[oAmadeuso]

Based on this thread I decided to give Fidelizer a shot. I hadn't done a direct comparison with and without Fidelizer turned on until one day I hadn't bothered to launch Fidelizer and heard some troubling digital noise in a quiet passage of a song I know quite well. I run iTunes as I am fairly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, and was running my audio from my PC via coax cable to my Schiit Bifrost into my Asgard 2. In an effort to reduce the digital noise I enabled Fidelizer and played the track again. I was surprised to hear a noticeable difference immediately, and when it got to the quiet passage the digital noise had been reduced significantly. This made a believer of me and I determined to purchase a copy of the program as I have only been using the freeware version.


My issue, and question, is that I have been encountering some trouble lately when I launch Fidelizer as I will press play in iTunes and the transport won't move, regardless of what song I try to play. It's like it gets stuck at the beginning of the song without playing anything. As mentioned, I'd like to purchase the full version, but I'm hesitant to do so if I continue to encounter this issue as it makes the music unplayable. I can play music without issue if Fidelizer isn't enabled, but have to restart the computer if I run Fidelizer first and encounter the error. I can't seem to reproduce the issue dependably as on occasion it will play when Fidelizer is enabled, but more often than not it won't. I would appreciate any advice as I have found value in the product and would like to continue using it. As a side note, I also have the original Schiit Modi connected via usb that I will switch to depending on which speakers I am using, and switching audio devices does not solve the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Can I suggest you give Foobar a try rather than iTunes?

There's a good guide for optimum setup of foobar in the Fidelizer instructions.

 

[WindowsX]

Based on this thread I decided to give Fidelizer a shot. I hadn't done a direct comparison with and without Fidelizer turned on until one day I hadn't bothered to launch Fidelizer and heard some troubling digital noise in a quiet passage of a song I know quite well. I run iTunes as I am fairly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, and was running my audio from my PC via coax cable to my Schiit Bifrost into my Asgard 2. In an effort to reduce the digital noise I enabled Fidelizer and played the track again. I was surprised to hear a noticeable difference immediately, and when it got to the quiet passage the digital noise had been reduced significantly. This made a believer of me and I determined to purchase a copy of the program as I have only been using the freeware version.

My issue, and question, is that I have been encountering some trouble lately when I launch Fidelizer as I will press play in iTunes and the transport won't move, regardless of what song I try to play. It's like it gets stuck at the beginning of the song without playing anything. As mentioned, I'd like to purchase the full version, but I'm hesitant to do so if I continue to encounter this issue as it makes the music unplayable. I can play music without issue if Fidelizer isn't enabled, but have to restart the computer if I run Fidelizer first and encounter the error. I can't seem to reproduce the issue dependably as on occasion it will play when Fidelizer is enabled, but more often than not it won't. I would appreciate any advice as I have found value in the product and would like to continue using it. As a side note, I also have the original Schiit Modi connected via usb that I will switch to depending on which speakers I am using, and switching audio devices does not solve the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 
Thank you for your interests about upgrading Fidelizer software. Could you tell me how you configure Fidelizer? If it works before and one day it didn't, maybe some of Fidelizer configuration is incompatible USB audio driver. For starters, you can try using just Consumer level and see if this solves your problems.
 
If you're familiar with iTunes' user interface, you can try this software too. It looks similar to iTunes with bit-perfect output support. Using bit-perfect playback is highly recommended for good sound quality from computer audio.
 
http://vinylsoft.com/
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Autiomatic]

Can I suggest you give Foobar a try rather than iTunes?

There's a good guide for optimum setup of foobar in the Fidelizer instructions.

Thank you for your interests about upgrading Fidelizer software. Could you tell me how you configure Fidelizer? If it works before and one day it didn't, maybe some of Fidelizer configuration is incompatible USB audio driver. For starters, you can try using just Consumer level and see if this solves your problems.

If you're familiar with iTunes' user interface, you can try this software too. It looks similar to iTunes with bit-perfect output support. Using bit-perfect playback is highly recommended for good sound quality from computer audio.

http://vinylsoft.com/

Regards,
Windows X

Thank you both for your suggestions. I have considered switching media players, but at this point I am fairly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem as I have several AirPlay devices I stream to, as well as a subscription to iTunes Match.

As for my setup, I was initially running Fidelizer in Audiophile mode, but switched to Consumer when I was unable to get Audiophile to work any longer. It appeared to work at first but then I encountered that same problem again.

As for the USB driver, I used the driver Windows 10 installed for the 1st gen Modi, and use coax out of my motherboard to connect to my Bifrost. Perhaps I will unplug the Modi and see if that helps in case it is to do with the USB driver. Thanks for your help.

 

[WindowsX]

It's highly possible that added USB device may hog resources causing playback stability with low latency optimizations. You may either change USB ports to find better positions or uncheck Fidelizer's OS Timer option to resolve this case.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[captblaze]

  It's highly possible that added USB device may hog resources causing playback stability with low latency optimizations. You may either change USB ports to find better positions or uncheck Fidelizer's OS Timer option to resolve this case.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 
I can attest to that. I had an APC UPS connected and using the Powerchute software and it caused me all kinds of trouble. once I disabled and uninstalled that software Fidelizer performs in all modes with no issue

 

[Autiomatic]

It's highly possible that added USB device may hog resources causing playback stability with low latency optimizations. You may either change USB ports to find better positions or uncheck Fidelizer's OS Timer option to resolve this case.

Regards,
Windows X

It appears that the Modi was the issue as I have successfully launched in Audiophile mode on two separate occasions this weekend since disconnecting it. Thanks again for your help! I'm beginning to view Fidelizer as an integral part of my listening experience and look forward to upgrading soon. Cheers!

 

[WindowsX]

   
I can attest to that. I had an APC UPS connected and using the Powerchute software and it caused me all kinds of trouble. once I disabled and uninstalled that software Fidelizer performs in all modes with no issue

 
Sometimes power conditioning can cause unexpected issues with digital audio in some cases. I'm glad to know you've sorted out the issues.
 

It appears that the Modi was the issue as I have successfully launched in Audiophile mode on two separate occasions this weekend since disconnecting it. Thanks again for your help! I'm beginning to view Fidelizer as an integral part of my listening experience and look forward to upgrading soon. Cheers!

 
Glad to know that.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[Autiomatic]

To follow up with my previous posts, it's a week on and unfortunately I have encountered the same issue of the iTunes transport freezing resulting in no playback. This is now with the Schiit Modi USB DAC unplugged. I managed to "force" iTunes to play, as it will play via a connected AirPlay device. I have resorted to using the "Multiple" AirPlay option and streaming to an AirPlay device as well as the PCs onboard output, which then causes iTunes to play. If I select just the computer output after doing this it will again freeze, although it seems that eventually I can remove the AirPlay device and it will continue playing, though with sporadic digital noise. Not sure why I'm having this issue, and I much prefer when it plays without the workaround, but at least I figured that much out. I have since plugged the Modi back in and have found there to be no difference than what I've stated above.

 

[WindowsX]

iTunes relies on Bonjour service that run on startup. I suspect Fidelizer treating Bonjour service as non-audio so performance will be capped on Audiophile/Purist level. For now, you can use Process Lasso to keep those processes at normal priority with all cores. That should fix it for time being.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[WindowsX]

It's been a month since releasing version 7.1 to public. I received some reports related to AirPlay stability issues so I did some investigation and found AirPlay is relying on Bonjour service. So, I added its process into audio category to fix this problem and hopefully it'll work fine now.

Also, Roon 1.2 Update was released recently so I tested some new components and updated more Roon apps into audio category along with HQPlayer that is used by a few Roon users.

Changelog for version 7.2

Free
-Fixed iTunes AirPlay instability issue with Audiophile/Purist user level
-Improved HQPlayer and its network daemon compatibility
-Improved Roon compatibility with Roon 1.2 update

Plus
-Fixed iTunes AirPlay instability issue with Audiophile/Purist user level
-Improved HQPlayer and its network daemon compatibility
-Improved Roon compatibility with Roon 1.2 update

Pro
-Fixed iTunes AirPlay instability issue with Audiophile/Purist user level
-Improved HQPlayer and its network daemon compatibility
-Improved Roon compatibility with Roon 1.2 update

Download: Fidelizer 7.2
Upgrade: Fidelizer Upgrade Program

Fidelizer Plus/Pro users should be received a mail about update and download link by now. If you somehow didn’t receive an update notification as I received some delivery failure message too, please contact me for an update with your customer data to verify.

 

[WindowsX]

I've heard about Hysolid news for a while but I was too busy to test it until recently. After testing Hysolid software, I realized it runs as music server platform without frontend so it'll run on startup. As a result, Fidelizer will treat Hysolid processes as non-audio affecting audio performance. Now I've improved compatibility with Hysolid software.

I also improved hyper-threading mechanisms to detect actual FPU cores instead of physical processors. In some architecture like AMD FX that I'm using, it works like hyper-threading with two processor cores sharing the same FPU unit. This should improve audio and system performance better for Fidelizer Plus/Pro.

Changelog for version 7.3

Free
-Improved compatibility with Hysolid software

Plus
-Improved compatibility with Hysolid software
-Improved Hyper-Threading mechanism to check real FPU for better performance

Pro
-Improved compatibility with Hysolid software
-Improved Hyper-Threading mechanism to check real FPU for better performance

Download: Fidelizer 7.3
Upgrade: Fidelizer Upgrade Program

Fidelizer Plus/Pro users should be received a mail about update and download link by now. If you somehow didn’t receive an update notification as I received some delivery failure message too, please contact me for an update with your customer data to verify.

There's some news about changes in repository platform. I received news about MediaFire Desktop being shutdown soon so I can't maintain updating software like before. So I've merged repository with main website now. Due to certain limitations, I can't host past versions so please forgive me if you're troubled with this change.

 

[Duncan]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but - am tweaking away to squeeze the last ounce of sound out of my setup...

If I'm running Roon into HQPlayer, which is the better of those two programmes for Fidelizer to open?

Only just installed, but - instantly sounds promising, so - could well join the upgrade program

 

[WindowsX]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but - am tweaking away to squeeze the last ounce of sound out of my setup...

If I'm running Roon into HQPlayer, which is the better of those two programmes for Fidelizer to open?

Only just installed, but - instantly sounds promising, so - could well join the upgrade program

 
If you use Roon with HQPlayer, the recommended solution is to set RoonServer running Roon on startup and set Fidelizer to launch HQPlayer after optimizations. You can also place Roon shortcut on Windows Startup folder if you prefer not to use RoonServer.
 
Feel free to ask If you have any questions related to Fidelizer and Roon that I can help you with. I'll be checking this thread everyday and search through Roon community for further assistance.
 
I'm looking forward to see you soon with upgraded program. Among over 1400 licenses purchased, all I could see is satisfying customers so far.
 
Regards,
Windows X

 

[billerb1]

Version 7.3 Pro, Purist/Audio Player - like moving from the 5th row to the FRONT ROW !!!
Killer.

Thanks Windows X.

 

[magicalmouse]

Hi, i found the specific settings for foobar really helpful but i have had to change to using musicbee (as it has a balance control) - are there any specific settings for musicbee to maximise the sound?
 
thanks
 
david