Nick, next time, look at the date/time of your vdh file; if you leave out step g of my list, nothing in the world is going to change that file, while it sits in your drawer.

Btw, notice the theoretical language problem (on your side - haha) … with "drawer" I literally mean that. Like in the dashboard closet of your car. And explicitly NOT the removable drive bay. And oh, you can let it stay in there if you want (it is not advised at all re SQ) and it still won't change a single bit, but in that case it is not by guarantee (you, knowing yourself etc.). Have it in that drawer, and again tell me what changes it ?
Yeah, the sheer fact that you change it explicitly by means of the copying, does things. Trust me. Whether audible I can't tell, but the location *will* change and all what's required to let your case be a sort of true, is that the memory mapping changes because of that changes too (and my estimate is that it does). Always for the better ? doubtful.
And so … how many copies did you apply by now, this afternoon ?



Voodoo is nothing for me, you know. And for your sake, I still hope for a misunderstanding.
Peter

Robert,

*If* you buy one, buy it through me; In that case I can make it work first (this is by guarantee, unless they lie about the specs).

Notice that I see something fishy in there, because each upsampling step requires 1 additional bit. So, 16 bits is the base (for Redbook). Then we go 2x, 4x, 8, 16 (that would be 705.6) and 32. This is 5 additional steps, with thus 16 bits at the base. Where to we end at ? 21 bits.
But the DAC is 20 bits only …

Having said *that*, I now see it fail in advance. I mean, XXHighEnd will be able to do the upsampling, but it will output in 24 or 32 bits, 21 bits really utilized, while the DAC will accept 20 bits only and thus messes up with the upsampling. It will still do 1411.2 Khz (or 1536 Khz), however.

And additionally : thinking of that, a 24 bits file would also be subject to the same anomaly, for a 24 bit DAC. But, there's a difference for the level where this occurs. Thus, the 24 bit is 24 dB lower than the 20bit, which is a lot - and actually too much to be audible. For 20 bits I am not so sure, especially because a DAC could resolve to 21 bits (the NOS1 does just over 23 bits, which is an exception).
Thus, it is also related to the resolvement, and once in the noise, it should not matter any more (as in : when upsampling from 24 bits requires a 25 bit but resolvement is to 23 bits (or less) anyway, then it can't matter).

The THD+N of 0.004% is an other figure which makes my "upsampling" theory quite moot. This is a bit harder to reason out (with math) but since the 0.00059% I see pass by over here is at a noise level of ~-140dB and distortion at -120dB, that headroom of 20dB implies just over 3 bits. With the notice that this is different from "resolvement", implying error in that same area can't be the best (thus, NOS1 resolves to 23 bits, but THD+N implies less than 21 bits - I am sure you can't follow).
Now, 0.004% will come down to 3 bits worse again (compared to mentioned 0.00059), thus "less than 21" turns into "less than 18".
Conclusion (kind of) : The 20 bit DAC already shows distortion at less than 18 bits, and thus implying more distortion beyond bit 20, is harmless.

Go for it.
Not that you need by any means. I just had fun in this bit of reasoning; I hope I didn't make too many mistakes.

Peter

Hi Peter,

I almost always boot and play in RAM, I almost always listen that way.
My IT is never left on overnight so at least one boot per session. If I'm working on my PC it could be restarted 5 to 10 times in a session and on occasion this could be without proper shutdown, have a restart after the Vhd file load into RAM has started or Bios changes between boots. So as I say definitely an edge case. I find that I end up refreshing the Vhd about every 3 months.

So lots more possible triggers here, but I thought I would post because it might be possible that unplanned reboots power outages etc over a long period cause the problem for others.

Kr,
Nick.

Not from RAM, I presume now ...

Nick,

I still consider that I don't understand. But since you are not explicitly debunking my procedure :

to-tal-ly impossible.

Nothing changes that file underway, unless you do it yourself.

Thus :
1. Put file/disk in drawer;
2. It magically changes.

That is what you are telling me, and quite explicitly because I gave you the sequence of how you should deal with it, and you didn't reject anything of that.

What this has to do with better or worse tuned PCs is also totally beyond me.


Please don't. It is not related.
One thing : If you are correct even the slightest, then it is related to how the file is organized on the SSD/HDD) and how that is mapped to RAM 1:1 if such a thing would exist (but it could). In that case my advice : start applying your procedure as soon as possible this afternoon, so you may gain a SQ increase in one afternoon instead of many weeks.

I am NOT kidding with this. But it should denote whether you understand what is - and what is not happening.
So try it, and if you report back tonight that indeed SQ increased by many factors more than previously, I may have a hunch of comprehension (but I may still come over to check out your ears ).

And oh, never, ever, confuse this by the necessity to reboot once in a while in the first place. So yes, if I reboot after one week, it most probably 100% sounds better again. What you are indirectly telling is that you are capable of remembering how SQ was that week ago at a reboot, and that "today" at this next reboot, SQ will be better again than last week. Well, you know … I don't believe in such memory in the first place. With respect, but I still don't. (at the lack of an appropriate smiley).

Don't hesitate to reject my "story" explicitly, but please come up with a mechanism that can be understood. Explicitly take into account my list (a-i) with it, or else you may testify that you did not read that, or did not understand it. Both is fine, but good to know on my side.

Best regards,
Peter

I agree with you both here, low number of reboots seems likley to prevent the problem. I do many, many more reboots and restarts than is going to be normal so my use will certainly be an edge case.

What I intended to highlight was;

• the degridation in SQ can happen and,
• the chances are you wont realise if it has happened
  

.
The fix is straight forward though if you suspect you need it.

Kr,

Nick.

These were my immediate thoughts too.

On average, I'd say that I'm rebooting once every 2-3 months at the moment, in both my systems. If there is some sort of cumulative effect on the vhd file every time you boot from the disk, then I probably wouldn't have been affected much... yet.

Mani.

FWIW, I find 352.8/384 the sweet spot with the NOS1.

Mani.

Hi Peter,
            https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/2019/08/02/Product-Launch-ARES-II

I wasn't thinking of buying one but as its setup to take 1536khz, I wondered if you had tried this at some point in the past.

Robert

Haha I know what you mean. In my system however the refresh of the Vhd file definitely works, you would need cloth ears not to hear the change  .

Its sort of like the days before using RAM OS when reinstalling a version of the OS from fresh would true up sound. Its a real benefit of RAM OS and Vhd images that its so easy just a file copy to get a fresh OS installation.

I do hammer my pc hardware setup so as I mentioned it may be that my setup is an edge case, I do know know that the Vhd refresh has worked in other systems. Logic would say that loading the same virtual disk image into RAM each time the PC is booted would not change the image / sound but maybe going in and out of the base file system might cumulatively cause a change.


Just keen to get this out there, if it works in another system you will know believe me, it not a new radio brand . If it dosen't do anything it will have only taken a few mins to give it a go so nothing really lost.

Kr,
Nick.

Ps I will post a sort step description of the copy I am doing when I have access to my PC later.