MQN

[iori]

if chcp 65001 doesn't work for filenames with special characters, try this :
control panel \ regional \ administrative tab \ "change system locale" button and change "current system locale" to En(US)
reboot.
it works for me.

[jesuscheung]

That new MQn.bat never worked for me. ...
It may not work for some other people too, that's way I tried to point to it to help to mjock3. Somehow "chcp 65001" in it doesn't work on my computer.
I am still running old version of MQn.bat.

Same for me under W7

guys, i think the new MQn needs windows language set as US, UK. many other languages won't work. worth a try.

[cvrle59]

That new MQn.bat never worked for me. ...
It may not work for some other people too, that's way I tried to point to it to help to mjock3. Somehow "chcp 65001" in it doesn't work on my computer.
I am still running old version of MQn.bat.

Same for me under W7

guys, i think the new MQn needs windows language set as US, UK. many other languages won't work. worth a try.

Mine is set to US, I just checked, and I still have issues. It could be something else. I will dig into it tonight.

[Aleg]

Among the 2.66 SSE4's it is V3 for me,...... I think.

What others describe of the V2 as smoothness, mellowness or silkiness is for me the loss of micro details.

What others describe of V3 as harshness is for me the presence of micro details.

As I said before, I think that micro details can be felt/interpreted as harshness by some.

I agree V3 has somewhat of a sharp edge to it esp. in the upper-mid to high regions, but the tonality is correct IMHO and the details are also all there. It comes across as less friendly at moments.
It also has better bass control which with V2 can blurb out in the lower bass regions.

2.66 shows more details than 2.65

I have to listen somewhat more and to different musical styles to draw a conclusion on 2.66 V3
Which I continue to do now :-)

Cheers
Aleg

[jesuscheung]

guys, i am cable noob. i got some 'audiograde' cables they sound terrible. harsh. treble is killing me. does cable need burn in? if so, how long usually? coz now MQn sounds nothing like i remember it.

[sima66]

Another step forward.
I prefer the 2.66 sse4 intel v2 version. More natural then V3.
Compared to V2, V3 is brighter and has more harshness, but a cleaner bass. The other versions did not qualified! :-)

yes, v2 sounds a bit better today, v3 has a hint of harshness, didn't notice that last night.

do you mean the others weren't good enough ?

Let's be real, if you give as only one of any of this 2.66 versions, we will be happy. They are all good with a small differences.
The others sound close to V2.
Biggest difference is the V3. The bass in the V3 better, more tight and punchy, but at the cost of adding brightness and harshness. I still like the V3 with some bassy and boomy recordings.

Like I said before, there is no one version that can fit everybody systems or taste, or different recordings! That's why we are blessed that, in this process of finding the best player, we always get a couple of versions what we can choose depending of any of the already mentioned.
I'm using V2 and V3 like two separate engines.

I hope that I did not confuse more that I help!

[sima66]

guys, i am cable noob. i got some 'audiograde' cables they sound terrible. harsh. treble is killing me. does cable need burn in? if so, how long usually? coz now MQn sounds nothing like i remember it.

Depending on the cable.
Some cables need 600-1000 hours for the best sound. You should see good improvement after around 200, but it also, in the "burning process" you can see the differ changes in the sound. One day you might like it, the other not!
In the mean time do not do any tests with MQn since they not gonna be accurate! ;-)

[jesuscheung]

Another step forward.
I prefer the 2.66 sse4 intel v2 version. More natural then V3.
Compared to V2, V3 is brighter and has more harshness, but a cleaner bass. The other versions did not qualified! :-)

yes, v2 sounds a bit better today, v3 has a hint of harshness, didn't notice that last night.

do you mean the others weren't good enough ?

Let's be real, if you give as only one of any of this 2.66 versions, we will be happy. They are all good with a small differences.
The others sound close to V2.
Biggest difference is the V3. The bass in the V3 better, more tight and punchy, but at the cost of adding brightness and harshness. I still like the V3 with some bassy and boomy recordings.

Like I said before, there is no one version that can fit everybody systems or taste, or different recordings! That's why we are blessed that, in this process of finding the best player, we always get a couple of versions what we can choose depending of any of the already mentioned.
I'm using V2 and V3 like two separate engines.

I hope that I did not confuse more that I help!

if you believe my experience in listening, brightness/harshness is almost always a result of digital jitter e.g. bad OS settings, bad bios OS tweaks, firewall, experimental version of MQn, brand new win8 etc.

the most revealing versions of MQn usually have some degree of hardness. different to bright/harsh.

i am just saying v3 should be fixable without the bright and harsh sound.

[Aleg]

The 2.66's are a difficult bunch to pick one from

The V2 is beautiful and very sweet sounding, great for female vocals.
The V3 has a better bass control, better micro details but a bit over-the-top sharpness in the higher regions.

So I think now that V2 is generally better balanced or should I say less disturbing unbalanced. The lack of control in lower bass of V2 is less disturbing than the sharpness in the highs of V3.

@Sbgk:
Any possibility to remove some of that sharpness?

@JC:
Know of any specific OS-setting that cause this sharpeness?
I used just CAD's optimiser on top of a new 2012-R2 which has switched off firewall, etc.
I think I still have HPET turned on in BIOS.

Cheers

Aleg

[sima66]

JC, I agree that everything makes difference. My Zuma it's not probably set and 100% adjusted for best sound. Computer skills are my weakest part.
Now I'm in the process of installing the Server 2012 R2 and I will probably need your and Nige's help (everybody advice is more that welcome) for best optimization.