Working With Windows 7

[Deleted]

Hi Shaun,
If your are using a Xonar DS I'd recommend you the Unixonar 1.31 drivers installed in C-Media Audio Panel mode.
They are explained here:
brainbit.wordpress.com/category/uni-xonar/
and you can download them here:
dl.dropbox.com/u/3137029/UNi%20Xonar%201793%20v1.31.exe
I'm using them with my D2X card and they provide great performance and support all bit/sample rates from 16/44 up to 24/192 including 88.2 and 176.4 modes. They are ASIO compliant and lets you easily disable all "enhacement" cr*p so music reaches the DACs as untouched as possible.

If you want to try them, first unistall your current drivers and reboot before doing so, you'll reduce the risk of finding annoying issues.

As to WASAPI Vs ASIO, they are basically the same thing and achieve very similar, if not the same, results. WASAPI is just Microsoft's answer to ASIO (3rd party).
ATB,
Javier

[Deleted]

Hi Javier

yes disabling the unwanted stuff sounds good to me

so I've downloaded and installed the unidriver. all working just fine and dandy thanks for that info.

when i installed the DS drivers supplied by Asus it they locked up my PC and i ended up going to their web site for a fix. the sound card is great (I'm using the SPDIF header OP only) but the software from what i read leaves much to be desired. it's a shame because I've been very happy with the performance side of things.

Just one question (dumb) i noticed a download for Xonar FP for CMI panel 3.7 but it's not to clear from my low level of understanding what it actually does.

a prod in the right direction would be great. i downloaded it because it was said to be needed for Windows 7.

thanks for the help and advice it's been pretty interesting and good fun.

I'm pretty amazed at the SQ i;m getting from my Music PC (Wilbur) it's just great.

thanks again

take care

[Deleted]

Hi Shaun,
not been on this thread for a bit your asking all the good questions and getting great answers so when I get time I'll sniff around some of what your getting up to for myself.
Alan

[Deleted]

Apr 12, 2011 22:19:10 GMT drymdrum said:

Hi Shaun,
not been on this thread for a bit your asking all the good questions and getting great answers so when I get time I'll sniff around some of what your getting up to for myself.
Alan

Hi Alan

I've had great fun tweaking up the music PC and been surprised by the SQ I've been getting from it.

yes the ASIO, Unidriver stuff is well worth trying and good sounding in my set up. from memory you have the Xonar DS so it should work as well for you also.

i must say that the DS is a great sound card. But with Asus making so many variations it's easy to buy the wrong one. i nearly did but noticed that the one i was thinking of had no SPDIF header so i pulled out just in time.

if you do try the above let us know how you get on.

i know the guys here have really helped to lift the performance of my PC.

Thanks

take care

[Deleted]

Hi All

after a longer listening session with ASIO in Foobar i notice a small intermittent tick in the sound.

i spent some time re listening to confirm that the tic was random and found that it was. so i had a play around with foobar and tried pushing the buffer time up but it made no difference. i also noticed that changing tracks made the sound a little unstable.

so i thought that I'd give WASAPI a go just to see what happened and found the following.

1) no more tics
2) seems much more stable to me with no odd effects when changing tracks or selecting new music files.
3)i could squeeze the buffer back to the 50ms minimum with no stability issues which was nice.

SQ wise I've found WASAPI slightly better and more stable with my PC but it could be that I've not set up ASIO correctly.

I'm new to all of this PC music thang and maybe I've not set ASIO up correctly.

any tips on setting up ASIO would be great.

take care

[Deleted]

HI Shaun,
I really can't help you with the "tic".............just thought I'd mention that when I was reading up about Foobar and Asio a while back the "tic" was discussed, so it seems to be a known problem. Now that's not much help...is it?........particularly as I'd need to trawl back through my browser history which no longer exists.....dumped Google Chrome yesterday and the history with it. Sometimes when I made a download with Chrome the disk file structure was corrupted. Recently it's got worse and W7 wants to run Chkdisk constantly....just hope its not the HDD going down the swanney. Looks like I'll have to reinstall W7 to get back a stable computer......I'm not sure but it might have been Fidelizer mucked it up seemd to get worse after that download. I've a spare 60gb HDD I pulled from a junked computer so it's going in and I'll reinstall W7 to it and keep the other for the ooodles of crap files I've collected over the years but can't bear to throw away.
Alan

[Spirit]

Apr 14, 2011 14:40:00 GMT drymdrum said:

Sometimes when I made a download with Chrome the disk file structure was corrupted. Recently it's got worse and W7 wants to run Chkdisk constantly....just hope its not the HDD going down the swanney. Looks like I'll have to reinstall W7 to get back a stable computer......I'm not sure but it might have been Fidelizer mucked it up seemd to get worse after that download.

Sounds like the drive is on the way out, your RAM is on the way out, or a driver is messed up...
I'd be running a memtest, a check with seatools or data lifeguard diagnostic support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=114&sid=3&lang=en assuming you're running a seagate or WD hard drive.

Then try a reinstall

[Deleted]

Apr 14, 2011 14:40:00 GMT drymdrum said:

HI Shaun,
I really can't help you with the "tic".............just thought I'd mention that when I was reading up about Foobar and Asio a while back the "tic" was discussed, so it seems to be a known problem. Now that's not much help...is it?........particularly as I'd need to trawl back through my browser history which no longer exists.....dumped Google Chrome yesterday and the history with it. Sometimes when I made a download with Chrome the disk file structure was corrupted. Recently it's got worse and W7 wants to run Chkdisk constantly....just hope its not the HDD going down the swanney. Looks like I'll have to reinstall W7 to get back a stable computer......I'm not sure but it might have been Fidelizer mucked it up seemd to get worse after that download. I've a spare 60gb HDD I pulled from a junked computer so it's going in and I'll reinstall W7 to it and keep the other for the ooodles of crap files I've collected over the years but can't bear to throw away.
Alan

Hi Alan

thanks for the tick info i thought that i was hearing things.

anyhow it's sorted now that I'm using WASAPI which seems every bit as good as ASIO but much more stable and runs at a lower buffer setting.

I've also tried running EAC in 7 but it just caused the system to freeze up so that's off the menu until i can look around for a fix.

fidelizer is running fine this end so it could well be something else causing you problems. my set up is pretty new so maybe less to trip W7 up with.

anyway i hope you get the problem sorted OK.

take care

[Deleted]

I've also tried running EAC in 7 but it just caused the system to freeze up so that's off the menu until i can look around for a fix.

Hi Shaun
I use EAC V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4 May 2009 without any problems in W7/32
Alex

[Deleted]

Apr 14, 2011 22:26:40 GMT @sandyk said:

I've also tried running EAC in 7 but it just caused the system to freeze up so that's off the menu until i can look around for a fix.

Hi Shaun
I use EAC V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4 May 2009 without any problems in W7/32
Alex

Hi Alex

thanks for the info, i'll look it up and give it a go.

take care

[Deleted]

Hi Phil,
thanks for the input..............not really what I wanted to hear but I was thinking along those lines anyway.....all tests turned up no problems till I booted into safe mode and tried a repair. Well that made it worse and repair said, "unable to repair".......well thank you MS very helpful.
However log noted one error.....MBR corrupt..........so I'm now trying a clean install on same drive hoping it will all go away. Lucky I held onto XP as a back up. I pulled this 160g drive uot of a BT Vision box, brand new......pity if it's junk.
Now W7 installer wants a driver for the ATA controller...... Iv'e shoved it right up it's nose and it still don't see it.......how did I install it the first time?
Hey you don't want to hear any more of this.
Alan

[Deleted]

Hi Shaun,
I'm glad to see you'r getting plenty out of this thread....more power to your MuPC.
EAC I've used quite a bit without any probs......mmmm......what's running around in my backyard right now..............Nah! don't think my probs are related.
Alan

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2011 14:05:44 GMT drymdrum said:

Hi Phil,
thanks for the input..............not really what I wanted to hear but I was thinking along those lines anyway.....all tests turned up no problems till I booted into safe mode and tried a repair. Well that made it worse and repair said, "unable to repair".......well thank you MS very helpful.
However log noted one error.....MBR corrupt..........so I'm now trying a clean install on same drive hoping it will all go away. Lucky I held onto XP as a back up. I pulled this 160g drive uot of a BT Vision box, brand new......pity if it's junk.
Now W7 installer wants a driver for the ATA controller...... Iv'e shoved it right up it's nose and it still don't see it.......how did I install it the first time?
Hey you don't want to hear any more of this.
Alan

Hi Alan

sorry to hear about your PC problems but I'm a bit new to this PC lark so unfortunately not going to be much help.

I've had plenty of similar experiences though and know only to well how frustrating it can be.

when in doubt i usually go for the format and re install.

we need some international rescue here so hopefully some of the more experienced RG's will chip in and help you sort things out.

stick with it Alan it'll come good.

take care

[Deleted]

Disk file system corruption is quite frecuent and usually doesn't imply hardware problems. Can be caused by a number of reasons from power spikes or hikes to faulty RAM memory chips.
Instead of attempting repair I'd recommend, if possible, taking the disk out of the computer and repair it on a second computer running "chkdsk letterofdisk: /R" either from the "run" entry in the start menu (has to be enabled previously as is not there by default) or from start->all programs->accesories->command prompt. If it is not possible, at the end of the failed repair process there is an "Advanced Options" button that if clicked brigns up a menu from where you can access the command prompt and run the same command.

If the disk becomes corrupt a second or even a third time within a shor period of time, say 1 month, then hardware is possibly at fault and should be replaced ASAP because a total failure might be comming our way an all data will be forever lost. There are free Disk clonning in ISO format which can be burned to a bootable CD.

[Deleted]

Hi Javier,
thanks for your input, this is a good running computer under XP which is what I'm online with just now.
My problem was with Windows 7 which I managed to install on this comp on a HD which I think is actually a SCUZZY drive...........I've got to take it out and look at it........the first install of W7 broke a little while ago..........when I tried to reinstall W7 it wont...period.....so I'm working away on XP till I suss out what to do.
The mother board bios is dated 2002 and that's the last version...so no flashing the bios.
Alan
PS W7 copy is genuine

[Deleted]

Alan,

By SCUZZY do you mean SCSI? my english is not that good...

Sometimes I've run into problems trying to install W7 or W2K8 into very old machines (and in my book 2002 is not old but ancient) because there are no native drivers for some devices and trying to force XP drivers, although doable, is not always the best idea.

BTW, I don't think is your case but "upgrading" form one OS to another inplace can also be a source of problems. I always make clean installs.

[Deleted]

Hey man your English is first class and I should have said SCSI..............pronounced "SCUZZY"
Yep 2002 is ancient and I'm seriously considering pulling the plug on it...............but that costs and SWMBO is always looking over my shoulder. Shaun suggested pulling the fuse on it but it has a good motherboard even if I haven't found a bios upgrade yet....doubt if I will. It's running a 3.6ghz intel P4 on the E7205 chipset with AGP8X and Dual Channel DDR 2gb and SATA capability.
I've been attempting clean installs not over XP. I have XP on C drive and was dual booting between XP and W7 on clean separate drive this worked for the last three months but I can't remember how I actually got it to install. An age related thing.....just me and my old computer.
Javier I appreciate your interest and input and I'll keep on banging away at it for a bit yet. Meanwhile XP is running fine.
Thanks
Alan

[FauDrei]

Mar 30, 2011 7:10:06 GMT @javier said:

I would recommend anyone using USB devices, specially DACs, to install W7's SP1, it includes new USB dlls' and sys files that reduce latency quite dramatically...

Second that. 7 SP1 "audibly" improved PC latencies/response. Before that you had to do some pretty hardcore stuff to get similar audio output. Highly recommended, especially if you are on 7x64.

This Fidelizer is also nice - I can finally stop tweaking my "audioOn" and "audioOff" scripts... Thanks

[Deleted]

This Fidelizer is also nice - I can finally stop tweaking my "audioOn" and "audioOff" scripts... Thanks

Hi Faudrei

yes the Fidelizer was a really good tip and I'm still using it to set up my PC before a music session.

TOP tip Javier

i have gone back to WASAPI though as i found that ASIO click just toooo annoying. WASAPI seems more stable in my set up.

take care

[Deleted]

Version 1.5 of Fidelizer is available with even more extreme options:

www.windowsxlive.net/forums/index.php?topic=154.0

[Deleted]

New version 1.6:
www.windowsxlive.net/download/fidelizer.zip


Changelog

Version 1.6
-Added realtime priority booster for Windows Audio in Windows XP to compensate missing features
-Improved priority optimizations since Audiophile level
-Changed run level to require Administrator rights on execution
-Removed autorun features as some users finding it confusing to handle

Version 1.5
-Features in State-of-art are merged into Audiophile
-Fixed saving configuration to save all options
-Improved system process optimizations stability
-Improved Windows XP and 64-bit compatibilities
-Restored stopping services feature in Extremist level

Version 1.4
-Improved multi-level service priorities optimization for better system stability and more natural sounding harmonics

Version 1.3
-Changed optimization group options to optimization level selection for better use and understanding
-Improved processor resource scheduler's customization capabilities
-Removed all features that might cause system problems such as stopping services and processor core resource assignment
-Updated system thread priorities optimization with multi-level service priorities optimization

Version 1.2
-Added Keep services for themes running without Aero option
-Extended thread priority optimization to other system processes improving audio thread performance
-Introduced processer core resource assignment for multi-core system

Version 1.1
-Added autorun support (can be disabled by running program again without autorun)
-Added believable selectable features instead of advertising features comment

[Deleted]

New Fidelizer version 2.0:

Version 2.0 Changelog:

-Added processor core resource assignment for multi-core optimizations
-Fixed process priority optimizations so that new process like audiophile player won't start with lowest priority
-Redesigned UI with selectable features list controlled by optimization level

Download: www.windowsxlive.net/download/fidelizer.zip

[jeffc]

Hey I've just been listening to some .wav files using my Win XP i5 Dell laptop via USB to my NFB-12 DAC HA using cPlay/ASIO4ALL/kmixer bypassed and Fidelizer set on the Audiophile setting .......... what a find ...... sounds great .

You just don't want to attempt doing too much web surfing etc the same time as its running to avoid some very wierd sound glitches from occurring.

Any other techno laggards out there who haven't tried Fidelizer yet, give it a go... it might just bring a smile from ear to ear like I've got right now.

cheers.. jeffc

[Deleted]

Jeff, Mick and I are having the same problem with the latest version (2.0). The moment you do anything like openeing a tab in the browser there is a click/pop and this is with both internal and external cards.

For me it happens when used in the most aggresive setting. Haven't tried any lighter mode yet as in V 1.6 I had no problems stopping everything save the networking stuff. I'll do some testing easying a little and see what happens but if it doesn't get any better I'll just go back to 1.6 until this one gest fixed.

I always keep working versions of software and do not delete them untill newer ones proove to be stable and have no bugs, so If you have deleted the previous version and want it I can send it to you by email.

[jeffc]

Hi Javier,

I only tried the 'Audiophile level' setting, not the more extreme 'Extremist level' setting of Fidelizer V2.0.

Even with an i5 processor, at one point music went into stutter for a few secs and my laptop system performance ground to a halt with internet browser being used as well as me playing with Word and .pdf file editing/viewing. In the end I got frustrated and did a restart.

So Fidelizer V2.0 is great for improving fidelity but its not very friendly if you need to be doing other stuff at the same time. Can you send me version 1.6 to try? PM sent.

cheers.. jeffc