AudiophileOptimizer BETA Thread (AO 3.00 beta is closed)

[shinyc]

Hi Phil,

 

Just installed AO3 on a WS 2019 core machine (Audio PC). I use Jplay to stream data from a control PC. Within Jplay, I see kernel streaming selection comes up at either control PC or audio PC and a standalone configuration but if I configure them as a dual PC setup, I no longer see the kernel streaming choice in the Jplay selection menu. I only see ASIO. Yes, I did set yes to "Install Kernel-Streaming and MediaPlayer support". Music do come through using ASIO thou. Please help.

[shinyc]

I moved the post to Jplay forum.

[shinyc]

On 2/13/2019 at 10:15 PM, shinyc said:

Hi Phil,

 

Just installed AO3 on a WS 2019 core machine (Audio PC). I use Jplay to stream data from a control PC. Within Jplay, I see kernel streaming selection comes up at either control PC or audio PC and a standalone configuration but if I configure them as a dual PC setup, I no longer see the kernel streaming choice in the Jplay selection menu. I only see ASIO. Yes, I did set yes to "Install Kernel-Streaming and MediaPlayer support". Music do come through using ASIO thou. Please help.

uninstall (dev) and rescan fixed it. I had to read the whole thread. @AudioPhil you could have just told me this, saving me the trouble. Small gripe^^

[shinyc]

OS: WS 2019 core standard

DAC/DDC: Schiit Yggy via Acousence artistic fidelity isolator + USB module

Driver/Version: XMOS-USB-Audio-v3.34.0 (also tested Thesycon JLsounds_USBAudio_v4.41)

Need to press F8: No (I disabled security setting in bios)

Player: roon(LMS mode) => squeeze2upnp => jplayfemto

KS working: Yes

WASAPI working: No (strange)

Needed HD Audio Driver: No

[shinyc]

10 hours ago, TubeMan said:

Have you run A -WASAPI
is FOD added
can you see the soundcard in sound control

 

Because JPlay Femto sometimes does not detect wasapi drv

Yes, I ran "ao -wasapi", FoD stuff. Running in core mode so I am not sure if I can see the sound control. Yes, I am running jplayfemto. It says "NO WASAPI" in the jplay setting app. Maybe wasapi is working, just not in the jplayfemto. I am caring less about the wasapi in my setup for I am using KS for the moment. Surely I want to test out the wasapi to see how it sounds. Thank you for extending your help, @TubeMan

[shinyc]

Oh, I ran mmsys.cpl and nothing shows up as a soundcard.

 

When I ran devmgmt.msc, I notice that there is a speaker icon and the next to it, it says "Unknown", under which, my hardware/driver is listed. I am using Thesycon JLsounds_USBAudio_v4.41 driver for the moment.

[shinyc]

On 3/1/2019 at 9:56 AM, magicknow said:

I upgraded to Beta 36 with no issue.  There is a very significant increase in SQ

@magicknow Did you do a fresh install from scratch or just the AO?

[shinyc]

1 hour ago, magicknow said:

I just ran the AO setup.exe

Good to know. Thanks. 

[shinyc]

No stability issues for me.

 

For convenience sake, I second the Canon C1/C2 function.

 

AO3(2019), at least in my setup, is sounding quite different from my AO2.20(2016). AO3 sound is more solid and forward while AO2.20 wetter with more decay. So it is like owning 2 different systems, which is a very good thing for me. I have them on a dual boot machine(audio PC) so switching back and forth is a 30 sec affair.

 

My setup includes jplay femto and fidelizer. I also tried with HQPlayer, Roon, minim server, squeeze2upnp but  the jplay femto produced the least fatiguing sound. 

 

Nice job and look forward to seeing general availability soon.

[shinyc]

My setup was running fine in WS2019 Datacenter core mode and today all of a sudden after a reboot by AO returned my setup to a GUI mode. It does not appear to be a full fledged GUI mode but it is with bottom task bar and tray icons with desktop shortcut icons scattered on my screen. Is there a simple way to kill this gui environment? More surprising thing is it seems one can switch modes in 2019, not? 

[shinyc]

40 minutes ago, TubeMan said:

run, service tool and change shell to cmd/command and it will disappear

 I am not seeing the "cmd/command" as a choice in the ST. I tried "AudiophileShell" and it got rid of the GUI shell. Then i tried "Restore default shell" and I am taken back to the GUI shell. This last choice took me to the simple command prompt (i.e. cmd window) but now I get GUI shell. Actually I think this is a nice finding. I can go back and forth between core and gui. You confirmed that I cannot do that in 2019. What am I seeing here? Can anybody explain this for me please?

 

PS. I like the "AudiophileShell" a lot. It is much better than the simple cmd window. It is like a text driven gui desktop. hehe

 

PS2. Now I see a speaker entry in the sound control. The mysterious GUI must have brought it to life. WTH

 

PS3. I can not produce test tone via the speaker (in the sound control). And no output via wasapi (jplay).

[shinyc]

4 minutes ago, TubeMan said:

This is a bug that happens if you start explorer.exe twice on on each other,
when Server core addon FOD is installed

Thank you very much, TubeMan. I kinda like that bug or should I say a nice feature? I can go back and forth between modes now. And Phil is saying that SQ difference between the two modes are getting narrower as we move to 2019. So it would be nice to have this feature in the future release unless there is other more serious side effects for doing so.

[shinyc]

I am having difficulty installing driver for a USB microphone (UMIK-1 for room EQ). I was able to install it before using usbaudio2.inf (usbaudio2.sys and related dll) on WS2016 core/AO2.20 machine.  Now I am on WS2019 core/AO3.0 and the same driver no longer installs. New OS says it is not the right driver for the microphone device. I injected WASAPI, installed HD audio drivers but without success. Can someone help me find a driver for my microphone?

 

[shinyc]

Yes, I tried the F8 routine. No good so far.

 

I also tried "Update the driver to the latest version" and I get the following screen:

 

 

I do not have much clue for the next move.

[shinyc]

Oh~. Well, I tried that way back when I had to install it on a WS2016 machine. Those manufacturers have little concerns on server level OS. Besides, it is all taken care of by OS included MS generic USBAUDIO2 driver. So they do not provide drivers on their website. BTW, I found a copy of usbaudio2 driver on the Internet when trying to install my microphone on the WS2016 machine a few years ago.

[shinyc]

Thank you.  I hope he is in good mood😀

[shinyc]

On 4/7/2019 at 1:58 AM, shinyc said:

I am having difficulty installing driver for a USB microphone (UMIK-1 for room EQ). I was able to install it before using usbaudio2.inf (usbaudio2.sys and related dll) on WS2016 core/AO2.20 machine.  Now I am on WS2019 core/AO3.0 and the same driver no longer installs. New OS says it is not the right driver for the microphone device. I injected WASAPI, installed HD audio drivers but without success. Can someone help me find a driver for my microphone?

 

 

I am moving this to: 

 

[shinyc]

Hi Phil,

 

You confused me with another member (Blawre).

 

No problem.

 

I don't mind if you can take a look at my trouble, how to install USB microphone in WS2019 core.

 

 

[shinyc]

I took a shot at single PC/Roon/WASAPI/Fidelizer/AO3b38/WS2019GUI combo. I did not use PL. I just let fidelizer choose cores/priority for roon. I noticed that fidleizer chose core #1, #2 (zero based) out of 4 cores for all audio related processes including the processreaper.

 

Compare to a dual PC jplayfemto setup (usual stuff, 1000hz dac link, KS, bubbleupnp, hibernation, etc.), unfortunately, this setup won hands down on my setup. I was really looking forward to seeing roon/wasapi combo's winning for its simplicity sake but I still have to stick with the dual pc setup and with so many little (and some big) power supplies. In my dual PC setup, roon runs on another PC so it's more of a triple PC setup. I love to achieve single pc setup and see how others can replicate your success.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience.

[shinyc]

I don't know how I can spoil a thread especially on this forum. Here we go.

 

Actually moving roon server to a new machine took a long time. It takes about 3 hours to backup my roon db. I should have obtained a new free trial license instead. Once I fired up the single PC roon setup, I was expecting air, density, transparency. These three qualities are usually noticeable immediately. Well no good news there. I was really looking forward to the density part. I played maybe 4 or 5 tracks before I wanted to return back to the original dual PC setup. After returning I played a track. those three qualities are back to the level I was able to obtain in my lifetime. I don't recall one quality being vastly different from each other, though. As you know as an audiophile, if there is clearly discernible differences however small it is, it is hard to go back. 

 

Many times transparency and density go against each other. If you can achieve both at the same time, that can be an eerie feeling. You would probably need an exotic tube amplifies to realize the feat. For now I am content with transparency alone. Much harshness is gone after fidelizer and femto technology. I will give PL a shot when I have some spare time. Do they offer free trial for server OS?

[shinyc]

I have the exact same symptom. Well, almost. I run roon on a 3rd machine and I am running hqplayer on the control pc. If I have hqplayer brought up with AO startup shell, jplayasio acts up and thing don't work. So whenever I reboot, I remove jplayasio from the hqplayer and reboot. Then, I manually reinstate jplayasio at the hqplayer. When jplayasio is not working for some reason including one you are experiencing, many times, js command does not bring up the jplay settings panel. Then, I have to reboot the audio pc. Only then, you can bring up the jplay settings panel. Then, choose the audio pc ip again (it should be redirected to the local pc), ok and bring the panel again to make sure everything is correctly set. Maybe you can place a delay command like "timeout /t 20"  just before the roon core invoking line in the AO startup shell script. 

 

Well, that was happening when I was on WS2016 core so this adds to the almost the same symptom. Now my setup is moved away from jplayasio and went on to femto, which just sounds phenomenally better. I am using "squeeze2upnp.exe" to connect to roon when using femto chain. If I am really into SQ, I copy an album to a local directory and use "pure" femto" using bubbleupnp control point (no roon involved). Once you experience the femto sound, it might take some time to get back to roon. 

[shinyc]

I think control PC interacts with audio PC. When there is a certain interaction (jplay driver, streaming protocol, etc), you have that lock up. So they are not independent of each other. There was some start up sequence change (manual to automatic, that is) in the control pc, right? Somehow the automatically started control PC kicked the audio PC, in turn, putting it into a numb state hence no response to the js command (or something like that).

[shinyc]

Booting sequence is a very complex one. If roon core and jplayasio code load and run during the boot sequence (i.e. automatically loaded), there can be some unexpected because certain programs are required to be loaded prior to certain others. That is why things are fine when you load manually after boot sequence settles.

[shinyc]

4 hours ago, shinyc said:

Maybe you can place a delay command like "timeout /t 20"  just before the roon core invoking line in the AO startup shell script. 

Perhaps you can edit the AO roon startup script per above quote and try see if it works.

[shinyc]

Yes, I would try that cmd script. Of course you would delete (or REM) the hqplayer line. It seems it has a timer built in. If you are not sure, you can still add the following line to delay the "start" command:

 

timeout /t 20