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My initial findings on SQ of XP Home Edition

Hi inmates, happy New Year!

What are your wishes for 2012? Expecting to receive New Year gifts?

OK. Back to XP Home Edition. After having some hard time installing XPHomeSP1, I compared its sound quality with XPHomeSP2 and XPProSP2. Each OS underwent the same basic optimizations,including the latest registry tweaks, AWE and minlogon.

I mentioned in the last post that the SQ of CMP on XPHome SP2 is on top of XPProSP2, the HomeSP1 is one step forward. Greg, you are right! The differences between HomeSP1 and ProSP2 are profound. For example, less harshness, better minor details and focus, lighter but more real highs in HomeSP1 than ProSP2. A note lasted a bit longer in HomeSP1 and there were more minor reverberations. More importantly, the sound is more musical and appealing.

The HomeSP1 brings a jump in SQ, which I we believe is difficult to improve with the trimmed XPProSP2. However, I experienced difficulties in making HomeSP1 work with CMP, e.g. it couldn't shutdown in CMP and often couldn't reboot into CMP at all, occasionally no AWE. I didn't have such problem with HomeSP2. By chance, I made a few working installations, out of more than 12 attempts on 3 different computers. That said, however, I think it's still worthwhile to do so for the sake of SQ improvement.

In addition to the differences in SQ , I have the following observations:

1. The files in the 2 versions of SP2 are of the same size, but smaller in the SP1 version. This would potentially offer better chances to manipulate dlls to smaller size with Resources Hacking. There may be fewer AVIs, Icons, Strings and Dialogues.

2. HomeSP1 does not work well with CMP. It could hardly reboot into CMP mode. According to my experience, there was only one chance to do it right, i.e. CMP-Reboot-CMP. Thereafter, one cannot reboot into XP mode or shutdown. Should one missed the golden opportunity, will have to reinstall again.

3. After minlogon, User's ID was no longer recognized and the OS sometimes behaved erratically - settings were changed, I know, but some were very difficult to optimized because sometimes explorer wouldn't run in CMP mode.

4. The Registry of HomeSP1, and predominantly its simplicity rather than the size of files I believe, accounts for most of the improvements in SQ.

How did I find out it's about the Registry? Well, I think you should take the opportunity to explore and experience this. I have some instructions, if you want, to try this out on your XPProSP2. Therefore, I urge you, my friends and brothers, if you are interested or want to experience upgrade of SQ to another level without installing XPHomeSP1, please send me an email. A New Year gift is awaiting your collection!




Edits: 12/30/11 12/30/11
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