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Windows 10 upgrade?

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Posted on August 18, 2015 at 20:46:26
Beetlemania
Audiophile

Posts: 1217
Location: Utah
Joined: November 1, 2003
 I've been running JRMC 18 on my Windows 7 PC mostly without issue. Now, there is a message from Microsoft that I can reserve a free upgrade to 10. Is there any reason I should do that for a PC that is used 95% for audio and 5% for Internet browsing? IOW, is there any sonic benefit?

 

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RE: It seems to have improved my system, posted on August 18, 2015 at 21:55:57
kenzo
Audiophile

Posts: 955
Location: San Francisco
Joined: September 27, 2003
 I use a Centrance USB dacport, driving two QINPU 6000 MKII amps that drive Reference 3A DeCapo I speakers.

The dacport is magnificent for USB sound, but I still seemed to have an improvement after win 10 upgrade.

Definitely did not hurt.

 

Thumbs up, posted on August 19, 2015 at 05:54:44
SamA
Audiophile

Posts: 2902
Location: Washington, D.C.
Joined: February 12, 2004
 I give Windows 10 a thumbs up - at least on my Samsung laptop with the HiFiMan EF2A DAC/head amp. First, the sound is more engaging. Second, the stutter-stop I'd hear in my music when loading web pages using Windows 8.1 is completely gone in Windows 10.

Gotta tweak the privacy controls, though.

 

Thanks for the replies, posted on August 19, 2015 at 14:51:21
Beetlemania
Audiophile

Posts: 1217
Location: Utah
Joined: November 1, 2003
 I just upgraded from 8.1 on my home PC and like 10 a bit better for general computing. Over on ComputerAudiophile, there is a post re: Windows 10 can collect boatloads of personal data and send it to Microsoft . . .

Not sure about upgrading my audio PC. With my Ayre QB-9, I can hear little, if any, difference from computer-side tweaks.

 

RE: Thanks for the replies, posted on August 20, 2015 at 01:57:30
Roseval
Audiophile

Posts: 1845
Joined: March 31, 2008
 MS did optimize 10 a bit for audio.
Latency has improved.
But if you don't have latency issues, why bother?
I do think 10 a bit more crisp than 8.1
I run 10 without issues audio wise.

SQ wise I don't hear any difference between 8.1 and 10



The Well Tempered Computer

 

RE: Thanks for the replies, posted on August 20, 2015 at 04:15:00
SBGK
Audiophile

Posts: 444
Joined: March 22, 2012
 so crisp is not a term describing sound ? What did you mean by 10 is crispier than 8.1 ?

I thought 8.1 had a slight digital edge, win 10 doesn't, not aware of other differences, but some people describe better staging etc
http://mqnplayer.blogspot.co.uk/

 

RE: Thanks for the replies, posted on August 20, 2015 at 04:51:47
Roseval
Audiophile

Posts: 1845
Joined: March 31, 2008
 Crisp: I have the feeling it boots a bit faster and the response of applications is a bit faster to.


SQ wise: I don't have the option to AB 8 & 10.
Comparison is with what I have in memory
the first time I heard 10 my impression was that it yields a very nice detailed and transparent sound.
A loud and clear improvement compared with 8.
After some more listening, this effect disappeared.
Probably the usual error in perception (new=better, listening more concentrated than usual, listening to the sound instead of the usual listening to music, etc)
The Well Tempered Computer

 

RE: Thanks for the replies, posted on August 20, 2015 at 05:21:52
SBGK
Audiophile

Posts: 444
Joined: March 22, 2012
 don't know if it's because I'm still on the technical preview, but mine hangs occasionally as it starts installing another update, when I open file explorer I get a message saying "we're working on it", so yet to see a crsip performance. logging in and waking from sleep also seems to take longer than with win 8.1. In the early days of technical preview there was a photo related task that would regularly start up and use 25% cpu even though I had no photo apps open, that seems to have disappeared, but imagine there's still loads of rubbish being run.
http://mqnplayer.blogspot.co.uk/

 

RE: Windows 10 upgrade?, posted on August 21, 2015 at 01:02:46
fmak
Audiophile

Posts: 13158
Location: Kent
Joined: June 1, 2002
 I don't know why every new OS is an 'upgrade'. New process timings etc are just that, unless the whole thing is set up for better sound quality in practice and not just a'reckoning' by some software geeks. There is no such thing as 'audio optimisation' unless it is done properly in simulation and actual, organised, listening tests.

 

RE: Windows 10 upgrade?, posted on August 26, 2015 at 23:12:24
EmailTim
 Looks like Windows 10 has optimized its audio stack, added audio priority scheme, added FLAC codecs, offered core locking, reduced latencies and buffer sizes.

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2015/07/21/why-microsofts-windows-10-audio-and-midi-apis-are-a-big-deal/

"... Audio Stack Optimisation - new low latency priority operation rather than previous priorities of battery life etc. 15ms shaved off the WDM and WASAPI off the bat.

Additionally application developers can access and define minimum buffer sizes to generate latencies. On the phone OS, thats gone down from over 100ms to "tens of ms".

Audio Core Optimisation - it will now be possible to define and isolate all the core audio processing to a single core, meaning no other processes will be able to interrupt the stream. ..."

Also see what is documented here:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/07/29/windows-10-promises-better-audio-midi-performance-easier-app-development/

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/Mt298187%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

 

RE: Windows 10 upgrade?, posted on August 26, 2015 at 23:59:47
fmak
Audiophile

Posts: 13158
Location: Kent
Joined: June 1, 2002
 The changes could already be implemented in Win XP to 8.1 in different forms, either in Player Software, Audio 'optimisation', or through scripts.

The qusetion remains:- what are being 'optimised'? And these have to be subjective through changing n factorials of variables.

 

RE: Windows 10 upgrade?, posted on August 27, 2015 at 09:13:40
EmailTim
 Please read the threads posted and maybe they will answer your questions.

These are OS/kernel/driver level changes and most likely not all enabled by "scripts" in previous versions (e.g. optimized software stack, new priority algorithms, core locking, new APIs to access new features not previously offered which require application code changes to take advantage of).

There is a difference between enabling/configuring an existing feature versus code/stack optimizations and new algorithms.

 

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