On the other hand there are several more or less stable "parameter groups". A small portion of uncertainty or curiosity is sometimes a good guide  to look outside the box. And we can decide by ourself to retire for a time or to ride the wave 

Georg

Hi Alan,

you've got to have the right feeling for it and I'm not sure to reach a stable point. Actually I've set the CPU clock rate, the Northbridge clockrate including the PCI clockrate to the same low internal frequency. The Hypertransport bus (AMD specific) is set to maximum clock frequency.

The influence of this settings is lower than other XXHighend parameters. But I will try further to get the best out of the system    Maybe there is a bigger advantage with Windows 8.

Georg

Hi Nick,

that was he biggest challenge and hopefully I have not to repeat the process too often . After trying oil caps, mica, foil, even vacuum caps and other nice stuff I ended up always with a sonic compromise. Some types work best for rock and jazz others better for classical music. The actual combination is suitable for the long term, works with all types of music and has a delicate and colorfull character.   

Georg

P.S.: Did not try very interesting but very expensive solutions like Duelund or Thel Mica Caps (4,7 MicroFarad!)

Here is the actual result of my last weeks effort. The system is build up on commercially available pcbs, assembled and wired as written in my first post.

Nothing special but I tried to get analog in and analog out as near as possible. Therefore the copper rails and the chip are mounted at the bottom of the cabinet.

The pcb at the left side of the transformer is a softstart unit which is not necessary at this time and unused.

Because I'm using very rare Philips Alnico drivers there is no chance to do without a coupling capacitor. I tried a lot (had two well broken in black gates for lease from a friend, which showed the direction) and ended up with a satisfying solution: A (new old stock ) combination of Roederstein KP1832 and NSF Styroflex capacitors.

Georg

After reading a lot of posts about XXHighend and Window 8 (will install a version next week) and not prepared to invest in new PC hardware I tried some additional Mobo/BIOS tweaks:

Tweaking down the CPU clock rate again

I found some aditional parameters in the BIOS originally built in to overclock the CPU but used them to lower the clock rate. Hopefully I have reached the same low level as Peter. 

Tweaking down the clockrate of PCI

Done via BIOS to the lowest possible value

Tweaking down the clock rate of the North-Bridge

Done via BIOS to the lowest possible value.

The early sonic results are very promising.

Georg

Today there was only spare time to hear one record - John Cage, Five Constructions, Tomato Records. What should I say, it's another record! The broadness of the sonic improvement leaves me speechless. So it will be an exciting time to digg some nuggets in the near future.

Georg

Hi Adrian,

nice to hear again. That's one of the strong points (beside all others of XXhighend), that you can grow up with it. And every step is a new sonic adventure ..

Cheers,
Georg

Single string instruments or small ensembles: Superb
Double string bass: Wow
Voices: Very emotional
The musical scene is more refined

Georg

Definitely - yes. With settings Q5=3 and clockres=1ms the music image is more "sonorous" and "settled". I liked this changes immediately.

Georg

I had to reinstall the waveio drivers after upgrading the xxhighend version and everything is working fine yet.

Georg

Hi Peter,

I depend on all other tough guys here ... You are so responsive to our problems that I feel sorry for that. But the first thing I tried to test was the rewritten engine with the same parameters as before - to get a stable point for SQ again. Q5 is the next step - and now with tooltip  . Thanks a lot for your work!

Georg

I'm using W7 only at the moment. I believe that xxhighend is ativated - I can activate xtweaks and boot to minimize OS. But there is a glitch: The first time there is a system message that it's not possible to boot to minimize OS. After rebooting without going to minimize OS it's possible to to so.
I can still change the output volume with the Thesycon tool. Seems that they are using a digital volume algorithm too.

Georg

Hi Peter,

I believe that xxhighend is activated - but I will take a look again. I found another abnormal interaction with the Thesycon driver. There is a small tool to interactively parameterise the driver. It's possible to change the volume - and it was changed. Seems that there is sometimes unexpected interaction ...

Georg   

Yes, it worked. Maybe it's a problem of the Thesycon driver - I will check.

Georg

Hi Peter,

when using 24 bit only mode (waveIO card) it is necessary to increase the digital volume 30 dB. Peak extension is off. Is that intended?

Georg