Looking to tweak!!

[Coacharnold]

OK ... so here are some questions

What exactly is ecasound?

Are there some Kernel options we can use in 2.1?  RT Kernel?

Specific tweaks that anyone strongly recommends?

Is MPD on 1.2 incomplete?  the controller for it doesn't seem to stay connected?


ROcking and ROllin 

T

[Snoopy8]

Please have a look at this for Ecasound.  It can get complicated quickly. Many of the simpler things can be done using ALSA.
https://ecasound.seul.org/ecasound/Documentation/

I have not played with kernels, relying on Agent Kith's expertise to recommend some. His own experience suggests that kernels can be hit or miss.  Agent Kit is currently building a new infrastructure that will allow us put together our own kernels, but that may be some time away. 

Have you tried cpuset which dedicates cpus to music processes?  Also worth trying is setting up RAMDisk.  Both improved SQ in my INtel NUC setup.  A third tweak which I need to re-visit with 20.04 & 1.2.0 is process priority;  it made no difference for me in 16.04 & 1.1.n.

Mpd is working fine, but I do not use the MyMpd web player.  MAFA is the best Android phone player (but you need to buy it) but you can try the free MpDroid.  Soundirok is an iOS player.

[Coacharnold]

Please have a look at this for Ecasound.  It can get complicated quickly. Many of the simpler things can be done using ALSA.
https://ecasound.seul.org/ecasound/Documentation/

I have not played with kernels, relying on Agent Kith's expertise to recommend some. His own experience suggests that kernels can be hit or miss.  Agent Kit is currently building a new infrastructure that will allow us put together our own kernels, but that may be some time away. 

Have you tried cpuset which dedicates cpus to music processes?  Also worth trying is setting up RAMDisk.  Both improved SQ in my INtel NUC setup.  A third tweak which I need to re-visit with 20.04 & 1.2.0 is process priority;  it made no difference for me in 16.04 & 1.1.n.

Mpd is working fine, but I do not use the MyMpd web player.  MAFA is the best Android phone player (but you need to buy it) but you can try the free MpDroid.  Soundirok is an iOS player.

Just as an FYI from me, ... I'm blown away at this system.   I have been preaching Daphile fir literally years,  this blows it away in my opinion.

[hkphantomgtr]

Please have a look at this for Ecasound.  It can get complicated quickly. Many of the simpler things can be done using ALSA.
https://ecasound.seul.org/ecasound/Documentation/

I have not played with kernels, relying on Agent Kith's expertise to recommend some. His own experience suggests that kernels can be hit or miss.  Agent Kit is currently building a new infrastructure that will allow us put together our own kernels, but that may be some time away. 

Have you tried cpuset which dedicates cpus to music processes?  Also worth trying is setting up RAMDisk.  Both improved SQ in my INtel NUC setup.  A third tweak which I need to re-visit with 20.04 & 1.2.0 is process priority;  it made no difference for me in 16.04 & 1.1.n.

Mpd is working fine, but I do not use the MyMpd web player.  MAFA is the best Android phone player (but you need to buy it) but you can try the free MpDroid.  Soundirok is an iOS player.

Yes, cupset and RAMDisk really can improve SQ significantly! 

In my case and some of my friends' cases, improvement of changing the process priority reflects in the latency (e.g. cyclictest).   Together with other settings (e.g. CMOS), after accumulated enough latency reduction, the change of sound becomes more obvious.  If the latency is low enough, it gives much touching, soothing, and life sound.  FYI, I was using mpd, it produces the best sound in my system.

Just my 2 cents. 

---

OK ... so here are some questions

What exactly is ecasound?

Are there some Kernel options we can use in 2.1?  RT Kernel?

Specific tweaks that anyone strongly recommends?

Is MPD on 1.2 incomplete?  the controller for it doesn't seem to stay connected?


ROcking and ROllin 

T

Hey, pal, if you'd like to look for more fun with Snakeoil OS, how about building a fanless music file server with Snakeoil OS, to replace an ordinary NAS or PC?  The sound improvement is very astonishing and promising.   I built it before 1.20, so please be noted that the info was based on previous FW and OS installation.

FYI, 
Running Snakeoil as FANLESS Minimserver https://www.snakeoil-os.net/forums/Threa...inimserver

"Potential" risk if you upgrade from 18.04 to 20.04 with previous installation voyage (using previous installation voyage you'll got RT kernel running solidly).   https://www.snakeoil-os.net/forums/Threa...-20-04-LTS

and here is a more comprehensive discussion yet in Cantonese (Chinese used in Hong Kong), https://www.hiendy.com/hififorum/forum.p...tid=136704

I hope you'll find helpful. 

[Valery]

I fully agree that fine-tuning (cupset, RAMDisk, DSD-Kernel) significantly improves SQ. But there is one more improving thing: this is the loading and operation of the player in RAM. I managed to do this with the help of the site: https://habr.com/ru/post/253759. Some player settings don't work, but SQ is amazing.

[Snoopy8]

I fully agree that fine-tuning (cupset, RAMDisk, DSD-Kernel) significantly improves SQ. But there is one more improving thing: this is the loading and operation of the player in RAM. I managed to do this with the help of the site: https://habr.com/ru/post/253759. Some player settings don't work, but SQ is amazing.

Running SnakeOil in RAM is something @agent_kith should consider.  My Linux is too limited to try this myself.

[agent_kith]

I fully agree that fine-tuning (cupset, RAMDisk, DSD-Kernel) significantly improves SQ. But there is one more improving thing: this is the loading and operation of the player in RAM. I managed to do this with the help of the site: https://habr.com/ru/post/253759. Some player settings don't work, but SQ is amazing.

Willl google translate that later tonight and see what it is. Will let you know later hopefully.

Running SnakeOil in RAM is something @agent_kith should consider.  My Linux is too limited to try this myself.

You can actually boot the USB ISO completely in memory, and even make write persistent after reboot (Rufus or some other tool make it easier now). This is a good tweak. and if memory serves different USB brands, and ports do have differences. This is done before USB filtering products, so who knows what other benefits this can bring?

Or even boot a PC diskless - OS is loaded via a NAS off the network (this is the first thing I have done)... Hopefully I will be able to introduce these tweaks back in simple steps (or a wiki walkthrough)...