Bughead Emperor

[JohanJ]

 

The lack of mixed resolution is a great annoyance: it's hard for an end-user to understand what's happening when on the one hand dragging and dropping a file show it into the list, and in other instances, the same file doesn't appear. The user has then to do a Clear and try again. It's quite frustrating.

 

Maybe the different playlists (A, B, C, etc...) helps with this but I haven't tested that.

 

 

I did try to load files of different resolutions in the different playlists (the ones with the different colors), but that didn't work. I agree that this could be a major problem depending on how your filesystem is organised. Mine is on genre and composer, not on file resulution. Once you select one album only it isn't much of a problem, but in making a playlist the problem occurs.

But maybe all this is thought off by the designer. I wouldn't be surprised that playing a different resolution, in his vision needs a different setting. Suppose you have a 44.1 file and choose the 8x oversampling, loading a 192 file would give a problem.

Interesting software, lots to discover...

[JohanJ]

A problem I had this weekend was that the settings page of BHE didn't want to open. It showed itself very shortly and the program crashed. If I didn't click on the logo to open the setting page the program opened itself after a while. All this happened after updating JRiver MC20 to MC21, so that seemed to be the suspect. I found that the ASIO driver of JRiver was the problem, after turning it off in the MC21 settings the problem was solved.

Because I am not the only one that has Jriver and BHE on its machine this might also occur to you, so I thought to post this one.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Does anyone know how to play a .m3u file through BHE?

 

I couldn't figure it out.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Geoff

[YashN]

Yes. But BH may be doing more than just memory management.

 

You have no idea how it works then.

[yincr]

Does anyone know how to play a .m3u file through BHE?

 

I couldn't figure it out.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Geoff

 

I found something, but I am not sure if this is what you are looking for.

 

Post 66

Infinity Blade HQ (Bug Head Emperor) worth trying - Page 4 - Computer Audio - JPLAY - hi-end audio player for Windows

[toddrhodes]

I found something, but I am not sure if this is what you are looking for.

 

Post 66

Infinity Blade HQ (Bug Head Emperor) worth trying - Page 4 - Computer Audio - JPLAY - hi-end audio player for Windows

 

I'm pretty sure I made a post in that same thread about how to "convert" M3U playlists to Bughead style. It's been so long since I've used BHE I don't remember the specific steps but basically I made a quick playlist in BHE, the syntax may even be in the manual, but it's a very, very simple syntax. So I exported my main playlist, after filtering it to specific sample rates in JRiver (sort by sample rate, make a play list for each "set" of sample rate/bit depth you have). Export those via JRiver to M3U, edit the M3U in notepad to match the Bughead syntax, and then load those up as Bughead playlists. So long as they are placed in the proper BHE Playlists folder, they show up in the right click menu. I want to say they're just A, B, C, and D playlists? Something like that. In any case, it's not difficult, just takes a little tinkering which I'd assume anyone on this forum could pull off, what with it being computeraudiophile after all

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Thanks to both of you for trying to help me out on this.

 

I understand now how to play an m3u prepared playlist in a format bughead will accept.

 

Unfortunately I don't think it's going to be possible to do what I want, which is to ask the OS from my python code to open a playlist with bughead. This is something I can do with virtually all other players.

 

Geoff

[SavantGarde]

Yes. But BH may be doing more than just memory management.

 

The developer says here that it uses DSP to restore the sound quality of MP3 and AAC compressed audio so that it sounds better than CD and to eliminate the characteristics of the microphone(s?) used during recording. He seems to say that it's like remastering the audio. On this forum thread he calls it "Bug Head 1.612 Digital remaster music player" and says "It is a sound source generation algorithm that is more excellent than a past theory." On this thread he calls it "Sensitivity based noise reduction technology".

 

(These descriptions make BHE seem a bit like Stereo Tool with its Declipper, Dequantizer, Delossifier and Natural Dynamics modules.)

[YashN]

The developer says here that it uses DSP to restore the sound quality of MP3 and AAC compressed audio so that it sounds better than CD and to eliminate the characteristics of the microphone(s?) used during recording. He seems to say that it's like remastering the audio. On this forum thread he calls it "Bug Head 1.612 Digital remaster music player" and says "It is a sound source generation algorithm that is more excellent than a past theory." On this thread he calls it "Sensitivity based noise reduction technology".

 

Yes, but BH Green is solely about how Memory is used.

[JohanJ]

Does anyone knows what the button 'Oculus' does, down left in the infinity blade sq screen?

[gldgate]

Does anyone knows what the button 'Oculus' does, down left in the infinity blade sq screen?

 

Nothing now. It refers to Oculus Rift, a virtual reality head mounted display that will be available for consumers in 2016.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Does anyone knows what the button 'Oculus' does, down left in the infinity blade sq screen?

 

Actually I think that's a very good question.

 

I'm an optimist and I've been hoping that since Oculus refers to the eye and 'watching', it might mean "watched folder".

 

If bughead could watch a folder and add any files to its playlist that appear in that folder we'd be most of the way to full automation/remote app control of bughead.

 

I have scripts that will write from iTunes or Kodi to a folder, temp files that bughead could accept.

 

Those temp files can be conversions from aiff for example (a non supported format in bughead).

 

If Bughead could "watch" that folder, load those temp files to its playlist and "hit the play button" we'd be quids in with full automation.

 

Occulus in bughead though probably refers to something totally unrelated to this. Something mystical?

 

Geoff

[zerung]

Actually I think that's a very good question.

 

I'm an optimist and I've been hoping that since Oculus refers to the eye and 'watching', it might mean "watched folder".

 

If bughead could watch a folder and add any files to its playlist that appear in that folder we'd be most of the way to full automation/remote app control of bughead.

 

I have scripts that will write from iTunes or Kodi to a folder, temp files that bughead could accept.

 

Those temp files can be conversions from aiff for example (a non supported format in bughead).

 

If Bughead could "watch" that folder, load those temp files to its playlist and "hit the play button" we'd be quids in with full automation.

 

Occulus in bughead though probably refers to something totally unrelated to this. Something mystical?

 

Geoff

 

Agreed....

Also on BHE generally, There are too many variables and hardware manipulation being driven by the software.... Unless you can uncompile the software or know better than most of us, simply saying memory management is wrong?

[wisnon]

Does BE only accept Wav and flac for PCM?

[MINORISUKE]

Does BE only accept Wav and flac for PCM?

 

Why don't you read the manual first before asking? On page 4, it is stated clearly in English.

[gldgate]

Does BE only accept Wav and flac for PCM?

 

I had the manual open so I'll help you:

 

Supports a wide variety of music formats WAV/MP3/OGG/FLAC/APE/M4A/AAC/WMA/WV/OPUS/CDA/CUE

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Yes it is possible to take what bughead/infinity blade sq does and convert it to DSD!

 

First I tried foo_asio, both directly and via JPLAY - no luck. It looks like it’ll play but it doesn’t play in bughead so no output to send to foo_asio.

 

Then I tried choosing J River 19 as an ASIO driver in Infinity Blade SQ’s set up page to the exasound via J River’s DSP settings for ASIO native. (I’m actually running J River 20; but it makes no difference).

 

This worked to a degree; but I couldn’t get reliable playback even cutting back to 44.1 in bughead and DSD64 in J River. Still it was encouraging.

 

Finally I combined the two; send Bughead’s output to J River with foo_asio set as the audio output device. foo_asio is set to output to the exasound at DSD256/SDM7

 

It worked; but I still got dropouts. After trying to cut back to lower DSD rates in foo and lower pcm rates in bughead I finally got reliable playback by increasing foo_asio’s buffer size within the set up panel for foo in J River. First I increased it to 100ms then to the max.

 

The max buffer allows me to go as far as x4 upsampling PCM in bughead and DSD256 in foo_asio. Nice.

 

It doesn’t seem to matter how far I push the up-sampling parameters for 4x up-sampling in bughead; but I can’t go to x8.

 

Both Bughead and J River are set to normal priority in process lasso. Softperfect is disabled and Cure all cores is run before playback.

 

As you know the more complex the settings you choose under the xN menu (x4 in this case) the more “lines” are shown under “Self sound optimizer” and the longer it takes before playback commences.

 

Go to the max which appears to be “stranger9x4” and the sound is incredibly dull on my system. The proverbial wet blanket. The only good thing you could say about it is that it’s very smooth.

 

Maybe I’m over-simplifying; but it seems that the degree that you back off from that extreme will gradually bring the sound back to life. So it should be fairly easy to tune by ear. Just back off until all the clarity and lucidity are restored along with a smooth coherent sound.

 

Now there is more room to play. Which combination of up-sampling PCM and DSD sample rate will sound the best? Or will we conclude that just up-sampling PCM and leaving it at that in bughead without going through foo_asio is best?

 

Personally I like the combination of bughead with foo_asio using 4x PCM over-sampling and DSD256 in foo_asio. I’ve only just got it working though, so haven’t done much listening yet.

 

I’ll be very interested in your findings.

 

geoff

[Johnjc]

I been using Bug Head for about 6 months I have written a set up guide on another forum. Let me know if it is ok to link in and I will

All core any cures I will run it 3 to 4 times before starting playback seems to make a subtle difference

At present I am using Galaxy 35 in full hibernation mode I prefer to keep things stand myself for most music but some of my more compressed files I use a different setting indigo which is in a hidden menu

For me getting the best out of Bug Head you need plenty of ram to get into professional mode and then also need to go into hidden menu to get into blank screen

I am using a w10 pc with i3 and would suggest i5 or i7 is better as I do not have the same access as my friends set up which is i5 I have 16gb which is duel sided This allows the SQ to be at its best.

Over the last 6 months the player has really improved

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

I been using Bug Head for about 6 months I have written a set up guide on another forum. Let me know if it is ok to link in and I will

All core any cures I will run it 3 to 4 times before starting playback seems to make a subtle difference

At present I am using Galaxy 35 in full hibernation mode I prefer to keep things stand myself for most music but some of my more compressed files I use a different setting indigo which is in a hidden menu

For me getting the best out of Bug Head you need plenty of ram to get into professional mode and then also need to go into hidden menu to get into blank screen

I am using a w10 pc with i3 and would suggest i5 or i7 is better as I do not have the same access as my friends set up which is i5 I have 16gb which is duel sided This allows the SQ to be at its best.

Over the last 6 months the player has really improved

 

Thanks for sharing that with us. I don't suppose anyone would object to you sharing the link to your guide on the other forum. We do that here all the time

 

When you say "Over the last 6 months the player has really improved" do you mean new releases of the player have got better in terms of sound quality with each release?

Thanks,

 

geoff

[Johnjc]

 

When you say "Over the last 6 months the player has really improved" do you mean new releases of the player have got better in terms of sound quality with each release?

Thanks,

 

geoff

 

On the whole yes some of the updates have been a side way step but on the whole positive I will post link later

[Johnjc]

I tend to use Galaxy 35 these days but the rest of the instructions is pretty accurate

Bug Head |

Do use ACAC 3 to 4 times before you start

I am not sure about rewrite data I have tried it and it works but I do not like rewriting my files

I do not use Galaxy for high energy rock if you wish I post and explain my personal set up

Here a quote from Clive Meakins when he met Mark Fenton of Markaudio

" I've got to tell this story about Bug Head. As you alluded John, the Alpair driver designer came to visit as well the crossover designer for a new speaker. There was a comment early in the day re computer setups..."it just digital", meaning not quite bits are bits, more there's not much you can do to change what you get with digital. We tried out quite a system few setups and because of the frequent changes I used Foobar/ASIO (WASAPI was too sharp) as it was quicker set tracks playing. When we'd settled on speaker setup I snuck in Bug Head. The comments went:

 

"Whoa, what have you just done?"

I replied, "it's just digital"

The response was something like "you bastard", meant in a humorous way...I think!"

[Nikhil]

Just installed v5.24 ...

 

Spent the last two hours listening to the different filters and options.

What a fantastic piece of work! Hiroyuki Yokota is a genius.

 

Straight of the bat - Balance and Phase options!

 

Went all the way up to 8x with the oversampling filters.

Normal seemed just fine to me after a while but will have to revisit.

 

Seriously good player - more people should try it out.

[gldgate]

Just installed v5.24 ...

 

Spent the last two hours listening to the different filters and options.

What a fantastic piece of work! Hiroyuki Yokota is a genius.

 

Straight of the bat - Balance and Phase options!

 

Went all the way up to 8x with the oversampling filters.

Normal seemed just fine to me after a while but will have to revisit.

 

Seriously good player - more people should try it out.

 

Agreed. I think many people are put off by the sheer number of options and lack of good English documentation. However, the default setting sounds great and would give folks a nice taste of the Bughead sound. The Jplay forum probably has the most active Buhead forum and is a good resource for newbies.

[Johnjc]

The latest update is very clean detailed and natural sounding 5.53

[Nikhil]

The latest update is very clean detailed and natural sounding 5.53

 

 

Thanks just upgraded to v5.54