there's a huge topic at head-fi and small at computeraudiophile. Reference 7 is their best offer and supposedly better than Prism Orpheus or Resolition Cantata (as the comments say). I also found a comparison to the above dB audio labs Tranquility which "is in another leage than audio gd Ref 5" (better). What is the reality? That you won't know until you try one in your system. Audio-gd has many inputs and balanced outs, but you need a good s/pdif interface (integrated usb input isn't any good). Ref 7 can't be slaved to external clock. dB audio labs tranquility dac is usb only, filterless nos dac. No drivers needed, KS capable. I'm gonba try it since it's below 1k for ex demo unit.

Stopped playback after the first track and brought back XXHE window. I unchecked logging after that happened, so is there anything else?

Anyone heard (about) dB audio labs Tranquility DAC? It's a USB NOS DAC, 16/44 only, but looks good.

http://www.dbaudiolabs.com/

Here's a lot about it - http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=74816.0

The DAC received great reviews and is considered to be better than e.g. Ayre QB-9. Right now I'm trying to estabblish whether it supports KS or not. To be or not to be for me and you guys

Best regards,
Marcin

Hi Peter,

Finally I caught it

Notice 'may quit here' in logs, don't know why it is there though... Care to explain?

Greets,
Marcin

Peter, I agree that's why I'm gonna keep XP installation along with new W2008 installation and make some more comparisons. Maybe I have a 'bad' day or maybe not? My opinion is a subjective one, which is the same for everybody, but if I like the sound better or worse, I can put a 'quality tag' on it, even if it's an OS garbage or sth else.

Looking forward to hearing your tweak :D

Cheers,
Marcin

Hi guys,

I spent few days on XP configuration - nLite (few attempts to achieve the smallest possible size), many many tweaks (minlogon, regedit tweaks, ramdisk etc). In the end XP reserved ~40MB of RAM, 2 services (4 needed for XXHE) and was lightning fast. I had quite high expectations, but unfortunately I was disappointed with SQ. Everything seems to sound flat and lifeless, regardless of player settings. I think that XP has it's own sound character which is on top of everything, because I tried other players and sound signature was very much the same. But I discovered one thing, that may be interesting - SQ remains virtually identical regardless of CPU speed/vcore. Is it a good thing? I don't think so -my previous W2008 installation was so transparent, I could easily hear even smallest changes in the player, regedit, not to mention CPU undervolting/underclocking. Was it worth the effort? I guess, now I'm sure that W2008/Vista is the best choice. Oh, and XP has one other disadvantage - I couldn't get IRQ affinity tool working, and therefore couldn't get maximum performance out of it. Now I have to install W2008 again, brrrrr

Cheers,
Marcin

It's there, but installation runs anyway.

Hello tulpenbol,

Good motherboard You could also get GA-H55M-USB3, which is even better (better power supply section, USB3 support)

Best regards,
Marcin

  It seems that windows management instrumentation service has to be enabled in order to run XXHE properly. Now it detects OS as XP and plays fine, but I have other issue - OCX setup runs every time I start XXHE. (like it used to be in 0.9z2 under Vista) Deleting cfg files, removing OCX setup, manual registering - it won't help. ANy ideas?

Cheers,
Marcin

Peter thanks for your help. I tried your debug version and it shows Win32NT. It doesn't work, but I tried on a regular XP and everything is fine, so it must be sth I did wrong.

What may be helpful for you to understand the problem: I can set everything, including output device (KS), but can't adjust the volume slider and after I hit the play button, "illegal sample rate" (or illegal bit depth, don't remember exactly) shows up.

Cheers,
Marcin

I don't see how it wouldn't work for with Vista SP2 - it certainly works with W2008 SP2.

Weiss DAC202? I don't see any alternatives right now.


Still, PC affects SQ the most - try the undervolting/underclocking yourself and you will know what I'm talking about. The lowest Vcore - the best SQ.

Peter, I tried slimmed XP today, but XXHE doesn't work. Here are the errors that showed up in this order. It looks like UxSms service (Desktop Window Manager Session Manager) is missing, but it doesn't exist in XP. Could you tell me what is the equivalent for XP? I must have overdone with nLite... The good thing is that OS responsiveness is miles better than Vista/W2008, ramdisk with PAE works great, if only I could 'hear it'.

Greets,
Marcin

Mani,

RME and Cantatis are PCI-based, that's true and RME is much much better via dual AES, but it could be miles better if you undervolt your CPU by a large margin, like I did. The conclusion is very obvious here - the SQ depends on PC's EMI/RFI levels or whatever it is that is caused by high frequencies and high voltage of CPU (high TDP). I have tried it in the past and had the same results. I am 100% sure that you can't have the best quality using internal/PCI-based interface, unless you do some serious undervolting/underclocking of your CPU or provide external PSU to that interface and isolate it from motherboard's power, if that's possible. Mani, you should try a FW cable without a power leg in order to eliminate the power transmission from PC to DAC. It will cope with potential ground loop issues, but won't address noise issues, so it's not a perfect solution, but I guess it's the best at the moment. The bottom line is that PC audio is going to better and better every year, because CPUs and other components are getting faster and require less power (introduce less interference) at the same time, but I wouldn't build a high-end system based on internal interface - which is fed by a noisy computer power. That's why RME and dCS are going bye-bye.

Cheers,
Marcin

What new setting? Oh man, not again 

PS
I'm going to try XP today and compare it to W2008