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

[JakovH]

Sure, i use JRemote as well while both machines being in core mode.

 

I don't and will not have a control PC. Just a similar build to the Zuma in the CAPS style.

 

So with this singular music server with ws2012 installed as the os, Jriver as the player and jremote to control it headless (after setup), will I be able to make this work with solid stabilty and letting the server hibernate/sleep when not in use.

 

If not, will ws2012 (without optimizations/core mode if impossible) be a better OS in general over win7/8 64?

 

My rebuild is in slow/stalled mode at the moment due to no HDplex H5 cases being available so I'd really like to finetune/plan my new build before it becomes available.

 

I appreciate your advice.

[k6davis]

I don't and will not have a control PC. Just a similar build to the Zuma in the CAPS style.

 

So with this singular music server with ws2012 installed as the os, Jriver as the player and jremote to control it headless (after setup), will I be able to make this work with solid stabilty and letting the server hibernate/sleep when not in use.

 

If not, will ws2012 (without optimizations/core mode if impossible) be a better OS in general over win7/8 64?

 

My rebuild is in slow/stalled mode at the moment due to no HDplex H5 cases being available so I'd really like to finetune/plan my new build before it becomes available.

 

I appreciate your advice.

 

WS2012 is a much "lighter" OS than Win 7/8 even with the GUI and especially without it. I wouldn't expect you to have issues with stability. That's also what makes it sound better than Win 7/8 even without optimization and why AudioPhil chose it as the platform for his product.

 

You can back up (and restore) your current system drive with any one of several "bare metal" backup tools (I use the free Clonezilla) and download a 180 day free trial of WS2012 to get a feel for how the server OS runs and sounds on your hardware. I'd also take a good look at AudioPhil's excellent manual. It goes into detail about hardware & software configuration without being difficult to understand.

 

WS2012 should sound better than Win 7/8 unoptimized, but WS2012 + AO is where the real magic is.

[WuNgUn]

All this is overwhelming to a newbie like me... If I were just use one computer for starters.. which is best.. the CAPS Carbon, or Zuma...? So much had been said for flea powered mother boards, and minimal, light weight OS(linux) and software.. makes sense.. hence the trends of the atom mobo CAPS,, Auraliti PK-90 etc.. but you guys are using much higher horse powered machines.. now I'm confused again as to which way to go... Trying to keep it simple....

 

My HTPC builds have always employed Gigabyte Ultradurable mainboards...

Of course, these are full-on ATX desktop boards, with power requirements far above a CAPS unit. I use these boards because of the high quality, low noise MOSFET/Ferrite regulation, and low impedance 2oz copper PCB layout. Quality capacitors help too...

 

GIGABYTE Unlocked Power Motherboards

 

To this, I use external USB SATA drive for media storage and internal SSD for operation. I use a modified Xonar STX (discrete clock, external regulated power).

Eventually, id like to build a separate PSU for the SSD as well.

 

Today, i might try a 2 PC setup...use my media drive on my netbook to stream to the HTPC. However, my HTPC is already running GUI 2012, so the benefits maybe be negligible...?

[PewterTA]

2 nights ago I went ahead and ordered the AO after demoing and not having it installed (messed with a bunch of stuff trying to get my PC to stop skipping and eventually undid the activation) for the last few weeks. Well I got things figured out (amazing what a cheap $10 PCI NIC can do)...and finally decided that even though I'll probably build a new PC at some point... I was curious how much of a difference I was/was not hearing.

 

After downloading the new version (I was on 1.22 I think with the demo) and getting things set up correctly again... I am still completely blown away how good the Win2k12 r2 + AO sounds. I actually had a chance to demo a really solid MAC plus Amarra+ and (I believe but am not 100% postive) all the MAC Audiophile optimizations... in another thread on this forum... and we got to A/B them side by side.

 

I initially had to mess with the Filter settings with AO, to get my favorite setting (2B I think it is) before we could compare. One thing we noticed is that AO gives a slightly more "warm" less "digital" feel to the music. The MAC with all it's tweaks was very good, but was a little bit more harsh in my system, little more clynical sounding (maybe digital was the right word). Imaging and depth between both the systems was pretty similar with maybe the slight advantage to AO as far as how much depth was in the system.... imaging was pretty much identical.

 

Two things we noticed was that the Win2k12 R2 + AO had a little more "blackness" or "silent" sound to it... when there's nothing in a song, there is NOTHING. Then the big thing we agreed upon that stood out the most is that the AO was quicker in it's presentation. It has a level of speed and quickness that the MAC could not do no matter what we tweaked.

 

The Mac was a 15" Mac Book pro, I don't believe any upgrades were done to it but it did have the SSD. We pulled the music from my server (via AFP) using ExtremeZ-IP from my Win2k8 r2 file server. Music Outputted to a Musical Fidelity V-Link 192 -> NAD M51.

 

My server is an Asus M2N-MX SE Plus systemboard with an AMD 5000+ dual core CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 30GB OCZ Vertex SSD. Basically this is just a put together machine as I was demoing the AO. It does have the Pico 120w PSU, Paul Pang's USB 3 card, SoTM SATA Filter, and my new RealTek PCI NIC card. One thing I found made a nice difference is that the Pico PSU is powering the systemboard & PP USB 3 Card only. I have another power supply from a USB to SATA/IDE adapter powering the SSD from another wall outlet. Even though I don't play music off the SSD, I have to say I think the sound changed moving the SSD completely off the Pico PSU. Music was pulled via SMBv2 from the Win2k8 r2 server and outputted to another MF V-Link 192 to the NAD M51.

 

Anyways, I just wanted to give Audiophil is credit, where credit is deservedly due!!! I know for most people getting a licensed copy of Win2k12 is expensive...but honestly it's hardly more (with the server build) than a nicely done up MAC that so many people will spend the money on... and in my opinion, I like the ability of the AO to produce my music.

 

On a side note, we were able to make both the MAC and Win2k12 + AO sound almost identical by messing with the AO settings and changing the filters around. The quickness was still in favor of AO...but it was cool to almost not be able to tell them apart!

 

This was with using my NAD M51, one inputted on AES/BU and the other Coaxial. We did swap just to make sure and take that out of the equation.

[k6davis]

PewterTA,

Great to hear that it worked out well for you too! Have you tried AudioPhil's (and my) current favorite settings?

 

Hi

 

Currently I lik 1D on the ControlPC and 4D on the AudioPC the most.

 

Best,

Phil

 

These things are of course a matter of opinion and system dependent, but I found these settings to be significantly better than others I'd tried. Plus, I was using a NAD M51 too at the time.

 

I'd be curious to hear what you think.

[thm655321]

I have not played with Phil's settings yet, and I am using a single PC. If you only have a single PC system and wanted to try Phil's settings, should it be 1D (like he has on his control pc) or 4D like on his audio pc?

 

Thanks.

[k6davis]

I have not played with Phil's settings yet, and I am using a single PC. If you only have a single PC system and wanted to try Phil's settings, should it be 1D (like he has on his control pc) or 4D like on his audio pc?

 

Thanks.

 

I'd try the 4D first, as your single PC is your "AudioPC", in the sense that it's the one connected to the DAC. Of course, you could experiment with both. Hopefully Phil will chime in on this soon.

 

What stood out for me was the preference for "D" that he and others have recently expressed. It seems to really maximize clarity, warmth and detail all at the same time.. somehow.

[AudioPhil]

Yeah well, I thought I'd give it a try, especially since I flipped a humongous Peugeot pepper grinder on Kijiji which paid for half the optimizer. Windows 2012 Server I already thought a nice improvement over Windows 8. Adding AudioPhil's Optimizer was a breeze and yes, it is a worthwhile upgrade. With the default settings the presentation had a nice lush tube feel to it. Played around some more this morning and tried the 4D setting which seemed to suit my setup better. Everything got bigger and bolder. Up to this time I was streaming via JPLAY and JRiver from an I5 ControlPC with Windows 7 to an I3 AudioPC. I have a spare dual core laptop, which I decided to use as a Control. I loaded Windows Server on that and installed the optimizer. Took a while to get the network settings right in Server mode so I could use a tablet and Gizmo to control the playback. I matched AudioPhil's filter settings for both Control and Audio PC's and sat back to listen. OK this is the new Paradigm. Lush organic music coming out of absolute silence and new sounds where I thought I had heard everything on the recording, and the bass is to die for. Lest you should be intimidated by the technical set up, I'm 64 years old and had it working first time. Windows 2012 you can set up on a separate partition and dual boot, so you don't have to lose your current operating system. I not going to say go out and buy it 'cause it ain't cheap. But if you are sitting on the fence, take a look at some of the weird stuff you've wasted your money on which now lies sitting in a closet unused. With that perspective it might seems a more palatable purchase.

 

Hi

 

Thank you very much for this feedback. The oldest customer i have is 72 years old. so i think the age is definitely not what matters to be honest, who is capable of reading should be fine. The guide covers so much information, so many traps and failures, and the Optimizer does SO much behind the scenes, it resolves really much issues before they even occur.

 

Many thanks,

Phil

[AudioPhil]

How goes the work on the trial version....?

 

unfortunately i had absolutely no time so far. we are getting a baby very soon, and the priorities have changed a bit. but i have it on my list, don't worry.

 

Phil

[AudioPhil]

I don't and will not have a control PC. Just a similar build to the Zuma in the CAPS style.

 

So with this singular music server with ws2012 installed as the os, Jriver as the player and jremote to control it headless (after setup), will I be able to make this work with solid stabilty and letting the server hibernate/sleep when not in use.

 

If not, will ws2012 (without optimizations/core mode if impossible) be a better OS in general over win7/8 64?

 

My rebuild is in slow/stalled mode at the moment due to no HDplex H5 cases being available so I'd really like to finetune/plan my new build before it becomes available.

 

I appreciate your advice.

 

Hi

 

Server 2012 setup after Guide will give you about 20% of whats possible, but still better than win 7/ win 8.

i would think more than twice if you really want to go without Optimizer. long story short, it would be your loss

i assume everyone here will agree with this.

 

Phil

[louawalters]

Hi

 

Server 2012 setup after Guide will give you about 20% of whats possible, but still better than win 7/ win 8.

i would think more than twice if you really want to go without Optimizer. long story short, it would be your loss

i assume everyone here will agree with this.

 

Phil

 

I couldn't agree more, for the 100 Euro / 135 CAD you cannot go wrong with AudioPhil's Optimizer, it is well worth the price, and the improvement is not subtle, even with JPLAY.

 

FYI, I was never able to use UltraStream before running the optimizer on my AudioPC. I am in the process of building out a new AudioPC and ControlPC, both dedicated, and both will be optimized. I cannot wait until I am all done the new build :-)

 

Great work Phil! looking forward to 1.24 :-)

[PewterTA]

PewterTA,

Great to hear that it worked out well for you too! Have you tried AudioPhil's (and my) current favorite settings?

 

 

 

These things are of course a matter of opinion and system dependent, but I found these settings to be significantly better than others I'd tried. Plus, I was using a NAD M51 too at the time.

 

I'd be curious to hear what you think.

 

I'll have to try that, I did like all the 4(A-D) settings, all I have is it set up in a single PC mode... but felt that for my system the 2B or 2D whichever it is, had a slight warmth to it. I'll have to go back and see which I prefer again!

[Mark Block]

Just curious. New to all this. Perhaps a naive question'' counter-attack gently please.. ... but here it is... All this work to optimize a powerful. and 'heavy' O.S. (Windows). Would not then a light OS already optimized for audio such as the Voyage MPD work the best? Or, does the the ultimately more powerful Windows, when optimized carefully, out perform based on its ability to tweak so many parameters..

[JakovH]

Hi

 

Server 2012 setup after Guide will give you about 20% of whats possible, but still better than win 7/ win 8.

i would think more than twice if you really want to go without Optimizer. long story short, it would be your loss

i assume everyone here will agree with this.

 

Phil

 

My query has nothing to do with cost or spending.

 

It is all about a singular caps style server with no control pc, in my case run headless via an ipad/jremote being able to sleep/hibernate/wake with absolutely no issues via the prior hardware/software combo in this "core" mode.

 

I reiterate, no control pc. I don't turn this PC/server off ever.

 

Regards

[dminches]

I need a little help. I ran the shell_jriver19.reg file and now when my server boots up I cannot get to a command prompt. How do I change the shell so I get a prompt again?

 

I thought I needed to run the reg file so jriver would automatically load but I don't think that is the case. I can't remember how I did it the first time.

 

TIA

[thm655321]

Just hit ctrl-alt-del to bring up the task manager, choose file/run and enter cmd.

[dminches]

Just hit ctrl-alt-del to bring up the task manager, choose file/run and enter cmd.

 

Thanks.

 

And then I can run shell_explorer.reg so when it boots up it just loads the command box?

[AudioPhil]

Hi

 

the next version of the ServiceTool will include all those things like shell replacement. The included shell_explorer.reg fits for GUI. If you want back the command prompt, delete tje second of the "explorer.exe" in the reg file, then import it and reboot.

 

best,

phil

[JakovH]

I've moved further down this path dl'ing and preparing my system for WS2012 although have held off on AO until a couple of parts arrive.

 

ONe query I do have though. How many users are building their boxes with desktop motherboards and are those users running into any issues with the lack of WS2012 drivers for these desktop boards?

[AudioPhil]

Hi

 

Almost all customers i have are running desktop boards.

[JakovH]

So are the drivers etc. loaded by default on installation workable or are we to install win7 64 or win8 64 drivers? Or is it a trial and error thing?

[AudioPhil]

Hi

 

most of the drivers will load natively by the OS. What quiet often causes trouble are the network drivers, some need some effort to make them work. But in the end they all work

[wappinghigh]

At work today we were contemplating moving our Win 2012 server application off our own box in the office onto a cloud server> This got me thinking.. could I do this at home and run Audiophile Optimizer and JRMC on a cloud server like this and somehow stream my library to PC's..heck even Mac's.. then DAC's in my house? Just asking if this is possible as a proof of concept. Cheers..

[AudioPhil]

Hi

 

This would probably work but i definitely don't recommend it. Think about the latency and instability of the signal an internet connection in between would introduce to the signal path. no, i would not follow this route.

 

Best,

Phil

[AudioPhil]

...have some previews of the next ServiceTool

 

You no longer have to know in what mode you are to switch modes. this cuts down 6 into 3 options.

additionally the whole shell replacement part (JRiver MC18 & MC19, Foobar2000 & Total Commander)

is now covered with the ServiceTool, as well as getting back to the traditional command prompt or

desktop environment in GUI. No more registry file tweaking to configuration Autologon, the ServiceTool

can do this for you now. The release version of the ServiceTool 1.44 will even offer the possibility

to configure a JPLAY Dual-PC setup.

 

The new version of the Optimizer will have an option to support RigiSystems USBPAL Drivers and

therefore DAC's like Mytek or AudioResearch etc. On top the ServiceTool can show you all informations

about your setup, including mainboard, cpu, RAM, P/N of the RAM, your DAC etc.

 

 

 

 

 

I think this will make the whole handling part easier than ever! Especially for those not very savy about dos command etc.

 

Best,

Phil