Tír Na HiFi

Nige , I have to agree the mboard is the least likely source of the problem. The instructions are executed by the CPU. So either my CPU isn't up to the task in spite of it being a Haswell, or the coding/compiling is striking a hurdle within this particular CPU.

Or I could be completely wrong and its none of these things.

I have reinstalled server R2 , but I could do it again , since its quick . I haven't applied Optimiser in an effort to reduce services.

nige2000 wrote:

satshanti wrote:

sbgk wrote:5.31 sounds agricultural compared to 5.47, a bit tiring after a while, not going back there.

If this was a response to my previous post, I may not have been clear enough. I still had a slight preference of 2496 5.31 over 5.47, but only because there were no other 2496 5.4x versions and I also have a sense that preferences for 1644 may not apply for their respective 2496 versions.

On our main test platform 1644 avx2 my order of preference was:

5.44 > 5.47 > 5.40 >> 5.31

with the differences between the latest versions being ever so subtle. Today I'll try to listen to all versions between 5.40 and 5.47 to pinpoint my favourite.

Which control file are you using?

Which dac are you using these days?

Control 2.97 on a battery powered HiFimeDIY Sabre (asynchronous) USB DAC 2 (yes, not exactly in the same league as a Chord Hugo, but considering it's 30 times cheaper, the quality for price ratio is stellar :-)

satshanti wrote:

nige2000 wrote:

satshanti wrote: If this was a response to my previous post, I may not have been clear enough. I still had a slight preference of 2496 5.31 over 5.47, but only because there were no other 2496 5.4x versions and I also have a sense that preferences for 1644 may not apply for their respective 2496 versions.

On our main test platform 1644 avx2 my order of preference was:

5.44 > 5.47 > 5.40 >> 5.31

with the differences between the latest versions being ever so subtle. Today I'll try to listen to all versions between 5.40 and 5.47 to pinpoint my favourite.

Which control file are you using?

Which dac are you using these days?

Control 2.97 on a battery powered HiFimeDIY Sabre (asynchronous) USB DAC 2 (yes, not exactly in the same league as a Chord Hugo, but considering it's 30 times cheaper, the quality for price ratio is stellar :-)

thought you had a dddac at some stage

ive a few cheap dacs, some aren't exactly bad
its easier to be disappointed with an expensive one

have you tried the 512 control recently ?
i can see the attraction of the 2.97 but the detail of the 512 edges it for me

nige2000 wrote:

satshanti wrote:

nige2000 wrote: Which control file are you using?
Which dac are you using these days?

Control 2.97 on a battery powered HiFimeDIY Sabre (asynchronous) USB DAC 2 (yes, not exactly in the same league as a Chord Hugo, but considering it's 30 times cheaper, the quality for price ratio is stellar :-)

thought you had a dddac at some stage

ive a few cheap dacs, some aren't exactly bad
its easier to be disappointed with an expensive one

have you tried the 512 control recently ?
i can see the attraction of the 2.97 but the detail of the 512 edges it for me

Yes, I still have the (broken) dddac, as a resistor started smoking one day, and I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. Besides that, the Sabre DAC sounds better to me, possibly due to the hires option, which just works better on my converted binaural files.

Thanks for the reminder. It's indeed time for another control comparison again, this time with the amazing new versions. :-)

m5lig wrote:sbgk,

I know zero about programming but does this apply for us AVX2 less folk ?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/ ... piler.aspx

Thanks .

thanks, hadn't seen that. 5.48 and 5.49 use avx2, only 24/96 at the moment. Seems to make a difference.

I was eager to revisit the 1644 avx2 5.4x series, because they are all better than 5.31, my previous favourite, and comparing some of them yesterday, I wasn't convinced about Gordon's choice of 5.47 as the final version.

I did the full monty, that is listened to most of my usual test tracks on all of them. They are all clearly related, so the difference between them is subtle, yet at the same time within that subtlety the differences that were there were often quite pronounced, with the various versions having distinct sound signatures. The resulting order of preference could sometimes change slightly per track, but overall this is my experience:

5. 42 > 45gabd > 43 > 41 > 44 > 45AEBD > 40 > 47

As I already feared yesterday, 5.47 didn't rank well. It would be great if some of you could confirm or refute my experience, even if just by comparing 5.47 with 5.42. As always it could very well be my system, my ears or my brain that's off compared to others. :-)

While I was at it, I also tested the few available hires versions, which led to a similar result:

5. 41 > 49 > 48 > 31 > 47

Before I ran these tests, I took up Nigel's advice and compared control 2.97 with 3.61 512 on some of the new 5.4x series, and found that the latter was now better than the former, so I went back to using control 3.61 512.

5.07 avx (not avx2) sounds amazing. I can't get avx2 to work with my new i3 processor - and I don't have the time right now or for several months to troubleshoot - but that's okay, the regular avx is a marvel.

Did just a check on 5.42 vs 5.47
Give preference to 5.47.
To my ears 5.47 Is much more rhythmic and firm sounding. 5.42 is soft and mellow sounding (dutch: week) without much body.

Aleg wrote:Did just a check on 5.42 vs 5.47
Give preference to 5.47.
To my ears 5.47 Is much more rhythmic and firm sounding. 5.42 is soft and mellow sounding (dutch: week) without much body.

Haven't tested 5.42 yet but I wonder is there a difference in sound because of the cpu architecture
I'm sure there is more trivial reasons for sq changes

Aleg wrote:Did just a check on 5.42 vs 5.47
Give preference to 5.47.
To my ears 5.47 Is much more rhythmic and firm sounding. 5.42 is soft and mellow sounding (dutch: week) without much body.

I played an album with 5.47 avx2 last night, and it is a real deal version. Is it my champ right now, probably, but I will get it going tonight again, to confirm it.