coxhaus

I think stereo subs are the way to go running off the amps. Maybe start with one and then later add another. I run the speakers full with the subs just helping in the bottom end. I am using the standard REL cables not the class D ones. I wonder what the difference would be. I use a neutrik balanced connection with one red wire on one terminal and one yellow wire on the other terminal for each sub. The black wire is disconnected.

I would figure out what settings you like best in AO. The default setting may have been changed between versions which would give a different sound characteristic. You can change the settings yourself by going into advanced mode. I like 1D but in some system this may be too much top and bass. I think the latest version 1.26b1 not 1.25.

Sounds like you guys are still on the first time ripping. After a few years the software changes and so does the hardware and technique. I have decided this time to just rip as I go as I now feel it is a never ending task.

Yes it is an internal drive. I set my system up with only one drive as I don’t want the noise from 2 drives. So my thinking is drives of 2 TB or more are not as full sounding as the lower density drives. So I guess this means find and use multiple platter drives which are less than 1 TB. The new drives which have fewer platters but still use the high density will have the same problem. I guess this could be system dependent but in my system it is true. It would be interesting if someone else could test this and they reached the same conclusion. Find an old multiple platter Seagate drive and compare it to one of the newer drives. The old Seagate drives just have a much fuller sound with more bass.

Yes I am running the same version on both 1.26b. I have another high density hard drive 2 TB different brand and it does not sound good either but I have not tried Server 2012. I have had this same thing happen under Windows 7 but it was early on before I felt like I had a handle on this. If someone can confirm all the Server 2012 basically sound the same then I will have my answer.

Has anybody run Server 2012 against Server 2012 Essentials R2? I have Server 2012 not R2 loaded on an older Seagate Barracuda multiple platters 1 TB drive. I also have Server 2012 Essentials R2 loaded on a new Seagate Barracuda multiple platters 3TB drive. I using JRiver 19 latest with kernel streaming, 25 buffers set on both. The only thing loaded on the machine is my AMR 777 DAC 1.61 driver and Phil’s AO. The AO settings are 1D and everything else is turned off except kernel streaming and I use optimizer USB including networking turned off. I can play one hard drive and unplug and play the other hard drive and they don’t sound the same. The newer hard drive sounds much thinner. The difference is so great you hear it right way. My thinking is the higher densities drives don’t sound as good. The other only difference is the OS so that is why I am asking the question.

It did not show up the first time around. I ran G which was something about Essentials fix. Then sometime after that it was an option. The weird thing is when I ran AO the second time rather than offering advanced mode it stated there were not changes which I have never seen before. I am sure it was operator error.

I am wondering if it is the higher densities or compression which does not sound as good. I guess I will know in couple of days whether I will use this drive.

I muddled my way through it. I got it working. Somehow I got it out of sync. So the SOTM USB card works in core mode with Server 2012 R2 Essentials.

You know I may not have run it enough for full break in as I don’t hear all the differences you hear. The differences to me are mainly what I described above. Right now the quality of sound is about the same to me. I do condition my power and everything is power isolated so maybe polarity does not have as big of impact to my system. Maybe with more time I will believe as you do. Right now I am breaking in a new bigger hard drive and it is not sounding as good as my old one. I guess hard drives require break-in time.

I upgraded my hard drive to a 3 TB Seagate drive. I decided to try Server 2012 Essentials R2 to see how it sounded. I am running in core mode with a SOTM USB card but I am not able to select kernel streaming in JRiver 19 latest. So I selected ASIO to use until my question is answered. I tried running AO again and it said there were no changes made. I am running the latest 1.26b. What did I do wrong? Any ideas?

What do you power with this unit? USB, hard drive, motherboard?

I am sorry you guys did not hear a difference with AO. There is quite a difference in my system between running AO and not. It does shutdown a lot of stuff. I would not want to use the box as a real server after running AO but for a music server it is the best I have heard. What did you friend get annoyed with? I have not seen any problems. What streaming did you use? Did you run in core mode?

Hey Liam, I can’t test anything now as I am changing out my hard drive for a bigger drive to hold more high res material. I will give it a go later. I listened to both for a while and of the music I played I think I liked inverted polarity for most part. One exception was Chet Baker and his horn sounded better to me in the original mode. I guess that little bit of forwardness just makes the horn sound more real, any way to me. I am going to continue to test both after I get going again. lee PS Is there a tool for Windows Server 2012 to check polarity as that is what I run?

Interesting you like Windows 8.1 best as I have not tried it. Are you running Windows 8.1 as a native OS for the way you like it best? What streaming do you like best with 8.1?