0.9z-7-4: Unattended mode behaving like AB

[charliemb]

xxHE has A-B feature which can be used in unattended mode which lets you listen to tracks from point A to point B, say 1:00 - 2:00, and then loop back.  If several tracks are selected, then it will play from 1:00 to 2:00, and then move to the next track, playing the next track between 1:00 and 2:00.

Well, I'm NOT using the A-B feature!!!   Yet, 0.9z-7-4 is sometimes behaving exactly as I have described above.

Actually, I once noticed this behaviour and when I looked A-B was indeed checked (both A and B were red).  So I unchecked them.  But I continue to see this problem and when I check, I can see that A-B are not checked.

At first, this was only happening with HD material.   But now I've confirmed that it is happening with regular old CD 44.1/16 material.   Happens all of the time now, ...hence this report.

Please help.

[PeterSt]

I think this can be related to mixed formats in the playlist ("earlier on") ? Try use the [ C ] button near the bottom and see whether that helps.

Peter

[PeterSt]

No. Kill XXEngine3.exe. That's what I recall now.
(click the blue led at thr right side or just use TaskManager)

[charliemb]

I think this can be related to mixed formats in the playlist ("earlier on") ? Try use the [ C ] button near the bottom and see whether that helps.

Peter

Possibly, but also doubtful.  First of all, this is unattended;  the other was Attended.  Second, this is happening with just within one CD album.  So I don't see how they are related.

[PeterSt]

That's whay I said "No." ...
?

[charliemb]

Under Vista and 09z-8a, or 8e, this problem has not been fixed.

Disappointing.

Yes, exiting Engine3.exe solves the problem for the rest of the night.  Therefore, it seems like this should be easily fixable.

[PeterSt]

But Charlie ...

I never saw something to solve, so I didn't attempt anything. Still wouldn't know what to do. Not without knowing what causes it, which must be read as : what starts it.

Your "help" here should be that it is totally not recognizable, except for that I experienced it once or twice myself - for the matter of that repeating. But no way it can't be undone while this is what you "claim".
And of course, if you can't get rid of it, how to find what causes it. I understand that one.
But also notice that you never responded to my "[ C ]" advice. And it's also hard to imagine that you have been stuck for a month now. Or ?

So before continuing, please let me know the status of this all.

Peter


PS: What means of upsampling do you use (if any - yes I read your sig) ?

[charliemb]

But also notice that you never responded to my "[ C ]" advice. And it's also hard to imagine that you have been stuck for a month now. Or ?

Yes, I've been living with this for longer than a month.  But one kill of Engine3 solves it for the rest of the night.   It's funny, I run into this problem only near the beginning of a session (new boot). 

I did not try [ C ] because immediately after you posted

No. Kill XXEngine3.exe. That's what I recall now.

Besides, there is no [ C ] while unattended (or I don't know what you mean).

PS: What means of upsampling do you use (if any - yes I read your sig) ?

For 44.1 I use 2x PE ArcPredict, and for High resolution I use a mix of that and nothing.  Sometimes I just set 2x PE ArcPredict and set fx to "on" , which does nothing I guess for HighRes materal.  (not quite sure)

[PeterSt]

Not sure whether that [ C ] helps at alll, but it clears all the proxies / caches. So once something is wrong in there and it is not cleared, it can stay wrong (up till playing a dead wrong different track). Not that this is intended of course ...

[charliemb]

[ C ] Does not appear to help.  I thought so for a while. 

What does seem to help is to kill xxEngine.exe.  But that does not always cure for the rest of the listening session as I once thought it did.

Seems quite random.

Rebooting seems to help too, but is also not a complete cure.

[PeterSt]

Hi Charlie,

This is very strange. If you now indeed know how to reset it, I hope you can find the way how this behavior can be copied !!

Regards,
Peter

PS: When killing Engine3 helps, it should be something with buffer lengths I think ...

[charliemb]

I'm still trying to find a way to repeat the error at will.  It happens almost every night, or several times per night.  Some nights it does not happen at all.

New idea: I wonder if this has something to do with it.  I sometimes get a vary small popup box that says "out of memory".   Usually I just click okay and ignore it.   Maybe it was something to do with this.   I have 4Gig of memory,  effectively 3Gig because of 32 bit OS.

Very frustrating problem.

I'm also back to no PE and no ArcPredict, just 2x interpolationas in my sig.   Makes no difference.   

I'm using SFS = 60.   Maybe I should try something smaller.   But I like the smoothness of 60.

[PeterSt]

I sometimes get a vary small popup box that says "out of memory".

Ahum, aha, etc. ... !
Once this starts to happen ANYTHING unpredictable WILL follow. Mind the "unpredictable". And I can tell you, no NO way an SFS of 60 will work with 4GB of memory (I forgot, but I tend to say : especially not with Vista).
An SFS of under 12 is more likely to operate well, and then still it would be a sort of record.

So, that must be it ...

Charlie, much has been written about this, but it is all way long ago.

Now, I hope that this finally helps you !
Peter


PS: If it is fairly much repeatable, try to use Mixed Memory for a couple of days. It will easily proove whether it is the culprit.
And otherwise you may have switched off the Page File. Sort of same thing. It will play as long as it lasts ... not advisable.

[charliemb]

Thanks Peter.  I will try it.

I had no idea that SFS=60 was not possible and that I should keep it under 12 for 4Gig of memory @32bits. (I presume "not possible" means "not reliably possible.")  In all of this, I'd like to point out that the defaults for xx have gone from checking to unchecking "Include Garbage Collect."   Should I try checking it back on?

New data point: Like a fool, a week or two ago I attached the ground lead of my o'scope to a place on my amps that caused one monoblock to blow and I had to replace an output MOSFET and degauss my output transformer.   When something like this happens, all is up in the air.  It's like starting all over again.
And so I tried new xx settings.  I tried SFS=2 (thanks boleary who championed this, i think it was boleary) and got brave with straight continuous and it "works" now in that I don't get the dreaded "lower SFS or reboot message."   SFS=2 also sounds great, and for now I'll say better than SFS=60. 

So I'm already at SFS<12.  But with the above settings, I still get the "Unattended mode behaving like AB" skips in the middle of a track to the next track.

Next I will try Mixed Memory.

[PeterSt]

Charlie,

Don't forget to set the SFS Max also that small, or otherwise it won't help a thing.

By now I think it could be a good idea if you post screenshots of the main screen and all of the Settings Area. Can you do that ?

Regards,
Peter

[charliemb]

Yes.  Will do.  (though I'll have to install irfanview on that machine and it is not on the network anymore)

And I'll change SFS MAX from 72 to 12 in case I want to play with numbers <12.

Perhaps premature to report, but last night I had no problems with SFS=2 and Mixed Memory (not mixed contiguous).

Thanks 

[charliemb]

Screen capture did not work w/ Irfanview, and would have been very difficult w/ multiple pages.

Can anyone recommend a screen capture program that will automatically scroll can capture the entire settings page?

[AlainGr]

Hi Charlie,

I don't know the software, but looking for "Screen recorder" brought
this link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/

Hope this help

Alain

[charliemb]

this link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/

Thanks Alain.   I'll try it.

[charliemb]

As an update:

Nothing works still.

1. my disks never spin down
2. I've tired SFS=2  and SFS Max also that small
3. None of my collection is WAV if that matters
4. [ C ] Does not help.  I thought so for a while. 
5. Killing xxEngine.exe,  not really a help. 

I'll try to get screen capture per Alain.

Basically, I've gone back to Attended playback.  And that has fewer problems with SFS=2, although problems still are there (as previously posted in another thread ..with Play button not responding etc.)

[charliemb]

Peter,   Okay, here finally is a screenshot of my settings.

What say you Doctor?

[PeterSt]

The Doctor has no clue. Usually when that is the case you are advised some stupid (perhaps) killing activity. But I am not like that. I just have no clue.

Leave Vista ?


And hey, did I ever ask you to post log files ? maybe not ! So what about that ? Switch on logging (bottom of settings) and when it starts to (or is) happening, just post them. XX, X3 and X3PB, in your TemporaryData folder under your XX folder. The newest.
Tell me at which track name it happens and maybe I can see something.

What a crazy thing !!

Peter

[PeterSt]

PS: Use an SFS of 60 for this and start out with using the [ C ] button. Just leave on your Logging all the time and once you notice it happening, try to count the repeats before your press Stop, tell me those repeates (allowed to be off a few) and mention the track name where it happens. That should give me enough guidance.

Thanks,
Peter

[charliemb]

Okay.  I'll see what I can do.

Leave Vista?  Of course.  That's the eventual answer.  But that is a big project (time) and a big expense (money) and I've already blown my budget on very nice speakers this year, only two months ago.  Big project because this machine is too noisy to invest in.   I'll need a new machine.  I'd buy and install Win7 on this machine if I could transfer it later to a new, quiet machine at some point in time.   But my understanding is that this is not supported.  Can anyone tell me otherwise?

[PeterSt]

You mean that a W7 install on one machine can not be later installed on another ? Of course that can be done (and is allowed).

Btw, my "leave Vista" was merely a joke. It sort of seems appropriate because it could be the only thing different between you and all of the others. But Vista is just supported, although by now not all features work on Vista (I can't help that).

Let me know your findings (log files) ...
Peter

[charliemb]

PS: Use an SFS of 60 for this and start out with using the [ C ] button.

Above you wrote that 60 can't work with Vista.  That's why I moved to SFS=2 (<=12).

?

[charliemb]

You mean that a W7 install on one machine can not be later installed on another ? Of course that can be done (and is allowed).

How is this done?  Do I "unregister" the old machine before moving to the new one?   ..or do I just never connect to the internet with the new?

[PeterSt]

Above you wrote that 60 can't work with Vista.  That's why I moved to SFS=2 (<=12).

While I sure forgot about this, it is not related to Vista. It is your too few memory ...
In the mean time (while you can stuff in some more memory of course), set your Memory Mode to Mixed to try what I suggested. Just to try; later you can go back. Otherwise I suggested SFS=60 to be on a very safe side, but 12 will not encourage for too heavy log file registration just the same (I think; but difficult to predict in your case with this strangeness).

Peter

[PeterSt]

How is this done?  Do I "unregister" the old machine before moving to the new one?   ..or do I just never connect to the internet with the new?

The latter sure is a solution. But otherwise I never heard problems from people. But maybe I'm thick and obviously it shouldn't be able to work legitimately ? Point is : what you are doing just *is* legal, as long as the other machine doesn't exist anymore (hence uses the same Key).

Peter

[charliemb]

Hang on.  We may have a breakthrough.   I don't want to speak too soon, but....

My installation of z83 is incomplete ...and it's working now for two nights.  ???   I forgot to "keep processes" for the two executables which watch over my Logitech mini Keyboard , the palm-sized one. 

I'll keep you posted.  And in the meantime, thanks for all of the attention you've put on this.

Keeping fingers crossed

[PeterSt]

Keeping fingers crossed

What to do else with those fingers now eh ? haha

[PeterSt]

I can't imagine that this driver for your Logitech can imply this issue. However, maybe your remote can cause the A-B to get activated ? In that case you would see it though, at the next startup of XXHighEnd (the buttons are active).
Also, notice that remote commands Alt-A and Alt-B exist to activate the A-B buttons, so maybe it goes that route somehow when using the remote.

Peter

[charliemb]

Thanks but no, false alarm, the AB problem exhibited itself again last night, but only after I had to raise SFS to 6 w/max6. 
I had to change from SFS=2 because I had an issue that when a tracklist changes sampling rates, I get ticks like missing samples throughout the next song(s).  Otherwise SFS=2 went two nights without the problem. 

Then, when I turned logging on, the AB problem did not repeat.  But that was only for the last 1/2 hour.   So no log files just yet.   And now I've moved to SFS=60 as you requested.

The Logitech palm sized keyboard attaches through USB and I think might be a proprietary form of Bluetooth.  ..if that helps.

No the AB is not active when I return to xxHE.

When it skips to the next song, it starts from the beginning of the next song.  So it is like A=0 and B is a few minutes into the song.

Back to the ticks with SFS=2, since SFS=2 seemed like it was fully working and therefore pertinent to a solution,  I am able to get the ticks to stop by stopping the song with alt-s and restarting with alt-p.  Sometimes pausing works but mostly not (which is a pain because sometimes alt-s restarts playback at the beginning of the track list rather than at the current song).

[PeterSt]

Too bad Charlie ...

But now you suddenly start about "ticking". And *this* I recognize. Now, I didn't look back into the topic whether you changed XXHE versions, but I suddenly see this 0.9z-7-4 in the topic title. In that version things like that happened and it could happen for reasons like format changes, up to changing the volume while playing. And this is solved ... (I think per 0.9z-8).

The repeat could happen just the same and this too was related to and format change and changing volume (so, both !). I do NOT know whether this has been solved, because it is hard to mimic. Anyway ...

1. Upgrade to the latest version please;
2. Try to concentrate on format changes + volume changes or otherwise volume changes alone.

And if this already rings bells, let me know ...
Regards,
Peter


PS: But remedy always has been to kill the sound engine (blue led in the right border of the screen). And I recall from the beginning of this topic that this did not help you - so maybe a moot idea after all.

[charliemb]

Updated subject line to reflect that I have upgraded to z8-3a

[Meaning that the last few nights have been z8-3a, from when I mentioned it earlier in this thread or a day before that or two.]

[charliemb]

Wow...  2 hours listening and with sfs 60 and logging turned on and so far I could not recreate the problem. 

I'd say that it must have something to do with whatever or one of the changes you made for z83a.

And, btw, now sfs=60 is sounding better than sfs=2.  Smoother, still detailed, and much better soundstage and far fewer ticks.  Go figure.

[charliemb]

Finally, error with logging turned on.

The album playing was Beck - Sea Change.  The track playing was track 2. Paper Tiger.

Attached are the log files.  There are four files in total and two them are XX, the smaller XX is the more recent and MUCH smaller than the other.

[PeterSt]

Charlie,

The log files are helpful. So, at least I can see that it happens and I even see some "logic" in your skipping to the next track (as happened in this case).

And notice that you mix all formats in the world in one playlist although in the Beck situation (and the second time you played it) it was only 24/88.2.

Strange question perhaps : Why did you play Beck for the second time on one day ? Not that you now should go to mental hospital, but it is as if you could expect it to go wrong. If so, you may have more hints for me ?

Thanks,
Peter

[PeterSt]

OK. All I can tell for now is that it has to be related to somehow interpreting the length of the track as were it exactly 3 times less as it really is, which comes down to 16/44.1 instead of 24/88.2. This, while you played the Beck track 2 times. And hey, super convenient that you did, because it allowed me to compare and find this.

It originates in the user interface (XXHighEnd.exe) so already there something strange has to happen. And ... this, while the first track (of Beck) was OK, and the second fails on this. Right now I can't see how that happens.

Below you'll find a 09.z-8-3d with some additional log lines in there. Unzip and paste this over your current 0.9z-8-3a folder, and hope it will happen again soon. I think I can do with the XX log file only (the large one), but coughing up the same set as you did last night is ok just the same.

Now I'm curious what I will see. I guess a similar mixed bag of formats in the Playlist Area will help letting it occur.

It is not said that this is the last round of new log data (hence attempts). But it will bring me closer.

Please never ever used A-B (if you ever did) because I didn't incorporate special log data for that.

Peter


PS: It is not so that you used the 88.2 version of Beck and later the 44.1 to compare or something ?

[charliemb]

Why did you play Beck for the second time on one day ?

I purposely had queued up albums of mixed rates.  Never touched anything and just hit play.   That playlist made it beyond Bonnie Raitte and into 16/44.1 material with no problems.  But i was very uncharacteristically listening in the background while working on an electronics project...  and I thought, wow, that Beck album is very good, I'll listen tonight intently like I usually do from my listening chair.  Then l finally made it to my listening chair to really listen and that's when I started playing with the mouse cursor and such, and restarted the entire playlist, now at higher volume levels.   And as you can see, it only took to track 2 for the problem to happen.

I agree that it is a lucky coincidence that I played it twice.

BTW, I'm using 4x arcPreduct and PE.

But it seems that the problem happens more often when I start stopping and restarting as I did above.   I normally select portions of an album with click and Ctrl-click.

[charliemb]

PS: It is not so that you used the 88.2 version of Beck and later the 44.1 to compare or something ?

No.  Both were 88.2/24

[PeterSt]

Only notice : You also restarted playback just at that Beck album. Not the entire playlist from the beginning (in one go). For me not important, but maybe it helps you remember something else you did (and hey, I personally can't think of anything !).

If I am totally wrong on this it will also be important to rectify me.

Thanks ...
Peter

[charliemb]

Only notice : You also restarted playback just at that Beck album.

That sounds right, I remember that now, sort of.  The funny thing is that I also remember intending to load the entire list again, and I remember waiting a long time and it starting after the wait.   But as I said, I also remember selecting only the Beck album.   If that's what the log shows, that's probably correct.   Perhaps I did both (started it three times, why not?). 

This might help:  If I selected only the Beck album, then that was with the mouse cursor with click and Ctrl-click like I usually do and with the entire list still up there.  The tracks that followed and were unselected started with Bonnie Raitte, also hiRes but might have been 96k.

I'll try 09.z-8-3d now.

[charliemb]

Here you go with 'd.  The song that played short was Santana Abraxas, track 1 Singing Winds and Crying Beasts.   (@ 24/88.2)

The track list was from random selection from the Nice Stuff gallery.  (Which has in interesting "feature/bug" which I may mention at some point in another thread.)

There are two XX files because both were very recent and I wasn't sure which one was right.  I think the one to look at first is XX-20130326-214814.log.

For next time, when this happens,  To copy the log files I have to alt-x, alt-s.  Should I then quit xxHE?, and then go looking for the log files?   ..or do I just keep xxHE loaded?

[PeterSt]

Arghhhh ... The last two XX logs now are from the alt-s you aplied and next the alt-x (not the other way around btw). So you will need the larger one just preceeding these in time.

Please post ASAP !
Thanks,
Peter

[charliemb]

Here are the two prior.

Otherwise, did you answer my question about the proper keystrokes or mouse clicks for obtaining these log files?   Because I am running unattended, I have to hit alt-x and alt-s.  Does the order matter?  Then do I quit xxHE?   Obviously, I didn't do it right or I wouldn't have to be redoing it now.

[charliemb]

The previous was the repost you asked for.

This is for a new instance from tonight.  The song is track "07 What a little more rain" by artist Sara K, but actually the disc was Chesky's Greatest Audiophile Recordings or similar (not labeled as Sara K).

[PeterSt]

Otherwise, did you answer my question about the proper keystrokes or mouse clicks for obtaining these log files?   Because I am running unattended, I have to hit alt-x and alt-s.  Does the order matter?

Ah, I'm sorry. I thought I answered the question, but I guess I needed to elaborate as well.

Any shortcut command applied (when running in unattended) creates a log file. So, Alt-x does. But also Alt-s does. These are two log files *after* the real fact, because the one we'd need is the one which comes from the moment you started playing. So, that XXHighEnd instance (just visible on-screen) carries a log file as well. Thus, with Alt-s and Alt-x (or the other way around) two log files emerge we don't need. However :

When using Alt-x and press Stop, only one log file we don't need emerges.

This counts for the XX log files. The X3 emerges per "play" session and the X3PB emerges per Sound Engine start (normally one per boot session when you never kill it and it never fails).

Clear now ?

[PeterSt]

Again funny;
So, day before yesterday you coincidentally played that Beck two times which was the most helpful, and now you added an addtional XX log file to be on the safe side, which ... explained what I saw in the last log file.
You communicate well ...

So, I now sure found something. I don't know how it happens yet or what you may do to incur for it, but at least I should be able to prevent it.

Great work Charlie.
Peter

[charliemb]

Ahhhh,  this is great news.  Some progress somewhere.  Thanks.

To summarize the best procedure for gathering log files, it's best to hit alt-x and then click on Stop (not alt-s), and then send ONE extra xx file.

One last point I'd like to make is that in these examples the files were hiRes;  but it has also happened on 16/44.1 material, which I admit is strange.  Strange because if it is a miscalculation based on assuming 44.1/16 when it is really 24/88 or 24/96,  then what is being assumed when the source material is 16/44?   ..mp3?

[PeterSt]

Charlie,

It can happen it all kinds of directions and can happen to all. It depends on whatyou played previously (for a "Play" session).

MP3 is just 16/44.1.

To summarize the best procedure for gathering log files, it's best to hit alt-x and then click on Stop (not alt-s), and then send ONE extra xx file.

Correct. But generally we'd need the larger log file; the one where you see things really happening (just look into them and you will understand).

Peter

[PeterSt]

All right.
So below you'll find a new 0.9z-8-3e to hopefully - and finally - solve it all. Paste over your formal 0.9z-8-3a XX folder.

The whole thing is so complex that possibly you'll receive messages telling you that playback is not possible, slomo or highspeed sound comes from it, or other things I could not test in this short time - but it should work.

With the motto "an accident never comes alone" I found a stack of problems that can (or will) occur once Hires material is played, and which not many (in this commnuty) do. This includes myself, and for that reason I never could notice - as nobody reported anything of this kind. But things sure were wrong.

So, this should help Charlie. Finally ...
Peter

[charliemb]

Fantastic!  Thanks.      I'll try it right now  (keeping the volume low at first and keeping my finger near the DAC's mute button!).

[charliemb]

So far so good.  Three hours tonight, with mixture of resolutions, and ending with all hiRes for about 1hr.  That's not definitive, but it's a good start.   Keeping fingers crossed.

The only anomaly I encountered you already know about, and that is that alt-e, followed sometime later by an alt-p, did not continue from the same song, and instead started from the top of the playlist.  But that's another problem and minor in comparison.

Also not new with this version are some messages I've been getting since about z83a ...everytime I hit alt-c from Unattended the pointers set up correctly in Nice Stuff, but I get two messages.  One is something like "91: Object could not be set to instance of an object: c:xdata,"  and a second one about c:xdata but I don't remember.   Perhaps this is due to logging?   Still alt-c works.

In any case, thanks for this big step forward!

[PeterSt]

Ha, great feedback that is (two-folded).

I will look into alt-c. I never use that (only alt-h (whole album to Nice Stuff) and alt-z (one track to Demo)), but things sure have changed here, so I probably made a mistake somewhere. Thanks for mentioning.

Maybe alt-e needs a new topic for further workout; I use that regularly and don't see what you said at all. In that topic, start with mentioning whether this is with selected tracks (ctrl-click etc. in the Playlist).

Peter

[charliemb]

I also have the x3 and x3pb if you need them.

No problem with song length, at least apparently.  And not so fun anymore.  This time the problem is big loud gaussian noise, not music, going to only or mostly the left channel.

EXPLANATION
After randomly selecting HiRez tracks using the randomize function (first then n) and after playing for a while, say one hour, it was too many Sam Cooke tracks in a row and so I hit alt-x while track 6 - "Just for you" was playing and also coming close to the end of that track,  xxHE came up as expected, than while transitioning to track 9 - "Ill come Running back to you", instead of that track I got very loud / ear damaging / and if for a long time perhaps tweeter damaging gaussian or thermal noise like RANDOM fullscale data going out through the left channel.

Instantly I hit mute on DAC first thing, even before I clicked on Stop in xxHE; then I saved the log files;  then I told the OS to restart.  And while shutting down, I got the blue screen of death, luckily while DAC was muted.  The BSOD probably happened as the OS sent audio data out to the DAC.

Not fun.  We are into potential ear and tweeter damaging territory and so please check the code carefully and perhaps do some testing of your own.  I won't be able to test this all alone...  as these are new and expensive speakers we're talking about (and not to mention irreplaceable ears).

Later in the night, very late, I turned the volume down on the DAC, way down, and attempted to repeat the problem and it did not repeat.  Perhaps I entered alt-x too soon in the song and should have waited for the last minute or 30 sec (perhaps while the next track is loading is where the problem can be repeated).   ...or this could have to do with "vista can't do SFS=60" and I have it set to 60 per your last request.

[PeterSt]

Charlie,

Let's first say that it hardly can be a coincidence, after people for years now (really) not running into such an issue that I know of. Still it can be, and yet I think it is. But, this is NOT to turn away from any issue, so, just saying ...

In this case no transistion from one format to the other was in order. The log files nicely show all now, and I don't see anything wrong. But indeed, I now may need the other two log files to see whether now there something is odd. So, that's first I think.

The transition from one "about" track to the other at using Alt-x also won't do anything. It may when using Alt-u/d but only because I know that special things happen in that area, but it should all be covered for. Plus that you didn't do that of course.

Far more logical would be the sheer fact that you hammer on the system with bringing up XXHighEnd (which is quite heavy - see the time it takes) while at the same time a next track has to be read from disk. If *then* things go too far something like you experienced might happen. Btw, something like that happened to me with W8 and I considered it no coincidence, that OS dealing with all different than W7. Same for Vista, hence W7 compared to it. Still it happened once with W8 in a whole month, but it never happened for 3 years with W7.

One other indication of the OS possibly going wrong is this :
When I'd put out the most wrong byte order, the OS doesn't know about this. It just pushes through the bytes and it doesn't know about audio, nor does it know how the bytes should align. However, internally all has to stay in-line (in sync) or otherwise things get messay (like what you heard). Now, the fact that it came through one speaker already tells something (although I think I could let that happen too but must think about how really), but the mere fact that your OS BSODd (which is not normal for your system I assume) tells a lot more. Btw, notice that when I say "OS" it will merely be the driver, but this is part of the OS at the time.

Again, not to turn away from the issue ...
So please post those log files.

Peter


PS: As usual, a great recap of what happened. This is the most useful/important ...

[charliemb]

Here are the remainder of the recent log files from that session / date code.

And to confirm, no my system never BSODs.  The last time was when you introduced Q1factor and I tried Q1factor=2 and got a huge crack followed immediately be the BSOD.  This was for sure with SFS=60 on Vista. 

Thanks so much for being attentive to this.  Much appreciated.  We xxHE users are in a bind: Other players we've tried are unplayable / frustrating in comparison, and so if xxHE becomes frustrating for any reason, then there is only frustration left.

[PeterSt]

Can it be so that somehow you missed a track that was about to play ? So, all what I see is that your mentioned (to come up) "I'll come running back to you" was the one lastly playing, to be followed by "Lucky Bounce" from another album, and that one is 24/96 ...

Assumed this is correct (hard to imagine with your detailed outlay) all I see is a buffer error (but this is fairly normal UNLESS something can't cope with it because it *is* an error) and shortly (some 30 seconds) after that you pressed Stop.

Assumed I am not right at all (also hard to imagine) try to concentrate on 24/88.2 running into 24/96 and notice it is possible that your DAC just can't cope with this. But then it will be 100% repeatable I'd say.
Anyway, be careful ...

Regards,
Peter


PS: Since all is fairly explicitly shown in the log file now, I can tell that all really looks okay. Thus, also that 24/96.

PPS: I sent you an email as well.

[PeterSt]

Question : What causes you Clock Resolution to be set at 1ms under the hood ? (you switched off the forthcoming of the message about this)

[charliemb]

Can it be so that somehow you missed a track that was about to play ? So, all what I see is that your mentioned (to come up) "I'll come running back to you" was the one lastly playing, to be followed by "Lucky Bounce" from another album, and that one is 24/96 ...

Not quite.  The last track that sounded like music was 6 - "Just for you" by Sam Cooke.  Therefore, if the log file shows that the last song playing was 9 - "I'll come running back to you",  then it was probably a reversed byte order or some strangeness.   Actually,  I don't doubt that the data for the loud gaussian-like noise was "I'll come running back to you",  it just didn't sound like music.

Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "Can it be so that somehow you missed a track that was about to play ?" above.   If you mean that xxHE skipped "I'll come running back to you" and instead went directly ahead to the 24/96 "Lucky Bounce" from another album, then I understand what you mean but I didn't select that.  I didn't have time to manually do anything before the big bang. 

On the "24/88.2 running into 24/96",  that happens here all the time.  Maybe not every night, because generally that happens with random playback, but surely at least several times per night with random playback.  Still, I will concentrate on that.

(speaking of random playback, where can I find an explanation of what "First selected, then per n tracks" does?)

Question : What causes you Clock Resolution to be set at 1ms under the hood ? (you switched off the forthcoming of the message about this)

Nothing I ran.  This just starts to happen after a while.  killing engine3.exe sometimes solves it, but sometimes memory is left in a less than perfect way after killing engine3.

[charliemb]

So far so good.   After several long listening sessions, I've still not had the AB problem of skipping.

I still have not had a chance to replay the same session in an attempt to recreate the problem exactly that led to BSOD.  Right now I'm focussed on getting a positive outcome.  So I've been running sfs=12 max 12.  The problems are fewer for sure, so no alt-e problem yet, and of course no BSOD.

I'll post when I've had the chance to replay the original Sam Cooke set at low volume to see if I can recreate.

Thanks

[PeterSt]

Hey good !
Thanks for the feedback so far ...

Peter

[charliemb]

With so many nights in a row with no AB problem,  I have to start to maybe call this solved (AB) 

Still with SFS=12,12, or 2,2.