Peter,
Yes. I have not isntalled 0.9z-7-5 at this moment. I had forgotten to change it in my signature.

Maxi

Hi Peter,
 
32 bits is ticked in "at > than 16 bits the DAC needs" area.

Maxi

Hi Peter,

I am not in the XXHE partition to check but I think yes.

Maxi

Hello,
I got some subtle and sporadic tics with the Z7-5 settings just like when I had the Q1 too low. So I tried higher setting from Q1x2 to x3 but, with SFS at 2, there was not possible in my system so I tried the other way down: the Q1x from 2 to 1 and the tics seems to be gone.

And the sound... OMG  . After adjusting some other settings the level of detail is atonishing. With orchestral complex passages, like those in Mahler symphonies, the clarity of the percussion instruments is outstanding. Before there were very good but now my Grado's has become a stethoscope. A giant step forward. Great job Peter.
BTW I was suspecting a gift like that because you were so silent after the HPET thread.

Best regards

Maxi

Hello,
I  have the same problem but with some differences in W7. The sequence after rebooting is:
1 / The slider moves and the clock is running but there is no sound. I didn´t notice it initially because I had the DAC off in early tests.
2 / The Kernel error message appears.
3 / The music plays normally but there are two cases: if I don't press stop after the Kernel message and then press play the slider is forward; if I press stop after the Kernel message the slider is where it should be.

Killing the Engine3 after every stop is working for me to avoid those problems for now.

Maxi

Hi Arvind,
Cool! It's like a HiFi Showroom. And you have even a Gyrodec. I sold mine more than 20 years ago and you made me feel nostalgic.

Maxi

Hi Tore,
nice proposal. Here are a couple from me.
Maxi

Hello Peter,

Fortunately my bios doesn't allow me manipulate virtually nothing since I am a serious candidate to run into troubles because of my mania to touch first and ask later. 

But the point is that the SQ is better now so I am going to try the 1ms setting without the set timer running.

Best regards

Maxi

For those who, like me, have a BIOS that does not allow to manipulate almost anything, I have found the following software that seems to fix this problem. I am using the free version:
http://www.lucashale.com/timer-resolution/
The free version is supposed to be intended for 32 bit systems but it's working in my 64 bit system. You have to keep it running when XXHE is playing in unattended mode so you need to include it in the corresponding settings window and set the clock  to "max for this system".
In my case, this software in combination with a lower FSB (as I said in a previous post) and the RAMDisk as playback drive have provide me the most detailed  and refined sound to date.
BTW for those who can set the HPET in the BIOS I've read that deactivating it in the BIOS it isn't enough. You need to deactivate it in windows too. I don't remember the process but If I recover the links I'll post them.

Maxi

After some exhaustive listening with some well known recordings with headphones I can assure that the SQ is clearly better in my system with RAMDisk.
But there are some issues:
   - some sporadic ticks. I had never had this problem except with very low Q1 numbers
   - sometimes the "lower the SFS or reboot..." message pops up again.
   - the known annoying waiting time when shut down or reboot. I had forgotten this.

Maxi

Hello,
I've just installed the RAMDisk again and now is working after two attempts. Thanks Stanley for resume the process because it's a little bit tricky. Besides that I had to format the RAMDisk from the DOS console.
First impressions are that the sound is better. In my case I have been using an old 60 Gb Seagate Barracuda mounted on a LaCie USB 2.0 chassis that originally housed a 320 Gb HD ( BTW I have noticed that two of my external disks that I thought were broken in fact they weren't. The failure was in the housing. The LaCie housing that stopped working with the 320 Gb HD is working fine with the 60 Gb HD and the 320 Gb HD is working fine in a 500 Gb original housing)
But I digress. The question is that I think that the advantage of the RAMdisk against the external disks or the pendrives resides in the fact that it doesn't need any kind of physical connections.
So thank you, restless minds, who have rescued the RAMDisk concept from the past.

Maxi

P.D. Returning to the original subject of the topic, for me SFS at 2 and with this new XXHE version I could make the buffer size smaller.

Hello Peter,

this is just an update: playing with the main pair of speakers with swapped polarity and the sound is EVEN better. Not a big difference but it's better.

This is a little bit off topic but I take the opportunity to comment you that, although when I push stop there is no plop at all, when the music stops by itself sometimes there are  plops again. I didn't notice it  before because last week  I have been  testing all the time and I didn't  let the music end very often. I'll try other buffer settings again.

Best regards,
Maxi

Hello Peter!
I am playing with the speakers polarity swapped as you suggested. I am using an old pair of shelf speakers so I can't tell much about  the SQ differences with normal phase and PA -. But I've noticed that, as you predicted, things are going better with PA+ and inverted phase although finally ther was a point when the protection circuit was tripped after a loud crack. I must admit that I don't even dare to try inverted phase and PA- (my wife is going to kill me ...if I don't suffer a heart attack before).
I think I must live with the fact that only normal phase an PA- is possible in my system. I perceive the sound as the better I ever had so no worry about that. When I detect a recording wich I suspect that could sound better with inverted phase then I always can deativate PA.

Once again, thank you for your support.

Maxi

Hello Peter,
Thank you, I'll try.
At this moment I am playing the DacMagic and seems that there is no problem with SPDIF: optical from Prodigy soundcard and electrical from internal soundcard.
But, of course, PA can't be activated.

Regards

Maxi

Hi, Juan
Yes I live in Madrid and I would be happy to visit you and hear the NOS1 and, of course, you are welcome to visit me and hear the ... well, the thing. We'll be in touch.
BTW I am actually using a playbackdrive.

Cheers

Maxi