A toast to PGGB, a heady brew of math and magic

[kelvinwsy]

I am going to downliad the trial version and put it thru the paces of my Kpop music and some banjo/Bluegrass / vintage Led Zep, Chicago etc.. u know those multi track thin shrill music .. This music is only listenable thru Dsd512/ Ec modulation! Even then thin sounding

Let"s see how these genres fare at 128 bit played back at 32 bit thru I2S 🤔

[kelvinwsy]

@MiskaIs there a filter combo at Ec7 v2 Dsd512 32bit playbk tbat maximuzes midrange tone using just the internal Hqplayer DSP engine.. I wish to test this extensive

[kelvinwsy]

On 6/3/2022 at 9:42 PM, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

Sorry folks for dropping another update in quick succession.

I just released v3.0.45 of PGGB-AP, this version improves speed and memory performance over the previous version.

 

Release notes

Version 3.0.45: Insane Edition:
    SQ Changes:    None
    Features:
        * Memory and speed improvement for shorter tracks    

 

3.045 is a breeze to use ! 

Here are some system task mgr snap shots: I hv a Samsung 860 SSD 256 gb running Win10Pro and a Samsung 970 M.2 as a 350 gb Virtual Memory drive.

Processing 5 CD quality tracks takes up to 90 min 128 bit with HF filter enabled (up to 1024 m taps) Highest I observed was 170-190 m taps actually applied

 

[kelvinwsy]

Some initial observations on 44.1 khz 16 bit to 128 bit/ output 32 bit 16fs (705.6 khz)

Using Eagles Hell Freezes Over XRCD(Japan pressing) as 1 of the test music

Looking at the Configuration options

A. HF Filtering - Dulls the music

B. Moderate- Meah ...

C. Minimal - Now we are talking

I used Natural and Transparent as the other 2 settings

 

Highs say on Glenn Frey (Tequila Sunrise) and Don Henley (Hotel California) Vocals-  has a dry astringent tone on the original recording.

The Pggb hf filter mode suppresses this but dulls the upper mids .. Not so nice

Moderate- dry tone still there so u can say this is the baseline.

Minimal - The highs are free to soar. Dry Tone still there but seems to be spread out a bit with no sibilance just on a tight few hz !!

 

The abv is played bk thru Hqplayer 4.17  with 0 db vol min and max, No filters 1x and Nx with None Noise shaping!

 

Overall SQ diff comparison with Hqplayer DSD Upsampling( tried HQP internal 705.6 upsampling ... not to my tastes at all)

1. PGGB seems more upfront than the DSD version

2. PGGB at 128 bit is the only version i would listen to for PCM output mode

3. Definitely more body , more air, than standard 44.1 khz but hifreq tonal anomalies in the recording - not entirely resolved

4. on my Kpop music from itunes  store converted to 44.1 WAV format ..some tracks with female soprano hi notes.. hmmh !! not sweet at all!

5. Hqplayer pcm 705.6 upsampling is no better!

6. But DSD 256/512 sweetens up everything7. 7. Sound Stage, Air, papability of sonic images As Good as PGGB128/32 16fs 👍

8. DSD 256 and esp DSD512 on Hqplayer produces a noticeably quieter background

There is a slight sonic haziness playing bk the PGGB 128/32/16fs tracks.. It could be the playbk freq highlights some system noise in my setup ??

More testing now using Hdtrack recordings (48 khz)

a. Polly Gibbons - Many Faces of Love 

b. JD Southerv- Natural History

c. Manhattan Transfer - The Junction

d. Sarah Barrielles - Live at the Variety playhouse

e. Christy Baron - Take this journey

All 96khz

f. Al di Meola, John Mclauglin,  Paco de Lucia - One Nite in San Francisco 176.4 khz

 

Happy Testing

[kelvinwsy]

1. Some more personal observations

a. The hazy sound disappeared when I copied the PGGB Files to my Lps powerec SSD - Usb hdds caused this noise..

2. I had a misunderstanding.. The HF filter mode does not affect 44.1khz files .. Retested   the 3 modes - no effect on 44.1 khz files

3. Had to set my Gustard A22 DAC PCM filter mode to Super Slow which imitates NOS to get benefit of the PGGB 138/32 bit files

.... Now 705.6 khz sounds great via PGGB pass thru mode of HQPlayer 

or

Upsampled thru Hqplayer

 

Further testing ongoing