Build a dedicated Audio PC

[goon-heaven]

Hey Nige, please tell me what you done to your R2.

[nige2000]

surprisingly little goon
firewalls off
enhanced security off
vs13 installed and removed all un required stuff as per jc's instructions
irq set for usb dac
pro audio settings clock rate 23220 etc

might be some other stuff ive forgotton

going to try vs13 on a clone of phils optimised r2 see what happens

Meant to also mention I've tried jplay 5.2 with single PC and it falls short of MQn
It is improved though
Have not tried dual PC it could be close

[nige2000]

ok vs13 install + updates brought me 99% to where i was
i must be forgetting something

edit
ok getting somewhere now
new r2 phil optimiser customised b3 settings? (dunno) turned off any thing i thought wasnt necessary which was nearly all options
and installed this (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... x?id=40784)
irg priority for dac
(less is more and all that)

this is the business
front row seat i have now
difficult to tell what real now
what did the c++ update do?

just had a non audiophile friend here just left in disbelief (not just because of my madness i think)

[jesuscheung]

don't need individual install of MS C++ since you installed vs13 already has it.

what did you change in IRQ?

i notice IRQ tweak only causes sound intensity on 1 CPU PC.

IRQ tweak doesn't reduce the amount of IRQ. only create issues.

for example imagine you DAC stole the time needed for your GPU. your GPU starts worrying. GPU starts to fire more IRQ or congested or whatever!

total amount of work done actually increases. proper tweaking is reducing work done. not redistributing work.

if you tweak IRQ, you should also make MQn realtime. why not? because for the same reason.

[nige2000]

new r2 phil optimiser customised b3 settings? (dunno) turned off any thing i thought wasnt necessary which was nearly all options

is what i said "no vs13"

my dac was IRQ 16 so i set priority for it, it wasnt a big change i will recheck

whatever damage phils optimiser did to dynamics/attack/vibration stage the c++ update fixed plus a little extra

When are you doing your ISO?

[Sligolad]

Hi Guys, you lost me with all this talk of v13 and I thought I had been following the thread!!
What is v13...I know Phil's optimiser is at 1.23 so I assume it is not that so are there lots of updates coming from Microsoft on 2012 R2?

I do not go for updates and I do not connect my audio PC to any network so maybe this is what I am missing here.
Happy to stick with the original install and keep my audio PC away from the net as it sounds very good as it stands with the virgin 2012 R2 install.
Cheers, Pearse.

[nige2000]

Hi Guys, you lost me with all this talk of v13 and I thought I had been following the thread!!
What is v13...I know Phil's optimiser is at 1.23 so I assume it is not that so are there lots of updates coming from Microsoft on 2012 R2?

I do not go for updates and I do not connect my audio PC to any network so maybe this is what I am missing here.
Happy to stick with the original install and keep my audio PC away from the net as it sounds very good as it stands with the virgin 2012 R2 install.
Cheers, Pearse.

Sorry pearse
I meant virtual studio ultimate 2013
never mind it seems it's not necessary the c++ update talked about above seems to do the same if not better

Think the theory is that MQN written in v13 may benefit from the latest most efficient update or tools

I doubt piling updates upon updates will help though

what options are you choosing on Phil's optimiser

[jesuscheung]

new r2 phil optimiser customised b3 settings? (dunno) turned off any thing i thought wasnt necessary which was nearly all options

is what i said "no vs13"

my dac was IRQ 16 so i set priority for it, it wasnt a big change i will recheck

whatever damage phils optimiser did to dynamics/attack/vibration stage the c++ update fixed plus a little extra

When are you doing your ISO?

your ram is factory default at 9-9-9 1600Mhz, right?
you have 5-5-5-9. everything is smoothed out. difficult to detect SQ changes in tweaks... you should reconsider 6-6-6-11. and then you can start to hear a lot of flaws, digital related. and then, you realize tweaking OS is hard work. and back to 5-5-5-9 hehe.... my exact experience half a year ago.

5-5-5-9 is quick attempt to fix everything with 1 tweak.

i won't release a ISO. i see people managed to delete "device manager" with my tweaks. wtf. i realized i can't be bothered to deal with computer noobs. no offense. just cannot turn a hobby into work....

[Sligolad]

what options are you choosing on Phil's optimiser

Been using 1B for the past few weeks Nige but was tempted to try 1D which from some feedback seems to tame some of the added edge to some poorly recorded sibilant tracks.

I have been quiet here for a while as after all my upgrades I started to notice sibilance on some recordings which I had not heard before and it seems it is just down to the greater resolving power you get the further you go with PC audio.

Re-valved my power amps and Pre and tried loads of buffer and registry changes to try and tame it too no effect.
Was about to change motherboard until I loaned my audio PC with all the power supplies to Seb as he has been auditioning speakers in his place with a bigger room.

Spent 2 days down with him listening to his trial Zingali horn hybrid speakers, the Dubh's and my Quads, the bigger room removed my concerns that I had gone too far with the audio PC as the Quads sounded excellent in his place.
Sibilance is still there but not as noticeable on the Quads or Dubh's and the Zingali's were much more tolerant of poor recording's and have a lovely character but the set Seb is demoing seem a bit too big even for his room.

The Dubs are getting a little lost in the big room but still have the excellent resolving power and the Quads seem to come to life in there so Seb has a tough choice to make in the coming weeks.

Seb was running his big PC with MQN against my optimised 2012 R2 with JPlay 5.2 and Linear's and it was very easy to hear the big improvement particularly with the Quads and Dubh's, The Zingali's were more forgiving and the difference not as noticeable.

He has definitely been converted from headphones to speakers and I need a bigger room!!
Cheers, Pearse.

[nige2000]

new r2 phil optimiser customised b3 settings? (dunno) turned off any thing i thought wasnt necessary which was nearly all options

is what i said "no vs13"

my dac was IRQ 16 so i set priority for it, it wasnt a big change i will recheck

whatever damage phils optimiser did to dynamics/attack/vibration stage the c++ update fixed plus a little extra

When are you doing your ISO?

your ram is factory default at 9-9-9 1600Mhz, right?
you have 5-5-5-9. everything is smoothed out. difficult to detect SQ changes in tweaks... you should reconsider 6-6-6-11. and then you can start to hear a lot of flaws, digital related. and then, you realize tweaking OS is hard work. and back to 5-5-5-9 hehe.... my exact experience half a year ago.

5-5-5-9 is quick attempt to fix everything with 1 tweak.

i won't release a ISO. i see people managed to delete "device manager" with my tweaks. wtf. i realized i can't be bothered to deal with computer noobs. no offense. just cannot turn a hobby into work....

Don't usually have much trouble making up my mind which tweaks I like
I don't mind making a few tweaks but when it goes above 10 or so it's a huge pain
Prefer to leave it standard with a few tweaks and leave it at that

I don't find a whole lot of difference between 5-5-5-9 and 6-6-6-11 to be honest
but I do recheck my tweaks now and again to be sure I'm comfortable

I find its a lot easier to make SQ worse with tweaks than better