XXHighEnd Model 0.9z-4-1

[boleary]

Thus far I've gotten the following SFS values;

M= 200
MC= 165
SC= 20

Spent the evening listening to SC. The sound really is incredible. Feels like I have a seat just inside the microphone with vocals. I also seem to have a larger range on the volume knob for this incredible sound: I don't have to play it so loud but I can go louder than ever before too. Also I found there's a big difference on my system when I reduced the buffer size from 512 to 48 with Q1 @ 1. Reducing the buffer size really gives the feeling of having a seat inside the microphone ( sounds dumb I know,  but can't think of a better way to describe it.) Lastly, I think I like SC @ 20 better than MC @ 165 but won't know for sure till I give MC a good listen. Thanks Peter!

(Help! Help! I'm tempted to turn on ramdisc, reduce it to a minimum size for XX and a few tracks of music, and see how it sounds......please stop me!)

[CoenP]

Hi,

I briefly tried the latest version with the same settings as I used for 4-0 (removed RAMDISK) and I can confirm that this is the best version so far. The biggest difference is that the uncomfortable hardness of 4-0 is gone and traded places for a tonally richer, smoother and much better defined sound. The time sensation of the musical flow is the best I experienced yet. Dispite the many improvements not affecting XP, the end result is definitely a big step forward on my system.

Now let's see what prolonged listening and additional tweaking will bring!

regards, Coen

[Flecko]

I played further with the asio driver and got special mode to work now even with z2. Until now, my comparison between z4.1 mc and z2 was done with adaptive mode. I still would prefere z2 special over z4.1 mc special because z4.1 mc has the same disadvantage as compared to z2 with adaptive. It sounds to soft and not so clear. Most intereseting thing for me, changing to mixed again and using the same buffer size (and asio settings) as with z2, suddenly z4.1 showed what I missed. It is even more clear and detailed than z2. And I hope this isn't the late night effect again but it seems to be realy better now. I would be so glad if I can confirm this tomorrow (I could count one up for my first impressions statistics ). I have a good feeling about this.
Would be interested what you think about scheme 2 instead scheme 3. It seems to me, it can reproduce the highs more accurate. In earlier versions this was maybe to much but now it sounds crisp and clear. Less jittery.
Good night!

[JulCat]

Flecko

How did you make the Ploytec Asio driver of your Digital Interface to work with XXHEE, i think XXHE only works with KS and Wasapi

[Flecko]

It is a windows asio driver. It also improves the sound of the media player. There is nothing to do to make it work with xxhe. You can use engine 3 and 4 as usual. Only catch is, that the driver does not official support the Tenor te7022l chip. So every time I turn off the digital interface, I have to install the driver again. But the sound let me forget about this inconvinience. It is the only way to get rid of the windows volume control. I hope there will be another sollution or a better driver from ploytec in the future.
What I learned is, that a spdif interface should always have some driver that doesn't use windows mixer. It would be interesting if Ar-t legato, empirical off ramp, or wavelength wavelink would work with the ploytec driver. If not, for example the legato that doesn't has its own driver would never sound as good as it can.

[PeterSt]

Hmm ... and FWIW ... I think you are doing the most strange things.

Aren't you always tweaking at the back end of things ?
Just well meant.

[Eric]

So, it's my guess that you may have turned off DEP (Data Execution Prevention) which really is related. It should be ON. What this can do to your reported now larger MC possibility is beyond me at this time, and will need extensive testing and research (knowing already that MS herself is far from really clear about this, which by itself maybe because they don't know themselves (bugs).

Peter,
you are right, I had DEP settings "Only essential Windows programs and Services".
Now I set it to "All  programs and Sercices". (Tip: include this in some kind of usermanual or Release Notes)
Furthermore, I turned the Pagefile back on (only on SSD C-drive, I disabled the rest).
As a result, My MaxSFS for MC has gone up from 116 to 184 !!

My MaxSFS for SC remains low (=12), so I just ordered a memory upgrade to 8GB.
 
Thanks,
Eric

[Flecko]

Hmm ... and FWIW ... I think you are doing the most strange things.

Aren't you always tweaking at the back end of things ?
Just well meant.

If there would be a sollution that fix the problem once and for all, I would do. I know there is when it is only about sound but there are some things holding me back. In the future I would like to be completely independend of a PC and OS. And there should be no possibility to tweak by myself, for my peace of mind.

[BrianG]

Just my first impressions after only 1 hour listening to MC and I have to say my headache has been cured. 

With z-4-0 I found it to be too "cutting" but the latest version has all the detail but doesn't hurt 

For me this is a big step forward, well done Peter.

[PeterSt]

Thank you Brian.

With z-4-0 I found it to be too "cutting"

Which (IMO !) just is why that needed the RAMDisk as a smoothening factor BUT actually caused by the OS (W7 SP1). Well, "caused" is a big word, but (by now) I guess W7-SP1 is so much better that stupid XX couldn't "cope".

But problems are there to be solved eh ?
oh boy ...

Btw, I don't think many people tried without RAMDisk before a few days back, but before I really couldn't stand that, AT ALL.
Now I can, and it's even better. Thinks me.

[Telstar]

Hmm... The right things for me, turned out to be the last things that I found. I think I found every version since z2 better than z2 at their release and in the end I always returned to z2. So my statistic with first impressions is not so good unfortunatly.

With an OS DAC I also like z2 very much, and I didnt update on my studio pc.

[Telstar]

Time to install more memory, at last

[Flecko]

It is definitly worth a try.
BTW: I like your signature format and copied it, if you don't mind

[SlickenSmooth]

I played further with the asio driver and got special mode to work now even with z2. Until now, my comparison between z4.1 mc and z2 was done with adaptive mode. I still would prefere z2 special over z4.1 mc special because z4.1 mc has the same disadvantage as compared to z2 with adaptive. It sounds to soft and not so clear. Most intereseting thing for me, changing to mixed again and using the same buffer size (and asio settings) as with z2, suddenly z4.1 showed what I missed. It is even more clear and detailed than z2. And I hope this isn't the late night effect again but it seems to be realy better now. I would be so glad if I can confirm this tomorrow (I could count one up for my first impressions statistics ). I have a good feeling about this.
Would be interested what you think about scheme 2 instead scheme 3. It seems to me, it can reproduce the highs more accurate. In earlier versions this was maybe to much but now it sounds crisp and clear. Less jittery.
Good night!

Flecko, thanks for mentioning scheme 2 and mixed SFS (set my buffer to 1040)! It really sounds much better in my system than SC with scheme 3 or 2!! I'm curious of how much you have your SFS on? I share the same view that scheme 3 cannot reproduce highs accurately (at least not in my system). As a matter of fact this was driving me nuts ever since I listened to scheme 3... I've tried zillions of combinations with scheme 3 (different buffer, with different KS, with different SFS, with different clock res, etc, etc.), I just could not get the highs to sound right! Changing to scheme 2 with Mixed mode and KS: Special really changed this!!

Tonight I tested scheme 2 with both Mixed and MC on SFS 130. And at least in my system MC sounds better. A little (and I do mean little , as of almost unnoticable) bit sharper in the highs, but nothing that makes me uncomfortable. The detail and clarity in the bass trumps Mixed mode very clearly though. I've listenend almost 10 times to Corcovado on Oscar Peterson's We Get Requests. And they sound very much the same in the mids and the highs (really small difference), but in Mixed mode I could not hear every bass note that Ray Brown hits and I could follow every one of his bass notes in MC mode!!!

I had some almost crying moments when I played Autumn Leaves by Eric Clapton tonight!! And my heart started beating faster listening to Stranger on Earth by Lisa Ekdahl. God bless the power of Music (and XX, hehe)!

[arvind]

Hi Peter,

One of the best versions of XXHE that I have heard so far. The balance across all frequency range is amazing. However I felt that the highs in 0.9z-4-0 were a teeny weeny bit clearer. Maybe I need to optimise the settings.

Off with RamDisk.

Thanks for the lovely sound.

Arvind