I sure appreciate the responses, I had wanted to post the question on AVSForum and still may but wanted to ask here to see if anyone else had noticed the same difference with different OS’s. It sounds crazy but it is easily demonstrable, I am only glad I got these Mac Pro’s my company disposed of or I would still be thinking that some hidden DSP was at work on my XP setup, has anyone compared Roon on Linux and Windows 10? Before I got my Macs I was going to try that. Now my speakers are unusual in that they are large electrostats (Acoustat Monitor IV) and my amps are modified Acoustat servo charge amps but this makes them quite revealing and with playback on XP or Mac they sound like reverse microphones but with Windows 10 I know I am hearing a recording and I dont play it for long because I feel I am wasting my time on what could be a better performance. For years I have simply kept a swappable hard drive with my XP MCE installation for critical listening. Program level is a preferable way to handle volume for more control but it seems to have had an effect on sound quality. It has been like this since Vista when windows changed from controlling volume levels of individual devices to handling the volume of individual programs and did not change with 7. The sound of the same music played from my CD transport through my Kora DAC is nearly identical to the sound of that same clip playing with VLC on XP or on Roon running on my Mac Pro. The issue is that any music I play through any source under Windows 10, be it my Oppo Sonica DAC, Wyred 4 Sound uLink or Creative Fatality Pro Sound-card’s digital out with drivers set to bit-perfect, I get a smearing of the mid bass that makes listening to the same music through the same hardware on the same PC under XP (or now my Mac server) preferred. Plus Roon does not run on XP and like Malwarebytes I bought a lifetime license for it. I sure dont want to use XP anymore, it is however clear of malware as both AVG Ultimate and Malwarebytes still work fine on XP. Has anyone been there, is there a simple answer to thinning the bass and nothing else? I am using electrostatic loudspeakers which may be one reason for the sound tailoring, Acoustat monitor III’s, IV’s and Martin Logan CLS-II. My issue is with sound on any Vista and after OS where something changed in how audio was processed… I have Roon driving the same soundcard, also via USB to my Oppo Sonica and even USB through a Wyred 4Sound uLink USB-SPDIF converter bought to escape the preferred sound of XP and through all I get the bass boost and lack of detail with 7 and 10 but XP still sounds preferable.ĭirect sources, phono, hd tuner, CD transport all sound natural. Yet since changes in Vista through windows 10 there is a smearing of midrange detail and an apparent increase in mid bass that I seem unable to change without affecting other things. I am going to guess that I am in the thrall of a hidden DSP effect yet the sound from XP through a creative X-Fi Fatality in media creation mode (no effects) running SPDIF through my Kora DAC is close to identical to that of a CD run through the same DAC. Roon is so far the best music player I have found for so many reasons that I went ahead and joined for life but I have an issue where I am keeping a copy of Windows XP Media Center Edition for critical listening and I wonder why I feel the need to.
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