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

[k6davis]

All of the options you mentioned will work with the Audiophile Optimizer.

[k6davis]

Ok, must be blind. I am actually using mini server mode instead of core. I pick jRiver as the shell. I don't see a command prompt either in the jRIver menu system or on the screen if I mimimize JRiver. Nothing much happens when I type in 'js'. There is no jPlay icon on the screen anywhere either.

So a few more hints would be welcome.

 

Also so would anyone care to share the jplay settings and AO settings that seem to work best together? I'm using a single pc.

 

Thanks,

steven

 

You don't see a command prompt because you've chosen JRiver as the shell. Re-run the service tool and choose the default shell, which is the command prompt, and it will be the only thing that appears when you reboot. You can then make adjustments with jPlay and the AO and once things are to your liking, you can then go back to having JRiver as the shell.

 

Alternatively, you get to the command prompt this way:

• Type Ctrl-Alt-Delete and bring up the Task Manager.
  
• The click "More Details" at the bottom of the Task Manager, which will make its menu bar visible.
  
• Select File | Run New Task | "cmd".
  

As for which settings are best, opinions are all over the map on that. It's entirely subjective and hugely dependent on your system and individual preferences. I have JPlay maxed out in terms of buffering/throttling/hibernation modes. I tried the more "advanced" JPlay engines like Ultrastream and XStream, but the River engine sounds more natural to me/in my system. As for AO, I like 4D on both of my machines. Obviously YMMV. It's easy to experiment and find out what works for you. When you do, please post your preferences so that other users can see if they like them too.

 

One more thing to keep in mind, you have to stop the music in order to change JPlay settings, but you can change AO digital filters & sound signatures while you're listening to the music.

 

Good luck!

 

Keith

[k6davis]

I have a similar issue but as I use RDP to access my headless CAPS-like box remotely and it is in Core Mode I am mostly cut off since making MC19 my shell. The only way I could figure out to get to the AO utilities was to use JRiver and choose "Open File" to browse to c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe.

Yes, I do that too. I created tiny batch files as shortcuts for the few tools I need (Task Manager, Q-Dir, JPlay, JRiver, command prompt, even shutdown & restart) and they're all in the same folder. I access them the same way, with JRiver and "Open File". It works very well and I don't have to type any long paths.

 

I don't need them very often now that I'm happy with the settings I've chosen... for now anyway.

[k6davis]

How much better is core mode over minimal server? I have all my music on a nas but could connect it via usb to avoid copying files around in core mode, which would drive me crazy.

Copying files around? How do you play your music?

 

I use JRiver, which I've set to automatically monitor the folders where I store my music. Since my music drives are on my network, I do most of my library maintenance with a different computer (my laptop, which has a full GUI) and JRiver automatically detects any changes.

[k6davis]

Yes or no

 

No.

 

Despite the title of this thread, AudioPhil has said that he found WS2012 to be inherently superior to the consumer operating systems, so he stopped developing for them. AFAIK, that is still the case.

[k6davis]

Great! Thanks for trying this and posting. All too often I feel like I'm the person who's setup behaves differently than everyone else.

 

I have now disabled the USB optimization, and I may like the sound better.

No, TJHUB, I also found AO 1.30 to be unpleasant. In fact, your negative description of it was *exactly* what I was hearing. The sound of it in my system was actually objectionable - thin, flat and definitely distorted.

 

I use Clonezilla to back up my system so I was (and still am) able to switch between the versions fairly easily. So about a month ago, I went back and forth and tried a multitude of settings in an exhaustive effort to see if I could get AO 1.30 to sound as good as AO 1.26 in my system. During that time, I also found JPlay's River engine to be the best sounding by a considerable margin. Switching to it definitely improved AO 1.30, but it didn't remove the unpleasant characteristics of the sound. Switching back to AO 1.26 was always a tremendous relief. To say it another way, JPlay's River engine was just as beneficial to AO 1.26 as it was to AO 1.30, but I love the sound of AO 1.26 while AO 1.30 was not to my liking at all.

 

What's fascinating is that there have been a few of us that have strongly disliked AO 1.30 while many others are extremely happy with it. I don't believe such a dramatic split has ever occurred before, but I suspect that maybe all of us are right!! I don't think AO 1.30 is bad. Phil knows what he's doing. There seems to be something about my server configuration that doesn't just work well with AO 1.30. That's my guess.

 

Anyway, none of this applies to the majority of you who are enjoying the latest version of Phil's outstanding product. If you were hearing these negative effects, you'd know. They aren't subtle. As for me, I look forward to Phil's next update, but I'll be enjoying AO 1.26 until then.

[k6davis]

I installed AudiophileOptimizer 1.31 BETA 9 along with JPlay6 and am blown away, yet again, by the improvements in the sound. I heard a nice improvement from JPlay6 alone, but as usual, it is AO that elevates the sound quality to levels I've never heard before. Clarity and dimensionality have been even further improved. There's a surprising improvement in fullness of the low frequencies as well.

 

As pleased as I am now, I have two significant upgrades to look forward to: I haven't yet tried HQPlayer with WS2012 + AO and I've just shipped my Lampi DSD DAC out to have it upgraded from DSD128 to DSD256. HQPlayer's performance in PCM -> DSD upsampling was clearly superior on Windows 8. I can't wait to hear what it can do running on WS2012 + AO when I get my DAC back.

 

Thanks again Phil!

[k6davis]

I'm wondering if anyone else has this very minor issue?

 

I run a dual server configuration with JRiver/Jplay and when I start the servers, the first time I start a piece of music, it always fails to play. After that, everything works perfectly and sounds great. It's as though the first attempt to play music establishes the JPlay connection between the servers.

 

Is there something I could change about my settings to get rid of that?

 

Thanks,

Keith

[k6davis]

I have exactly the same problem. No way I found around it. But I've been running Jriver 19 and Jplay 5 (latest of 5).

 

Thanks for the reply Mike. It's likely a JPlay configuration issue. I'll research it a bit further on their forum and let you know if I find a solution.

[k6davis]

Loving it!

 

Me too. The sound is better than ever before. And that's saying a *lot*.

 

Thank you Phil

[k6davis]

So it appears that it's possible to run Roon on WS2012 with AO. Great news!

 

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/windows-server-2012-r2/573

 

I'm hoping to give Roon a try on WS2012 + AO, using JRiver to render the audio (HQPlayer isn't an option yet, but they are looking into it). Has anyone here tried that? Does Roon require GUI mode, or will it run in Core mode?

[k6davis]

Cheers Phil!!!

[k6davis]

Q1: Has there been any work around figured out on how to add music to the HQPlayer library while using it as a shell in core? Only way I can do it is to switch to gui, add the music to the library, and then back to core...a real pain! I've searched the forums and haven't found an answer to this question yet.

 

I used JRiver before I switched over to HQPlayer. I prefer the sound of HQPlayer, but JRiver is a superb library management tool, offering every imaginable way to organize, maintain and search your library. I continue to use JRiver for those purposes and I drag n drop music from JRiver to HQPlayer. Works like a charm.

 

There are probably other media programs that would also allow you to drag n drop to HQPlayer - and maybe some of them are free. The previous suggestion of Q-Dir will work, but will not offer the robust search and library management capabilities of JRiver.

[k6davis]

Unfortunately, I'm in core so using Jriver to drag and drop won't work. Any comment on the Roon question?

 

Dragging and dropping from JRiver works just fine in core mode.

[k6davis]

Ok, maybe I'm confused? How do you have a JRiver and HQPlayer shell open at the same time while in core?

Ahh.. I see.

 

I don't use shell mode. Instead, I created a few tiny batch files (with short names) in the default directory that enable easy access to HQPlayer, JRiver, jPlay, Q-Dir, Task Manager, shutdown, restart, etc. from the command line. It's a bit like having shortcuts in a Windows GUI, but for DOS/the command prompt. It was a pleasant surprise to find that minimizing a program without the Windows GUI still leaves a small box at the bottom of the screen so that it can be restored or closed.

 

Using shell mode is certainly simpler, but I prefer the flexibility of my approach.

 

Congratulations on that Lampi Golden Gate DAC, by the way!! I'm a proud owner of a heavily customized L4 DSD-Only DAC.

 

I've found the combination of AO Core + HQPlayer DSD Upsampling + jPlay + Lampizator chipless DSD to be heavenly. It's not a small tweak, but I found that adding a second server (using jPlay, both running AO) made a significant improvement to the sound. One server handles the media software and file handling and most importantly, the upsampling DSP, while the second sever, connected directly to the DAC is nearly idle, running in jPlay's Hibernate mode. I've experimented and found that removing any of the above elements noticeably degraded the sound in my system.