Foobar2000 Dolby Headphone config - Comment & discuss! - Page 36

I LOVE your settings. Transformed my system.  I just added FIDELIZER to it today and it has bumped it up another clear notch. Highly recommended guys, it's free and runs in the background.

Quote:

Originally Posted by customNuts 

I LOVE your settings. Transformed my system.  I just added FIDELIZER to it today and it has bumped it up another clear notch. Highly recommended guys, it's free and runs in the background.

Which setting do you leave it on? Also do you have to run it every time after you have turned on your PC?

I use the middle setting "audiophile'. The highest setting "extreme" (i think) sounds amazing, but I can't use the net and the computer is really slow. You can switch between them fairly easily though so if you want to just put some music on, whack it into the extreme setting. 

Yes, if you reboot, then you need to run fidelizer again. Its super easy though and pretty quick- extreme takes a bit longer as it is shutting down basically anything that affects sound quality.

After I reboot, I run the audiophile mode then forget it. Very quick and easy.

I wanted to use JPLAY with foobar but you can't use rpgwizard dolby settings at the same time. So if JPLAY is in use when playing lossless, the dolby settings are not functional.

The great thing about fidelizer is you can use it with everything. It runs in windows, not in the specific players like foobar. 

Here's the link:

http://www.windowsxlive.net/fidelizer/

If other processes or Windows services negatively impact your sound quality you should scan your computer for viruses, upgrade drivers or broken hardware.

As the author has recognized, messing with services and system process priorities can make the whole system unstable, cause unexpected problems ...

I think you're better off checking the DPC latency of your system and fixing it to avoid glitches or drop-outs. Other than that there shouldn't be any problems. If there were, then pro audio interface manufacturers would recommend this or a similar tool, which they don't.

Also, I have not seen any measurements indicating an improvement of sound quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnor 

If other processes or Windows services negatively impact your sound quality you should scan your computer for viruses, upgrade drivers or broken hardware.

 

As the author has recognized, messing with services and system process priorities can make the whole system unstable, cause unexpected problems ...

 

I think you're better off checking the DPC latency of your system and fixing it to avoid glitches or drop-outs. Other than that there shouldn't be any problems. If there were, then pro audio interface manufacturers would recommend this or a similar tool, which they don't.

Also, I have not seen any measurements indicating an improvement of sound quality.

Precisely.

There won't be any improvements to audio by using a service tweaking software. As long as a system doesn't have too high latency (some latency is manageable and doesn't introduce any audio issues for playback purposes), audio playback will work just as fine.

I certainly trust my ears over someones opinion who hasn't even tried it or bases SQ on measurements. The differences are quite obvious.

All Fidelizer does is shut down processes that affect sound quality, a similar concept to hibernate mode in JPLAY.  Not sure why that's so hard to understand or believe.

Windows' (or Mac OS for that matter) sole purpose is not based around optimal audiophile sound quality, hence the plethora of OS tweaks available. Companies like Mach2 base there business around this and have improved the sound of Mac OS significantly.

If you don't like, trust or believe it, then don't use it. Just sharing something that has worked for me and the many who have suggested it. I've only just started using it so I'll report if there are any glitches as I too  am still evaluating it.

Well yes actually there will be an improvement depending on what audio hardware you are using. That said you can more than likely achieve the same results by disabling your network connection and any AV software or other superfluous services while playing back audio.

  Anyone who has used M-Audio's products on a pc can probably give you boatloads of info on what to turn off to improve the output quality. Their drivers are the queen of all beaches to workaround.

 That said, it would be nice to have an auto optimizer, but I fear the myriad different possible pc configs are too much for any auto config type program to deal with.

On the main topic. I seem to be getting a better quality out of the ISoneSurround module than the Dolby Headphone config itself. Has one annoying issue in that it attenuates the right channel a little too much.

First of all, there are no measurable improvements based on using that software. Second, I have tested such app out of scientific curiosity (the last less stability damaging version, that is) and unlike what wishful thinking of users above indicate, audio doesn't improve one iota, at best what can happen is exactly the same that happens with aftermarket cables, namely less signal degradation, and for that to occur, both hardware and software must be utter chaos to begin with.

Bottomline is, before thinking of using one click optimizers, solve hardware issues and software instabilities, which will provide an optimal base for audio playback and/or recording.

Back on topic, RPGWiZaRD, I'm looking for improved libraries that might be of use for your configs and will let you know if I find something.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roller 

First of all, there are no measurable improvements based on using that software. Second, I have tested such app out of scientific curiosity (the last less stability damaging version, that is) and unlike what wishful thinking of users above indicate, audio doesn't improve one iota, at best what can happen is exactly the same that happens with aftermarket cables, namely less signal degradation, and for that to occur, both hardware and software must be utter chaos to begin with.

 

Bottomline is, before thinking of using one click optimizers, solve hardware issues and software instabilities, which will provide an optimal base for audio playback and/or recording.

 

Back on topic, RPGWiZaRD, I'm looking for improved libraries that might be of use for your configs and will let you know if I find something.

I also try this app just to find out my computer was very unstable, remove it right up and all is back to normal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

OK sorry guys, been quite busy and I also hate updating the config, it's such a boring task you wouldn't believe me. Anyway I updated foobar2000 to v1.1.18 as well as updated the forward config to use the latest config with sliiightly less reverb and finetuned EQ settings and tweaked channel mixer, now it should be quite same as stock foobar2000 in terms of reverb but still with the enhanced soundstage of this config, I'm often quite blown-away with this config I have to say, especially for jazz music.

 

The opening post has been updated or you can grab it below:

 

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Portable foobar2000 v1.1.18 "Forward" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.18.Dolby.Headphone.(Forward)-RPGWiZaRD.zip RECOMMENDED (Updated on 25.11.2012)

 

Portable foobar2000 v1.1.18 "Laid-back" configuration: foobar2000.v1.1.18.Dolby.Headphone.(Laid-back)-RPGWiZaRD.zip OUTDATED! (Updated on 25.11.2012)

 

Note: For best result I recommend changing to WASAPI (event) output manually in the foobar2000 File -> Preferences -> Playback -> Output afterwards, it's been set to Direct Sound by default for compatibility reasons. If you use WASAPI you'll need to match your output device setting with the same bitrate as set in foobar2000 and make sure the music files are using same sample rate (for example 44100 Hz) as set in the output device properties in windows control panel or else use a resampler in foobar2000.

My friend all I can say is that you are amazing on the this type of work, It brings life to my HD800, i notice you remove a lot of the DSP manager setting you had before in .16 version I love the new ones but i do got to say i miss the Base head lol it help my senns to bring abit more of the ump lol

any way thank you for your work and have nice holidays.