The 'rename' fails - it seems to do nothing. What do you mean when you say, "... what happens when you try it via explorer"? Do you mean simply changing .tss to .tst manually?

Mani.

Peter, do you think has anything to do with using a Remote Desktop Connection? Sliding the UAC slider up seems to have worked (it's still there after the reboot). But what about my rights management?

Mani.

Nah... the audio device isn't the problem. I've got the Audioquest working and XX still won't launch.

Mani.

OK, I think I've found the culprit. The mobo in my music server has no integrated audio device. I've been using an old Audioquest USB DAC just for the purposes of launching XX. For some reason, this is now not being recognised correctly by the mobo - it appears in Device Manager but not in Manage Audio Devices. So as far as XX is concerned, there are no audio devices. I have no idea what has suddenly caused this - the Audioquest USB DAC has been working perfectly in the music server for ages, and I've just tried it in another PC and it works fine.

Oh well, I'll probably just stick a sound card in the music server at some point...

Mani.

Hi Peter, thanks. I actually tried launching XX before running the RunThisFirst file, but it wouldn't launch. That's when I thought I needed to run RunThisFirst.

In any event, I've just put the UAC slider up and rebooted. XX is still not launching.

I've just checked the XX folder and I have UACUp.tss in there (not .tst).

Any ideas what I should try?

(BTW, this really isn't a big deal - I was thinking of cancelling my Tidal subscription anyway, especially if they replace all 16/44.1 with MQA.)

Mani.

Hi Peter, Happy New Year!

I've just installed 2.07 onto my music PC [edit: I meant audio PC] and also onto my server (for use with Tidal), using the upgrade patch in both instances. The former worked with no issues whatsoever (I'll post about the SQ later), but I have an issue with latter.

Trying to launch XX, I get no response at all, except a second or so of the windows 10 loading blue circle.

I then decided to load the full 2.07 onto the music server. But I'm getting the same result - a second or so of the blue circle then nothing.

Do I need to do something more than simply double-clicking the 'RunThisFirst' file? Any other thoughts?

Mani.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy New Year everyone!!!

Looks like 2017's gonna be a belter of a year... hifi-wise at least ;-)

Mani.

Thanks Peter. I had this issue with Roon earlier today. I just had to re-login. Thanks for reminding me what to do with XX.

Mani.

Hey Peter, this sounds really interesting... and just what my new SET/speaker setup is in need of. I love the ease and smoothness of the sound I now have, but it'd be great to have a little (lot?) more 'kick'.


The only expression/word that springs to mind is 'taut'. I can imagine describing the steering of a go-kart as 'taut' compared to a regular road car (VJ may disagree ). But it doesn't seem to totally capture the meaning of your Dutch word...

Mani.

Nah, never... just keep 'em coming

Mani.

On one of my recent work trips to Germany, I was talking to a guy there who was telling me of a certain word in German, "schadenfreude", that means taking pleasure out of other people's misfortunes. We don't seem to have an exactly equivalent word in English - the best Google translate can come up with is 'malicious joy', which, from what the guy was telling me, misses the point somewhat. In any event, I'd like to think I don't have much 'schadenfreude' inside me.

Edit: Actually, I think "gloat" is the closest we have.

Of course, if the guy in NZ had kept the F1 it'd be worth many, many millions now. It must be one of the most expensive cars in the world right now. (Perhaps Peter's got one covered up in his garage?) If the opportunity ever arose (haha), it'd be a tough choice between that and an Alfa 33 Stradale, which I consider simply the most beautiful car ever made.

Mani.

So VJ, are you having a bit of a tour in your 4C? Lucky man if you are. (My 911's been sitting in my garage for quite a few weeks now - really have to get her out for a spin at some point.)

Talking of 'tour', anyone seen 'The Grand Tour' (ex Top Gear crowd) yet? I've watched all 4 episodes. Quite enjoyed the first one, but it's been on a steady decline since then. I'm through with seeing the contrived dialogues, the stupid 'challenges', and 3 well-past-their-prime presenters being idiots rather than talking about cars. I really liked 'Chris Harris On Cars' on Youtube, before he stopped for Top Gear. I reckon something with the production values of TG/GT and the aforementioned CHOC would be really, really cool.

Any thoughts?

Mani.

Hi Jack, I'm waiting to hear back from the new owner of the Orelos - I really hope they're working well in his room. Initially yes, I was gutted that I never got them to work in my room. But I'm so content now with my Anima speakers, that that is no longer an issue. The amount of money I lost in selling the Orelos is still hard to stomach though (no different to any other piece of hifi bought from new for the full retail retail price, of course). Oh well, that's life - live and learn...

Mani.

Yeah, I probably should have added, "... in my experience, using the speakers I have to date."

Here's more from Nelson Pass (from Aleph 4 Manual):

"There has been a failure in the attempt to use specifications to characterize the subtleties of sonic performance.  Amplifiers with similar measurements are not equal, and products with higher power, wider bandwidth, and lower distortion do not necessarily sound better. Historically, that amplifier offering the most power, or the lowest IM distortion, or the lowest THD, or the highest slew rate, or the lowest noise, has not become a classic or even been more than a modest success.

For a long time there has been faith in the technical community that eventually some objective analysis would reconcile critical listener's subjective experience with laboratory measurement. Perhaps this will occur, but in the meantime, audiophiles largely reject bench specifications as an indicator of audio quality.  This is appropriate.  Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience.  We should no more let numbers define audio quality than we would let chemical analysis be the arbiter of fine wines.   Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment.

As in art, classic audio components are the results of individual efforts and reflect a coherent underlying philosophy.  They make a subjective and an objective statement of quality which is meant to be appreciated.  It is essential that the circuitry of an audio component reflects a philosophy which address the subjective nature of its performance first and foremost.

Lacking an ability to completely characterize performance in an objective manner, we should take a step back from the resulting waveform and take into account the process by which it has been achieved.  The history of what has been done to the music is important and must be considered a part of the result. Everything that has been done to the signal is embedded in it, however subtly.
Experience correlating what sounds good to knowledge of component design yields some general guidelines as to what will sound good and what will not:

1)  Simplicity and a minimum number of components is a key element, and is well reflected in the quality of tube designs.  The fewer pieces in series with the signal path, the better.  This often true even if adding just one more gain stage will improve the measured specs.

2)  The characteristic of gain devices and their specific use is important.  Individual variations in performance between like devices is important, as are differences in topological usage.  All signal bearing devices contribute to the degradation, but there are some different characteristics are worth attention.  Low order nonlinearities are largely additive in quality, bringing false warmth and coloration, while abrupt high order nonlinearities are additive and subtractive, adding harshness while losing information.

3)  Maximum intrinsic linearity is desired.  This is the performance of the gain stages before feedback is applied.  Experience suggests that feedback is a subtractive process; it removes information from the signal.  In many older designs, poor intrinsic linearity has been corrected out by large application of feedback, resulting in loss of warmth, space, and detail.

High idle current, or bias, is very desirable as a means of maximizing linearity, and gives an effect which is not only easily measured, but easily demonstrated:  Take a Class A or other high bias amplifier and compare the sound with full bias and with bias reduced.  (Bias adjustment is easily accomplished, as virtually every amplifier has a bias adjustment pot, but it should be done very carefully).  As an experiment it has the virtue of only changing the bias and the expectations of the experimenter.

As the bias is reduced the perception of stage depth and ambiance will generally decrease. This perception of depth is influenced by the raw quantity of bias current.  If you continue to increase the bias current far beyond the operating point, it appears that improvements are made with bias currents which are much greater than the signal level.  Typically the levels involved in most critical listening are only a few watts, but an amplifier biased for ten times that amount will generally sound better than one biased for the few watts.

For this reason, designs which operate in what has been referred to as "pure" Class A are preferred because their bias currents are much larger than the signal most of the time.  As mentioned, preamp gain stages and the front ends of power amplifiers are routinely single ended "pure" Class A, and because the signal levels are at small fractions of a watt, the efficiency of the circuit is not important.

4)  Given the assumption that every process that we perform on the signal will be heard, the finest amplifiers must employ those processes which are most natural.  There is one element in the chain which we cannot alter or improve upon, and that is the air.  Air defines sound, and serves as a natural benchmark."


Mani.

Anthony, here's the correct link: https://passlabs.com/press/single-ended-class.

Many years ago, I owned a Pass Labs Aleph 4 amp - 100Wpc solid-state single-ended. It was a very smooth-sounding amp, but didn't have enough 'kick' with the Quads electrostatics that I was using at the time, for my liking. I remember when I sold it on eBay. The buyer came over with his girlfriend to collect it and obviously wanted to listen to it first. I put on a track with female vocals and I could see massive smiles immediately on both their faces as soon as the track started. He looked at me and asked me why I was selling such a great-sounding amp.

Back to NP's article... I wonder if his thoughts are only really valid when considering a truly mass-less speaker cone. And perhaps this is why PP amps just tend to sound so much more dynamic than SE amps? High efficiency horns certainly help...

Mani.