Thanks Roy, I generally buy all my cd's used on Amazon. Amazon now lists the release dates of the cd; ironically the newer and remasters are all more expensive than the better sounding ones released in the late 80's and early 90's.

Though I knew remasters sound terrible compared to original releases, I never understood why before now.

Hope all is well with you!

Read to the end to get to the animation...

http://www.cdmasteringservices.com/dynamicrange.htm

Well, i guess theoretically it should have an impact because you should be able to run higher SFS settings with the 64 bit version, if you have more than 3 gigs of memory. However, some "64 bit" folks are having problems with the SFS settings in the SC (Straight Contiguious ) mode. See: http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=1804.msg18343#msg18343

That's 32 bit and not 64?

Hey Quint, play with the Split File Size (SFS) setting. Reducing it will give a sharper less rounded sound, increasing the opposite. However, if you are using Z6 this may not work. What version of Windows are you using?

Thanks guys. I wish I could say I knew what I was doing to get those settings but I'm afraid its just luck and lots of listening/trial and error. What's great about this whole XX experience though is the shared experience/knowledge of the members. Its really quite amazing when you think about all the voices that have contributed to Peter's incredible (or should I say incredible Peter's...) project.

For the first time I heard what Chris is describing this morning--about two minutes ago. It sounded like the needle skipped on a record player from someone jumping up and down in the room. It only happened once but it was like no other tick or click I've ever heard with XX.

I'll check whats going on using the resource monitor when I get home this evening. Hope you get that other speaker going soon!

I don't think the last step is a fake one here. Once I'm in SC by using the above described procedure, I'm able to change the sound by changing the SFS in SC. So, just last night I was listening to the difference in SFS of 200 and 350. Because the lower size has more of an edge but is more clear or articulated I reduced from 350 to 315 and had the best of both, though I'm not sure whether its album or track specific. I mean it could be that some albums play better with slightly different settings.

Because I was able to hear these changes, I don't believe that the last step--switching from MC to SC is fake over here. I do have to do this every day when I turn the PC on or I can't use SC.

One more thing, using the higher SFS has completely removed a particular edge I've had in every version of XX including Z-6, though Z-6 is so much better than everything I didn't know that edge was still there untill I started changing SFS settings last night. Hope this makes sense.....

Hey Paul, so what does a SFS of 600 or 700 do to the sound compared to 300 or 400? Just wondering cause 350 is as high as I go.

Home Premium here too. One thing Ive done from the beginning is to disable all internet connections and turn off antivirus before minimizing the OS.

Last night after playing music for around four hours I suddenly had an issue when I attempted to play a high res file ( Dallas Wind Symphony, Crown Imperial). As soon as I hit play the desktop disappeared and then immediately reappeared but with no sound. Made several attempts to get it going, sometimes heard the first note, but then the desktop reappeared and music stopped. Finally my attempts resulted in a "Lower SFS" error message. Lowering the SFS didn't help. I then switched to MC and had the exact same problem. In short, I could get no music in any mode. I then used the minimize OS button to return the OS to original state and then hit it again to return to "Music server" state--thus had two reboots. All worked again--back to SC, SFS 350. I put this report here cause it seems to me that the issue has to do with the "Monitor Off/desktop/wallpaper reappearing" bug.

I had played high res previously and did not have any issues.

Still skipping through WMP rips, even after stopping and restarting as you suggest. No hurry, if ever....

Please, pass this on to my wife, she doesn't believe me when I tell her..........

Yes, I power down at night, so the "lower the SFS" error occured from a first boot this morning.

Again, don't know if this is a 32 bit issue, but since no one has mentioned it I'll assume it is. I am currently listening with SC and a SFS of 350. The monitor off is working too.

At start up this a.m., with the SFS at 165, SC, I received a "lower the SFS" message. Lowering it didn't help, same message over and over. I then changed to MC with my usual SFS of around 200. All worked well. I immediately changed back to SC, SFS 165, and it worked too.

I then rebooted the computor to start from the "beginning" and had the same problem: If I tried to play SC first I'd get the "Lower the SFS" error. But if I switched to MC, played it for a second or two, then switched to SC, SC worked. Not only does it work using this "procedure" but I didn't receive the error message again until I had raised the SFS to 405. I have backed it off to 350 and all is working fine, including the monitor off button.

Also, I used the "off" button after each instance of getting the "Lower the SFS" error, and then hit play.

Hope this makes sense.