Who's used the Audiophile Optimizer for Windows 2012 Server or Windows 8?

[bgreene]

Hifi thanks. I have found that the board as well as the chip make a difference. My revenge setup is all batteries. Three sets. One of the main board and two for drives while one is shared for ppa usb card. I have the card about 60 days or so. Before it wasn't on his website. It's big and very nice to use but its sound is just to forward and on Brite of neutral. And this is with a lampi b7. Imagine a lesser dac. Now this was worth my ref setup. It's fanless and xion I7 3.5 MSI main board and ppa memory chips . Three SS drives. Two on one baboon and one on the so and ppa usb . I have tried other sanerios and all about the same with hits setup. I am in no way saying it's bad it's not but for headphones a bit much. As I build some for some friends I am going with the ver2 boards for them. They both have lampi,s.

Sp what tubes do you roll ?? Or how many red tubes do you have ??

al

 

Hi Alrainbow,

'My revenge setup is all batteries. Three sets. One of the main board and two for drives while one is shared for ppa usb card.'

 

Could you please describe your batteries setup?

Thanks.

[ALRAINBOW]

My reference batteries are from two companies

one is red wine the black lighting configured for 12 volt output two batteries

then I have two battery supplies from bafoon. They feed both as drives and my ppa sub card.

The black lighting is just for atx power modual.

[bgreene]

My reference batteries are from two companies

one is red wine the black lighting configured for 12 volt output two batteries

then I have two battery supplies from bafoon. They feed both as drives and my ppa sub card.

The black lighting is just for atx power modual.

 

Thanks for fast answer. How long you can play with the red wine black lighting? What is your impressions playing from batteries? I tested recently and for me it was the most analog sound I can get from my caps + all ssd's + ppa v2 installation. How reliable are Bacoon batteries? Does it allow to change battery pack by yourself, when need it? How reliable is Red Wine Black Lighting? As far as I understand to change battery pack for red wine it has to be send to Vinnie Rossi?

Many thanks, Boris.

[ALRAINBOW]

Bafoon is better they seem less switch between internal batteries so it's always all bateries.

The blsck lighting I get about 3 hours but it can be set to charge while playing so also indefinitely

the change from all battery to charge is very little it's there but fine.

Also you can try the Hdplex setup. It's just under the bateries and a fraction of the cost.

[AudioPhil]

My AudioPC runs over 7.5 hours on the Red Wine Audio Black Lightning. But i have a slightly different config, i have 2-Cell, 22V, Model-Nr: S10-2-25.6-5-22V

[ALRAINBOW]

Phil what do I have. I know it's two batters at 22 volt each. But my time depends on what server I use

my main is the atx full size

[Franatic]

Guys, you should really consider the PPA LAN/I2S cable if you are looking for a LAN cable. Improvement is just spectacular!

 

https://www.highend-audiopc.com/store.html

 

I know this is an old post by Phil, but I had to chime in on this one. I'm using a 2 pc streamer and just added this cable between my Control and Audio PCs and the result..."spectacular", just like Phil said.

This may be my favorite tweak yet. If you are running a 2 pc streamer, it should be mandatory. The biggest improvement is the bass. It was where I thought my system lacked a bit. Now it is the strength: deep and weighty, but still tight and not overblown. The SQ improvement though is top to bottom. Another veil lifted between me and the music. Most highly recommended .........along with AO, of course.

[Audioclyde]

I know this is an old post by Phil, but I had to chime in on this one. I'm using a 2 pc streamer and just added this cable between my Control and Audio PCs and the result..."spectacular", just like Phil said.

This may be my favorite tweak yet. If you are running a 2 pc streamer, it should be mandatory. The biggest improvement is the bass. It was where I thought my system lacked a bit. Now it is the strength: deep and weighty, but still tight and not overblown. The SQ improvement though is top to bottom. Another veil lifted between me and the music. Most highly recommended .........along with AO, of course.

 

Hopefully Phil or Paul can chime in here--it seems the maximum length this cable is available in is 1 meter. I need at least a 2 meter cable--are longer lengths such as 2 meter available?

 

Thanks,

 

Randy

[Hifidelit]

Hopefully Phil or Paul can chime in here--it seems the maximum length this cable is available in is 1 meter. I need at least a 2 meter cable--are longer lengths such as 2 meter available?

 

Thanks,

 

Randy

It's available in a 2 Metres length which is the maximum.

[Audioclyde]

It's available in a 2 Metres length which is the maximum.

 

Thanks, email sent to Phil !

[Franatic]

Hey Randy,

 

Great move! You will love what that cable does for your system.

[john925]

HQPlayer cannot start in the core mode. Shall I enable some specific service during the computer is running AO?

[AudioPhil]

Hi

 

HQPlayer is not working in core mode with AO 1.30 or older, this will be released with AO 1.31. i am working on this Project together with the Developer of HQPlayer.

 

Best,

Phil

[Franatic]

Hi

 

HQPlayer is not working in core mode with AO 1.30 or older, this will be released with AO 1.31. i am working on this Project together with the Developer of HQPlayer.

 

Best,

Phil

 

Hey Phil,

That's great! I am very interested in HQ Player. Please ask him to add support for ape files. It doesn't look like he currently supports them. I have much of my library in that form. It would make me much more likely to switch from Jriver.

Really looking forward to that development in AO 1.31 Thanks, AP

[EuroDriver]

Hi

 

HQPlayer is not working in core mode with AO 1.30 or older, this will be released with AO 1.31. i am working on this Project together with the Developer of HQPlayer.

 

Best,

Phil

 

three cheers for the Dynamic Duo !

 

Hooray, Hooray, Hooray

[MarkoL]

Hi, Everybody

Yesterday I've tried to use WOL option on my AudioPC. I've enabled it in BIOS, instaled this software

( WOL - Magic Packet Sender - Free Windows Software ), set everything and it was ok, it worked as expected but there is something else;

after installation CPU usage is 30-35% all time, even when pc is idling (?!) ... before that, with JRiver is no more than 2-3%

I've noticed that service responsible for that is "svchost - ntkernel" ... any expolanation? I would realy like to use WOL option but no way I'll accept 33% CPU load for nothing. Can some of you IT savy guys help me about this?

Thank you

Marko

[EuroChamp]

I have never heard of this software. uninstall it and (if Windows) use wol.exe, that is all you need. You have to run it on your client pc only when you want to start the remote computer, don't run it on the audio-pc.

MAC and Linux offer a vey similar application, too.

[EuroChamp]

http://www.gammadyne.com/cmdline.htm#wol

[MarkoL]

Thanx a million EuroChamp! I'll try it tonight when home. Just to mention I use single PC set up. Do I have to type it in cmd every time or is there some kind of batch file I can use like with click of a button?

[EuroChamp]

you need two devices:

one computer sleeping - with WOL activated

second computer / iPad - this one will wake up the first one.

 

what would you expect that WOL can do for you?

 

and yes: open notepad and save the file with the extension bat. inside the file follow the examples from my previous link.

now run the bat and your batch will wake up the computer.

 

in case you need more details infos, please write me a pm

 

[MarkoL]

I'll let you know what happened, for sure. Thanx so much!

 

Regards

 

Marko

[IQ_AV]

Hi, Ya’all

After quite some time of reading this thread about Audiophile Optimizer, I’ve decide to write my first post here. After more than two months of playing, trying, listening of different types of settings I finally came to conclusion/solution that’s suits my taste... But first things first… Thank you Phill for such a great product/solution for computer based systems!

I had problems from beginning setting my computer for streaming audio to my DAC. Every question sent to Phill considering those issues were answered in incredibly short time and that was way before I even said I’m willing to purchase AO. Highest level of professionalism I haven’t encountered in a long time…

Phill helped me starting with driver installation and with all needed advices regarding server setup. Thanx a million, Phill !

My first mail sent to Phill was somewhere in June and I bought AO late in September… after some 40+ mails we sent to each other and plenty of advices I received from Phill, I was ready for final step in setting audio system…

In my system with singlePC setup which is simple and minimal, component-wise, I found that best sound for me is with following settings:

OS: Windows Server 2012 R2

 

Sound Signature: X (Windows Default)

Digital-Filter Mode: X (Windows Default)

 

High precision event timer (HPET): enabled

Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP): enabled

Software Protection Service: enabled

WASAPI/MMCSS Optimization: NO

SCSI-MiniPort drivers disabled: YES

USB Optimization enabled: YES

Drivers and Services disabled: YES

Plug and Play service: disabled

AMD CPU/SATA drivers: disabled

Remote Desktop services: enabled

Remote Management services: disabled

Netowrk related services: enabled

Windows Management Instrumentation: disabled

(this setup gives: 30 process; 331 threads; cca 8900 handles)

 

I’m still in GUI mode and that is because I never use TC before and don’t know how to play music or import albums with it. My music is on an external HDD. Even setting a library in JRiver is a bit complicated task for me because I never could set it the way I use to it ( list of folders with authors/albums…) saw somewhere that is easy but still didn’t try it. Unfortunately not enough time for everything…

Comparing KS and ASIO:

Reading this post many of you are using KS as a better, more direct way between PC and DAC. But in my case with ASIO sound is much more open. Cymbals have more (longer) decay…Soundstage is resolving with more air between instruments and all that with full bodied sound… I stayed with ASIO. (KS sounded much more darker or quieter, less lively… )

SS/DF:

This was a hard one… After a month of trying A-D/1-4, at the end I realize that X/X is best sounding in my system… at least coloration of any kind…

No emphasizing… just a “flat” sound… equal amount of low, mid and high tones in any of listened recordings that I used for testing. To me, that sounded like most natural sound…

-guitar strings sounded precise, sharp, crisp, detailed…

-double bass/ electric bass sounded deep but focused and resolving

- Drums sounded clear, stayed behind but with authority and every hit was powerful but not overtaking the rest of soundstage..

-vocals sounded “real” with clearly audible inhaling/exhaling and breathing while singing

- piano is complex instrument.. a combination of percussion( hummer and pedals) and string instrument (simplified explanation, maybe not the accurate one) sounded clear, filling the room.. Great presence of all instruments and vocals overall…

Sound never sounded fatiguing in any moment no matter witch type of music was playing, and it was “full bodied” sound all time

Music used:

*Stevie Ray Vaughn:

-Couldn’t Stand The Weather SACD ISO

-The Sky Is Crying SACD ISO

-In Step SACD ISO

*Manu Katche – Neighborhood

*Brian Bromberg – Wood

*Vlatko Stefanovski & Miroslav Tadic – Krusevo

*Patricia Barber:

- Modern Cool (MFSL) SACD

-Nightclub (MFSL) SACD

- Verse (MFSL) SACD

-Companion (MFSL) SACD

* Jacintha

- Jacintha - Autumn Leaves [XRCD2]

- Jacintha Goes To Hollywood

- Jacintha - Here's To Ben (1999) (XRCD)

*Isao Suzuki :

- Ako’s Dream (TBM) XRCD

-Black Orpheus

-Blow Up (TBM) XRCD

* Tsuyoshi Yamamoto:

- Misty XRCD (TBM)

- Girl Talk (TBM)

-Speak Low

- Midnight Sugar (TBM) XRCD

- Autumn In Seattle (TBM) XRCD

* Anouar Brahem – Astounding eyes of Rita (ECM)

* Rabih Abou – Khalil

- Journey To The Centre Of An Egg (ENJA)

- Morton’s Foot (ENJA)

Sumary:

AO is a great product. In my system changes it made were clearly and audibly noticeable. Nothing like a “wow” effect but it did put a smile on my face. Records sounded less digital, more analog like… noise floor was lowered down. Sound stage is little better. More air between instruments. All in all much more enjoyable sound overall. Does it worth $130? Absolutely!

Thank you Phill!

Regards

Marko

 

Markol: Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am just up and running with AO and trying to find the best digital sound. I kept the filter at default but switched to 1. Somehow, I am feeling the that X was better though. I am not using redbook material (trackes from HD track and couple of AAC and flac tracks. But definitely can say that AO brings an amount of clarity that I really like.

 

Ahmed

[MarkoL]

you need two devices:

one computer sleeping - with WOL activated

second computer / iPad - this one will wake up the first one.

 

what would you expect that WOL can do for you?

 

and yes: open notepad and save the file with the extension bat. inside the file follow the examples from my previous link.

now run the bat and your batch will wake up the computer.

 

in case you need more details infos, please write me a pm

 

 

HI, EuroChamp

I did exactly all in the way you told me but with no succes. Tried all three exaples with wol.exe app but nothing happened.

wol [MAC adress] [NIC IP adress] ...I even tried with port they suggest 12287 but nothing...

Did I missed something?

[IQ_AV]

Phil et el:

Thank you so much for creating such a vibrant product. it had made a great deal of difference in the quality that I am getting from my music pc. Taking the cue from the support forum in jplay.eu, I had set 4D as SS and DF in AO and as Phil said, it added a lot of body to the music. I have a home pc with Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H, Athlon ll x2/250 CPU, 4 GB Ram with Antec case, WD green 1 TB HD, Corsair 128 GB SSD and liteon Blu ray drive. My original intention was to create a HTPC to watch movies, stream, torrent etc but that was 4 years ago. I have drunk AO coolaid and now use this rig only as music pc. I am hoping some of you can comment on if I should be making more tweaks on what I am already enjoying fabulously due to AO. My music is still 50% MP3, so these days I am primarily dependent on Tidal (wimp) in States to get audiophile music. My music server is Foobar 2k with ASIO and I have checked to use the 64 bit drivers. Observation and tweak requests are:-

1. My PC never logged less then 2 GB for RAM even I was using Win7 64 bit and the CPU was always in the 50% range as I was running Plex on the same box. After AO, I see the RAM at 400 MB or so and the CPU utilization is less then 10%. I am running in the GUI mode and have RDC enabled, even though it does not work. I would need to trouble shoot further as I have a static IP assigned to the built in NIC. My question is, should I try to move to the CORE mode from here? Would that lower, I guess any kind of ripple that I still have?

There is a learning curve obviously using the Powershell and command prompt, but I can get used to it.

2. Phil mentioned in the PDF to use the best kind of SATA cable which I have not. What are the recommendations for those?

3. Phil mentioned to use smaller partitions and SSD. When I was installing Win12R2, the installer would allow me to install on the SSD, even though it was GPT. I just went ahead and installed on the HDD after trouble shooting for 15 mins. So my primary partition is I think 200 GB on HDD and I had copied all of my music on the SSD. But as I said, my primary source of music will be Tidal. Question is, should I try to reinstall on the SSD?

4. I see some of you use a network isolator. My network is CAT6 with 3 gigabyte switches as well as the main Wifi route supports Gigabyte connectivity as well as the Cable modem wan link is a Gigabyte port. The music pc is connected through the realtec built in NIC but I was never able to get Gigabyte throughput out of that. There is plenty of discussion on how to sovle that but it never worked. So do you think, I should look at a network isolator?

5. I have seen in CA about using a USB noise reducer type gizmo which connects with usb between pc and DAC. Should I be looking at that?

 

I had posted in the JPLAY forum as well but hoping to get some feedback from CA users.

 

Thanks,

Ahmed

[Pete86]

Has anyone compared AO with windows 8.1 and the CAD script or fidelizer? All 3 seem to be based on the same philosophy.

 

Fidelizer is a bit cumbersome in that changes aren't permanent and will revert back upon restarting (the free version at least). The CAD script is permanent until you manually run the reversion script.