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2 cores sound better than 1!???


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Today while tying to figure out how to get my little i3-3220T dual core cpu to upsample to DSD256 with HQPlayer I realized that for some reason one of the two cpu cores was turned off. I must have turned it off a long time ago and forgot. Anyway, after turning on the second core, I was still not able to reliably play DSD256 but to my surprise music sounded better to me with both cores running versus a single core. Does this make any sense? I am convinced I must be nuts.

12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2)

 

Other components:

UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments

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Today while tying to figure out how to get my little i3-3220T dual core cpu to upsample to DSD256 with HQPlayer I realized that for some reason one of the two cpu cores was turned off. I must have turned it off a long time ago and forgot. Anyway, after turning on the second core, I was still not able to reliably play DSD256 but to my surprise music sounded better to me with both cores running versus a single core. Does this make any sense? I am convinced I must be nuts.

 

Lower CPU load = lower electrical noise? It is reasonable to think that the less load there is on the CPU, the better the sound. YMMV

Main System: [Synology DS216, Rpi-4b LMS (pCP)], Holo Audio Red, Ayre QX-5 Twenty, Ayre KX-5 Twenty, Ayre VX-5 Twenty, Revel Ultima Studio2, Iconoclast speaker cables & interconnects, RealTraps acoustic treatments

Living Room: Sonore ultraRendu, Ayre QB-9DSD, Simaudio MOON 340iX, B&W 802 Diamond

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Lower CPU load = lower electrical noise? It is reasonable to think that the less load there is on the CPU, the better the sound. YMMV

Makes sense! I just got an i7 quad core so maybe I will get even better sound??? LOL! In all seriousness, I got the i7 to help with DSD upsampling in HQPlayer.

12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2)

 

Other components:

UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments

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I'm still bemused by the experience that class 10 SD cards using USB 2.0 sounds better than Sata III SSD locally or remote... hard transients for percussion have more authoritative impact and low bass becomes nuanced and expressive. So the Tim Taylor motto "more power" appears appropriate for local playback hardware solutions. I personally think of PC audio as running between the raindrops... run fast enough that all the other "raindrops" on the data bus can't get in your way.

Regards,

Dave

 

Audio system

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Lower CPU load = lower electrical noise? It is reasonable to think that the less load there is on the CPU, the better the sound. YMMV

 

Most probably when 1 Core only is in use, the software + hardware which are in contention create a lot of additional noisy activities.

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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I suspect you had Hyperthreading turned off, so your software was running the threads on 2 computing cores resident on 2 physical cores.

 

With Hyperthreading on, there are 4 virtual cores available for use by HQ Player and the other programs and services running. This means that high priority processes get to be executed with less delay and more importantly a more consistent level of delay than you would get from having just 2 cores, and results in better sound from HQ Player

Sound Test, Monaco

Consultant to Sound Galleries Monaco, and Taiko Audio Holland

e-mail [email protected]

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I suspect you had Hyperthreading turned off, so your software was running the threads on 2 computing cores resident on 2 physical cores.

 

With Hyperthreading on, there are 4 virtual cores available for use by HQ Player and the other programs and services running. This means that high priority processes get to be executed with less delay and more importantly a more consistent level of delay than you would get from having just 2 cores, and results in better sound from HQ Player

 

this is interesting because I have read from Miska that he doesnt feel hyperthreading makes any difference for HQP. Have you compared with it on and off? I am curious.

12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2)

 

Other components:

UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments

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this is interesting because I have read from Miska that he doesnt feel hyperthreading makes any difference for HQP. Have you compared with it on and off? I am curious.

 

Yes we have tested HQ Player running on different numbers of cores. In the settings window of HQP there is a check box for [Pipeline SDM] which then distributes the computing load over multiple cores. Before there was the Pipeline SDM option, Hyperthreading was sometimes negative or marginal in SQ improvement

Sound Test, Monaco

Consultant to Sound Galleries Monaco, and Taiko Audio Holland

e-mail [email protected]

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Yes we have tested HQ Player running on different numbers of cores. In the settings window of HQP there is a check box for [Pipeline SDM] which then distributes the computing load over multiple cores. Before there was the Pipeline SDM option, Hyperthreading was sometimes negative or marginal in SQ improvement

Thank you...I will try enabling Hyperthreading and using Pipeline SDM.

12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2)

 

Other components:

UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments

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  • 4 weeks later...

Having at least two physical cores is our basic recommendation.

 

the first core of a cpu (core 0) handles practically everything related to hardware, bios, interrupts and what not all else. This is the default behavior of windows ever since and it can't be changed.

 

having a second (or more) core's gives the OS more flexibility. It's very likely that your media player of choice will mainly run on the second core. You can even set core affinity via TaskManager if you want. But this will be undone with the next reboot, be aware of that. Bitsum's Process Lasso comes in handy for this task, whit its help you can set affinity and priority of a certain process permanently.

 

I strongly recommemd to disable Hyper-Threading, Energy Saving and all C-State Modes, this will give the best results.

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