Update:

I just tried 0.9U-9 and everything works fine for the DTS files in that version !

Hope this helps in nutting out where the problem lies.

Thanx again,

Russ

Goedemorgen Peter,

sorry to be the bearer of bad news again, but DTS playback is problematic again in versions 0.9U-8 & 0.9U-10 ( didn't try 0.9U-9 ).

The problem lies in the DTS WAV's encoded at 24bit/48kHz. 16/44.1 ones play back OK.

With 0.9U-8 , playing back the 24/48 files results in stuttery breakup of the sound, even though my Sony processor shows itself locked on at 1536kbps and 48KHz as expected. I should also mention that the only way to get sound out at all on these files is to set Dac as 16 bit/44.1 in the settings. My normal setting of 24/96 ( or any of the other non-16 bit settings ) produce no sound at all.

With 0.9U-10, the stuttery breakup is gone, but the playback speed is now slow, and the processor confirms whats happening, as it now shows 1536kbps but at 44.1KHz. I can also have my DAC setting back to its normal 24/96 value.

Note that in each of the above versions I needed the 'crack detection' box ticked , and is to be expected, and also Vol slider is at zero, again, as to be expected.

If I'm the only one playing back these DTS encoded WAV's I'm happy to setup a shortcut to 0.9U-7 on my desktop just for these files if it's not possible to sort out the bug without affecting the other checks that are now being done, but it would be nice to have the player doing everything again.

BTW .. is ANYONE else playing back these DTS encoded WAV's ?

Thanks again Peter .. I know it must be difficult accommodating these files when you don't have a DTS decoder yourself hooked up.

Cheers,

Russ

PS. go Ferrari !!

Just a quick note to mention for the last few versions ( but not sure how far back it goes ) I'm noticing an occassional 'click' just prior to the start of some tracks. It's not a tweeter shattering 'CLICK' but much more subdued and hardly noticeable unless you are sitting down and paying attention ( rather than background music ). I reckon it could be about 40dB down in amplitude.

Thing is, it doesn't seem to be consistent across albums, or even indeed within the same album if played again. I haven't had the time to sit down and nut out exactly where the problem manifests itself yet, and it may turn out to be a specific setting i'm now using. It occurs playing back 16/44.1 content and also 24/96 files I noticed recently.

Nothing to be alarmed at just yet Peter, but thought it worth mentioning in light of others experiences recently.

I'll try and get some more analysis time on this in next few days,

If any others have noticed this 'click' please speak up also.

Cheers all,

Russ

Hi Peter

all is happiness in the land downunder once more  with the release of 0.9-u7

The little checkbox to disable the 'crack detect' code did the trick nicely. I'd forgotten how nice some of my surround albums are .... mmmmmm

Now ... to go see if I can create some loverly Matroska files to make your hair fall out again .. LOL!

CHEERS & BEERS from the land of plenty,

Russ

BTW .. I haven't had a chance to analyse the SQ difference ( if any ) of the change from -U6 to -U7 yet, but hope to find time in next few days or so.

You're gonna luv the D2 when it arrives

I took an eternity deciding what type of earbud to replace my old Sony's with, and ended up getting the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro from www.earphonesolutions.com

I'm very happy with the choice and earphone solutions were great to deal with.

Being an inner ear system it took a few days to get used to them ( as with any inner ear model ) but now I can wear them for hours at a time and not notice them there. There is fantastic isolation of outside noises with them in use, which can be of benefit when riding on noisy trains or buses or planes and the likes. One downfall though with these inner ear systems is that when walking/jogging/running the sounds of the footsteps is more readily felt/heard in the ear.

I believe your Shure SE210's are very comfortable to use also, and I would suggest you wait until the D2 arrives to try with it first before considering a change to the earbuds ( if at all ). The EQ system in the D2 is very versatile and should be able to accommodate any corrections you may feel necessary for the 210's.

Have fun with your new toy and be sure to spend lots of time on the D2 forum I mentioned in the post above.

Cheers,

Russ

G'day Andrey,

I have NO hesitation is recommending a Cowon D2   

I've had mine for about 6 months now and its most impressive, and, most importantly, the sound quality is right at the top with the best of them, if not the top.

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=53
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byd_zguHLEg&feature=related

Cheers,

Russ

Hi Peter,

just noticed that the "crack" detection code you incorporated in version 0.9-u4 onwards is getting triggered when trying to playback a DTS encoded wav file.

In version -u4 it comes up with a "crack detect" error window and in version -u6 the error box reads "16 bit crack detect". There are also some numbers accompanying the text.

The same files worked fine in -u3.

If there isn't an easy way around detecting whether a wav contains DTS header or not, could a checkbox be added perhaps, to disable the "crack" detection code?

cheers,

Russ

I'm in the same camp as Mani on not using the upsampling option. When activated, the precision looses a little something. Mellower and not as articulate.

As a typical test track, I refer to "In The Hollow" from the album "Asian Roots" by TakeDake with Neptune. For those who have this album, listen to the shakers just left of centre stage at the beginning of that track. In normal playback there is a crispness to the sounds of the contents of the shaker as it gets moved backwards and forwards. Go with the upsampling and the sound loses it's clarity a tad, almost as if they changed the material within the shaker itself. I could quote other examples, but I spent several hours this afternoon switching between non upsampled & upsampled and my preference was the same each time, regardless of music type.

Nevertheless, it's a good option to have within XXHE for those who have a preference to use it. I daresay different DAC's and equipment paths may well sound better with it activated.

Cheers all, and continued thanks to Peter for the effort being put into XXHE's development,

Russ

Perhaps not quite old fashioned Peter, more likely ... shall we say ... not keeping up with the developments of transferring contents of DVD-Audio onto your PC for playback

Now that XXHE is a competent player of these hires files there isn't the need for an external player to do that. Well .. with DVD-Audio titles at least.

Cheers,

Russ

BTW Leo ... thanks again for the heads up on Fagan's trilogy set. Couldn't find it locally so sent off o'seas for it.

G'day Leo

is this the box set ??

http://donaldfagen.shop.musictoday.com/Product.aspx?cp=1134_11283&pc=6DAM03DVDSET

I play those 3 albums quite regularly here and have them in DTS surround also, but didn't know there was a complete set with higher bitrate until I read your message. Thanks for the pointer.

Oh , and I've been using DVD Audio Extractor for ages now .. works well.

Cheers,

Russ

G'day Peter,

I ran the DAC test on this new version ( playing a 16/44.1 Wav file ) , and the resultant text file indicated all modes were still supported in my Juli@ card. This was the same for both "24bits (untested)" and "32bits (most often)" settings.

Playback of DTS multichannel files ( 16/44.1 type ) still works ( provided the Vol control is set at the expected 0dB ).

Playback of 16/48Khz DTS files is broken in this version however. My Sony processor recognises and locks onto a DTS stream but it's jumbled up. I can recognise the 'beat' of the track and it plays at the right pace, but the instruments are screwed up, almost as if the pitch is doubled. The Sony processor indicates it is receiving a 1536bit rate stream but at 96KHz sample rate ( rather than 48KHz).

With some limited listening, playing back 24bit/96KHz 2-channel files with DAC settings at either 24bits or 16bits is indistinguishable ( to my old ears anyway ) This bodes well for those with only 16bit capable DAC's!

Cheers,

Russ

ah .. I meant to indicate that when i tried to select 24bits, that XXHE rejected that attempt and forced the 32bits option. So perhaps 'reset' was an inappropriate word to use as it never got 'set' in the first place.

Hey  .. its late over here 

sleepy Russ

LOL ... no reading of manuals down here mate. That's only needed when things get real desperate and as a last resort 

The Sony's display has a 'scroll' function that can be manually activated ( via one of its knobs ) that will show you the characteristic of the audio file being processed, amongst which is the bit rate and sample freq. I often use that feature to double check that things are working as intended when using different playback programs. I noticed a few days ago that when I had set XXHE's Vol at anything less that 0dB, that the bit rate figured increased accordingly until it got to 24bits.

And yes, I was testing the DAC analysis with a 16/44.1 WAV file. And yes again, it needs the 'DAC needs 32 bits' setting to work also. It's a no go if I try and set to 24 bits .... XXHE resets back to 32bits in that setting.

Cheers and beers,

Russ

Hi Peter ...

It all seems to be working as expected 

The control panel for the Juli@ card has indicator buttons that change green to indicate the sample rate being played. As the DAC test analysis is running, those buttons are initially lit at 44.1 then progress thru 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and finally 192.

Using XXHE's volume control seems to be doing its thing also. If the Vol is set at 0dB, the Sony processor I use indicates 16bit @ 44.1KHz on its display. When I drop the volume to -6dB, the Sony then reads 17bits @ 44.1KHz. At vol = -12dB the Sony reads 18bits @ 44.1KHz, and so on , until, at -48dB, the Sony reads 24bits @ 44.1KHz.

Playing back 24bit/96KHz WAV's has the Sony indicating 24bits @ 96KHz so that part is working as expected also.

Seems like the Juli@ is a versatile card

Cheers,

Russ

Hi Peter,

not sure where to place this info, but this thread looked as good as any.

Primarily a FYI posting, but might but helpful for others trying to decide what make/model soundcard to buy in they are in that situation.

Here's the results from the analysis log of the ESI Juli@ card

--------------------------------------------------------
Start Audio Device Analysis Exclusive Mode support
044AFD38

    Supported : 2|16|44100|176400|4
    Supported : 2|24|44100|264600|6
    Supported : 2|32|44100|352800|8
    Supported : 2|16|48000|192000|4
    Supported : 2|24|48000|288000|6
    Supported : 2|32|48000|384000|8
    Supported : 2|16|88200|352800|4
    Supported : 2|24|88200|529200|6
    Supported : 2|32|88200|705600|8
    Supported : 2|16|96000|384000|4
    Supported : 2|24|96000|576000|6
    Supported : 2|32|96000|768000|8
    Supported : 2|16|176400|705600|4
    Supported : 2|24|176400|1058400|6
    Supported : 2|32|176400|1411200|8
    Supported : 2|16|192000|768000|4
    Supported : 2|24|192000|1152000|6
    Supported : 2|32|192000|1536000|8
--------------------------------------------------------


Cheers,

Russ