Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Najmods

Headphone Equalization:

Najmods — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:17:06 +0800

I don't know if this thread has been made or not, but I stumble upon this thread at Head-Fi about headphone equalization. Read all about it here

I done it to my modded Sennheiser HD437 because I feel its a bit too upfront and sharp in sound, unpleasant for long listening, after tested with SineGen I found there are three spikes occur at 3300Hz (the worst), 4600Hz and 8000Hz where it all the sudden jumps in loudness and become too sharp, after I equalize this it sounded better for long listening, slightly laid back and not too sharp especially on modern tracks

Test them and give opinion/impression about it, its easy. If you run foobar get the Electri-Q and George Yhong's VST wrapper for Foobar. Everything is on the thread

Tire size and weight question

Najmods — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:14:08 +0800

I have a question regarding tire/wheel size and weight, I drive a non premium Viva 1.0 which have plastic cover 13" rims with 155/65 tires. AFAIR the premium Viva got bigger 14' with 165/55 tires, so is there any difference is ride comfort, cruising speed and handling difference? I know about how the rims weight can have a big effect on handling and speed (unsprung mass), is there any difference in weight between cover rims and sport rims on the Premium model? I would like technical answer as well

One more thing, my front tire has worn off badly due to my crazily high speed cornering but the rear wheel is as fine as day one. The stock tire is Continental Comfort Contact, I've checked there is other tire brand like Goodyear GT3, what tire is better for cornering (harder tire I suppose?)?

This bugs me long enough!

Najmods — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:15:43 +0800

Alright, here is the problem, my CPU usage is constantly at 50%, worse is, the process named 'System' eats all of that so I can't disable, end it or even set to lower priority since it was system process. I have done A LOT of things to remove this bugger but to no avail. Things that I've done:

1) Revert back to stock speed
2) Install Service Pack 3
3) Disable Antivirus (I use Avira Antivir)
4) Uninstall and reinstall .NET Framework, flash player, even Firefox
5) Disable nearly EVERYTHING on startup (you can see from pic below, only 28 processes despite I have 2 soundcard, X-Fi and SupremeFX II, and even Firefox is running)
6) Repair Windows installation
7) Remove soundcard, its driver and physically
8) Uninstall graphics driver, run on single card configuration
9) Use Process Explorer to check which one hogs the CPU, but it won't link to other than 'System', even TweakUI have nothing to reduce this

It keeps come and gone, randomly. One minute it was fine, the other minute it shoots up to 40-60%. I've done Googling, it seems that someone else also experience this but still, there are no answer. While I nearly finished typing this its zero again and when I open up Task Manager again, its 60%

Worse thing is, I don't know since when this happens

Before you comment, please note that reformat is NOT THE OPTION. I have too much stuff have been installed and config that I don't plan to lose. And please NO SPAMMING. I've seen lot of people here with half a brain acting smart, think before posting

Hhere are the screenshot:
[attachmentid=969745]

New cooler or new card?

Najmods — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:27:11 +0800

I have Albatron 9600GT right now, it suits me rather well, but there is two problem now:

1) the 2nd hand price is going down rapidly, so I quite worried about its value
2) on more modern games (like Crysis and UT2007) it does suffer a little when all the details are up

Plus the card gets a bit hot, idled about 50-53 and load 70-75. I know its standard temperature, but I like it to be a bit cooler, so I can overclock it, as this card have enormous overclocking capability. I can reach 760+/1900+MHz core/shader with 1100MHz (2200MHz) on memory, so I plan to buy new cooler for it. But there is 2nd option, selling this card and buy a HD4850. I don't demand high resolution, as long as it can play 1280x960 with all the eye candy enabled its fine

What do you think? Should I buy new 3rd party cooler or sell the card and buy HD4850? Thanks for any advice

Output coupling capacitor

Najmods — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:10:15 +0800

I been testing numerous amount of capacitor on my X-Fi, particularly on output coupling caps. Since I don't use my Yulong PCM58DAC anymore, I take out its film output caps and put it on X-Fi. To my surprise, it sounded exactly the same as it on the Yulong DAC (boring, flat, blurry imaging). So because my Rubycon Blackgate NX HQ sounded awesome on X-Fi, I desolder and put it on the Yulong, and as expected it really makes the Yulong sounds on par with the X-Fi, even with jellybean NE5534 opamp. If I do blind test for sure I can't differentiate between both two

I makes this thread for DIY'er to not just focused on opamp upgrade, even capacitor makes a lot of difference, especially the output coupling caps

ASUS Xonar DX

Najmods — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:49:22 +0800

I been looking around for soundcard and I found ASUS Xonar DX. It was a 'diet' version of Xonar D2X, with PCIe X1 interface, half height (same as Prodigy HD2) and instead of having Burr Brown PCM1796 as a DAC, it uses the mixture of Cirrus Logic CS4398 on front channel (same as Elite Pro and EMU 1212M) and Cirrus Logic CS4362 (same as CS4382 XtremeMusic and Fatal1ty, minus the 8 channel) on center, rear, side channel. Although It no longer uses the same LM4562 as its bigger brother, but the generic JRC5532 and you lose the LED jack and shielding

That is half the story, this card can emulate EAX-5 which only Creative have the superiority (till now). What impresses me is, the software EAX-5 works well, although not as fast as X-Fi, but the performance is quite similar to X-Fi hardware implementation. And because its software based, it can be further upgraded too if necessary

Some reviews:
Reviews at Tech Report
Reviews at Extreme Tech
And most importantly:
TechGage reviews its EAX capability, performance and how it sounds

Akabane, do you plan to make a bulk on this card?

ASUS M2N-E or Biostar TForce 550?

Najmods — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:56:26 +0800

My Asus M2N-E has finished its RMA process, and I using Biostar TForce 550. As I type this I tested on the M2N-E without the need of any Windows reinstallation, straight from Biostar to Asus

Now I would like to ask, between this two motherboard which one will you choose? State it clearly, especially if you have tested it.

If you asked me I like the M2N-E better, since it have passive cooling on both the chipset and CPU PWM, but the Biostar can run DDR2 800 memory speed with Hynix FP-Y5 because the extra memory setting (but performance difference is marginal)

For the time being, I'll try to use ASus M2N-E and see how much different in performance does this two have....

Biasing opamp to Class A

Najmods — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:10:42 +0800

I been reading a lot about biasing opamp to Class A, what it basically mean is to keep the output on all the time. It's as simple as putting a 6k resistor from negative supply rail to the output.

Anyone here done any comparison between them, and is it applicable for all opamp?

Opamp selection, needed help

Najmods — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:22:07 +0800

After I done a comparison with onboard HD2 with LME49720, I can no longer listen to NE5534, everything sounds rough, lacking detail, boomy bass and the whole nine yards that I disgust about it. Currently I running the PCM58DAC without any opamp, it sounds better than with the NE5534, the only thing lacking is I need to pump up more volume to achieve the same loudness as with opamp

I considering buying LME49710, which is the single channel version of 49720 that I loved. But before I done anything I want opinion first for those who done a lot of opamp rolling to which opamp sounds nice without being overly expensive like OPA627. I done some research and this is some opamp that I see that get high remarks from people who tested it:

AD744
AD797
AD8610 (only available on SOIC)
AD843 (rather expensive though)
OPA627/637 (too much for just opamp, since I need 4 of them)
LME49710 (my choice, the cheapest too, only RM26 for 4 of them from NS)

So I need your help on which opamp to choose. I looking for something detailed, with excellent vocal capability and good low extension (but not too much). Other requirement is I need it on 8-pin DIP package, and only single channel. I need no bullshit assessment

Any help would be appreciated

Old school voltmod: Radeon 9600XT

Najmods — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:46:48 +0800

I haven't voltmod a card since 2003-2004, with basically the same card (9600Pro, and 9600XT) Last time I wasn't cautious, when I taking voltage measurement my hand slipped and shorted the card, a loud bang with showering SMD resistor with black spot on ground zero The smell of burning silicon fills my room, I disappointed and never done another voltmod again.....

...not until my friend gave me his 9600XT to me recently, which exactly the same as I voltmod years back (Powercolor 9600XT BRAVO), and luckily I still keep the resistor used to voltmod the card, so I said what the heck and go with tehe voltmod....

First I used a beefier fan (stock Prescott fan on top of stock heatsink)
[attachmentid=387652]

The volmod area, I only focused on Vcore, the wire is for Vcore measure...
[attachmentid=387653]

...and this is the other end of the wire, for easier measuement so I don't short things up like last time
[attachmentid=387654]

What you see is what you get. The actual voltage after voltmod, forgot to take the stock Vcore shots (stock is at 1.225V)
[attachmentid=387655]

Any improvement in overclocking? With stock Vcore, it only manages paltry 20MHz overclock from stock 500MHz. Now it reaches more exciting +100MHz overclock, the only problem is the temperature. 60C load on 9600XT is very hot, so I kept it at 580MHz when playing games (load is 56C)

You expect any benchmarks? Sorry I don't have time for that the only thing I test is GTA San Andreas, at 1280x960 16X AF, average frames upped from 20-25 to 35-40 on crowded places. Tomorrow I'll get my AM2 mobo back so this is the last bow for this card, but I don't want to kill it

600Mhz is poor though, with the same resistor my previous card reaches 630MHz while the memory reaches as high as 834MHz while this card only manages 760MHz (memory is at stock Vmem), and this without any additional fan, just the stock HSF! And for the record, the old card beats 9700Pro on 3DMark03, I still remember the score 4845marks and the fastest stock cooler 9600XT on Guru3D, and I believe the fastest stock cooler 9600XT in the world

Viewnet open on Sunday?

Najmods — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:09:48 +0800

Does Viewnet open on Sunday?

N73 vs. 5610 XpressMusic

Najmods — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:39:27 +0800

I already bought 5610 XpressMusic, it's a wonderful music phone and great camera. But as I found out it uses Symbian Series 40, which lacks many program that I want to use on Series 60 platform. I'm planning to trade with N73. My question is:

1) How much is the price of N73 nowadays?
2) Is the joystick is a problem after long period of usage, and is there any other problem with it?

I need N73 users here. I just want a multitask phone, being able to do anything I want, play music, good camera, play movies and reliability

Loudness Wars

Najmods — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:27:54 +0800

You listening to an old song on your PC one day, Bee Gees for instance, then all of the sudden the PC shuffles to today's music, say My Chemical Romance, you tried to lower the volume but too late, you being blasted from your chair because of the difference in sound level.

Have you wonder why these happen? It's today's people quest for making music even louder, without making it to sound better. Welcome to loudness wars people. These happen because of one invention, CD (read about it on Overcompression link)

Difference waveform of today's and oldies song:
This is one of the best song that I have Bob James - Orpheus dated 1988. Looks good, sounds even better

This is one of today's rock song, Marion Raven - Get Me Out Of Here dated 2005, as the title suggest, get me out of these madness

Some site to explain what am I talking about:
Overcompression on CD's
Wikipedia - Loudness Wars

Video about loudness wars
[YOUTUBE]3Gmex_4hreQ[/YOUTUBE]

About the poll, I want to see whether Malaysian people are aware of these sort of things, normal people that is, that's why I don't post this on Audiophile thread

Please give/share your opinion about this

ReplayGain in Foobar

Najmods — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:59:25 +0800

For anyone who don't know about ReplayGain, what it basicaly do is to reduce/increase the loudness since not all CD are create with equal loudness, even on the same CD sometime the difference between track is quite huge. You don't want when listening to Pink Floyd, then all of the sudden Green Day comes out and blow yourself from your chair because of the loudness difference. With ReplayGain, you just need to adjust the volume once for all albums

More info abut ReplayGain:
http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org/

Anyone who actually uses ReplayGain on these forum?

Double click issue...

Najmods — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 01:15:07 +0800

I just finish reinstalling Windows, but weirdly other than my C drive, my other two partition when I double click to open it it says 'Please go to Control Panel and configure system component' like thumbnail attached. When I right click on it it reads Auto on top of it. How to force it to Open everytime I double click it? Any help would be appreciated

Anymore improvement?

Najmods — Sat, 26 May 2007 11:16:46 +0800

I post this on Head-Fi but no response so I post here

I hooked my Klipsch satellite directly to an old Dantax Model Pro 90 Surround Sound Processor (my father gave it to me) and it was a huge difference! Wider soundstage, there are layers of background and foreground that aren't noticeable before (background instrument doesn't sound mushy, muddy like before) and for the first time, I can hear distortion on 192kB/s mp3 files! The only downside is it makes the satellite even brighter than before, but for the improvement it gain, I can handle it

I have a question, will changing the sound card to a better one makes anymore different that I currently experiencing? Thanks in advance...

Klipsch GMX PreAmp (56K warning!, 2MP pics)

Najmods — Sat, 12 May 2007 01:11:02 +0800

I'm planning to mod my Klipsch PreAmp (the control pod) since the sound quality is very bright, and less than impressive bass, but first I want to ask, if changing the capacitor from bad to better will change the sound quality? Is it worth it?

Here's the pic of the PreAmp:

Behind

And here's the label of the capacitor:

Any help would be appreciated

SB Live! 5.1 vs. Realtek HD ALC888

Najmods — Thu, 10 May 2007 14:10:55 +0800

Which one should you recommend, I want to see what's an audiophile will say about this, in terms of sound quality only, not gaming

Original CD or new sound card?

Najmods — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:44:16 +0800

Why am I asking this is mostly currently I have mp3 file with 128-192kB/s bitrate (from friends and download ), but I want to get the best sound quality and planning to buy original CD (because I've made some comparison that original CD and mp3 difference is between night and day in terms of sound quality and fidelity), problem is, I need to buy online because the CD isn't available here, and the price of all the album I wanted to buy is the same as I buy a Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card, and it have a software so-called Crystallizer which can improve mp3 files to 'CD quality' (which I doubt it, judging by reviews), but it do have EAX 5, ASIO and other stuff that I might use

What would you think would be a worthy investment? Original CD's or X-Fi sound card?

Cheap way way to improve SQ using PCI card

Najmods — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 01:48:04 +0800

I've found a very effective way to improving sound quality when using a PCI sound card. Most people know that inside a PC is a a thunderstorm of EMI emission, which can cause music to sound metallic, instead of more natural. Most people from other forums use ERS paper, but it's very expensive and electrically conductive. But I found an alternative, why not use antistatic bag?

Firstly put the sound card on the lowest PCI slot available (or furthest away from video card) thats the main cause of EMI emission to sound card

Then simply put antistatic bag onto the back of the card, the one that facing the graphics card (if its big, either fold it into two or wrap it around the card) tape it into place to avoid it moving around

You can put as many as you like, I put three HDD/graphics card antistatic bag on the back on the sound card, one on the front of the card and wrap it with a motherboard antistatic bag (which I also taped some of it to the motherboard to give full protection)

I don't know if this gives any effects, because I think I'm the only one who ever done this mod, but it does make difference on me. I also invite my friends to listen, they too hear the difference. They say the background music are more pronounced, and less fatigue to hear at high volume. Please do tell me if you feel the difference (or not). YMMV, depends on speaker quality, sound card quality and your hearing capability

(I want to upload some pics but having trouble accessing Photobucket, blame TMNut for that )