AudiophileOptimizer BETA Thread (AO 3.00 beta is closed)

[Solid-State]

"  I am not seeing the "cmd/command" as a choice in the ST. "

 

will probably be added in next beta of AO

[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.

[bummer]

Just a short report:

Years ago I started with WS2012 + AO + Jplay in dual-pc setup. Then switched to WS2016, now WS2019. All details only concern Audio-PC! Here some details:

OS: WS2019 Standard core + AO 3.00 Beta.36

DAC: Bricasti M1

Driver: TUSBAudio Driver for XMOS Vers. 1.61.0

Need to press F8: Yes

Player: Jplay

KS working: Yes

WASAPI working: Yes

Needed HD Audio Driver: No

Here some more details: The *only* way, to achieve this, was to follow AudioPhil's schedule step by step, he posted on January 29. It was impossible (and I tried many different ways always with clean install – backup and recovery of OS) to get the DAC- driver (KS) to work *without* installing FOD before. Don't ask me why, but all I know is, that Windows sometimes is a mystery.

Martin

[patrickchristian]

Hi Phil!

 

I am running AO 3.00 on my Win 2019 Server audio PC on GUI mode perfectly, and it sounds very good.

I had ran Ultimate mode to configure it!

I have only one PC, with an SSD for the OS and other for the music files!

 

I am running on this single box system:

roon server->hqplayer desktop upsampling to DSD 64->dCS asio driver->dCS Scarlatti Master Clock (USB-SPDIF converter)

 

I tried to replace shell using service tool, but it is not working on both modes (roon or hqplayer as shell), as only one of those SWs run on this mode! Is it possible to do something to run in this mode?

 

Other question, which I had not tested, as I need to reinstall the Win 2019 Server, as it is not possible to switch from GUI to Core mode:

Is it possible to run my solution (roon server + hqplayer + asio driver) on Core mode?

 

Thank you!

 

Patrick

[AudioPhil]

21 minutes ago, patrickchristian said:

Hi Phil!

 

I am running AO 3.00 on my Win 2019 Server audio PC on GUI mode perfectly, and it sounds very good.

I had ran Ultimate mode to configure it!

I have only one PC, with an SSD for the OS and other for the music files!

 

I am running on this single box system:

roon server->hqplayer desktop upsampling to DSD 64->dCS asio driver->dCS Scarlatti Master Clock (USB-SPDIF converter)

 

I tried to replace shell using service tool, but it is not working on both modes (roon or hqplayer as shell), as only one of those SWs run on this mode! Is it possible to do something to run in this mode?

 

Other question, which I had not tested, as I need to reinstall the Win 2019 Server, as it is not possible to switch from GUI to Core mode:

Is it possible to run my solution (roon server + hqplayer + asio driver) on Core mode?

 

Thank you!

 

Patrick

Hello Patrick

 

of course, shell replacement works fantastic in all modes (gui and core).

 

i assume you try to set roon instead of roonserver as shell -> thats why it is not working.

 

Roon does NOT work in Core

RoonServer and RoonBridge do work in Core (with the help of AO )

 

Best,

AudioPhil

[bummer]

after some more tests I just want to complete my post # 1428: the one and only problem I encountered was installing DAC-driver properly. Adding FOD and a full run with AO before was indispensable. In contrast to my previous post, F8 is not necessary for installing the DAC- driver.

 

Martin

[radziobrjp]

Hi Phil,

 

I tested AO 3.00:

 

OS - WINDOWS SERVER 2019 Standard (Core)

MUSIC PLAYER - JPLAY (KS) / SINGLE COMPUTER

CONVERTER - M2TECH HIFACE EVO TWO

 

No problem with installation and configuration, in my opinion the best sound is "1D" with JPLAY OFFICIAL VERSION, JPLAY ALTERNATIVE has more air, more space, more details but vocals are too strong for my ears / in my audio configuration

[AudioPhil]

Hello Guys

 

I was ill for a few days and still not 100% recovered yet, hence not much replies from me during the past days. Sorry, my bad

 

I have read through all the comments in detail and i have to admit that I am a bit overwhelmed from all the flowers. But of course I am more than just happy to read how well all is working and how high the grade of all your satisfaction is, especially in terms of sound quality! Getting Beta 36 to its form was a monstrous act of coding and head banging, the part with the driver problems introduced through Windows Server 2019 brought me to my limits. I am happy i didn't give up and put all my energy into it, and finally found a solution which will be very important for many users in Windows Server 2019.

 

Most people seem to be very happy with the feature set, but there are still a few more things i have in mind putting into AO 3.00, some others which are more complex and time intensive are definitely noted and will find their way into AO in version 3.10 or later.

 

Thanks once more to all of you helping to shape and test AO 3.00. I think this is a wonderfull process which gives all beta testers the ability to actually influence how AO 3.00 will look like.

 

Thanks a lot to all of you,

Phil

[AudioPhil]

On 3/7/2019 at 8:17 PM, thuandb said:

 

Agreed totally regarding SQ.  Speed (Beta 36) is a bit slower than prior Betas probably due to more behind the scene checkings, stability is near perfect, new features are near perfect.  No complaints.  Only one remained wish:  one key stroke optimization, similar to AO -e (express) option but custom to invidual user's selection.  Similar to Canon's C1 and C2 buttons.  That would be slick.

 

Overall, this AO3 incarnation is better than ever.  Kudos to Phil for his brilliant work, conquering the WS2019, bringing us a not only stable working environment featuring all three major drivers (ASIO, WASAPI, KS), new features, but the best ever SQ.

 

Ineed, many people want to see a "save config" feature. I would extend that by an "export/import" config feature and so on. I also have an idea how i can accomplish this task, but for sure this will be a very large and complex thing for AO. It will change some fundamental things and it will still need quite a bit of time untill we can see this in AO. But i am working on it, promised!

[AudioPhil]

On 3/7/2019 at 10:34 PM, Lauritsvd said:

Latest beta 36:

It runs very stable, and sound is the the best I have heard with computer audio👍

I like the new features a lot as well.

 

How about a direct posibility to change the sound settings without restarting AO?

 

This is possible since many many years, i think even since the very first release of AO All you need to do is run AO a second time, you will then have the possibility to "loop" through sound signatures and digital-filters as many times as you wish. This of course while listening to a sound which will let you easily find your perfect settings.

[AudioPhil]

On 3/8/2019 at 1:24 AM, Peter Avgeris said:

I would like to see something more on AO.

It is not related to SQ issues. Far from it...

After Optimization, the network configuration through 'sconfig' is corrupted. No changes can be made after Optimiation.

This is the only thing missing from AO3.

Otherwise, I think everything is fine.

 

Just my two cents

 

What happens when you do a reset via ServiceTool?

[AudioPhil]

On 3/8/2019 at 6:56 AM, Gato said:

AO 3.00 beta 36 is OK:

• Sound quality is very very good and bring my system to life.
• The system has not encountered any stability problems.
• New features are very helpful.
• If speed can be improved, it will be a good point.

PS:

Suggestion: Detail "To increase Simplicity": When AO ask for a binary choice, harmonise the questions so the answers can always be (Y)es or (N)o (no more E , D or ... at keyboard).

 

This is also noted on my list for future additions to AO. We might see this in AO 3.10!

[AudioPhil]

On 3/8/2019 at 10:05 AM, wigil said:

Hi Phil,

AO 3.00 Beta 36 is very comfortable and stable and sounds excellent.

There is this one problem in core mode, that direct sound doesn't work like in gui 2019 and in core 21016 and 2012.

Winfried

 

DirectSound is "out of scope" for AO. There where never any intentions to make it work. I am sorry, i know you need it

[AudioPhil]

On 3/8/2019 at 10:25 PM, gonefishing said:

Hello Phil,

 

There is only two minor issue that I encounter during installation but easily worked around to get going. Is this something which can be remedied.

Starting with a clean OS windows server 2019 core build

Install JPLAYfemto and activate = restart and confirm activated.

Install PS Audio DAC driver = confirmed DAC connected.

Install AO beta 36

Run AO beta 36 in ultra-mode and results in

JPLAYfemto now unlicensed, I need to run turbo activation restart and confirm activated again.

PS Audio DAC driver is now in error in device manager, I need to uninstall device and reinstall device all is ok after that.

 

JPLAY and DAC driver installed before I run AO optimisations, that’s the right process order or am I wrong?

 

Thanks

John

Interesting bit about the JPLAYfemto activation. Can you reproduce this behavior, or did this happen only once?

[AudioPhil]

On 3/9/2019 at 9:34 PM, gonefishing said:

Hi

 

Through all the bata’s tested 31 to 36 I have never had to disable the driver signing at startup. Its never been a problem.

 

Regarding my DAC driver getting knocked out after running AO - Audio Optimisations.

 

From Audio Phil’s manual page 5 - Recommended Scenarios

 

"Best Practice After installing Windows, a Media Player, Drivers for your DAC or DDC as well as the AudiophileOptimizer be sure that everything works before you actually use the AudiophileOptimizer."

 

It made sense to me when I read the manual and having verified - everything works before you actually use the AudiophileOptimizer. AO - Optimisation - is knocking the DAC driver out.

 

AO is an optimiser, shouldn’t it need to know about JPLAY and DAC drivers before running AO -Audio Optimisations. Or has the best practise process manual page 5 - Recommended Scenarios changed?

 

I would like to hear from Audio Phil on that thanks 😊

well normaly AO makes the drivers working at all, and not vice versa Or in other words, in most cases its impossible to make the DAC drivers working at all if you have not installed AO already and done a few specific steps.

 

There are a few features which might not work well with your DAC driver, such as:

- Disabling Plug and Play Service

- Disabling Windows Management Instrumentation

- Also you might try the very last question by AO about T&A DAC8, etc

[AudioPhil]

On 3/10/2019 at 9:22 AM, moriez said:

 

 

It wasn''t until Peter Avgeris and TubeMan's flows that things came together. The pdf guide has been very confusing to me 😕

Ahead of Phil's reply, what happens could be order related. Somewhat different from your post #1415 here's what works for me:

 

install ws2019
mount/install fod 
run netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off
run sconfig [set system time/zone - windows updates - static ip]
install chipset > reboot
install ao > reboot
ao -wasapi > reboot
st [set auto logon]
install dac driver [set latency in panel]
run devmgmt.msc [disable exclaimed(!) devices -  turn off hd write caching]
install/activate jplay > reboot
run ao

 

So installation of AO is way before finally running its optimization. Note that I don't use WASAPI but when I started including it all has been flawless. Possibly coincides with gamechanging beta35.

 

What PDF guide are you refering too? There is no PDF guide yet for AO 3.00, i first have to write it.

[AudioPhil]

On 3/10/2019 at 9:47 AM, moriez said:

@AudioPhil 

 

I'm curious what the official 3.00 release is going to look like. Can you say anything about it at this point?

Will there for example be a trial period similar to JPLAY FEMTO with the option to upgrade? Could one keep using 2.20?

 

Also not unimportant, what about pricing? 

 

All info welcome

 

It is not yet 100% clear how the future trial version of AO 3.00 will look like. It might be different from the trial system we use since a few years which was not exactly our favourite. So yes might be the coming trial version of AO 3.00 might work differently than the current one.

 

The upgrade costs will be roughly the same as the last two upgrades in the past near 6 years, so something between 35$ and 39$. After this major upgrade we will see some free updates, again as it ever was during the past years. So no changes in the update/upgrade philosophy.

 

You can still run and activate AO 2.20 after the release of AO 3.00, but for support it is mandatory to use the latest available version.

[AudioPhil]

On 3/11/2019 at 4:24 PM, shinyc said:

 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).

PS -> THANK YOU

PS2 -> No, AO did

PS3 -> I know, the test sound does not work and i gave up ond this rather cosmetic issue after a while... probably it's just missing the wav or whatever sound file is used, but i could not find out which one it is..

[AudioPhil]

On 3/11/2019 at 7:27 PM, bummer said:

Just a short report:

 

Years ago I started with WS2012 + AO + Jplay in dual-pc setup. Then switched to WS2016, now WS2019. All details only concern Audio-PC! Here some details:

 

OS: WS2019 Standard core + AO 3.00 Beta.36

 

DAC: Bricasti M1

 

Driver: TUSBAudio Driver for XMOS Vers. 1.61.0

 

Need to press F8: Yes

 

Player: Jplay

 

KS working: Yes

 

WASAPI working: Yes

 

Needed HD Audio Driver: No

 

Here some more details: The *only* way, to achieve this, was to follow AudioPhil's schedule step by step, he posted on January 29. It was impossible (and I tried many different ways always with clean install – backup and recovery of OS) to get the DAC- driver (KS) to work *without* installing FOD before. Don't ask me why, but all I know is, that Windows sometimes is a mystery.

 

 

Martin

 

It's always a good idea to folloow my advice 😎

[thuandb]

Glad you're back and and we all are hoping you're getting better.  As selfish as I can be, your good health is needed for the success of ongoing and future AO projects.  After all, most if not all of us have been extremely happy and impressed with the AO3 Beta's features, capabilities and SQ.  Thank you for individually replying to our posts.

 

 

 

[Anto]

I can't wait for the final version to be released... 😋
will still be so much... 😵

Ciao

Anto

[AudioPhil]

1 hour ago, Anto said:

I can't wait for the final version to be released... 😋
will still be so much... 😵

Ciao

Anto

YES ME TOO! 😃

[Solid-State]

10 hours ago, AudioPhil said:

Hello Guys

 

I was ill for a few days and still not 100% recovered yet, hence not much replies from me during the past days. Sorry, my bad

 

I have read through all the comments in detail and i have to admit that I am a bit overwhelmed from all the flowers. But of course I am more than just happy to read how well all is working and how high the grade of all your satisfaction is, especially in terms of sound quality! Getting Beta 36 to its form was a monstrous act of coding and head banging, the part with the driver problems introduced through Windows Server 2019 brought me to my limits. I am happy i didn't give up and put all my energy into it, and finally found a solution which will be very important for many users in Windows Server 2019.

 

Most people seem to be very happy with the feature set, but there are still a few more things i have in mind putting into AO 3.00, some others which are more complex and time intensive are definitely noted and will find their way into AO in version 3.10 or later.

 

Thanks once more to all of you helping to shape and test AO 3.00. I think this is a wonderfull process which gives all beta testers the ability to actually influence how AO 3.00 will look like.

 

Thanks a lot to all of you,

Phil

Health is the most important

[JazzDoc]

1 hour ago, TubeMan said:

Health is the most important

Absolutely! Please look after yourself Phil

[moriez]

17 hours ago, AudioPhil said:

 

What PDF guide are you refering too? There is no PDF guide yet for AO 3.00, i first have to write it.

 

As an inexperienced WS and AO person the 2.20 guide is all I can refer to backed with lots of Google-Fu. This is besides the point I was trying to make if there was any. It's a confusing manual to me but you knew that already.

 

 

17 hours ago, AudioPhil said:

 

It is not yet 100% clear how the future trial version of AO 3.00 will look like. It might be different from the trial system we use since a few years which was not exactly our favourite. So yes might be the coming trial version of AO 3.00 might work differently than the current one.

 

The upgrade costs will be roughly the same as the last two upgrades in the past near 6 years, so something between 35$ and 39$. After this major upgrade we will see some free updates, again as it ever was during the past years. So no changes in the update/upgrade philosophy.

 

You can still run and activate AO 2.20 after the release of AO 3.00, but for support it is mandatory to use the latest available version.

 

 

Ok, good info. For what it's worth I liked the 3-4 weeks trial JPLAY FEMTO came with a few months ago. Don't know how AO was before. Pricewise sounds pretty much like a no-brainer to me. Waving to you on appreciation avenue