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In Reply to: Re: help with components for music server... posted by bobp on September 29, 2006 at 07:37:40:
***On Windows platform the speed of processor DOES count for quality of music reproduction. AMD Athlon64 X2 3800 sounds signifficantly better than AMD Athlon 64 3200...I am planning to UNDERclock processor by 25% and thus cut on heat emission. Less heat, less fan noise.***bobp -
This is very interesting. I have read about the notion that the CPU speed (as well as memory speed/latency) affects the sound quality, and have tried a few experiments of my own (inconclusive so far). But I'm confused by what you say. You say the faster processor sounds better, so why are you going to underclock it? I mean I understand what you said about heat and fan noise, but if it affects sound quality, why do it?
Follow Ups:
Edward, I have read somewhere that clock of 2MHz and over is causing a lot of EMI noise, and 1.8GH should be sweet spot. It translates to
slowing down the CPU by 10-12%.
x2 3800 reduced by 10-20% will be still signifficantly more powerful tnan one ply 3200.When the cold weather arrives I will start playing to find the best ratio. Also, I will try to find X2 4800 to see how it will perform.
This is uncharted territory, and I would appreciate any information I can get. Also, I will share my findings.
***I have read somewhere that clock of 2MHz and over is causing a lot of EMI noise, and 1.8GH should be sweet spot.***I assume you meant 2GHz (not MHz) and yes I did read this also. I have an Intel 3.2GHz processor and have experimented with speed reduction. I can't change the multiplier with my BIOS, but I can change the clock refquency (FSB). I reduced it from 200MHz to 166 and also 100 (which changes the CPU speed to 2.6GHz and 1.6) I run foobar with SRC (at 24/96) and 1.6 was too slow to play without stuttering. When reducing the clock to 166MHz I can also change the timings of my memory. The SPD of my memory (DDR400) applies latency timings of 2.5-3-3-8 (when run at 200MHz), but when lowered to 166 I can change the timings to 2-2-2-6. I think this makes a difference in sound quality also.
Not many people believe these things affect sound quality, and I'm not sure yet myself. But I'm trying to keep an open mind and don't mind experimenting.
Presto once asked the question; "If all this emi is such a big deal, why doesn't it affect video?"Any ideas as to why sound would be impacted and not video too?
***Presto once asked the question; "If all this emi is such a big deal, why doesn't it affect video?"
Any ideas as to why sound would be impacted and not video too?***Dawnrazor -
I'm afraid that's way beyond the scope of my technological knowledge, so I'll have to defer to someone with more expertise. I'm just an enthusiast who's experimenting. But allow me to speculate if you will.The sound differences I've experienced so far are like comparing music with a SNR of 80db to music with 90db SNR. (I didn't actually make any measurements, I'm just throwing out numbers for the sake of example) I just assumed EMI was at work here, and I was just able to lower the noise floor. And of course, this is just based on my system. Someone with completely different computer parts may hear no difference whatsoever.
And who says it doesn't affect video. I mean assuming, of course, we are talking about the SNR. Of course SNR affects video. I had to call the cable guy one time because my video signal was all jumbled up. He checked the SNR and it was down to 26db. There was a problem with the transformer down the street and he said I was getting electrical interference and, after he fixed it, the SNR was back to a normal 34db with an acceptable picture. I have no idea how all this works or if it has any correlation to what you are asking, but maybe we just assume EMI is not affecting video playback on our computers because the SNR is high enough for us to not notice a difference. Maybe we are more sensitive to hearing these kinds of differences.
But truly, maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about and this is all pure speculation.
It would sure be nice to get a definitive and measurable response about what exactly does affect the sound when playing from a computer. I mean first we are presented with over a dozen different ASIO foobar plugins (all of which sound different than the last) and now have you read what LessLoss is saying:
Ed,YOu raise some interesting points here and so does the article.
I don't doubt for a minute that many of this stuff IS audible, especially different settings with in the computer.
Maybe the video is affected, but if it is no one ever notices it or talks about it, and it since my soundcard sound great hanging out in all this emi and powersupply hash, it makes me wonder if it is as big an issue as everyone claims, or if there are ways to effectively treat it.
From the sounds of it, I am glad I am not messing around with an external dac and usb.
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