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cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player

41.183.0.21
Posted on December 30, 2007 at 05:42:01
cics
Audiophile

Posts: 1320
Joined: November 9, 2006
cMP

The open source high-end Memory Player

December 2007

Music delivery is perfected. cMP (cics Memory Player) delivers memory playback (without RAMDisk or other utilities) thereby eliminating disk interference during playback.

In creating cMP, its critical objective was the implementation of fundamental designs that:

  1. Remove disk traffic interference during playback without having the inconvenience of manually loading files into a virtual RAM drive, etc..
  2. Ensure time critical sample delivery to the external DAC. Streaming of samples from precision upsampled (to 24/96) sound buffers to the soundcard must be fast, lean and mean! There's no room for any bottlenecks or overheads here, otherwise we risk increasing jitter and compromise Bit Transparency.
  3. Provide better power supply and remove the need for a ferrite core on the mouse connection.
  4. Provide flexibility to choose any player (Foobar2000, Winamp etc.).
  5. Further minimize the Windows footprint to that more optimal than XP's Embedded SP2 operating system as used in large scale commercial applications. This provides the foundation for the 2nd design goal.
  6. Offer a CD/DVD-ROM drive without impacting sound quality.
  7. Offer proper remote usability as locating that mouse cursor from a distance is cumbersome.
  8. Contain costs but also allow for a complete elegant one box solution.

Such designs in theory should render a stunning sonic experience. Its implementation however was a massive challenge. Did this theory meet the sonic expectations? Yes as evidenced in cMP's bit perfect performance and ultra low jitter.

How does it sound? The most descriptive word that comes to mind is emotional. cMP's sonic purity is truly profound. It grips those musical lines across any genre with remarkable precision. Soundstage improves, there's better layering and even more ambient information. Bass is tighter, with natural vocals & instruments.

FRONT



BACK



More pictures and screenshots are available from the cMP documentation link provided below.

FEEDBACK

Pre-release testing by music lovers located all over the world yielded further insight and perfection of cMP.

  • A music lover based in the US with limited or no computer training:

    This has been a great way to learn about computers in addition to making something very useful for enjoying music.

    Compared to my ###### (read expensive high-end traditional CD transport), even with some tweaking and learning left to do, this sounds much better. Dynamic, yet relaxed (effortless?).

    I started listening last night at 7:00 and had to force myself to go to bed at twelve. Amazing spaciousness. It is truly getting close to GREAT analog and is much better than average analog already. It is simply amazing.

    I found your instructions easy to follow ONCE I understood what I was being told to do. To repeat, I have never done anything like this before, so your instructions were clear without resorting to "hand holding". I think the process was easier than you warned. I kept saying to myself, "that wasn't so bad!"

    After cMP:

    My only audio friends are very analogue-centric. Sometime in January I am going to have them over to audition the cMP. I think they are going to be amazed. Of course, I am confident that JULI@ is going to be the icing on the cake. If this takes the whole thing another step closer I think they will be grateful that one can enjoy listening to CD's as much as LP's. Of course, in many ways your approach does things even LP's cannot do. It is becoming a toss-up, but the best kind; one can enjoy either one equally well!

  • A music lover based in Europe with more than 2000 CDs:

    the quality of sound reproduction is quite amazing. My motivation for building was that I am not wealthy and could never dream of, let alone buy, a high-end CD player. Even this project was considerably more than I could properly afford and I began it with some trepidation. But it's been well worth it.

    After cMP:

    I spent several hours last night testing the latest cMP. I did several A/B runs with cMP on the one hand and Foobar launched via old batch files and reading direct from disk on the other. There is no doubt in my mind that the sound using cMP is a significant improvement even with my modest setup.

    The quality is quite stunning, significantly better than previous. (My partner agrees with this - she's no audio junkie but she is an informed music lover.)

  • A music lover based in Australia:

    I have been wanting to relay to you my own experience with your methods and give you some feedback . So far, I have found your approach produces very good results so I must convey to you my thanks and appreciation. At some point soon I will formalise my thoughts and send them to you or post them. I believe what you have done has become an excellent resource/asset to people interested in PC Audio.


FEATURES

  1. Disk traffic interference during playback is eliminated. Advanced RAM playback is based on available physical RAM (as reported by Task Manager or Process Explorer). This means up to 4GB (XP's limit) can be used allowing for 24/192 RAM playback. Recommendation is to use 1GB RAM (which yields available physical RAM of ~830MB - enough for any CD at 16/44.1). cMP achieves memory playback via the system cache and not through a simulated virtual drive. This approach removes Windows disk I/O overheads (irrespective of whether disk is physical or virtual) hence, it's more optimal.

  2. Extensive Windows & Player (Foobar2000 or other) optimizations yielding much lower jitter and bit perfect delivery. System level optimizations are done at runtime (which cannot be achieved using .bat files and utilities like Process Explorer). cMP is designed to work with 32 CPU cores!

  3. Open architecture. cMP allows for any player to be used: Foobar2000, XXHighEnd, Winamp etc. (player just needs to handle .cue files like foobar2000 otherwise play entire .wav). Any ripper software can be used (as long as it conforms to .cue single file standard like those created by EAC). Additional flexibility is provided, for example use cMP to drive your HTPC playing any movie from any genre (a .cue file for each .iso file is needed).

  4. All .cue files are processed by cMP which means the player focuses only on playing the CD. In Foobar2000, the album list control component is not needed. In techno speak this is called separation of concerns.

  5. Power delivery to the mobo is improved by further reducing interference. The need for a ferrite core is removed.

  6. Full function remote control using a wireless mouse is achieved. Your entire library can be navigated: play any CD, eject it, jump to any track or change volume. This is achieved using just ONE mouse button: the Wheel! Use the mouse as a normal one (left-click) or hold it in your hand (like a remote control) and wheel away using your thumb. Of course other buttons are used for more convenience. There's no need to find that tiny mouse cursor and left click! (You can still do this if needed).

  7. Your entire library that you so diligently ripped is fully compatible with cMP. No proprietary / lock-in stuff here which forces you to re-rip. Just point cMP to your music folders containing .cue and .wav files (or flac or other). cMP supports any content file as long as cue files are defined for them. For flac content files, the known EAC bug of adding an additional .flac suffix to the content file's name must be removed (otherwise your cue's content file directive will not be found).

  8. CD/DVD-ROM drive is implemented without compromising playback quality. For the purist, this can be unplugged without opening computer or rebooting.

Bottom line: cMP is a (one box) highly advanced memory player that's easy to setup and use. cMP's core strength lies in newly developed operating system software components (built in c/c++) that uses XP SP 2 as a foundation. Windows Explorer is done away with while cMP takes over and more. Bit perfect delivery is achieved yielding an ultra high resolution of more than 23.5 bits (a limitation in measuring instruments prevents measuring cMP's perfect resolution). DAC's have yet to achieve this resolution (as a minimum of 141db SNR is needed)! For cMP's bit perfect measurements, see (Bit Perfect Measurement & Analysis ).


GETTING STARTED

Visit cicsMemoryPlayer.com where you'll find detailed easy to follow instructions and much more.

Ensuring clean AC power delivery to equipment is very important. For DAC, pre-amp and amplifiers, use a dedicated AC circuit. For source equipment, use another AC circuit as this is where cMP's main PSU should be powered from. Use another less important AC circuit for powering cMP's 2nd dirty power inlet. Use of quality power cords and line conditioners is recommended.


Special thanks to those that provided such brilliant feedback and suggestions during pre-release testing. cMP's software is at version 1.0b as more feedback is desired. Your input, insights, criticisms, experiences and suggestions all help.

Thank you.

 

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    ...
I see they REALLY stick to their guns., posted on January 9, 2013 at 12:49:09
carcass93
Audiophile

Posts: 7181
Location: NJ
Joined: September 20, 2006
 The only question here is "Why?":

- coax SPDIF via breakout cables - the same as before
- no separate power connector - the same as before

Whereas commonly available ASUS Essence STX has both of those done right - and comes with proper 32-bit ASIO driver (lack of which was ASUS' downfall).

Frankly, this affection for Juli@ was puzzling to me 4 years ago - and it still is.

And, answering the obvious question whether I listened to the card myself - yes, I did, to unmodified PCI version, long time ago, right at the time it was recommended by cics. It was - in every way possible - sonically inferior to EMU 1212 and ASUS D2X, except for the ability to work with cPlay, which required 32-bit ASIO driver.

 

My experience was: the juli@ digital part works great when applied as Cics recommends, posted on January 11, 2013 at 06:48:16
hfavandepas
 Hi carcass93

I never bought/ heard the ASUS Essence because it initiately had no asio drivers available.

But I also had the EMU 1212 card, side by side with the Esi Juli@.
However I did never used the ESI Juli@ with the crummy coax SPDIF via breakout cables.
Right from the beginning I used the ESI Juli@ card as Cics recommends in his cMP-project: through the S/Pdif optical-out with a HIGH QUALITY optical glassfiber cable.
I frist tried the Juli@ digital part with the ‘plastic’ optical cable that came with my RME HDSP 9652 card. This sounded just okay.

After that I decided too buy an Lynx EAS16 digital interface card. The Lynx EAS16 too me sounded the best from what I had tried so far in 2008.

After 2008 I started too experiment with better power supply and I found that Cics recommendation always delivered as promised.
I also separately powered the ESI Juli@ with +5 and + 3.3 V (cutting the PCI-fingers and removing the onboard 3,3 V regulator).

I’m firmly route in the ‘Bits-is-Bits Camp, but finally I decided too follow the last recommendation from Cics cMP-project that I had not implemented so far: using a high quality glasfiber toslink cable.
I decided too buy the cheapest high quality optical cable: Van Den Hull opto coupler MKII. As I still was very sceptical.
I also wanted too have a 100% perfect galvanic-isolation between my cMP-pc and the Layry DAC / Klein & Hummel O300 active speakers.

But whow…. I now could hear what Cics meant. Some sort of home-coming. After this I sold of all my cards and settled on the separately powered ESI Juli@ with high quality Toslink.
Was it the galvanic-isolation? Was it the high quality glass-fiber toslink? Or Both?
I will never now, but it sounded WAY BETTER and every sound card I used for digital interfacing until than. So I sold them all.
Keeping the moded Juli@ digital part and the high quality glassfiber toslink.

In 2010 and 2011 a friend if mine was looking for better sound quality and invited me many times too join him on listening sessions. He also came by with demo machines he got too audition at his home, but he also took them too my home, too hook them up too my Klein & Hummels O300 active Speakers. This way I heard about every good (AD-)DA converter between $ 1.500 and $ 5.500. Mostly Pro-audio converters but also some DAC’s from HiFi origin (Perfect Wave, Ayre, NAD, and some others I forgot) My friend really took the time too work through his LONG ‘short-list’ :-)
Mostly I heard these converters through my friends MAC-book, using Pro-Logic as software player (I-tunes really sucks) and USB-out or Firewire-out) into my Klein & Hummels O300.

It was only than I started too realise how good Cics cMP Project was. A tweaked (separately powered) Juli@ digital part used with a high quality glasfiber toslink cable is a very high quality digital sound card interface. Even though you need an relative expensive high quality glasfiber optical cable, it’s is an very cost-effective high quality solution too transfer your music bits and timing bits from the PC too an external converter.

I now don’t use the cMP/cPlay software any longer but I still run the cMP-hardware.
On the cMP-hardware, I now run Music Player Demon (MPD) on a slimmed Linux version (Puppy Linux).
Put together: better known as the MPDPUP-project.
It outperforms the cMP/cPlay setup by a fair margin.
Especially on: micro-details, music texture and imaging.

But I still use ALL (!) lessons learned from Cics cMP-project.
- importance of clean power and galvanic isolation
- Don’t use more hardware and more software processes than strictly necessary.
So also:
- slimmed OS-es: slimmed XP / slimmed Linux (Puppy Linux)
- slimmed hardware: no keyboard, no mouse, no HDD or SSD, no VGA screen attached, etc.

I now try too figure out how I can boot puppy linux over my LAN with help of PXE booting.
This way it is no longer needed too boot MPDPUP from an USB-stick, which would allow for disabling USB in the bios.
From Cics project I learned and heard (!) how USB has a negative impact on sound quality.
(I don’t hear any negative impact on sound quality when using LAN)

Why this looooong story?
Too share through the Audioasylum that I found (out the hard way) that ALL (!) Cics recommendations do really work.
Including Cics firm recommendation too use the ESI Juli@ dgital part with a high quality glasfiber optical toslink cable.

Mark

 

Has anyone compared running with disabled video and enabled network?, posted on January 18, 2013 at 12:54:11
carcass93
Audiophile

Posts: 7181
Location: NJ
Joined: September 20, 2006
 What I mean is that there are obviously detrimental effects to pretty much anything - and that includes video adapter. Classic cMP recipe favors video, with control via KB/mouse/remote - with everything pertaining to networking disabled.

It seems logical to check whether the opposite approach does less harm. Of course, we're not talking about enabling WiFi, either onboard or via adapter - that would unacceptably degrade the sound quality, in my experience.

Instead, music PC is either hardwired to the router, or connected to wireless AP - with video adapter disabled in BIOS. Control is performed by a tablet with remote app specific to the media player.

Of course, disabled video can be major invonvenience, including inability to perform some functions on startup, that can't be automated via scripting - for instance, setting PCI latency with configuration tool.


Thoughts?

 

RE: Has anyone compared running with disabled video and enabled network?, posted on January 18, 2013 at 16:06:04
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 It seems logical to check whether the opposite approach does less harm.

It's a fair question. It's difficult to say whether it does more or less "harm" as it's hard meaningfully to compare the two setups. Eschewing "classical" cMP2 pretty well from the off, I've been running a "headless" cMP2-type system without KVM for several years. (There's a description of an early setup of mine on the cMP2 website.)

I can see no reason why using KVM and a PCI-based soundcard is inherently better than a headless setup that, say, pulls data over a LAN and outputs it via USB. Sure, there's a LAN overhead but, especially with a "super-slim" XP setup, it's pretty small.

Obviously, there's an overhead with video as well. Some users report sound improvements from unplugging the monitor, separately powering the mouse and keyboard and so on. That suggests there's something to be gained by not having them in the first place. So who's to say which is better?

I chose to go "headless" because it suits the way I use my system; I set it up as best I could (there's not much left to tinker with) and got on with, well, using it. The difference between a more-or-less "unslimmed" XP config and a full hair-shirt version is, I suspect, far more substantial than worrying about whether there's keyboard connected or not.

I forget who reported some trials on this (tests would be too strong a word) but he came to much the same conclusion. Ditto enthusiastic reports from folk who've gone from cMP2 to an mpdpup setup.

I'm not sure that XP (unless perhaps XP embedded) can even load if the video is disabled in BIOS but I have deleted a heap of video-related stuff in the Registry. If I connect a monitor to my audio PC, I get a blank screen - I can only access the PC via the LAN. There's certainly no Registry entries left for keyboard or mouse, unused USB ports, etc. Many entries associated with the one USB port that XP knows about have also been deleted. A good asynch USB-to-I2S is a big step up from a what's it called (adaptive?) but even that responds well to OS slimming. No doubt some will say (once a week for several years) that in an ideal world a DAC shouldn't be affected by the source but for now they are.

All this faffing about does make for great for clarity of sound but it won't win any prizes for its flexibile interface. Then again, my record deck can't run spreadsheets either.

HTH

 

RE: Has anyone compared running with disabled video and enabled network?, posted on January 18, 2013 at 20:31:01
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 A few months ago a friend and I gave up on attempts to mod minixp into accepting USB the way I needed. I had been counting on this before jumping to cMP. (cPlay however, has been in use for years in a "compromised" HTPC box. It did very well if I ran some scripts and turned things off).

I then looked at "mpdpup" and salivated a little...but it will have to wait for the next upgrade cycle (no drivers for my current USB sound device).

So, recently, I put together the basic cMP box. I am still in the process of tweaking things.

Relative to the video, which I have at its most base setting, EVERY step on getting closer to remove it has brought added benefits.

However, I am mystified by an unexpected result. For now, to turn off the monitor, I use UltraVNC. I can then access the screen from a tablet or another PC.

The expectation was that using VNC (and its CPU load) would STILL damage the sound. Yet, even with the dual core CPU basically using one core and at 900Mhz, using UVNC still fails to change the sound character. It stays great! At this CPU speed, I can force minor dropout if I move the screen elements too suddenly...which the "remote" function makes easy to avoid.

OTOH, just turning the monitor on is enough for me to notice a slight degradation...which BTW does dot even register as a change in the Task Manager, if it is on. Yet, the same Task Manager yells out if UVNC is on. Nevertheless, the sound is virtually the same in all respects; tonally, dynamically and image-wise, etc.

The mystery got to me so bad that I've had to try different audio systems and various headphones instead of speakers to make sure, to the extent that I can. A neighbor even blind-tested me and I him...none of us could cath a difference repeteadly.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? BTW, UVNC is arriving via ethernet. The wireless access is elsewhere.

 

RE: Has anyone compared running with disabled video and enabled network?, posted on January 19, 2013 at 02:43:04
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 BTW, UVNC is arriving via ethernet.

Thanks for an interesting note. If you're not already using UVNC's "mirror driver", it's well worth loading it onto the cMP2 box. Much like you, I don't find it makes for a difference in sound but do find it makes the system more responsive.

 

RE: Has anyone compared running with disabled video and enabled network?, posted on January 20, 2013 at 14:59:13
hfavandepas
 Hi Carcass93,
I could never hear any sound quality degradation when using the wired network on my cMP setup. I also don’t see much more latency when using wired network.

But I did hear a sound quality improvement when reducing the USB-polling frequency as suggested by Ryelands. And I also could see much more latency when moving the PS2 or USB mouse around. So I thought it would be nice if USB would not be needed at all and could be disabled in the BIOS.

When I started too power the ESI Juli@ digital part with separate clean power I also thought about polluted ground connections (I don’t mean the safety earth) so in the end I followed Cics recommendation to use a high quality optical connection between cMP and DAC for galvanic isolation. For this reason I also did not like my Sony Bravia LCD TV (which I use as PC monitor) being hardwired too my cMP via the VGA-connection.

But when disabling USB and disconnecting the VGA to my Sony TV, I have too look for some methode of remote control.
Using the wired network and the VNC server software on my cMP setup did not lower sound quality in my setup. Also there’s hardly any rise in latency.
I liked remote controlling my cMP setup with VNC very much. There are lots of VNC clients available for tablets and smartphones.

When inmates started slimming the XP OS software and reported very nice sound quality improvements, I tried too follow that recipe, but I hated how that crippled my cMP machine. Since other inmates reported very good results with running Music Player Deamon on a slimmed Linux OS (Puppy Linux), I switched too MPDPUP. Which has also lots of vey nice MPD-clients available for tablet and smartphones. I like the MPD-clients even better, than the VNC-remote controlling.

So in short:
I could not hear any sound quality degradation from using wired network. But I could hear sound quality degradation from using USB.
Not using a hardwired VGA connection to a (TV/PC)-monitor, did not give me any sound quality improvement, but I want it for ease of mind when thinking about clean power and clean grounds.

Mark

 

RE: Has anyone compared running with disabled video and enabled network?, posted on January 20, 2013 at 16:51:26
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 LOL! Mark, your post comes as I was about to mention something that runs - seemingly - contrary to what you just said about USB. In fact, contrary to what I had expected, given other people's comments in the past. So, this is just reporting in process, not "saying". I'll post more details later as I dig deeper. For now, I am just curious if someone has seen this before.

To put it in some context, I am tweaking this new cMP/cPlay box. Previously, I used cPlay in my HTCP box. The phenomena I'll describe ALSO happened in the HTPC with cPlay, albeit too subtle for me to be sure. (I now suspect it was being masked by it not being a dedicated box like the cMP box.)

Here we go. In recent days, I've had my "test music selection" in the internal hard drive only. Yesterday, for the first time, I plugged my music USB drive to the new cMP box. I was bracing for a drop in SQ. It never happened. Just the opposite.

The USB drive beat the internal one. I spent last night and today confirming and trying various config variations. No dice. USB is beating internal.

Like I said, this is not new. It was happening before. The difference in the HTPC is so faint (but repeatable) that years ago I chalked it up to "astral strangeness"...not worth mentioning here. Yet, on the cMP box the contrast is remarkable.

It is interesting that the ONLY difference between the USB drive and the internal one is the degree of glare. The internal drive has more. The USB drive barely any. The violins give it away very quickly but it really is pervasive as one listens. Nothing else changes. This "glare" difference is easily heard in speakers and headphones.

In the new cMP box, the USB card is a USB-3. In the HTPC box, the USB card is USB-2. The external drive is USB-2 (WD MyBook). The internal drives are SATA. All drive or partitions where the music is located are NTFS. However, I just realized the main partition (of 2) on the cMP box is FAT32 (I now have to try placing music in there to see if it makes a diff). The cMP box has no Windows cache in disc (it is all memory)

After many tests, one nagging suspicion is that the phenomena "could" be caused by the AMD chipset on both mobos (same chipset but different motherboard brands & AMD CPU types, though). The HTPC runs Win 7 Pro. The cMP box is XP Pro.

On a related subject, I just found something surprising. If one leaves a USB cable unhooked from the computer but hooked to the USB drive, the cable projects a major electromagnetic field (detectable 1 foot+ away). When close to other audio equipment, it can affect SQ. However, once the cable is connected at the other end also (the PC), the field collapses.

This came about yesterday. The equipment started sounding funny at one point. I ran my trusty electric field detector around. Amazingly, it was from the music USB drive that I had unhooked from the HTPC an hour before (planning to connect it to the cMP box later). The drive box had a strong field but the USB cable itself carried it all over! More by instinct than by design, I plugged it into the cMP box. The field collapsed instantly.


 

I don't think it is contrary, posted on January 21, 2013 at 01:12:38
hfavandepas
 I don't think it is contrary
------------------------------
Hi JBen,
I don’t think what you are hearing is contrary with mine or other peoples
comments.

I suppose your internal SATA drive is a HDD-sata drive, not an SSD-sata
drive?
In my opinion you compare the electrical noise injected by the HDD-sata
drive with the electrical noise injected by the (self powered?) USB-HDD
drive.

Removing HDD’s from your cMP-setup and using a little internal SSD-sata
instead, will give you a sound quality improvement ‘bordering on the
absurd’. As one inmate here on the PC-asylum nicely described the sound
quality improvement he got, when he removed the HDD(s) from his cMP setup
and mounted a little SSD inside.

A side note: do you hear a sound quality improvement when you lower the
USB-polling frequency? You do not mention this.

Also I would preferably use a NAS too store my music-library on (NOT an
external USB-HDD). If your MoBo has a modern 1Gb/s Ethernet port and also
your NAS has a modern 1Gb/s Ethernet port, you can connect your NAS
directly too the ethernet port on your MoBo. No home-network or special UTP
crossover cable needed.

Chipsets and processors all do have their own sonic finger-print. But I do
not know if one chipset is more sensitive ‘sound quality wise’ too injected
electrical noise than an other. So I do not dare too speculate if it has
something too do with the chipset and processor you use.

“the cable projects a major electromagnetic field, when close to other
audio equipment, it can affect SQ.â€
That’s why I completely switched too pro-audio-gear. When using pro-audio
gear you can use shielded, balanced XLR connections system-wide. (although
my XLR VoVox direct-S interconnect wires between pre-amp and active
speakers are not shielded. But VoVox explicitly stats this on the package.
Since I use shielded mains cable everywhere and no other major
electromagnetic field sources are around (at least not any that I can think
off that would cause distortion), I dare too use these unshielded VoVox
direct S XLR-interconnects between pre-amp and active speaker.

Back to topic: I think you should first remove your HDD’s from your cMP
setups and change too a little SSD for OS only. Than check again what
impact the external USB-HDD has on sound quality.

Also start with bringing injected noise from the ATX-PSU further down
through simple filtering on the P4 and P24 (extra caps as describe by
Ryelands) or if funds allow use SOtM-filter sets. I have not tried SOtM
filters myself, but their concept is clear too me and people on the net in
audio-forum report these filters do work.

Mark

 

RE: I don't think it is contrary, posted on January 21, 2013 at 08:55:04
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Thanks, Mark. Yes, an SSD is in plans.

For now, I am going step by step into this; to gain a better feel for "what does what". Since, at its worse, the new cMP box is still better that the previous setup, I can live with a few weeks of incremental steps.

This USB external vs SATA internal is one curious thing...just one of more to come, I suspect. I should add that the USB drive that I tested with does have its own walwart switching power supply. These are nasty little fellows, as you know. Thus, it is intriguing that the darn drive still manages to out-smooth the SATA internal. Or, maybe that's just it! Maybe the fact that the SATA drive is inside the box, closer to the PS, is the cause. I'll be looking into it later (easy to place that drive "outside the box") LOL!

BTW, pending more strict testing, having the ethernet on vs off is not making an audible difference so far. However, I have not tried listening to files drawn from the network yet. I left testing this for last.

On the electromagnetic fields, I do have to be careful here. I have a very crowded setup and no XLR capability for now. Thus, all power cables are shielded and I also place much emphasis on cable management & routing. It is challenging but it works. However, the new cMP box is not yet inside this environment. I placed it far away enough such that once I maximize its capabilities, I'll know if something gets screwed up once it is in "its final place".

 

Here's what I'm going to try on new cMP build (awaiting parts):, posted on January 22, 2013 at 12:06:19
carcass93
Audiophile

Posts: 7181
Location: NJ
Joined: September 20, 2006
 1. Classic cMP - no network, monitor attached, control via KB with touchpad

versus

2. No monitor, no KB, video adapter is either disabled (in BIOS or in Windows - whatever doesn't prevent XP from loading), or its impact is reduced by butchering Registry. PC hardwired to router, control via laptop for the lack of a tablet.

In preparation for cMP build, I'm doing some tests on AMD-based Windows 7 laptop, more or less optimized using cMP recipe, connected via Wyred4Sound uLink async USB-SPDIF converter. There, comparing sound quality with all networking hardware disabled, I clearly hear large negative impact of simply enabling 4 services required for wired networking - without even enabling hardware. The sound becomes duller, with reduced dimensions of the soundstage.

So, I guess my results are different from what's reported in this thread, and they don't look promising for networked solution. The only question is whether defeating video to some extent (if I'm successful at it on real cMP build) will outweight the negative impact of the network.

 

RE: Moving up to the H61 boards & slimmed-system HW Questions & Musings..., posted on January 29, 2013 at 07:35:10
mrporcelain
Audiophile

Posts: 222
Location: Victoria
Joined: April 1, 2005
 This is possibly a stupid question, but in cmp can you use keyboard shortcuts to shutdown the PC? Does Alt+F4 work? I don't have one currently connected to try it out.

 

RE: External 24 BIT/192KHz DAC, posted on February 6, 2013 at 02:03:00
Gaston
Audiophile

Posts: 13
Location: Rotterdam
Joined: July 8, 2012
 Hello Bibo01,

Thank you for your reply to my DAC problem.
I have just connected it all again and now I have a sound.
I just can't get the sound to be normal, since there is no normal music, but a sound that is like heavy distortion when playing very, very, very loud, but then at low volume.
I have been playing around with the Asio4all settings, but nothing seems to make the change..
Do you have any other ideas?
Thank you again for your help and sorry for my very late reply. I preferred to listen above getting into this frustrating trial and error thing..

Sincerely,

Gaston

 

RE: External 24 BIT/192KHz DAC, posted on February 6, 2013 at 07:23:01
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 Sounds like an issue I had a while back. Do you really have your pc in cmp
mode? Try higher speeds and or voltages for the CPU. If it is similar to what I had some of these items might work.

 

RE: External 24 BIT/192KHz DAC, posted on February 7, 2013 at 03:45:08
Gaston
Audiophile

Posts: 13
Location: Rotterdam
Joined: July 8, 2012
 Hi,
Unfortunately when I increased the speed from 9 to 20, the player crashed and does not start up anymore. Maybe we can continue through private email?
Mine is dcd_gaston@hotmail.com
Cheers!

Gaston

 

RE: External 24 BIT/192KHz DAC, posted on February 7, 2013 at 03:54:26
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 I meant decrease speed from where ever you were to something slightly higher. Dont know what 9 to 2o means. If you were at say 840 mhz increase to to 900 mhz. If you increased the multiplier yes that will not boot. You might want to try shorting your battery pins to boot into default settings to get your pc back up and running. If you dont know what this means do a search on AA.

 

RE: External 24 BIT/192KHz DAC, posted on February 12, 2013 at 00:12:48
Gaston
Audiophile

Posts: 13
Location: Rotterdam
Joined: July 8, 2012
 Thanx Theob,
Removing the battery seems to have solved this problem. Now I go back to getting the DAC to work.
Cheers!
Gaston

 

CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on April 30, 2013 at 23:52:33
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 Hello,

I purchased the ASUS Xonar Essence One DAC and wanted resample with 192khz via USB. Unfortunately I've got Problems with the ASIO drivers as they are fixed in 16 bit, but Cplay and CMP just allow 32bit drivers.

I've read that foobar could solve the problem, as you can adjust the bit settings in the foobar options. But after the Installation I can't run foobar on my CMP² pc!

The fault message is as follows: The programm couldn't be started, because DSOUND.dll could not be found.

So I downloaded this dll file and pasted it into the foobar folder. Then the message disappeared. But then I get a new fault message:

Der Prozedureinsprungpunkt (in engl. procedure starting point?) "OpenVxHandle" couldn't be found in the DLL "KERNEL32.dll"

I use Windows XP. Could anyone help me?

Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Sebastian

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 01:16:31
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 I use Windows XP.

I built a setup for a friend who has a Asus Xonar Esssence PCI card. It wouldn't work with cPlay either as its drivers have the same bit-depth problem as yours but it has worked fine with F2K for over two years.

DSOUND.dll is normally found in C:\Windows\system32. Copying it there will probably uncover a new problem rather than fix the old one but it's a start . . .

I'm sure you know this already but, just in case, remember to edit the line in cicsMemoryPlayer.pth starting with CUE_PLAYER #N so it points to your F2K folder.

Dave

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 01:29:09
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 Dear Dave,

thank you very much. What do you mean with F2K? Are these drivers? I don't know them.

And what do you mean with:
"edit the line in cicsMemoryPlayer.pth starting with CUE_PLAYER #N so it points to
your F2K folder. " ?

Much appreciate,
Sebastian

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 02:23:10
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 What do you mean with F2K?

Sorry about that. Being a bit lazy, I used "F2K" as an abbreviation for foobar (foobar2000), no more.

In C:\Program Files\cicsmemory_player (or wherever cMP is located) you'll find a file called cicsMemoryPlayer.pth. It points to various programs used by cMP.exe, one of them being, for obvious reasons, the music player.

By default, it points to cPlay.exe but, in your case, needs to point to foobar. It thus needs to be something like C:\Program Files\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe.

HTH

Dave

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 04:14:46
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 I have a file with name: C:\Programme\cics Memory Player

There i find the pth data. Should I now add the foobar Part into this folder, or should I Overdrive the Cplay part?

I would write:
CUE_PLAYER #N "C:\Programme\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe" %C

Tranks for your help :-)

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 05:20:58
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 CUE_PLAYER #N "C:\Programme\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe" %C

Change the line that points to cPlay.exe to the above (assuming that's where you have installed foobar) so cMP launches foobar instead of cPlay.

Obviously, foobar has to be correctly installed beforehand. I suggest you ensure it works with your ASUS device in "XP Mode" (i.e. using the normal windows shell) before you configure cMP.

HTH

D

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 06:30:27
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 Thank you. The prob. is that also in the normal XP "mode" I can't run foobar. I get the fault messages written in my first thread.

Maybe I abbort my try to connect the DAC via USB. I use the Juli@ via Coax Straight Wire Infolink cable and can run 192 kHz.

Or is USB really that much better?

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 07:29:55
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 The prob. is that also in the normal XP "mode" I can't run foobar.

I'm not competent to comment on ASUS/USB v juli@/SPDIF. However, the latter device would allow you to use cPlay which many feel sounds better than foobar and open you to getting help from the many inmates who have built cMP2 systems using it.

Is there any reason why you can't start again with your XP installation? That's what I'd do.

HTH

D

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 08:00:07
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 CMP and CPlay are working fine together. I just wanted to use foobar to can adjust the ASIO driver from 16 to 32bit to can use the asus DAC via USB.

On the CMP of CPlay "level" I am not able to adjust the driver bitrate.

Thank you very much for your support. Maybe another user has the same konfiguration and can help?

Regards,
Sebastian

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 08:41:12
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 I just wanted to use foobar to adjust the ASIO driver from 16 to 32bit

1. cPlay works with 32-bit data only;
2. The ASUS driver does not support 32-bit data;
3. Therefore cPlay does not work with the ASUS driver.

4. Foobar supports bit depths of 16 & 24 (& 32);
5. The ASUS driver supports bit depths of 16 & 24;
6. Therefore foobar works with the ASUS driver.

D

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 1, 2013 at 08:44:09
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 I have a file with name: C:\Programme\cics Memory Player

There i find the pth data. Should I now add the foobar Part into this folder, or should I Overdrive the Cplay part?

I would write:
CUE_PLAYER #N "C:\Programme\foobar2000\foobar2000.exe" %C

Tranks for your help :-)

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 16, 2013 at 23:20:22
audiodan@tiscali.it
Audiophile

Posts: 108
Location: Cagliari - Sardinia
Joined: July 7, 2009
 Hi sebnest
I'm using an excellent Asus ONE (and ST and STX too)from his launch on 2011 with a full cMP2 PC and I find this DAC really astoundig, specially if you fit 7 Burson opamp inside!
I cannot understand which kind of installation of XP pro you have done, if is a regular installation with cics' optimizations only,a nlite slimmed type, a Mihaylov or a steppe slimmed type, if is a SP2 ( I prefer it) or a SP3.
I think that it's very important to install the soundcard drivers and every program you need on a pure cMP2 and only after this step you'll can go towards other optimizations.
About ONE driver, you'll install not the last ones but the previous version in a regular cMP2 so, after the foobar installation, you'll search the ASIO options to set ASIO at 32 bit and 10ms. At this point you must have a perfect cMP2. Tell me if you'll have further problems
Daniele of Italian Forum of cMP2
http://www.nexthardware.com/forum/cmp2-cmp-cplay/

 

RE: CMP² and DAC ASUS Xonar Essence one + foobar, posted on May 21, 2013 at 08:42:50
sebnest
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Berlin
Joined: April 30, 2013
 Hi Daniele,

thank you for the post. I have sold the asus DAC in the meanwhile. I think I have installed XP SP3 Professional. I also use NLite and minlogon.

The problem was that I can't install foobar to adjust the Bit of the driver. I just got fault messages when I trief to install foobar.

Actually I use the "Kabelpeitsche" with the coaxial cabel, to use the 192khz.

Best regards,
Sebastian

 

RE: Xonar Analog or External DAC ???, posted on May 28, 2013 at 07:21:33
audiodan@tiscali.it
Audiophile

Posts: 108
Location: Cagliari - Sardinia
Joined: July 7, 2009
 Hi Tim
I use both, formerly the Xonar ONE with some difference:
- Full Burson opamp ( 7 'cause I use only RCA out)
- no output capacitors
- some little ceramic bypass caopacitors on the electrolytic on PSU
ONE is a great DAC, with a very good PSU, good ASIO driver and a gorgeous sound ( with Bursons opamp)
regards
Daniele from Nexthardware forum, cMP2 forum

 

RE:cplay dsd capability , posted on June 22, 2013 at 08:55:32
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 Any enterprising cplayers out there that can add dsd file capability in cplay? That would make cplay that much better.

 

RE:cplay dsd capability , posted on June 22, 2013 at 17:04:00
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 I gave Steppe cPlay source code. Perhaps he can conjure something up with his programmer friend. I do not know if DSD is among his priorities...and I have not heard from him in a while.

Furthermore, do you have in mind DSD through DoP or ASIO direct?

 

RE:cplay dsd capability , posted on June 24, 2013 at 06:36:08
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 I sent Serge several emails on other topics... I have not heard from him either.

 

Carcass is right, ESI REALLY stuck to it's guns..., posted on June 25, 2013 at 21:02:32
GStew
Audiophile

Posts: 633
Location: NE Mississippi
Joined: September 21, 2001
 There's a thread up on the Tweaks Asylum where a guy is asking Q's about the PCI-e version of the Juli@ and posting some useful info (and I'm also communicating with him privately).

Key things so far:

1. Both the digital and analog sections are functionally very similar to the PCI version.

2. They do some filtering of the motherboard voltages. They also make the -12v from the +12v using a switching inverting regulator.

3. They have a PCI-e to PCI bridge on the card which is what allows them to basically use a very similar processing circuit to the PCI version Juli@.

IMHO, based on all of this, I don't see how the PCI-e version would be an upgrade over the PCI version on a motherboard with a PCI-e to PCI bridge. Plus it has an onboard switching regulator.

Maybe usage will prove me wrong. But I see no driving reason to try one as an alternative.

Greg in Mississippi



Everything matters!

 

help-error only works for flac total_samples count in streaminfo, posted on August 18, 2013 at 19:26:31
LanceL
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Joined: January 7, 2012
 error only works for flac total_samples count in streaminfo
this is the error I get when I try to play a album ripped in dbpower amp with cue files created via RCC....the cue files look the same as albums that do play ...can someone assist
Thx in advance

 

Help-What do you use to rip and/or create cue files, posted on August 21, 2013 at 09:50:57
LanceL
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Joined: January 7, 2012
 Help-What do you use to rip and/or create cue files
especially for your cmp/cplay machine
Thx
Lance

 

Exact Audio Copy (EAC), posted on August 21, 2013 at 10:14:29
rickmcinnis@dogwoodfabrics.com
Audiophile

Posts: 3040
Location: Atlanta
Joined: December 15, 2003
 as recommended by cics!

 

RE: Exact Audio Copy (EAC), posted on August 21, 2013 at 10:29:20
LanceL
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Joined: January 7, 2012
 Thanks...any particular settings to ensure success with cplay

 

fixed..thx to all, posted on August 22, 2013 at 12:04:21
LanceL
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Joined: January 7, 2012
 Thx so much for your help…between your comments and at the suggestion of the DB poweramp programmer to upgrade/reinstall the program I am now up and running…..I believe the dbpoweramp version/install was the main culprit…but bottom line I up and running
Thx again for your time and help

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 3, 2014 at 05:52:00
m.v.kints@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: vlaams brabant
Joined: July 3, 2014



Hello guys (and girls of course)

i'll introduce myself shortly... i'm matthieu, student and new in this world. we'll i'm now here as i got (thankfully) persuaded by a friend to turn an old (slightly less compatible) system into an music player.

so i started: and beside some minor hick-ups things work fine.

my system:

mainboard: ASRock P4-dual GL915
CPU: intel celeron 2.80 GHZ (single core, single thread)
mem: 2 GB RAM DDR (PC3200-400mhz)

onboard vga: GL910 / 915
soundcard internal PCI: soundblaster live, value

unfortunately does my mainboard doesn't allow me to make much changes (couldn't even lower my cpu multiplier or make mem modifications) besides some real minor ones.I used a old (thought high quality psu) that i took apart, took all the additional antenna wires not needed out an have it running like that uncooled.

as i couldn't get my cpu multipliers down i couldn't take the cpu fan of, so that is still spinning but i did find a nice ssd of 120 GB, enough for now. it is all sitting (unprotected) on an 18mm MDF board and will soon be encapsulated by a aluminium perforated sheet box, and all parts in separate compartments.

i used this system none the less to get started, as budget is REALLY tight i can't go around and by stuff needed so i have to search 2e hand which is not always readily available

anyway, non the less i got things working.

that is besides cMP, it well starts up, but as soon as i tell it to start playing it crashed with the notification. 'player excited' cPLAY works fine on its own.

i tried all (first the more logic, than the less) setting, but nothing worked.

is my issue mainboard settings related or is there something else i'm over looking. we'll i hope someone can help.

none the less i'm really happy, as i finally got some proper sound in my room. Although i can only listen through a headset :(, but i hope to get my hands on a t-amp or equivalent pretty soon. and than hopefully some nice speakers.

it will be a slow proces... but at least i got started.. which took me about 2 years i think.

thanks in advance...

Matthieu

ps: hope this site will be back up soon... grrh why hack a site like this :(


 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 3, 2014 at 08:58:07
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 it crashed with the notification. 'player excited' cPLAY works fine on its own.

1. Have you enabled Diagnostics? (Click on the icon, bottom LH corner of the cMP window.) Mostly they tell you what you already know but not always. Maybe worth a shot.

2. What "level" of cPlay are you using? The more "advanced" versions use instructions that are not available on older CPUs and behave as you describe. Try an sse2-compatible version and see what happens.

HTH

Dave

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 3, 2014 at 09:09:30
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 Try http://www.tasteuk1.webspace.virginmedia.com/cicsmemoryplayer/cMP2_Index.htm#cPlay

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 3, 2014 at 09:28:27
m.v.kints@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: vlaams brabant
Joined: July 3, 2014
 I used cMP_1_2final_setup.exe and cPlay_2_0b39_sse3, and tried now the sse2 version. but cPLAY works fine and cMP work stable to untill i want to play music, anyway, it didn't have any succes.

and yes I use diagnostics, see the image i added in the thread.

i've just posted a post on bios-mods.com to see if i can get more adaptation out of my current mainboard.

se if that might help.. not sure if i can, and not sure if it will help but i can at least try.

thanks for the support, really much appreciated.

kind regards.

matthieu

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 3, 2014 at 09:36:17
m.v.kints@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: vlaams brabant
Joined: July 3, 2014
 Thanks,

I had those pages printed out on paper, handed over to me by that friend.

read through them but never read anything about trouble shooting or this issue. thanks thought!!

kind regards

Matthieu

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 3, 2014 at 18:23:11
Bibo01
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: December 18, 2008
 Hi,

A few hints here and there to troubleshoot.
You said cPlay is working, so I suppose it works in Windows Mode (before entering cMP), therefore you're 100% cPlay is using ASIO.
From your Diagnostics it seems that your card is not even initialized.

In cMP Settings have you tried "Critical" under Optimize? You seem to have it on "Player".
In Suspend try different settings.
Is RAM Load on "No"?
Control your settings in C:\Program Files\cics Memory Player\cicsMemoryPlayer.pth that they actually point to real directories on your disk. Sometimes using foreign versions of XP this matter is overlooked.

Good luck!

We have and Italian cMP2 site on nexthardware.com if it may interest you.

 

RE:cplay dsd capability , posted on July 3, 2014 at 22:52:34
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 The situation was to test a Schiit Loki USB DSD DAC that I only had for 4 days. This forced me to install Foobar & JRiver for the first time ever on the audio PC which was built to run cMP/cPlay...nothing else. It felt like I was violating somethin'! The tests did not last long enough for me to be "sure" about all this below, but this may indicate how badly I'd prefer to have cPlay do DSD playback, lest I be dragged down the dark path, LOL!

I must say that the Loki did a superb job (for its price) under Foobar with DSD material.

OTOH, with PCM material, it DID NOT as good as my non-DSD USB DAC and cPlay. Still, under Foobar upsampling (SOX) and converting to DSD, I suspect that I can live with it after it fully breaks in (and after "tweaks").

The cMP wrap does help and I wonder what the Loki could do if cPlay could see it in DoP mode or even PCM to DSD (which Foobar & JRiver facilitate).

Surprisingly, this cMP'd PC accepted the install of both Foobar & JRiver (v19) without major fuzz. JRiver lightens up in terms of loaded code, forced by how slimmed down the WinXP has been made. Mainly, by dumping much of its visual eye candy. As a result, it was the best sounding JRiver install I've ever heard....which still does not make it dear to me.

In any event, Foobar is lighter still in terms of code. As a result, this latest version of Foobar got damn close to the best that cPlay has had to offer. So close, in fact, that for the first time I am wondering...

...ahhh, the dark forces of convenience!

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, player excited!!, posted on July 4, 2014 at 04:35:13
m.v.kints@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: vlaams brabant
Joined: July 3, 2014
 thanks Bibo01(A),

this last point did it, for some silly reason, things went wrong during installation and my windows drive ended up being the d/: instead of c/: so when i read your comment i immediately thought, ah that has got to be it, just got a chance to check it and indeed..

works fine now :D

well at least cMP starts cPlay.. if everything is stable.. that will be to check another time.. but at least i got to that point.

thank you very much, saying this slightly ashamed as i should have thought about it myself :(

kind greatings,

Matthieu

next job:... get the bios of my mainboard unlocked or find a new mainboard /cpu/mem setup..

 

RE:cplay dsd capability , posted on July 10, 2014 at 05:23:06
theob
Audiophile

Posts: 3180
Location: ann arbor michigan
Joined: November 4, 2000
 JBen can you pls share the CMP pth file you used to run J River? For some reason my attempt did not work. I used

CUE_PLAYER #N "c:\program files\J River\Media Center 19\Media Center 19.exe" %C

Appreciate a response.

 

RE:cplay dsd capability , posted on July 10, 2014 at 23:08:45
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 In posting about it, I may have mislead unintentionally. I did not use the "path" to call execution in via "full cMP". I should have said that I called Foobar2k and JRiver from their desktop icons...

...in the [cMP-controlled] WinXP environment. The reason is that cMP optimizations begin even before the full force of the cMP "shell" is activated. No matter which of its 2 modes this altered Windows install boots into, cMP is always calling the shots to some extent. cMP is really always on. To the naked eye, a normal boot & desktop may look ordinary yet cMP (plus other changes) is already in effect.

Since I had the Schiit Loki for just 3 days, I went for installing & running these programs and the drivers this way:
-- a fully cMP hardware/OS optimized per Cics instructions (normally used for cPlay only)
-- booting into this cMP/WinXP install (but not into the full cMP wrap or shell, where cPlay is the only one used)
-- running each (Foobar2K and JRiver) as separate programs "off desktop icons"

I should have made this clear. My apologies. I am adding other details in the reply to your email. (Edit: In doing so, I just realized that it is well worth keeping a good backup of the whole system. My cPlay install became somewhat corrupted when I added Foobar & JRiver but I left it as is... planning to restore the backup.)

 

adding a second hard drive to cMP, posted on October 20, 2014 at 04:32:21
urlicht.55
Audiophile

Posts: 2
Joined: October 20, 2014
 I have a "classical" cMP BIOS + software setting.
Now I am having trouble adding a second SATA hard drive. The slimmed Windows version does not seem to recognize it.
Hope I do not have to rebuild the whole system...
Any suggestions ?

 

RE: adding a second hard drive to cMP, posted on October 20, 2014 at 05:33:36
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 Hope I do not have to rebuild the whole system...Any suggestions ?

Phew. This thread is still active (just) even though it's now seven years old - is that something of a record?

You shouldn't have to rebuild. First, I'd try temporarily re-enabling relevant services such as Logical Disk Manager.

Second, I successfully added a third network drive to an ultra-slim XP system by manually editing the Registry after a bit of searching for this and that. I also managed to replace the system drive by installing the new drive on a different computer and exporting its Registry entry. That gave me the correct syntax for editing the relevant entry on the cMP2 machine.

IOW, you need to footle around a bit but my experience suggests that you'll get there before long. Needless to say, you MUST make an imagefile of your cMP2's system partition before touching anything - but I'm sure you knew that.

HTH

Dave

 

RE: adding a second hard drive to cMP, posted on October 20, 2014 at 06:04:51
urlicht.55
Audiophile

Posts: 2
Joined: October 20, 2014
 Hi Dave,
Thanks a lot for the ideas ! I did not think about exporting the registry entry.
7 yrs,,,, Yes, it might well be a record.
And, SURE, I have plenty of imagefiles :))

 

Does cplay cMP’s software run on win 8.1? , posted on December 3, 2014 at 05:14:58
Night Fung
Audiophile

Posts: 2
Joined: December 3, 2014
 Does cplay cMP’s software run on win 8.1?
I cannot run my cMP’s on my win 8.1 laptop. error message:"Process:

Explorer exe terminated. ERROR: unable to get access priviledge.

How to get through this? Please help. Thanks.
Night Fung

 

RE: Does cplay cMP’s software run on win 8.1? , posted on December 3, 2014 at 05:35:21
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 I cannot run my cMP's on my win 8.1 laptop . . .

cMP.exe is a replacement for Win XP's shell and, as such, won't run on later versions of Windows :<( though AFAIK cPlay.exe does.

HTH

Dave

 

RE: Does cplay cMP’s software run on win 8.1? , posted on December 3, 2014 at 07:53:12
Night Fung
Audiophile

Posts: 2
Joined: December 3, 2014
 Dave,
oh I see. thanks!

 

RE: Does cplay cMP’s software run on win 8.1? , posted on December 3, 2014 at 22:45:01
internethandle
Audiophile

Posts: 42
Location: CA
Joined: November 30, 2011
 Actually, it runs just fine on Win 7, been using it for some time. Wondered about Win 8/8.1, not surprised it doesn't work there.

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, posted on November 19, 2016 at 02:13:16
selmankalayci@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 1
Joined: September 20, 2016
 Hi
Maybe someone can help me about my question.
Is it possible to change BOTH crystals with 2 (LClock XO 3 )??
Did anyone try this?

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, posted on October 26, 2017 at 14:54:58
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Just got back a bit into audio and i fortunately have a cmp2 box that i assembled years ago and it works!

Though it gets hung up in cmp mode. It wont revert to xp at all. I select that option, reboot and it hangs. Then after 10 min of a white screen i cut power and it auto boots to cmp mode.

Any thoughts? Also should i set cmp memory load to NO??

Anyhow big hats off to cics and his hard work and keeping his site up and running.

Thanks man!!!



Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, posted on October 29, 2017 at 20:20:04
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 I solved it. I had a 2nd drive and it was farter along i guess in the cmp2 build and disnt suffer any of those issues. It also had Lynx drivers so i switched to the lynx! Sojnds much better than my m-audio card feeding the Birdland odeon ag dac. Probslably more a comment on the m-audio card than anything

Cics if you want to update things with current mobos and chips that would rock but i bet you are just listening to music!

Anyhow thanks again and this cmp2 box rocks!

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, posted on December 11, 2017 at 16:37:43
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Sorry I wasn't around to help you at the time. Glad to see you around.

I still use cMP2 as the base for my PC music playback. Had to drop cPlay when I went to DSD but cMP is doing wonders for the improved Foobar 2k, and even JRiver.

It still pains me that you left and never took the MMGs to where they could because you were on the right path. My sibling pair, bi-amped and using Parasound MOSFET power amps with a class-A DAC, would have kept feeling the kinship strongly if your MMG's and two Halo A21 had stayed.

But, cMP2 and your new cans will also do great. Enjoy!

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, posted on October 4, 2019 at 10:37:53
Gaston
Audiophile

Posts: 13
Location: Rotterdam
Joined: July 8, 2012
 Hello,

Is there anyone who has all the cics MP2 Memory player information available?
I have printed everything years ago and built one, but lost the copies and I can not find the information on line anymore , like the manual(s).
My player has been stored for a while and I like to get it up and running again, for me, or for a friend.
The website seems to have replaced and that site does not have the manual available.

I am playing from a normal laptop right now, which sounds a great deal better than the CD player I had and I want to hear the difference and then give it top another audio lover.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

Sincerely,

Gaston

I can be contacted by email: dcd_gaston@hotmail.com

 

RE: cMP - the open source high-end Memory Player, posted on October 12, 2019 at 17:51:38
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 If you havent try the email on the website.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on November 1, 2019 at 09:13:22
quangsunrise@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 2
Location: Ontario
Joined: November 1, 2019
 Hi JackWong96, can you please give me a copy of theJW_HOME_SP1_2 (Jack Wong 2012-03-21).iso.

thank you

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on November 2, 2019 at 10:39:31
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 Hi JackWong96

AFAIK, Jack Wong hasn't participated on this list for many a year and so is unlikely to respond to your request. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I see that my cMP2 'archive' includes a folder called Jack Wong which in turn includes a file called JW_HOME_SP1_2.VCD. As I never used it, I've no idea why I kept a copy but there you go.

Obviously, I can't guarantee it's the file you're after (I couldn't even remember what a .vcd file was . . .) but, if you think it might be of help, PM me and I'll arrange to upload it somewhere. Size about 75MB.

HTH

Dave

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on November 3, 2019 at 09:34:31
quangsunrise@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 2
Location: Ontario
Joined: November 1, 2019
 Thank you Dave, can you some how upload for me a copy please.

thank you

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 18, 2020 at 22:55:04
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Hey Ryelands! Good to see you and Dawnrazor around, if months ago!

You still using the cMP setup? I am, though not having had time for much music listening in about a year. That should change soon thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. I'll be forced to stay in town...and at home.

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 21, 2020 at 15:16:37
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Yo Jben. Naw ditched the cmp2 box because of the heat. Long story.

Using a DANTE solution now to feed a dac. And Hysolid is the player. Awesome sound.

THis is a dante box that is feeding my dac an AES signal from ethernet:

https://www.audinate.com/products/devices/dante-avio#aes3

Actually before the dac the signal runs into a used Apogee Big Ben reclocker I got at guitar center for $400 which sends AES out to the dac:

https://apogeedigital.com/shop/big-ben-refurbished

Here is the player and they seem to use some cmp2 principles shifting the cataloging away from the computer to an app on a phone or tablet:

https://www.hysolid.com/

I had the cmp2 box in different systems and I can't conclude that this new paradigm is better but I can say that I don't miss the cmp2 box at this point. And I totally enjoy the control and sound with Hysolid. Do note though that hysold IIRC only really works with 32bit hardware. There is a small list on their site. I could be wrong since my 4 dac options all support 32bit.

Also there are some great sounding affordable dante products that could do wonders for some systems and fwiw you can add all kind of ins and outs if you want to. I have another box like this but it also has 2 mic inputs:

https://www.amazon.com/Focusrite-REDNET-AM2-Headphone-Power-over-Ethernet/dp/B01DNU8Z14/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=focusrite+am2&qid=1584828911&sr=8-2#customerReviews

Listening today, omg this system sounds amazing! So smooth and detailed yet not sterile at all. Music man music.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 21, 2020 at 18:04:31
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Happy to see you, D!

As I mentioned earlier, I've been away from it all for almost a year. In fact, this is probably only my 2nd post in the asylum this week, after the long hiatus. I do have a few audio projects lined up for as soon as I recover from my trips and stuff.

One of these planned projects is, in fact, Hysolid. When I was still in France several weeks ago, OG42 texted me to inquire about it. LOL, he accused YOU of making him curious about it, if I recall well. I decided to explore it when I got back. I actually downloaded it several days ago.

After reading their website thoroughly, I figured it still needs much more of the Windows 10 subsystems than cMP does of Windows XP's(with a severely reduced code). So, I harbor no illusions. Then again, I was/am not looking for a cMP replacement.

Where I DO have great hopes is actually with Win10 on other folks' PCs. Those who are not able, crazy or deluded enough to gut an entire OS just for improved SQ, the way some of us are.

For example, OG42's audio PC is audio-optimized to some extent under Windows 10 but I silently lamented not being able to bring his PC to cMP's SQ level. Now, however, and partly thanks to your typical explorations and sharing thereof, this may much closely be achieved. He got really good at making solid PC backups...experimenting with new setups should make him happy as a kid...which he is :)

I'll take another look at the other items you mentioned later. Right now I am due to smoke my cheap cigar of the week...before my wife wakes up. Have fun!


 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 21, 2020 at 21:48:18
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 FWIW I did the Focusrite usb recs to tune the computer. And of course its dedicated with no anitvirus.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

This does make a difference. I replaced a computer and man the same dac etc sounded horrible.. Horrible. Did the steps and viola it was like before. Ironically I went the way I did with internet instead of USB because I thought the impact of the computer would be minimized. Lol I was wrong.

Glad to see you around!!!

All I can tell you is that I have left cMP2 behind me.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 21, 2020 at 23:12:35
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Thanks for the pointer. Their recs do sound very appropriate. I will try them when the time comes.

Years ago I struck gold with the cMP + FB2k setup. This only happened after FB2k got a very decent update in those days. (You had already taken your "sabbatical", so I don't think I ever mentioned it to you.) Suddenly, I could get just as good SQ as with cPlay but with the extra abilities of FB2k, including DSD playback. Only the Oppo player while on "pure direct" -- and not always -- can improve a little over cMP/FB2k.

Not that I've heard much of this recently. All this above was with the PLLXO'd bi-amp on the highly modded MMGs until the start of 2019. Their resolution was incredible and long-term listening sessions were always enjoyable (often 10hr+). I did begin to worry about their age. Yours and mine were built before 2000.

That January I found a good pair of used 1.6's and decided to shift them in for long term evaluation and modding. Haltingly, I finished testing the "external" tweaks (they came with Razoring on, BTW). They improved very much but never to the modded MMGs' level.

Soon after, many things got in the way of further tweaking; health, work and stuff. Gotta PLLXO biamp these 1.6s, perhaps even reinforce the frame like I did with the MMGs. They do have the pedigree to exceed the modded MMGs, which can still do a quite bit of relative shock & awe if allowed to...though now they're on "mothballs".

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 23, 2020 at 03:05:50
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 Years ago I struck gold with the cMP + FB2k setup

Yes, I'm still using cMP2 though in a server/endpoint setup with lots of 'slimming' on both boxes. The slimming makes for a very marked difference.

About ten years ago(!), I made up a cMP2 system for a friend that, at his request, used F2K instead of cPlay. It sounded good. What version of F2K are you using?

Dave

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 23, 2020 at 07:06:34
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey J,

Nice report. Lol they came with razoring. I thought it was just me and you. FWIW my planar headphones are razored and well it works there too.

Interesting about foobar and I get it if you are doing DSD. Hysolid supports all that stuff too up to 384k IIRC. My dac does as well but poor dawnrazor is stuck at 44.1 and in the 1980s. No music he likes is on dsd. Though I think my dac will convert or something. Did I mention it just sounds amazing. Things are just soo clear and smooth. Its like a different recording. Lots of things going on but I think the Big Ben and its clocking is giving that last 10%.

Do you have a big room? The 1.6s may just be too big for the space. FWIW my mmgs are in storage these days.

Do take care of yourself. Health is the most important thing IMHO.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 23, 2020 at 07:10:46
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 I have moved to a networked system and one day may try cmp again, though all my builds are with no networking and Cics site is down.

Do you have any info on how to do it with networking? Is there an easy way to just add networking or is it a no go?

Also can any of the cmp2 magic be done on windows 10. Pretty sure my dac needs windows 10 or 7 at the earliest.

Glad you are well man. Sorry to be a DOWNrazor but there is something to be said for more plug and play and cover art...

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 23, 2020 at 22:43:05
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Nice to see your are still around, Dave.

The current FB2k version is 1.3.16, though 1.5+ is available. I don't upgrade unless there is a promising SQ improvement. And I never try so without first making a full backup, in case I don't like what I hear.

Curious, what do you mean by server/endpoint in this context? And what player?

While I prefer to run the slimmed down PC in isolation from the network (self-contained except for USB DAC), I can re-enable networking to the other machines...with a minor SQ penalty. I can switch from FB2k to JRiver (not latest versions though, they're XP unfriendly) but I very rarely do so.

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 23, 2020 at 23:34:17
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Hey D, it was not JUST you and me. LOL, you know better than that! In fact, your Razoring tweak was far more adopted than we learn via the forum alone. People come in and read, try, adopt yet never tell.

Anyway, I first heard these 1.6 in a decidedly unfair room. Yet, they STILL performed clearly better than any 1.6 I had ever heard. After listening for a couple of hours, I walked over to them and explored around. Feeling them on the back confirmed what I had only suspected..and I started laughing. They are now in the very same spot the MMGs were, in a 12x25 room.

Hmm, "poor" at 44.1 ain't so if other things are good enough. Not that I need to tell you. However, seeing what you mentioned in the post to Dave, here is an anecdote. Before leaving on a trip, last December I bought a Raspberry Pi4 as a gift for a friend. My thought was to help him build a hi-res audio system just for the fun of it (I wanted to try DietPi with it.). Bummer, when I returned he had re-gifted it.

The point is that it cost me just a few bucks and, if your DAC has drivers available for it (Linux, I think) you may be able to beat even the cMP/WinXP combo. Better yet, I see that this Computer Audio Asylum already has experienced users to guide you at first. I think I even saw Neolith around!

However, if you still prefer cMP, I believe that I saved most of the cMP/cPlay website and its files long ago. If Dave does not have it, which I doubt because I think he once helped me complete something, I'll dig in to find it.

Likewise...and no monkeying around that Covid-19 stuff, you hear. (I believe that Dave lives well away from it, hopefully.)




 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 24, 2020 at 11:36:53
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey JBen,

That was a cool story about the 1.6s.. Glad people are doing it. It makes such a difference.

I thought about linux. Its a non starter IMHO. 1st off I have gone the pro audio route and ALSA is last on their list. 2nd I could use usb (do you even need drivers for LInux with usb?) but not a big fan of that and well I couldn't use my reclocker....it would be a money trap I think in terms of needing a better reclocker....

And things sound really really good and I have some things I can do on the PC end yet.



Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 24, 2020 at 14:31:16
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012
 Hey J,
Very nice to see you and DR sharing!!!!

Keep up the good work, for it is nice to see two gents like yourselves on AA!!!!

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 24, 2020 at 16:29:25
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey Old Guy.

Glad to see you are still kicking! Hopefully you are enjoying life and the system is rocking.

Audio these days can be ridiculously good for little dough. Hope you are partaking.

Listening to planar headphones these days that are razored and yes, connected with thin thin magwire...some things never change.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 25, 2020 at 02:39:08
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012
 Hey DR,

Sure happy to read you are enjoying your system, and good to see your posts on AA!!! You and J. are two very knowledgeable and sharing GENTS.

About 5 years ago, I switched to a computer based headphone system, albeit, a very modest one. Simply put, if not for J., I would not be listening and enjoying this system now.

Keep up the good work, and please continue to share your experiences...

And yes, skinny wire rocks!!!......Stay safe...

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 25, 2020 at 14:56:58
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Wow. Me too. Headphones rock. Hated them for years but now i dont know if speakers will be a big part of my audiophilia.

What are you running?

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 25, 2020 at 17:14:26
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Wow. Me too. Headphones rock. Hated them for years but now i dont know if speakers will be a big part of my audiophilia.

What are you running?

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 25, 2020 at 20:08:25
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 D, I wouldn't like you any less if you stayed just on cans. :) That said, and more so if you had kept the A21s, it seems to me that you get even more creative when speakers challenge you. And then you share this. Of course, the Razoring for headphones continues the tradition.

But yes, cans truly can! Who knows when but I may have to get there eventually...and your tweaks may come in handy.

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 26, 2020 at 01:37:30
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012
 Hey DR,

Running a very modest system, as I said...Without J., I would not be enjoying this system!!!

I added a cheap Furman PL-8C and changed out a usb cable of late.

See link (I hope)...

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 27, 2020 at 08:44:29
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Modest? Thats like the best value product in every category. You would have to spend a ton more to get better I imagine.

Bet it rocks!

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 27, 2020 at 08:54:42
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 LOl. The A21s I still have and until I moved to Florida (yes but man I am at the exact oppostite part of the state as Jben), was running my headphones off of the A21s. The heat became an issue and I had to get a headphone amp.

It was cmp2 box into the A21s then a resistor network to the cans. Was awesome till it was too hot. One advantage of a planar can is they can usually take 5 watts...

Went with battery headphone amps for a bit then finally bought the Hafler Ha-75. Its got a "focus" feature which basically overcomes the main issue I have with headphones which is lack of center image. This mimics monitors and you can adjust the center image. All the vst plug ins I tried sucked but this is the real deal.

The awesome planar is now $218 and reacts well to mods:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/m1060c-open-soundstage-mod.918483/


Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 27, 2020 at 09:00:37
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Yo don't for get cables:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/homebrew-balanced-cables.903677/

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 27, 2020 at 15:22:42
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey There is a close out of the Schitt wyred usb decrapafier. Its $45. And the have 3, or rather 2 after I place my order for my 2nd one.

Bet it would help.

https://darko.audio/2015/09/schiit-wyrd-usb-decrapifier-review/

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 30, 2020 at 15:47:48
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 Florida, huh, you came to join our Gator crowd? Perhaps there will be a time when we can get together for dinner at your local Denny's. :) Before this C19 virus thing came along, my wife and I were planning to visit friends in TN. The drive over to them would likely take us close enough to where you are.

Ahhh! The beautifully sound colors of the 12AX7 tube, mostly via my Dyanacos of their time, hold a very dear place in my eardrums. I can still salivate as I remember passages of music they played for me. I hope you retained these tubes in the Hafler.

Now, if you really preferred the A21's sound but not its heat, here is a wild thought. It is probably not really advisable but...

The A21's bias could conceivably be tuned down just enough to only deliver class-A into 4-5 watts. If I recall well, they now do about 11 watts into 8 ohms. The downturn in heat production would likely be very significant judging by my own experiments with my Parasounds.

Then again, like you, I never even got to "good enough" SQ from VST filters on cPlay, if you would need them with the A21. Like I said, it is a bit wild; just like us ladies here like it. LOL

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on March 31, 2020 at 18:30:28
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Hey Jben,

Thats a great idea in regards to the bias. Sadly I ended up with the hafler after the A21 because of the heat. And now I am sold on the focus feature and the tubes, and truth be told the vox control which adds a bass boost.

I have just kept the stock tube and don't plan to mess about. The Hafler has some preouts which perhaps will let me get the focus and vox and use the A21, but I don't find myself missing the A21 soundwise. True my system was very differnt back then and I hadn't modded the headphones I don't think but maybe one day it will be an interesting test.

But man I have to tell you things are sounding the best they every have. Sooooo smooth but yet detailed.

You sir are fancy. Waffle house man.

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 1, 2020 at 00:54:19
JBen
Audiophile

Posts: 3082
Location: South FL
Joined: May 18, 2008
Contributor
  Since: July 26, 2010
 LOL, that was merely to try and impress you. Waffle House guy myself, too. Steak & eggs + hash brown all mixed up then the waffles...all of which stress the meds to the hilt.



 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 1, 2020 at 01:29:19
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012
 Hey DR,

Tried to post yesterday AM but AA was down for me.

I do have a de-crapafier of sorts. The Ifi-I3.0 silencer but I did want to purchase the Schiit model for my younger son. I waited to long, and they sold out.

I do own an after market headphone cable that I purchased almost 5 years ago that is stranded and so, I did think about diy'in a solid core headphone cable but I thought it would be a no-no given all the movement of the cable. Now you have me think'in bout mess'in with 26 gauge magnet wire!!!..LOL

Thanks for the suggestions...Appreciate it...Stay safe!!!

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 1, 2020 at 10:21:58
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Cool man cool. That ifi stuff looks good! Keep checking out the Schiit site. They run out and they sometimes come back. They are b stock so not always a stream of inventory.

I have had the homebrew headphone cables for months with no issues. Though I am just at my desk with no walking around. The key IMHO is to use something to jacket the cables like techflex and then clamp really good and for good measure put some glue on the outside of the techflex before clamping.

Also I cheat. No Y junctions on my cables. Amp has 2 outputs and I doctored the cables to just tap into the left or right output depending on which is left and right. So one end plugs into the right cup and goes to the 1st out on the amp. 2nd one goes to left and plugs into the 2nd out.

That said you could do a single connection to the amp by either getting a cable boot, but IMHO a better way would be to do 2 separate runs and just attach it all at the amp end. So 2 cables coming into the 1/8" connector or even better if your amp uses a 1/4" connection (more room).

Also, its heresy but a big shout out to the BBE sonic Maximizer. It works and man I won't live without it. Its like the band is playing on a stage with the lights dimmed. Then you put in the BBE and viola its like the house lights come on. Well worth the dough. So nice to be able to adjust the sound and improve it while doing so.

I have the XLR version but here is the Rca version


Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 6, 2020 at 19:51:56
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Back at it fellas

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 7, 2020 at 08:29:22
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012
 Hey DR,

Rock on with the cans!!!!!!

FYI, just ordered the BBE 282iR...ETA..4/15---4/20......

STAY SAFE!!!!!!!

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 7, 2020 at 08:47:43
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Awesome dude. Hope it works for you! Sadly I had to trade in my audiophile card for that thing.

Occasionally I test the BBE and ALWAYS conclude it needs to stay in the mix. Even adjusting the volume does not make it sound as good as when the BBE is active.

Its definitely more than an eq IME.

Do let me know how it works out!

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

RE: An Extraordinary Windows Installation for Use with Juli@, posted on April 7, 2020 at 08:57:24
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012
 Hey DR,

I never had an audiophile card, just a music lover card....

Back in the mid '80s, I owned 2 DBX devices...a 3BX and the Boom Box...

Will let you know how the Max works out....

 

Site seems to be back up, posted on April 7, 2020 at 15:29:59
Dawnrazor
Audiophile

Posts: 12592
Location: N. California
Joined: April 9, 2004
 Try this link:

http://cicsmemoryplayer.com/index.php?n=Main.HomePage

Cut to razor sounding violins

 

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