Tír Na HiFi

3.75 has plenty of magic. What strikes me about this version is the clarity and detail in what were formerly difficult passages of music to listen to.

I can only listen to small doses of Radiohead before a cranium busting headache starts , but with 3.75 , the mashing , loud electric guitar in " Creep" is tolerable , i don't have to turn the volume down . Cymbals are so good , thom Yorke's voice is excellent . Detail and separation of instruments is distinct.

Stephen Hough's piano sounds exceptional in the hall in which his Chopin waltzes were recorded on the Hyperion label.

I have not heard Tori Amos' backround vocals as clearly as i do now on " Don't make me come to Vegas"

Now listening to 3.85 but 3.75 will be hard to beat .

m5lig wrote:3.75 has plenty of magic. What strikes me about this version is the clarity and detail in what were formerly difficult passages of music to listen to.

I can only listen to small doses of Radiohead before a cranium busting headache starts , but with 3.75 , the mashing , loud electric guitar in " Creep" is tolerable , i don't have to turn the volume down . Cymbals are so good , thom Yorke's voice is excellent . Detail and separation of instruments is distinct.

Stephen Hough's piano sounds exceptional in the hall in which his Chopin waltzes were recorded on the Hyperion label.

I have not heard Tori Amos' backround vocals as clearly as i do now on " Don't make me come to Vegas"

Now listening to 3.85 but 3.75 will be hard to beat .

@M5lig
Of the latest ones I think only 3.83 is iin the same ballpark as 3.75 and even the 3.83 has changed its character somewhat.

@Nige
What versions of the latest batch did you try? Thereis only an odd one acceptable and most are way off, so you need to know which ones to pick to come close to previous bests.

Aleg wrote:

m5lig wrote:3.75 has plenty of magic. What strikes me about this version is the clarity and detail in what were formerly difficult passages of music to listen to.

I can only listen to small doses of Radiohead before a cranium busting headache starts , but with 3.75 , the mashing , loud electric guitar in " Creep" is tolerable , i don't have to turn the volume down . Cymbals are so good , thom Yorke's voice is excellent . Detail and separation of instruments is distinct.

Stephen Hough's piano sounds exceptional in the hall in which his Chopin waltzes were recorded on the Hyperion label.

I have not heard Tori Amos' backround vocals as clearly as i do now on " Don't make me come to Vegas"

Now listening to 3.85 but 3.75 will be hard to beat .

@M5lig
Of the latest ones I think only 3.83 is iin the same ballpark as 3.75 and even the 3.83 has changed its character somewhat.

@Nige
What versions of the latest batch did you try? Thereis only an odd one acceptable and most are way off, so you need to know which ones to pick to come close to previous bests.

which new control play combo is best (3.83?)
was really disappointed last night

nige2000 wrote:

Aleg wrote:

m5lig wrote:3.75 has plenty of magic. What strikes me about this version is the clarity and detail in what were formerly difficult passages of music to listen to.

I can only listen to small doses of Radiohead before a cranium busting headache starts , but with 3.75 , the mashing , loud electric guitar in " Creep" is tolerable , i don't have to turn the volume down . Cymbals are so good , thom Yorke's voice is excellent . Detail and separation of instruments is distinct.

Stephen Hough's piano sounds exceptional in the hall in which his Chopin waltzes were recorded on the Hyperion label.

I have not heard Tori Amos' backround vocals as clearly as i do now on " Don't make me come to Vegas"

Now listening to 3.85 but 3.75 will be hard to beat .

@M5lig
Of the latest ones I think only 3.83 is iin the same ballpark as 3.75 and even the 3.83 has changed its character somewhat.

@Nige
What versions of the latest batch did you try? Thereis only an odd one acceptable and most are way off, so you need to know which ones to pick to come close to previous bests.

which new control play combo is best (3.83?)
was really disappointed last night

Hi Nigel

From the latest batch I have been using mqncontrol.exe 3.61 512 combined with mqnplay.exe 3.83/3.75/3.27/3.14
All of those I do find good/pleasurable/agreeable.

I have of course been trying all releases along the way, so I may have been taken along a route of changes that I have been getting used to, instead of being steadfast in the older bests. I may have accustomed myself to a changing type of sound.
I have to admit I have not returned to the oldies to compare, but have been trying to find the best of the recents.

So I am very much interested in your views on specific individual versions.

Cheers

Aleg

Have you reverted to all standard settings?
I'll make a new install
Just to be sure

3.83 is the best of the 3.8 alright but
Everything seems loosened up
High frequency micro micro detail and air atmosphere has disappeared
Macro to detail is still good
Are we still on avx?

If I had a recording of someone cracking a whip
The snap or crack would seem smoothed and less dynamic
Maybe this seems normal cause that's the way we've been hearing it for years

I'll give them another listen
Maybe just out of practicr

nige2000 wrote: ...
3.83 is the best of the 3.8 alright but
Everything seems loosened up
..

yes... was impressed that the stage width has improved. actually it is too loose.

should be even more loose with your R2 with largesystemcache=1

still think 3.56 is my favorite. lacks only bass. probably lacks enough weight for most people.

nige2000 wrote:Have you reverted to all standard settings?
I'll make a new install
Just to be sure

3.83 is the best of the 3.8 alright but
Everything seems loosened up
High frequency micro micro detail and air atmosphere has disappeared
Macro to detail is still good
Are we still on avx?

That is something I don't know either as Gordon has dropped the suffix of the instruction set. My guess it isn't anymore, because otherwise Gordon wouldn't be able to listen to it himself as he had lost the ability to play avx versions.

nige2000 wrote:If I had a recording of someone cracking a whip
The snap or crack would seem smoothed and less dynamic
Maybe this seems normal cause that's the way we've been hearing it for years

That is indeed one of the changes in character. People complained about "too much detail" and Gordon went for a less detailed/softer version esp. in the high frequency range as people were interpreting that as harsh, digital, electrically noisy, etc.

nige2000 wrote:I'll give them another listen
Maybe just out of practicr

No, I think this is just the type of change that has been brought into MQn compared to the older versions.
It is just a matter of finding a new acceptable balance for all, IMHO.
I noticed a dividing gap appearing between two sides just like the "Beauty or Truth"-thread in the General-subforum.
I have my preferences of what a software player should do and what it shouldn't, and what it should aim for, but who is to say who's right?
In the end it is Gordon who has control over the actual code.

Cheers

Aleg

Aleg wrote: No, I think this is just the type of change that has been brought into MQn compared to the older versions.
It is just a matter of finding a new acceptable balance for all, IMHO.
...

no aleg. it is more loose than norm.
it is very easy to make liquid shinny sound with loosening.
i can make similar sound from tweaking along

the difficulty is having liquid sound while texture level actually improves.
extremely difficult.

making a software player is almost same as making a CD player.

most of it is either correct or incorrect.

weight/flow/bass level can be personal preference.

Aleg wrote:I noticed a dividing gap appearing between two sides just like the "Beauty or Truth"-thread in the General-subforum.

if drum weight is 100%, you will be deaf like real musicians.

that's why weight is a personal preference.

im well aware about the detail/harshness war
were probably at a level where the hardware is holdings us back with noise and jitter and it cant handle the detail coming out of mqn and its sounding like some sort of harsh edgy noise, im very familiar with it and worked hard to keep the detail without the harshness
just feels like were throwing the baby out with the bath water with these new versions

ive been testing rpi and bbb i2s with flip flop reclocking and its good but could not better my pc, with the reclocking it sounds more like mqn
which makes sense
seems like were dumbing down mqn to compensate for noisy jittery hardware
ive no doubt the bbb and twisted pair botic with clean power supplies will best these new mqn versions

it was always the detail, timing, air, atmosphere and realistic sound that set mqn exceptionally apart from all the rest
just seems like such a shame