Finally no ticks with "sustained" notes. And , here, the mid and high frequences sound less airy, more focused, like a crystal clear glass of water but completely musical sounding. Nice!

Hi Arjan,  regarding XXHighend, in 2007 I started with a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop with 2 gigs of memory. In 2009 I switched to a Vostro 230 with 4 gigs of memory. In the spring of 2012 I put together the computor in my signature below. I found each change, particularly the last, significantly improved sound quality.  You should take a look at this thread started by Juan: http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1673.0

Tons of good info there.

Congratulations Peter and Family!!!! A very nice way to begin the new year.

My review of the review: My favorite part was the "downside:" cd's rendered unlistenable. I do wish though they had more thoroughly discussed the sonic attributes of the NOS1, and what their impressions were of the best digital sound ever compared to a high end analogue set up. Guess we'll have to wait for that review. Last April I joined The Philadelphia Area Audio Group and have had the pleasure of hearing some of the best turn tables/amps/speakers made (If one was to judge by price alone.) Let me just say that I always felt they needed to hear an NOS1 in their respective systems!

Hey Paul, based on Juan and Nick's experience I went with a Corsair AX 650 Professional Series. I've been very pleased with it, especially the SATA 6gb connectors that came with it. It has a fan that only runs above a certain temp. I don't believe that I've ever had the fan turn on.  When I put my computer together the 650 was the smallest PS offered in the AX series. I think that has changed. Lastly, with my MB, using Peter's Xtweek settings my water cooled cpu temps have fallen from around 39 degrees to 33. At some point I want to try a seasonic fanless PS as a secondary supply for a backup HD.  

On the off chance you might be reading this ( ) the ticks are 85 percent better on the Allison Krause track, SFS of 2, with the lateset Engine3 exe. Need to listen again, make changes and restart the track, etc, to really see what happens.

Sure hope you are having a beer now and NOT WORKING till after the new year! Thanks so much for all of your time and hard work.

Peter, the ticks are among the strangest thing I've experienced with XXHighend. The Allison Kraus was ripped with EAC. That track is one of my reference tracks and until Z8 I never heard the ticks. It's very strange how they seem to become more "intense" with the loud sustained notes. Glad to hear I'm not the only one hearing that! Waiting for your "fix", I've been listening with a SFS of 12 or 14. To these ears, the SQ improvement with Z8 is as "large" as the introduction of PA. Best Xmas present I've gotten in years. 

Sounds like the same ticks we've all been hearing. I have SFS rounds set to 3 and when I hit play, before PA is actve, the ticks are louder than after PA activates.

Mystery feet, sounds very interesting. Are there plans for making them available to "The Community?" Sure hope so!

Peter, great story. I've been walking around the last few days just shaking my head wondering how such different results could be the case. Not that there aren't individual preferences but the difference is too "objectively hearable." I think being in denial at times is necessary to work through things. Thanks to your bullheadedness we only get to listen to some of the best sounding music reproduction on the planet.

Now, about those ticks. They are certainly strange. I found three tracks where they behave very differently. On one they are constant; on another they only happpen with loud sustained vocal notes, they go away in the track when the vocals and music are softer; and the last has no ticks whatsoever. All have different header formats. Two were ripped by EAC and one with dbpoweramp. I sent you and email about them.

Sure as hell hope someone has tied you to the mast; we wouldn't want to lose you! 

Took another break and the ticks returned. This time, instead of rebooting, i stopped engine 3, hit play and the ticks disappeared.

Reboot and the ticks are gone. The disappearance, reappearance, and again disappearance with the driver at 16 ms.

Weird, went outside and brought some wood for the stove down to the backporch for the week. The ticks with a SFS of 2 have returned.......When i went outside I left the system on but not playing.

I just changed the USB Buffer size in the XX contol panel from 8 to 16, per Peter's specs, and the ticks, with a SFS of 2, have disappeared, I think....