable but true.
Modern times, I suppose.

Kind regards,
Peter

Seriously ?!
Wow, I don't think we ever payed attention to that. But we will from of now !

Thank you, Robert.
Peter

Yes, this surely (and obviously) makes a difference.
Very well found !

Peter

Hi Robert,


I assume you know that this is the maximum temperature before the processor will throttle down. If all is right, it should never reach that.


Not at all. It is made to be like that.

What you noticed about the first switch is correct; that is (indeed) for emergency, like being in the BIOS for a long time (that implies running at max) or just having all cool when you are not playing (theoretically it is better for the longevity). Using the switch (down) almost explicitly implies bad sound because of (electrical) oscillation of fans.

Best regards,
Peter

Hey Muni - Welcome then !
(finally ;-)

In the picture below I tried to catch all in one screenshot.
It starts with the F button (see where the mouse is). Next see the Filter Designer screen for what to select for "Low". Notice, however, that you ask for "8x" so probably you want to select the "Low" filter two lines down.

The 8x is set by the little slider you see left of the blue "352800". Prior to that, take care that this section of XXHighEnd is visible by means of the [1] button you see in the top; slide it sufficiently to the right.

I think that is all ! (if you have more questions, please open a new topic for it so we can find it back later more easily).
Your Lush^3 is due Tuesday.

Kind regards,
Peter

Paul, because in that case only, Services are shut down. As said, (try to) omit that and my guess is that it will be fine. Easy to try, but it starts in Normal OS mode to set it. And this with this notice that without changes at first, in Normal OS it may happen just the same. If it does, it is easier for you to test.
Please keep in mind that shutting off Services in Normal OS takes quite a while (1-2 minutes after pressing Play for Unattended).

If I'd know how to solve it, I would obviously do it right away.

Best regards,
Peter

PS: You said the fix is to restart XXHighEnd. Thus, Quit by crossing away and restart, right ? Could you try what you see below (when XXHighEnd already is on screen) ? Notice that this will need a real keyboard, but if it works, I can incorporate that in the XXOSK screen.

Hi Robert,

Not necessary to be alarmed because it will keep it under control. Btw notice that the means you use to observe the temperatures will let rise the temperatures just the same.

Point is : with the extra fan power (2nd switch) the sound may deteriorate a little. Will that be noticeable - maybe not. I have it down as well.
If you "mangled" with the other settings (set to 1 and set to 0) and you recognize it is since then, then I would restore those to how it was (they have fairly high impact).
See my settings below which are good to go.

The main culprit could be the Balanced Load set too high (see mine at 62), but notice that when you bring up XXHighEnd after playback, the normally cooling feature - never mind playing - will not be active. Thus, you may test all with XXHighEnd crossed away again (then cooling is again active) and leave it like that when not playing.
This way you can't see temperatures, but you might see the light not coming on now.

I have that light always in sight and I think it is a good habit.

Kind regards,
Peter