My New Computer music player

[keith_correa]

Sid - can you try this out and see if it makes a difference?

Nothing to install - just download and run the .exe file. Select "Bitsum Highest Performance" and hit "Apply". See if it makes a difference.

To go back to the way you were - follow instructions under the section "Restore Defaults"

 

[sidvee]

Sid - can you try this out and see if it makes a difference?

Ok will check it out and report.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

As I mentioned earlier there is another player called HQ player that is supposed to superior to all other player out there. There is limited time free dowload so I will check it out.
Cheers,
Sid

Over the past few days I downloaded HQ player and played it for about 3-4 hours. I listened only to PCM and tried a few filters and other settings. To me there was no appreciable difference to Jriver, perhaps with some filters HQplayer sounded a little more spacious but nothing I could identify repeatedly. Perhaps HQplayer will make a bigger difference when PCM is upsampled to DSD, a setting that I am not planning to use. Anyways this concludes my testing with software mediaplayers. I am moving on to Jriver 21 when it becomes available and start enjoying music again rather than trying to identify what smidgen of improvement I can get.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

Sure - however please do post your opinions comparing both cards. I'm still in two minds on whether to buy the cheap modded ppa or spend 350$ for the SOTM.

Over the weekend I spent time (3-4 hours) listening to the Sotm usb card and compared to my ppa. Keeping in my mind that both cards were in different computers (so not strictly apples to apples), I seem to prefer the computer with the sotm card. I felt that the sound was more analog like with sotm, whereas the ppa had a slightly clinical character to it. I will now further test by putting both cards in the same machine and comparing.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

I introduced a uptone regen device between my computer usb and m2 tech evo usb converter powered off my hd plex lpsu. Subtle improvement, felt I could hear a more spacious soundstage, little more resolution. For $225 this a keeper IMO.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

I am also in touch with these folks:
I2S Bridge
We are discussing if they can get the pinouts of the I2S connection for the Ayon Skylla II DAC. If so I want to buy the card.
My instinct tells me that this will surpass all the USB converters, regenerators etc., if one considers that the usb is the weakest link in the computer playback scheme, however as I understand I2S connections are not really standardized, so unfortunately one has to make sure that the solution will work with his DAC.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

I listened to my system yesterday for about 5 hours with the uptone audio usb regen. Yes I definitely hear subtle improvements with it in the chain. I experimented with the hard adapter and the supplied USB cable. After about a couple of hours of critical listening, I preferred the supplied short usb cable over the adapter, contrary to what a lot of users feel and even what uptone recommends. Actually for me from a convenience point of view the usb cable works better. I will experiment with other usb cables down the road.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

I ordered a Lavry cable silver usb pigtail. Sounds significantly better than both options provided by uptone. All uptone users - you should consider getting a 6inch silver usb cable. Significant upgrade for small outlay.
Cheers,
Sid