Interest check | optimizing Win-10 for audio

[jmascreen]

I mean Disk Usage means the I/O for disk read and write.

Screenshot

My configuration is Intel I7 2400, 6GB Ram and 700GB HDD

 

[asliarun]

I mean Disk Usage means the I/O for disk read and write.

Screenshot

My configuration is Intel I7 2400, 6GB Ram and 700GB HDD

A shot in the dark:

You either have an anti-virus / malware service that is scanning your hard drive, or some kind of disk indexing is happening. Windows for example will periodically index your hard drive for search to work.

 

[ranjeetrain]

I mean Disk Usage means the I/O for disk read and write.

Screenshot

My configuration is Intel I7 2400, 6GB Ram and 700GB HDD

This is not enough to understand what may be causing this surge. I suggest using Resource Monitor utility to nail down the culprit.

A shot in the dark:

You either have an anti-virus / malware service that is scanning your hard drive, or some kind of disk indexing is happening. Windows for example will periodically index your hard drive for search to work.

Besides, the computer might also be infected with malware/trojan.

Most programs will not continuously push the disk usage to 100%. Short bursts are okay, but continuously, no, shouldn't be the case. It would be a horrible design if they did so.

OTOH, malware don't need to be well behaved. They are free to wreck havoc on a system.

 

[rikhav]

The 100 percent disk usage could be due to

1) When a huge software is being loaded
2) Anti virus scanning is going on in the background
3) Any backup software running in the background
4) Malware doing its duty

or

The HDD is going to die soon, In this case you will realize as it will take a while to load all applications, access files, etc etc

Is this a SSD or a normal drive (sata 2 or 3 if a normal drive?

How many hdds do you have installed on your PC? Any graphics card and what what SMPS are you using and what is the wattage

I ask this just to determine if the HDD is not getting full power it needs

Lastly, a bad SATA power or data cable

 

[keith_correa]

That task manager screen - will it not show which process is using the disk so much?

In addition to what has already been suggested as possible culprits, one possibility is that the Search Indexer has gone into a loop. Ctrl+R. Type services.msc. Locate Windows Search. Double-click and stop it. See if disk usage goes down.

 

[jmascreen]

I was googling yesterday to find some solution. and did couple of stuffs and now the usage is very minimal.

1) disable notification
2) disable windows search service

 

[keith_correa]

Now enable them one by one and see which one is the offender service. If it's the Indexer, you can delete existing indexes and rebuild them.

 

[keith_correa]

Next version.

 

[jls001]

Sorry for updating this thread rather late, but I've been a happy user of the numerous tweaks suggested by Keith on my music PC (Win 2012 R2 Server) for two and half years now.

Few days back Keith had come up with a new software to not just set priorities of computer processes but to also their quantum. He's given option to choose 12 different settings (not that I know what they mean, or the implication of choosing an option).

Here's a screenshot of the tiny software (just 22 kB):



I tried all the options one by one. The difference between options is subtle, but the difference between not using the "Set Priority Quantum" and using it is not at all subtle. With this software running in the background (run it as admin), there is a sudden drop in the noise floor of my computer playback. I was so intent on trying to discern the differences between the various options that I initially failed to recognize the new elephant in room (in a manner of speaking). It was only after I changed to another track that I realised the jaw-dropping increase in resolution of tiny nuances in the music. I also noticed that the decay trail had bloomed, making music sound very natural and relaxed. I wanted to turn up the volume as it wasn't fatiguing my ears despite the louder than usual SPL.

After going through all 12 options, I shortlisted 3 as possible finalists. One is most balanced, overall (to my ears). The second has a frantic attack and brings out fine texture in the music, though the edge can harden sometimes on certain tracks. The third is geared more towards a sweet decay. All valid choices, IMO.

This tiny software has had the effect of a major hardware upgrade to my sound. Proof: I listened to music till 2 AM last night

If you use Windows for playing music in any capacity (standalone machine running your favourite music player, or for something like a Roon Core), I strongly urge you to try this optimisation software.

 

[panditji]

I am also a recipient of Keith's benevolence and have been enjoying a huge upgrade to the sound all thanks to his tweaks to my cheap laptop..... The tweak shared above brought subtle changes to my system as well and I did shortlist 2 of the 12 as the best of the lot in my system.. The upgrade in sound is subtle as mentioned above but that is because the last 2-3 tweaks by Keith made a huge huge difference in the detailing and resolution of the sound... I don't think my laptop can be bettered any more but Keith still has a few more tricks up his sleeve..

 

[rikhav]

I was using the raspberry pi as a roon end point up till now so was not following up with keith regarding the optimization of Windows
Recently he came up with a stand-alone program which is very tiny
Not sure what all changes it does to the operating system but change in sound with and without Keiths optimization softwwre is very substantial
If you relate it with a hardware change in your setup it's as substantial as powering a component with Linear power supply which was powered by a cheap switching supply

Frankly, I never expected to get such results when windows is optimized

Even audio only Linux distros like daphile never sounded even half good as this optimization software is making windows 10 sound

And best part is that it gives results irrespective of what music play back softer is used
I use the laptop as roon end point with windows being Windows 10

Joshua uses foobar with Windows server

Panditji uses jriver but not sure which version of Windows

So it's giving results with all windows versions

I recommend more and more people to try it, of course if keith is OK with it as he feels it's still not optimized to the level he wants

 

[panditji]

I use Jriver with Windows 7

 

[Ravindra Desai]

USB Audio Class 2.0 driver will improve audio performance, on USB 2.0 port, if you use a USB DAC
Higher packet size up to 32bit and higher sampling rate upto 384KHz is only possible with USB Audio Class 2 driver and on Windows 10.
I believe, this needs to be installed manually and works only on Windows 10.
Kindly ignore if this is already covered.

Regards,

Ravindra.

 

[rikhav]

USB Audio Class 2.0 driver will improve audio performance, on USB 2.0 port, if you use a USB DAC
Higher packet size up to 32bit and higher sampling rate upto 384KHz is only possible with USB Audio Class 2 driver and on Windows 10.
I believe, this needs to be installed manually and works only on Windows 10.
Kindly ignore if this is already covered.

Regards,

Ravindra.

Don't know so much technical details but as my dac does maximum resolution of 24/192 so it does not matter much in my case

 

[captrajesh]

Don't know so much technical details but as my dac does maximum resolution of 24/192 so it does not matter much in my case

At the outset, the disclaimer: I'm not even a rank beginner; just trying to understand this digital audio thingy.

If I understand Mr. Desai's post (Correct me if I'm wrong) what he seems to be saying is about the packet size of the musical content (in its digital form) that's being output from the computer. I've not understood how does the DAC capability come into picture here?

 

[jls001]

USB Audio Class 2.0 driver will improve audio performance, on USB 2.0 port, if you use a USB DAC
Higher packet size up to 32bit and higher sampling rate upto 384KHz is only possible with USB Audio Class 2 driver and on Windows 10.
I believe, this needs to be installed manually and works only on Windows 10.
Kindly ignore if this is already covered.

Regards,

Ravindra.

Just to explain a bit about Keith's set of tweaks (lots and lots of them, BTW) and the small applications, they basically work in two ways - disabling computer processes and computer applications which are not needed for playing audio, or re-assigning priorities of computer processes which are either bumped up or down depending on their relevance to audio playback.

In the latest avatar (still beta) which I'm test driving since yesterday, it even allows choosing which processor core(s) to use for audio and which core/cores to use for non audio apps. It specifically allows one to choose the .exe file of audio player to be optimised (e.g. I chose the complete path for foobar2000.exe player). One can add other similar apps too, say, a driver for a DAC or sound card to be prioritised similarly. Please note that it won't matter whether the DAC is 24/192, or lower/higher. The optimisation only targets the process of the DAC (if chosen).

Hope that clarifies a bit. Sorry if my explanation sounds vague but I also have very limited understanding of how it works.

Addendum: packet size (measured in bytes) and bit depth (measured in the number of bits used) are two very different things, and the two should not be used interchangeably.

 

[panditji]

Allocating the cores to Jriver and the rest of the computer processes did bring a positive change in my system...You are right about the innumerous tweaks, quite a few of which have been implemented in my system...

 

[jls001]

WIP beta version screenshot:

 

[jls001]

The app has evolved from the "Black App" in post #29 on this thread to include optimisation of the actual media player (note foobar2000.exe selected in this case).

It is also able to select specific apps and services for optimisation. These apps may or may not be audio related. In my case "hdsp32" and "hdspmix" are audio related drivers/app.

The 12 boxes at the bottom are the original 12 choices in the first iteration of the app.

For the apps and services other than the actual media player, keeping the Foreground Priority unboosted reduces the noise floor further.

Keith is working hard on this application and the improvement in sound is not trivial.

 

[jmascreen]

Any link to download it?