[WindowsX]

Thank you for sharing your appreciation with us. Things like this happened to me too during the development. When I find a better way to improve computer audio performance with Fidelizer or my own music server, I keep listening to it again and again, sometimes I listened to music all night long on YouTube rediscovering the music I once heard from past.
 
I'll continue to improve Fidelizer for better sound quality with better user experience in future. Happy listening.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Guidostrunk]

Okay, so I'm glad @Guidostrunk brought up Fidelizer again! I'd tried it some time ago and perhaps a bit early in my headphone audiophile upgrade journey.  I found no difference with the free version before with the HD800 powered out of a Lyr with a Bifrost. So I cast it aside and meh.

I gave it a whirl again and thought WOW. My modified XDA-2 can OBVIOUSLY benefit from a better transport, especially from SPDIF optical I'm using. So my money was instantly separated from me for the pro version.  WindowsX had a link up for me next day. Now, I have to point out a couple things.

• I'm a pirate at heart. I generally just don't afford software. 
• The CAN to US conversion rate SUCKS right now. I paid almost 1.5x.
• Its worth it.

I haven't been able to grab a couple minutes to sit in a quiet room and just listen to see if the pro version was worth it.  When I finally found 5 minutes, they stretched to 10.... 15... 20. Oh my. I quickly jumped through the 'golden oldies' of my collection. Apparently I've never heard them before. There's nuance and detail creeping out everywhere.

I love electronica. I love well recorded electronica even better. Mostly because its possible seemingly skip the mastering process and basically plug your headphones into the performers synth. Bluetech is a particular favorite of mine. I randomly hit  Bluetech's - Leaving Babylon from the Prima Materia album. I was shocked. I found the primary riff that kicks in at 0:38 has a different halophonic character and texture on every beat. I've heard it how many times? Never noticed that.  I also can't hear that particular detail on other systems now. So its not just being pointed out and directing your notice to a particular nuance. The nuance is entirely missing from other systems.

So turning your PC into a better transport is simply a good idea. Apparently its terrible in its raw configuration. I suspected it was bad, but not this bad. I'm looking forward to rediscovering my entire collection.

In addition, I think you get this 'de-crappifying' quantity on expensive DACs like the yggdrasil as a major selling feature. But if you can improve your existing transport (PC) and get improved performance by manipulating the software - go for it. It was worth the money on my system for certain.

 

[Giogio]

@WindowsX, why asio and jplay? I had understood that one can use Fidelizer with any player.
What about Foobar with Wasapi?
 
Btw, I have installed the latest free version. Did you change the way it worked? I remember that in the previous version (of some months ago) I had to select the Player I wanted to fidelize.
Now this is gone? How does Fidelizer know which player I use?

 

[WindowsX]

@Giogio I recommended ASIO Bridge with ASIO4ALL or JPLAY for bit-perfect solutions on Tidal and other software that doesn't have bit-perfect output. This is optional suggestion.
 
I didn't change anything related to launching music player software. Maybe you chose Workstation optimization level so it didn't show up?
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Giogio]

I didn't change anything related to launching music player software. Maybe you chose Workstation optimization level so it didn't show up?  
Regards,
Windows X

I have used the Networking.
Previously with the older version I had used Audiophile setting.

 

[NightFlight]

I've noticed you have to reboot to successfully get Fidelizer to launch Foobar. Is that expected? In that I mean if I'm using the audiophile setting and I click 'Fidelize' it goes through the motions, but Foobar doesn't ever come up. A fresh reboot will launch it, but not after you've closed Foobar in the same session.

 

[Giogio]

  I've noticed you have to reboot to successfully get Fidelizer to launch Foobar. Is that expected? In that I mean if I'm using the audiophile setting and I click 'Fidelize' it goes through the motions, but Foobar doesn't ever come up. A fresh reboot will launch it, but not after you've closed Foobar in the same session.

Did you check on start task manager to see if foobar is still there after you have closed it?
I've had the same exact problem yesterday after installing Fidelizer.
The first time Foobar started normally, but then when I have closed it it would not start anymore.
I've checked the processes and saw that it was still running and that each time I have tried to start it a new foobar process was added!
This never happened before.
But it did happen again today without Fidelizer, so I hope that Fidelizer did not mess with my System.
Anyway, now is all again normal, apparently.
 
You may want to check is by having no plugins active you still have this problem.
It could be a conflict between a plugin and Fidelizer.

 

[WindowsX]

Fidelizer will remember the first selection so next time it won't prompt for the same thing over and over as some customers requested. If you want to change music player application, please uncheck launch app option and check it again to clear the selection.
 
As for foobar issues, it's working fine here. All it does was running foobar from Administrator account with higher priority. It could be plugins or configuration incompatibility at work.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Giogio]

  Fidelizer will remember the first selection so next time it won't prompt for the same thing over and over as some customers requested.

Are you talking of the paid version only?
In the free version it does ask about which player I want to use. Each time.
It does indeed remember the location, and it opens that locations immediately, but it does not launch the player unless I select the exe of the player.
 
I would like to know what is to be intended as "networking streaming".
What do you call network, a connection of several computers at home or at office? Like, streaming things from other computers in the network?
Or do you mean using internet?
And, what about if I am working with internet and I do not want my internet and firefox to be too slow, but I am listening to music with Foobar? In this case is Network Streaming or Workstation the best option?
 
What about "User Experience"? I am not familiar with this term. What does it do and why would I want to keep it active during Extremist mode?
 
One last thought: every time I launch Fidelizer I am asked if I want to share with Friends on Facebook.
This is annoying, also because I do not have facebook nor twitter not any social bla bla.
And, every time I launch Fidelizer the browser opens to bring me to your page. I do not see why. Besides, in extremist mode too, where I clearly have turned off my wifi, firewall, antivirus and all what I need for internet. It does not make sense to me
 
Thanks

 

[WindowsX]

Yes. Only paid version will remember previous selection so customers can run Fidelizer Plus/Pro without selecting the same media player software again and again.
 
"Networking streaming" is Audiophile optimization level with options to favor the core optimizations for streaming media like NAS/YouTube/Tidal/etc. It's tricky to provide efficient options with current design so I'll leave it at that for now.
 
"User Experience" will keep some services like Themes/HID/Tablet services to maintain HTPC functions and usability in Extremist optimization level. Pro version will choose to maintain services according to Machine Configuration though.
 
As for your last but not least, there's one feature stated in Fidelizer Plus like this.
 
"No more opening Fidelizer website after optimizations"
 
The reason I added opening webpage back then was to protect my property from being integrated into commercial products secretly. Sharing notification will be there until you click Yes at least once and you'll be redirected to Facebook sharing page. You don't really have to share it if you're unwilling to but sharing is caring.
 
You can consider upgrading for better performance with nag-free experience. I can assure you with good support and maintenance of Fidelizer products.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Giogio]

Originally Posted by WindowsX /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Sharing notification will be there until you click Yes at least once and you'll be redirected to Facebook sharing page. You don't really have to share it if you're unwilling to but sharing is caring.

It's not that I do not care, it's that I do not use any social media. Including the most horrible of them all, Facebook.

 

[WindowsX]

  It's not that I do not care, it's that I do not use any social media. Including the most horrible of them all, Facebook.

 
I understand I meant to convey the message in general public view.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Giogio]

WindowsX, would it make any sense having a partition with a second installation of Win (in my case it is 7x64) to use it only for Foobar and Fidelizer, deinstalling and deactivating all possible Windows Services which are not needed for music? Or does anyway Fidelizer in Extremist mode stop all useless things?

And, does the paid version offer the possibility to exclude some files so that they will not be de-prioritized?
The free version put all the services of CSR Harmony (my Bluetooth stack) in low priority.

 

[Alec246]

Wow the difference is amazing!! I admit I didn't believe this software doing only Windows Optimizations could improve audio so much when Foobar2000 is already doing a great job, but the clarity, the soundstage, everything is clearly improved after using Fidelizer. I was only believing I could get this kind of SQ improvement spending a lot of money with a new DAC, but I'm happy to report that's not true.
 
It's a shame dollar in Brazil is over 4 now, so it makes anything over 10-15 dollars so much more expensive, so I have to keep on using the free version, but I recommend everyone to buy it!!

 

[WindowsX]

@WindowsX, would it make any sense having a partition with a second installation of Win (in my case it is 7x64) to use it only for Foobar and Fidelizer, deinstalling and deactivating all possible Windows Services which are not needed for music? Or does anyway Fidelizer in Extremist mode stop all useless things?

And, does the paid version offer the possibility to exclude some files so that they will not be de-prioritized?
The free version put all the services of CSR Harmony (my Bluetooth stack) in low priority.

 
It makes logical sense to separate Working OS and Audiophile OS as installing more software may leave more footprints as startup services. Paid version doesn't offer possibility to exclude some processes yet but there should be no problem in running any software after optimizations. It only affect currently running software on startup. You can use Process Lasso to manage certain processes to solve this problem too.
 

  Wow the difference is amazing!! I admit I didn't believe this software doing only Windows Optimizations could improve audio so much when Foobar2000 is already doing a great job, but the clarity, the soundstage, everything is clearly improved after using Fidelizer. I was only believing I could get this kind of SQ improvement spending a lot of money with a new DAC, but I'm happy to report that's not true.
 
It's a shame dollar in Brazil is over 4 now, so it makes anything over 10-15 dollars so much more expensive, so I have to keep on using the free version, but I recommend everyone to buy it!!

 
I'm glad to hear Fidelizer is helping your music enjoyment for the better. Currency exchange is changing rapidly. I too suffered some damage from this problem. I hope the rates will improve over there soon.
 
Regards,
Windows X