Peter,

A very annoying thing happens when I start XXHE.
I have a link attached to the taskbar to startup XXHE.
But instead of appearing on screen I see the programsceen move to the left and dissapear on a virtual screen to the left.
Guess it is a combination of the ATI-driver and your program using a wrong code?
After closing XXHE and starting up again it behaves normal again.
Maybe it is simple to solve?

I thought of those things but have the feeling it is the PC doing this.
Maybe some program running after startup, but for three hours is a bit much.
Maybe a dishwasher or the washingmachine but then I will find out!
The only problem is that I don't want to wait for three hours to get good music.
For now I left the PC on and it still sounds good.
I will be back when I find something more....

Does this mean the quality of the memory is not good enough or is it a softwareproblem that you can solve?
And after three hours it's back to normal as in OK?

No, I have the cheaper non-ECC as far as I know.

Since my electricityconsumption is a little high I decided to power down Stereo and PC at nighttime.
So this week for my birthdayparty I started XX-Highend and the stereo at aproximately 7.30 PM and been listening all evening.
Well the sound was disappointing and I really was thinking about what it could be.
And how to describe this.
Then my daughter asked me to skip a song at 10.45 pm and I allmost did but for the soundquality.
This song was sounding really better, and after that everything sounded magnificent and we could play music for a long time after.

So why this sudden change after about three hours?
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I know my amps can sound a bit rough for the first 20 to 30 minutes, but not for three hours and then change like day and night.
I suspect something is going on in the PC for three hours after startup, but what?

Now I left the PC on and it still sounds amazingly good.

First impression: Best ever!
Even my wife stopped ironing the cloths to listen to the music and I had to do the Ironing upstairs for her...

Hey Boleary,
With Z2 I use adaptive, buffer 2048 and SFS 30
With Z4 I tried lower buffers, special mode and different SFS's and MC and Mixed.

BTW, did anybody try out garbage collect on/off?

Well, I just went back to Z2 and can enjoy the music again!
It's hard to describe what's wrong with Z4 but I really don't like to listen to it.
A lower Q1 seemed to improve a bit, but my main problem is with the bass.
A drum in Loreena McKennit's The mask and the Mirror sounds in Z2 like a recognisable boom, in Z4 like whoom whroom or something not natural and irritating.
The overall sound of Z4 is velvety nice, but a bit too much, Z2 is maybe a bit colder, but for me much clearer, cleaner and natural.
With Z2 I think I can hear the acoustics  better , like real depth.
And important more like my vinyl setup.
Maybe Z2 has some colouration in the bass-region to sound more agreeable with a NOS1-DAC?
Reminds me of the coloration of a Linn Sondek which had this effect and many people liked (not me )

Maybe something stronger with Jules Deelder playing!

  Forget my posts from before or remove them!
A loose connection repaired the wrong way...

Now it sounds very promising!

Peter,

Sorry to say but I use Win 7 SP1 for some time, forgot to change the profile...

(And in unattended the Windows-key don't work anymore, was so convenient before...)
No ramdisk, rest like before, will try more tonight.

Well, I tried to judge to quick. First impression was bad.
After some changes it is a little better but still not impressive to me.
Bass sounds undetailed, no right rhytm and some songtexts are difficult to understand.
I tried phase-invert but that makes it even less pinpoint.
Maybe tomorrow I will try some of your suggestions, but after that maybe back to Z-3.
Sorry, but I like to enjoy my cup of tea.

All of this and more!

BTW, I was thinking of RFI induced by the high SPDIF-signal in the DAC on the analog output being reduced too, but I gues it must me mainly the jitter doing this.
Will your mods to the hiFace add much on top of this? 

Maybe, later you'll see a tear from my eyes!  Time to stop!

A little more:
Playing loud all evening, enjoying so much, every aspect is better so no long story!