These were my thoughts when I first heard it:


Mani.

Marcin, thanks for this.

I can get down to 0.9ms by playing a flash demo on the net. But this has sound, so is obviously pretty useless when I want to use JPlay. Can you recommend a site with some "lightweight flash content" that I could try?

Mani.

Well, let me add my bit. It sounds really, really nice. The low-level detail is quite astonishing. Well done!

Mani

PS. Latest listening done with 64-bit version.
PPS. It still doesn't like being installed and being run from my RAMDisk...

Hi pedal,

I don't really have much to share I'm afraid. But my Vertex2 SSDs seem to work well, as does RAMDisk. I would advise that you get the fastest RAM that you can though, which will depend on the mobo you choose - I went for top-line G. Skill RAM, but I don't use the supplied RAM fans.

I'm not sure how much it really helps, but I run the PC from a 1kva mains isolation transformer - just trying to minimise any noise that the PCs power supply might be putting back into the mains supply. Again, I don't really know exactly how much this helps...

Good luck!

Mani.

I guess you meant:
forfiles /M *.wav /c "cmd /c jplay2 --file @file"


That's fair enough. I have to say that it's still too much of a WASAPI sound for me - clean but to the point of being clinical on my system. Some sort of KS implementation would be very interesting.

Mani.

Hey Peter,

I really enjoyed reading the NOS1 Specs doc. Facinating stuff.

In the document you say "... your speakers should have sufficient headroom to allow for the NOS1 output." I'm assuming that this is something we'll just have to test for by listening to the NOS1 in our respective systems. How might this distortion sound?

Mani.

Maybe statistically a bit weak, but a phenomenal find nevertheless Josef. Thanks for sharing.

Mani.

Josef, wow! That is one clean sounding player! Well actually two, one of which is clearer better than the other. My strong preference is for JPlay2. And yes, as soon as another application is opened, JPlay2 struggles to play.

Marcin, Ivo (and many others I'm sure): yes you're all absolutely right - XX sounds much better when files are copied manually to RAM and then played directly from there, with 'Copy to XX...' and 'Don't Play...' left unchecked.

I compared XX Engine#3/Q1=0 (playing a file manually copied to RAM) vs. JPlay2. XX sounds fuller and more musical, but JPlay sounds cleaner. JPlay sits on my SSD c: drive, along with the OS. I tried to play it from my RAM drive, but couldn't get the command prompt to recognise the RAM drive.

Mani.

[All listening conducted on my Atom PC with RME AES-32, whilst my main PC is upgraded ready for the NOS1!]

I'll give this a go this evening. Really interested in hearing the difference...

Mani.

Peter, what about payment methods? Will you accept credit card, PayPal and/or bank transfer?

Mani.

Agreed!

But surely anyone who can handle 8 Linux distros can handle little ol' XX... come on, it's not as difficult as that!

Mani.

I contend that even a $45K disc-based digital source isn't good enough. My reference is analogue going through my Pacific Microsonics AD/DA. Once a digital source can play a file recorded from analogue and match the same analogue source going through the AD/DA in real-time, then I know I'm there.

Oh and Windows X, don't throw a $$$ amount back at me...

Mani.

Haha, I understood more of these guys speaking Dutch than I do of you speaking English Peter!

I guess the video must be pretty old, seeing as they're using 0.9y-4. But I noticed that they have Q1=14, and of course aren't using 'unattended', which is pretty important AFAIC.

I played the video on my laptop and listened through the cr*ppy in-built speakers (probably worse than the ones in your monitor) and even then XX seemed to have more ambience than Winamp!

Mani.

Windows X, I think you will find that most (if not all) regular XXHighEnd users have found that buffer sizes affect the sound. On this forum, you will find many discussions related to this - just search for 'device buffer size' and 'split file size' (or 'SFS').

Furthermore, with the right hardware, you can get to super-low device buffer latencies with XX. There is a kernel-streaming mode known as 'Special' that allows you to get down to these super-low latencies. One sample is achievable!

My experience is that very low device buffer latencies give a 'sharper/tighter' sound and higher latencies tend to soften this. I've settled for a device buffer latency of 1024 samples which gives me the best balance of sharp/smooth sound with my RME AES-32 and Weiss AFI1 interfaces.

FWIW, last year I sold my Esoteric P70 transport because I felt that overall I was achieving a better sound from a PC and XX than from the CD transport. However, there is one area that I'm not sure I've matched - and that is in sheer dynamics. Of course, now that I don't have the CD transport, this is difficult to assess.

Mani.

UPDATE

Firstly, I contacted the PurePower guys a couple of weeks ago. They were ultra-responsive and very helpful. With their help, I easily managed to increase the output of the PP2000 up to a constant 240V. It was obvious the moment I switched the PP2000 back on that all equipment set specifically to 240V is happier running at exactly 240V, rather than being ‘undervolted’ by 10V. (I'm totally aware that this equipment uses voltage regulators and that a 5% undervoltage should not matter.)

The dynamics are back!

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve managed to get a few moments to sit and listen to music. I’ve also managed to compare running the system from the PP2000 vs. straight from the wall. The PP2000 easily beats the wall. The sound is ‘cleaner’, more solid and, perhaps most importantly, more harmonically rich. It’s just more enjoyable and rewarding to listen to. In comparison, from the wall, the sound is thin and edgy. Maybe this is purely psychological, but it really does seem as if the music is being corrupted by noise.

I will repeat this comparison once the new mains circuit is in place. This should improve the performance of the system running off the wall. However, I suspect the PP2000 will benefit also.

Mani.