Without a doubt Peter, you capture what I am hearing what you are describing above. Bass is such good fun, and as you say partically playing electronic music, it drives the music forwards so well now. All of this really was not the case with 2.08.

I have managed to listen to some more snipits today and applied your xx settings, WOW its such a great sound, the sense of fun and energy in music really comes across.

Regards the 6db change in volume, I hear this too. I have another way of getting a similar effect in my PC which you will know about. Interestingly the sound quality that comes with the extra volume here is very similar in character to 2.09 - pushing in a very similar direction indead.

More time listening is needed but form the point of view of a sheer fun enjoyment factor coming from the music, I think 2.09 may turn out to be amongst the best releases ever.

I cannot stop  when I am listening.

Nick.

I just applied the 2.09 patch. looking at the release notes they seemed to mainly talk about bug fixes for 2.08 and some additional features. Boy SQ came as a surprise 

Overall the 2.09 sound "pops" much more than with 2.08 in a very good way. There is more presence and dynamics. The response is more extended with more energy in the highs and bass is just in a different class, so much more tune full whilst being better damped and delivering greater weight. My only issue with 2.08 was that somehow the musical event (or liveness) was just ever so slightly diminished, whilst in many other ways 2.08 was big step forwards. 2.09 really seems to pull so much together, to my ears its a good deal more "real", I am defiantly looking forwards to spending more time listening  .

Thank you Peter !

Nick.

ps I hope that there is an under the covers reason (ie in the software) for what I heard 

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the link. The .rar patch file works fine when copied over the network no problems at all with blocked files.
KR,

Nick

Hi Peter.

Sure will try the .rar files. It was a wired one, patches have always been so simple so it was a suprise.

I am really loveing the sound quality of 2.08, I mean REALLY loving it 

I scanned the release notes to check your comments on SQ before looking at anything else (as always  ). I think the comment you made was sort of, oh yes there might be better sound.
Love your I nderstatement, you have British side to you haha.

KR,
Nick.

Hi Peter,

The problem resolved quite quickly this morning.

The issues was that windows has flagged all of the patch files as "blocked" which prevented them from being run.

It seems the reason for blocking was because they "came from another computer"  and this is enought for Microsoft to flag them so they cannot be used ! Or to be precise the files were flagged as blocked after copying them from my music server PC onto my audio server PC form a mapped network drive on the music server PC.

There were two simple ways round this the blocking issue:

Right click on a file you think might be blocked in "properties" if it has been blocked there is a check box that can be set to unblock it. You have to do this for every file copied including data files etc that Microsoft thinks might pose a risk.....

Or

Put all the files on a USB stick to copy them into the usb server. Microsoft obviously know that if files are transferred using a USB stick (which could have come from anywhere) are far far safer  than files that have been copied over a "private" network from machines on the same subnet. Anyway USB transfer of the file works great.

Thanks for the help and hope this might help anyone else runs into the problem.

KR,
Nick.

Thank Peter,
I will give this all a go and come back 
Best regards,
Nick.

Hi Peter,

I am having a problem upgrading using the 2.08a patch.

When I apply the 2.08a patch to my 2.07 or 2.06a directory and try to start XXHighEnd.exe the application is not starting. The first time after the patch has been applied I get the Windows wheel (new egg timer) momentarily and then nothing afterwards starts. After the first time if I try to start XXHighEnd.exe again I do not get the windows wait wheel.

After applying the 2.08 patch I have found that I cannot reapply the 2.07 patch so I have just been restoring the backup 14393 RAM OS file in order to get back to an activated 2.06a copy and try the 2.08a patch on. When the OS file is restored 2.06a is works fine.

I think I might be missing something when I install the 2.08a patch just not sure what 

Thanks,

Nick.

ps I have tried applying 2.08a in both minimised and non minimised OS conditions in a 14393 BASE boot.

Peter hi,

Can you add me to the list for a 1m Lush.

Thanks,

Nick

Hi Peter,

I will give the suggestions a go.

Good thing is that sound is very good event at high wattage. It is just better at low consumption :-)


It was heat management that go me really looking into this. It could certainly have contributed to Mani's Teradak heat problem.

Regards,

Nick.

I may have a new observation which might be relevant to the change in sound quality being discussed.

To avoid confusion with earlier discusion this is not related to the usb port effects above but it does change sound quality.

For some months I have been using a new linear supply for my audio pc. The supply displays both supply voltage and the current being provided and can always be viewed from where listen. I have become used to seeing the audio pc's current demand (and therefore watts) consumed go through "normal" cycles as the pc boots, shuts down, programms are loaded etc etc.



When the pc is idle with xx loaded and no music playing consumption is arround 31 watts.

With music playing this "should" go upto arround 33 watts so just a little more. This level gives the best sound quality.

However I noticed that on some occations with music playing power can be at 58 watts. This is a reading of almost twice the current draw whilst playing.



The interesting thing is that the pc can start playing music at 33 watts and you can play mutiple play lists and this doesn't change. Then for no obvious reason when the next play list is loaded or even during a play list sometimes the wattage goes upto 58 watts. Once this higher consumtion has started it tends to stay at that level each time play is restarted. I am finding that setting xtweaks supply smooth power to 1 flips the consumtion back from the high level to the 33 watt level and then it stays there for new play sessions even if supply smooth power is set to 0.

In summary it looks like the high consumtion level can just start for some none obvious reason. When it does sound quality is not as good. Unless you have the power readout constantly on these changes will not be obvious.

Might this be something to do with the sound quality change. It might be something my pc is doing of course. I will do a little testiing to see of some things that people have been trying to "reset" sound, such as plug and unplug the usb cable might somehow be toggeling the pc back to the low power consumption mode whilst playing.

Kr
Nick.

Peter hi,

I have had a quick try at "activating" the mobo header USB2 port then switching the NOS back to the front USB 3 port (connected to the USB3 header) to listen.

In my case the USB 2 mobo port did play music with the NOS connected (interesting sound actually, but a but dull overall).

Moving back now to listen with the front USB3 port. It does indeed sound very very clear. A more pronounced effect in terms of clarity, than just plugging another USB device into a spare USB3 port whilst using the Mobo header USB3.

In addition to the clarity there is more control and sparkle (less splashyness) in highs and cymbals are bigger again. The "clarity" seems to extend through the spectrum and there is a nice dynamic lift throughout.

First impression is very much positive. What ever next ???

Kr,

Nick.

Peter hi


We must have a more common reference with the Orelos :-) (Of course I do not have the B'ASS and Phisilator upgrades).

I also agree with your comments about the slight gap between the lower mid and deep bass and smaller Cymbals. In the case of the bass the slight gap has the effect of emphasising the low bass thuds without the higher harmonics of the instrument being hit which makes bass notes sound more similar and the emphasis on the deep bass make the tracks rhythm down slightly. Its not a massive effect but this is what I hear.

I will take a look at the USB2 traces if they are easy to locate, and post back.

KR,

Nick.

Peter hi,

I recognise the sound characteristics you mention two posts above. Using the front port I get a clearer more expansive sound which on occasion can sound just a bit overblown. What is attractive here is that there is detail present in the sound but with less upper mid digital edge and slight splashiness. I take your point regards the treble though, I can see how it could be too much, here the extra "lift" is helping. One thing that really is more pronounced and good fun is that the decay of instruments can really extend nicely coupled with pick up of ambient echoes. This seems to help generate an interesting sound stage.

I also am not sure is 100% natural [yet] but the front left port it is probably the best option for me of the 4 ports.

Regarding your second post. Its interesting that the old USB cable failed so badly. I think it could be that the Clairixa is much better but your comments about making and breaking the USB connection lines up with experience here.

Now you mention it, I occasionally (not often) get bit errors for no reason that I can figure (ticks in sound and a few errors recorded on the NOS USB interface control panel) or sound quality just does not sound that good. Usually when this happens the best chance of sorting it is if I just remove the USB cable from the NOS wait and then reconnect it. Often this is enough to stop the ticks and restore sound quality. It doesn't always work and I suspect the result can be variable in terms getting all the way back to the best sound quality but it does make a difference when these symptoms happen.

It is interesting that the USB 3.0 ports sound just a little different to each other though. I think the trace path on the Mobo might have something to do with it, but it might also be the way the Chipset or OS supports the different ports or something else ??? I suppose it would be interesting to deliberately create some HF noise deliberately next to the traces and see if this impacts sound. If its easy to do at some point I might give this a try just to see.


I am using a USB 3 cable that I have had for years, I keep meaning to order a Clairixa. The extra resolution would be very welcome for system set up. I will PM you .

KR,

Nick.

Hi Peter,

Your last post has got it. The two ports on the front of the case are blue ones, easy to miss this in low light  They connect to the usb 3.0 header  as you highlighted above with your mouse pointer.

Hope the sound is nice.

Mani hi,

Surgery on motherboards, never  ! 

Kr

Nick.

Taking full notice of the effect of tired electrons into account of course....

This is a very interesting topic for projects on the go here. I thought I would post some observations and put forward an idea about a possible cause here. All relates to the Asock x99m mother board.

Each of the 4 USB 3.0 ports sound different to each other (honestly).
There is also defiantly a difference in sound quality if there is an additional USB device plugged in as well as my NOS.

Trying to work out why the USB ports at the back of the PC sound different I traced out the routing of the USB data traces on a dead x99m board I have lying about. The traces run right across the board from the x99 chipset to the connectors on the back of the mobo. The route goes straight across the pice slots and under the network chips sets and clocks and switching power buck chips.

Seeing this I traced out where the USB traces run for the USB 3.0 internal header that is on the mobo next to the Sata ports. These traces are much shorter and pass way less of the mobos systems.

So I tried the usb3 ports from the internal header (these are the ports ones on the front of the silverstone PC case for most people). These ports sound much better than those on the back of the mobo.

Of the two USB ports at the front of the PC the left port (looking at the front of the PC) is the best sounding, much better sound here from this port. In addition having an additional USB device plugged in to the other front USB port (I have been using a USB 3.0 16gb disk) defiantly improves sound.

I've been trying all this out since Richards first post. I had noticed myself that having a USB disk plugged in whilst playing music made sound different but dismissed it until Richards post. Now after a week or two of carful listening, I think using the front left USB port and having the USB dis plugged in is the way to go

I cannot defiantly say that the mobo layout is responsible for the difference in USB port sound but I "know" for sure that noise induced in the USB data lines could explain the type of sound differences that exist between the ports.

This also has me wondering if this also might be the reason that people are hearing the PC's sound "deteriorating". When this deterioration happens for me the difference in sound heard is very similar to the sort of differences I hear between the 4 USB ports.

Could be a stupid theory but the differences in sq are defiantly there 

Kr
Nick.