Windows 8 Audio Optimization Script

[rdsu]

you shouldn't disable the application compatibility engine in the script. because some players need it to get admin right to do things. e.g. MQn, XA sound worse with it disabled.

How is this possible?

 

They are legacy applications?

[jesuscheung]

How is this possible?

 

They are legacy applications?

 

you need it for "Run this program as an administrator", "disable display scaling on high DPI Settings" etc. it applies to all applications. without it, exe can be treated as unsecured, it losses privileges to compete OS resources with other running exe. do you understand the consequence?

 

did you even test your each part of the script with your ears? you cannot just disable things and assume SQ will improve.

[jesuscheung]

also i see you disabling MMCSS, this not always a good thing, even if you use native ASIO driver, even though the playback might not need it, MMCSS can deprioritize the GPU so that audio get more attention from the OS.

 

IRQ8Priority=1 is also not always a good thing... please use your ears.

[rdsu]

you need it for "Run this program as an administrator", "disable display scaling on high DPI Settings" etc. it applies to all applications. without it, exe can be treated as unsecured, it losses privileges to compete OS resources with other running exe. do you understand the consequence?

 

did you even test your each part of the script with your ears? you cannot just disable things and assume SQ will improve.

Who said that I don't use my ears!?

 

I disable Group Policy Service...

 

also i see you disabling MMCSS, this not always a good thing, even if you use native ASIO driver, even though the playback might not need it, MMCSS can deprioritize the GPU so that audio get more attention from the OS.

 

IRQ8Priority=1 is also not always a good thing... please use your ears.

GPU Priority is not yet used.

 

If you use ASIO or Kernel Streaming, MMCSS will be also used?

[Computer Audio Design]

you need it for "Run this program as an administrator", "disable display scaling on high DPI Settings" etc. it applies to all applications. without it, exe can be treated as unsecured, it losses privileges to compete OS resources with other running exe. do you understand the consequence?

 

did you even test your each part of the script with your ears? you cannot just disable things and assume SQ will improve.

 

Hello jesuscheung, Actually yes, I have used my ears. I have been working on optimizing Windows for audio for a very long time. I am always looking for input and I thank you for it. Computer audio is new and I have done my personal best so that the script does improve sound quality. Is it perfect? Of course not - that is why I have made it open source. But please do not assume that I have "just disabled things and assumed SQ will improve". This is just not true.

 

Scott

[jesuscheung]

Who said that I don't use my ears!?

 

I disable Group Policy Service...

 

 

GPU Priority is not yet used.

 

If you use ASIO or Kernel Streaming, MMCSS will be also used?

 

Look, PC has graphic, processing on graphic is happening all the time. MMCSS can reduce graphic priority so that your KS, ASIO can get more attention from the CPU.

[jesuscheung]

But please do not assume that I have "just disabled things and assumed SQ will improve". This is just not true.

Scott

 

sorry Scoot i offended you. just trying to improve your script. i did use part of your script, thx.

[rdsu]

Look, PC has graphic, processing on graphic is happening all the time. MMCSS can reduce graphic priority so that your KS, ASIO can get more attention from the CPU.

You are saying MMCSS is activated when using KS and ASIO?

Do you have any source about that?

[Bigbwb]

Scott,

Hoping to try your script soon on my CAPS Topanga build. One thing that I read might cause me a problem. My Topanga accesses music files through homegroup sharing from a seperate win7 pc in my basement( no NAS yet). Will your script not work with this scenario?

 

Also,

I use the hdmi out of the motherboard to my tv as a monitor when I'm making changes etc, will this still work after the script?

 

That's it, thanks:)

Brandon

[jesuscheung]

You are saying MMCSS is activated when using KS and ASIO?

Do you have any source about that?

 

why don't you use your ear? if it doesn't work, post it here. i am not your technical support.

[rdsu]

why don't you use your ear? if it doesn't work, post it here. i am not your technical support.

You say one thing, we ask your help, and this is your behavior!?

 

I already said that I'm using my ears, but unlike you, I'm not perfect, and always want to try other things.

 

You talked about MMCSS GPU, and I told you that this is not currently used. You didn't said nothing about it, then or you know something that we don't know, or you need to go to a Otolaryngology!

 

If you just like to say things just to say, just don't say nothing...

[jesuscheung]

You say one thing, we ask your help, and this is your behavior!?

 

I already said that I'm using my ears, but unlike you, I'm not perfect, and always want to try other things.

 

You talked about MMCSS GPU, and I told you that this is not currently used. You didn't said nothing about it, then or you know something that we don't know, or you need to go to a Otolaryngology!

 

If you just like to say things just to say, just don't say nothing...

 

didn't i reply you with, and i quote myself,

"Look, PC has graphic, processing on graphic is happening all the time. MMCSS can reduce graphic priority so that your KS, ASIO can get more attention from the CPU."

 

if you have any evidence that i am wrong, please correct me. stop bitching please. beside, MMCSS also manages processes priorities. you don't google and you don't try. it is hard to talk to you.

[Computer Audio Design]

Scott,

Hoping to try your script soon on my CAPS Topanga build. One thing that I read might cause me a problem. My Topanga accesses music files through homegroup sharing from a seperate win7 pc in my basement( no NAS yet). Will your script not work with this scenario?

 

Also,

I use the hdmi out of the motherboard to my tv as a monitor when I'm making changes etc, will this still work after the script?

 

That's it, thanks:)

Brandon

 

Hi Brandon, The script kills homesharing so it would not work in your setup. I share my Computer Audio Transport (CAT) music drive, but I do not use homesharing. I also use Ethernet cable connected to my CAT. I have found that is much more robust and sound quality is better than using wifi on the CAT. I also do not use a NAS, I have a drive connected directly to the motherboard in my CAT and that is the drive I share on my network.

 

My script needs some work in the area of wifi. I have had 2 people recently tell me that the wifi does not work for them even if they say yes to it in the script. I will look into that next week. But my recommendation is to always use an ethernet connected wifi router with your CAT when ever possible and to not use the wifi in the CAT directly.

 

Scott

[Bigbwb]

Scott,

I appreciate the feedback. My Topanaga is not running via wifi at all. I have it directly connected through my router via Ethernet cable.

from there, the pc with the music is also connected to the same Ethernet router (not via wifi).

 

My goal is to fix the issue of playing native DSD files in Jriver. Currently they play fine when they are locally on the Topanga but when played across the network, I get tons of stuttering.

 

 

 

Hi Brandon, The script kills homesharing so it would not work in your setup. I share my Computer Audio Transport (CAT) music drive, but I do not use homesharing. I also use Ethernet cable connected to my CAT. I have found that is much more robust and sound quality is better than using wifi on the CAT. I also do not use a NAS, I have a drive connected directly to the motherboard in my CAT and that is the drive I share on my network.

 

My script needs some work in the area of wifi. I have had 2 people recently tell me that the wifi does not work for them even if they say yes to it in the script. I will look into that next week. But my recommendation is to always use an ethernet connected wifi router with your CAT when ever possible and to not use the wifi in the CAT directly.

 

Scott

[jacobacci]

Hi Scott,

Great script, thank you for your initiative. I use a Win 8 / jRiver based streamer and I have really noticed an improvement in sound quality by running it. Finally I feel music through my streamer to the Berkeley Alpha DAC sounds alive.

My setup is

Win 8 Streamer PC -> Firewire -> Weiss Int203 -> Berkeley Alpha DAC (to play stereo)

same Win 8 Streamer -> HDMI -> Onkyo PR SC5507 Surround Preamp (to play multichannel)

With the audio optimization OFF, I can address both the Weiss through Firewire (ASIO) and the Onkyo through HDMI (Wasapi).

With the audio optimization ON, I can only see the Weiss through Firewire. The Onkyo through HDMI is no longer visible (Wasapi is left on in the script).

Do you have any idea what might be the issue here? I have quite a few multichannel files that sound great, but can't be played at the moment.

Thanks and regards

Rudi

[Computer Audio Design]

you shouldn't disable the application compatibility engine in the script. because some players need it to get admin right to do things. e.g. MQn, XA sound worse with it disabled.

 

Hello jesuscheung,

 

I spent sojme time today trying your suggestions and I agree with you! Leaving the application comaptibility engine enabled and leaving MMCSS enabled does sound better! It has been a loooong time since I did listening tests on these two. I appreciate your input, thank you. It appears you have also spent some time in this area so let us all know any of your ideas.

 

As far as the IRQ8 priority I have had issues with timers in general depending on the computer being used. On all of our computers setting IRQ8 priority to 1 does help the SQ, but that does not mean it will for all computers so I suggest people to try it with and without.

 

Scott

[jesuscheung]

Hello jesuscheung,

 

I spent sojme time today trying your suggestions and I agree with you! Leaving the application comaptibility engine enabled and leaving MMCSS enabled does sound better! It has been a loooong time since I did listening tests on these two. I appreciate your input, thank you. It appears you have also spent some time in this area so let us all know any of your ideas.

 

As far as the IRQ8 priority I have had issues with timers in general depending on the computer being used. On all of our computers setting IRQ8 priority to 1 does help the SQ, but that does not mean it will for all computers so I suggest people to try it with and without.

 

Scott

 

you might consider adding this to the script:

Two-Minute Drill: Disabled performance counters and Exctrlst.exe - Ask the Performance Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

 

it disables performance counters for disks, IO, and a lot of things. there is a exe that demos all that can be disabled. all these are achievable by registry.

[Elprior]

Hi Scott,

 

first of all, thanks for your scripts, they are well designed and almost useful

 

Indeed, V2.5 version does not work for me with my Asio device.

I have tried leaving Wasapi on or off to no end.

 

What's more, I would very like homegroup to work, as I use it to upload music on the server.

Any idea what lines I should comment to achieve those goals ?

 

Thanks in advance,

Elprior

[Computer Audio Design]

Hi Scott,

 

first of all, thanks for your scripts, they are well designed and almost useful

 

Indeed, V2.5 version does not work for me with my Asio device.

I have tried leaving Wasapi on or off to no end.

 

What's more, I would very like homegroup to work, as I use it to upload music on the server.

Any idea what lines I should comment to achieve those goals ?

 

Thanks in advance,

Elprior

 

Hi Elprior,

 

I have no idea why ASIO will not work. We use ASIO output of JRiver and it functions perfectly. So sorry, I can not help you there.

 

We do not use homegroup to share the music storage drive (we use SSD connected to the motherboard directly). Here is what I think will get Homegroup to work:

 

1) Use the restore script to get back to orginal Windows 8 settings.

2) Delete these 2 lines from the script:

 

sc config HomeGroupListener start= disabled

sc config HomeGroupProvider start= disabled

 

Now if we look at what services these 2 are dependent upon we need to make sure the following services are also running:

 

Function Discovery Provider Host (FdpHost)

Function Discovery Resource Publication (FDResPub)

Network List Service (netprofm)

Network Location Awarness (NlaSvc)

Network Store Interface (nsi)

 

Looking through the script I see you also need to delete the following line:

 

sc config fdPHost start = disabled

 

Can you please give that a try and let me know if that allows Homegroup to work for you?

 

Scott

[Krisbee]

It's right that Scott Berry should be thanked for his “free & open” optimization script(s) but I would like to ask him a question. I'm sure he would say his CAD 1543 USB DAC is the distillation of all his electronics and audio knowledge and ideas, and that every aspect of the DAC has been designed to achieve the best possible audio SQ when using a computer as a source.

 

Clearly he would not use Windows 7/8 in it's default state as it is far from optimal, but as a Linux user I ask myself why start from here? From Scott Berry's blog and elsewhere, he was happily using OSX at one point, before turning his attention to Windows. It would make a refreshing change if someone of Scott Berry's talents actually decided to invest some time in using Linux.

 

So my question is, why dedicate all this time and effort to using Windows when it may not be the best OS for the job? I doubt if he adopted a similar approach when designing his DAC.

[Computer Audio Design]

It's right that Scott Berry should be thanked for his “free & open” optimization script(s) but I would like to ask him a question. I'm sure he would say his CAD 1543 USB DAC is the distillation of all his electronics and audio knowledge and ideas, and that every aspect of the DAC has been designed to achieve the best possible audio SQ when using a computer as a source.

 

Clearly he would not use Windows 7/8 in it's default state as it is far from optimal, but as a Linux user I ask myself why start from here? From Scott Berry's blog and elsewhere, he was happily using OSX at one point, before turning his attention to Windows. It would make a refreshing change if someone of Scott Berry's talents actually decided to invest some time in using Linux.

 

So my question is, why dedicate all this time and effort to using Windows when it may not be the best OS for the job? I doubt if he adopted a similar approach when designing his DAC.

 

Hi Chris,

 

Computer Audio Design is a small company and time is the all consuming problem that we never seem to have enough of!

 

So far we have not had any customers that are interested in using Linux. Since we are in business to sell DACs, I think you can understand where we have put our efforts. I do not know much about Linux, but our CAD support man, Damian, is a Linux guru. Damian is putting quite a bit of time into a Linux playback system for the CAD 1543 DAC. If we have a customer that wants to use Linux we are ready to support him (or her!), but we are not ready to release what we have done to the public yet.

 

Damian and I have also been working for some time on a script for Apple and the plan is to release that soon. It will be "free and open" just as the CAD Windows 8 Optimization Script is.

 

Scott

 

p.s - I see you are from the UK. If you can make it to the Bath Audiofest on the 19th of October we will be there.

[Krisbee]

Scott,

 

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps Damian's Linux based playback system might become a commercial product in the future, but if you ever release your Linux work to the public I'd want to see it. I'm no OS zealot, but I'd like to think Linux might prove at least as effective as any other OS.

 

I'd love to be at the Bath Audiofest, but unfortunately these days my mobility is not so good.

[Computer Audio Design]

Hello,

 

I have tried to fix issues with wifi and LAN access that some people have had with the script. I did not intended to improve sound quality, just to get the script to do what it was suppose to more consistently on more computers. I ended up with what I feel is a big improvement in sound quality, but for some it may be a bit limiting… : )

 

I will not rant on again about how SQ is much better when you leave wifi disabled on your computer audio transport (CAT), but some people do want it. I think I have that option working now.

 

I have added a new option to disable all networking. If you choose this option you will not be able to use a NAS nor will you be able to access your CAT on your network. Now I realize those of you using a NAS will not be interested in this and many of you will find this too much of a nuisance, but the reason I now offer this option is because in my opinion the sound quality is improved quite a bit by shutting of networking. If you shut down Networking you will still be able to connect a wifi router via Ethernet cable and use JRemote on an iPad to control JRiver.

 

For those of you that are up for it try running the script and shut off everything - turn off wifi, Networking and WASAPI. Use Kernel Streaming to playback music. Let me know what you think about the sound quality.

 

I have two downloads now:

 

Computer Audio Design Windows 8 Optimization Script V2.6a.zip

 

This zip file contains 3 separate scripts:

1) CAD Windows 8 Audio Optimization V2_6a.cmd

2) CAD Windows 8 Return to Original Settings V2_6a.cmd

3) Desktop Services Killer V2.6a.cmd

 

If you have run a previous script you must run the return to original settings before running V2.6a.

The Desktop Killer will shut down services that are needed for boot up or do not start running until after boot up. You can copy this to your desktop and double click on it to run. If you decide you like it you can then copy it to your startup folder. That way it will run automatically on boot up.

 

The second download is one that I have not offered before on this forum. It is not for the faint hearted! Two of the biggest resource hogs left after you have run the 2 scripts above is the explorer shell & the desktop windows manager. The explorer shell is basically your desktop. But you do not need a desktop to play music. The following script will stop both of these services:

 

CAD Shell Killer V1_1.zip

 

This zip file contains 1 script and one executable:

 

1) CAD Windows 8 Shell Killer V1_1.cmd

2) NtSuspendProcess64.exe

 

For the script to work you must copy NtSuspendProcess64.exe to C:/. It must be in the root directory of your C:/ drive.

 

This script will only work on a 64bit OS.

 

Copy CAD Windows 8 Shell Killer V1_1.cmd to your desktop

 

Now when you double click on the Shell Killer script the screen will instantly go black. The keyboard and all controls (besides the power button) will no longer work on your CAT. You can still use an iPad device and JRemote to control JRiver. The only option on your computer is to use the power button to turn the computer off.

 

This is not a permanent change! When you reboot your CAT it will be back exactly the same. So the CAD Windows 8 Shell Killer V1_1.cmd needs to be run on every boot up. If you are also running the Desktop Services Killer let that start before you run the Shell Killer.

 

This gives me what I feel is the best sound I have heard out of Windows 8.

 

Scott

[stevebythebay]

Your download expands to the optimization command. The other two files are missing.

[Computer Audio Design]

Your download expands to the optimization command. The other two files are missing.

 

Hi Steve,

 

Sorry about that, it is fixed.

 

Best Regards,

 

Scott