New software mods for the Squeezebox Touch...they work.

[Themis]

No, the thing is that I'm sitting in front of my stereo and changing the spdif values in REAL TIME, on the spot! I have my laptop resting on me lap, I'm logged into my Touch via ssh, and I'm playing with the "chrt -f -p 51 367" command. I'm basically changing the next to the last value, say from 40 all the way up to 59. Every time I change it and press Return key, the change takes effect and the FIFO priorities on the Touch change. The wisdom of the crowds insists that as you go higher, the sound should become more etched, more 'trebly', and vice versa. By going down close to 40, the sound should become softer, rounder, with warmer bass.

But the thing is, no matter what values I plug in, it all sounds the same to me. So if I can't hear any differences immediately, what are the odds I'll be hearing them eventually?

I think I may be too old for this shit anyway...

Are you sure a thread priority change takes place immediately ?

[magiccarpetride]

Are you sure a thread priority change takes place immediately ?

Pretty sure, as I get immediate feedback in the console informing me that the FIFO priorities have now shifted. And a lot of other users confirm that this is the way to effect the changes in real time, so that you can immediately notice the change in the sound quality. That's how people are now fine tuning their systems -- on the fly. The darndnest thing is that I can't hear any difference.

And yet, I can hear huge differences when adding crystals or applying teflon tape to my AC plugs. What a stupid hobby!

[Themis]

Perhaps you should let someone else type the changes, so that you can notice them ?

Bah, revert to the factory settings, then come back another day...

[magiccarpetride]

The Maggies are known to be a bit hot in the HF response to start with - maybe they can't be induced to give any more

Quite the reverse, my Maggies (I have an old school pair, the big ones), are more on a darker, more liquid side. I'd love to be able to solicit sharper high frequency performance from them.

But regardless, this tweak is supposed to give us the whole gamut. People compare it to the sharpening/softening tool in Adobe Photoshop. You should be able to go all the way up to the very etched sound, and then bring it down all the way to very soft, bassy, almost muddled sound.

Nothing resembling that is happening as I keep dialling up/dialling down these spdif values.

[Gazjam]

Alex,
dont give up yet!

you need to reboot the Touch every time you make a change so that it loads up the new values AS it boots up.
Not "instant" changes...but pretty close.

Its not a night and day difference by any means, but I found they were more noticable than Soundcheck's mods...and a very worthwhile improvement.

Can't remember if your on a Mac or not, but in WinSPC in the Terminal window you just type "reboot" after saving new SPDIF values to your rcS file.
Linux is Linux..maybe similar commands on the Mac?

[Themis]

you need to reboot the Touch every time you make a change so that it loads up the new values AS it boots up.
Not "instant" changes...but pretty close.

Ah... see Alex ? You were not deaf after all and don't throw away your system...

... yet

[Ali Tait]

How would spdif changes affect the sound if one is not using the spdif outs?

I wouldn't know as I've not tried the mods and don't know what they entail.I won't bother asking in future..

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hey Alex,
Here's a thought for you. Maybe you're the victim of someone getting carried away in their over-enthusiasm of description of the effects of changes to their system?

[magiccarpetride]

Hey Alex,
Here's a thought for you. Maybe you're the victim of someone getting carried away in their over-enthusiasm of description of the effects of changes to their system?

Hmmm, you know, I might consider that, but Gaz is in on this one, and I have pretty good track record with his impressions aligning with mine. This is the first time ever that him and I don't hear ear-to-ear, and that confuses the hell out of me

[Gazjam]

Hmmm, you know, I might consider that, but Gaz is in on this one, and I have pretty good track record with his impressions aligning with mine. This is the first time ever that him and I don't hear ear-to-ear, and that confuses the hell out of me

Alex,
If you can hear Soundcheck's mods you can hear these - I suspect your not doing something right!
Your Caiman (like mine) is "good enough" and you have better speakers than I've got...
So...
lemme have a think...

You say your sitting at the laptop applying different values using the "chrt -f -p 51 367" command at the console, changing values as you go and aren't hearing anything?

Couple of things to check/think about:

You need to reboot the Touch for each change in value to take effect, sounds like maybe your not doing that?
Also,
The "address values" in the commands "chrt -f -p..." for Real time clock and SPDIF can vary dependant on which firmware your Touch is running.
The "address" (367) of the SPDIF value given in Dynobot's webpage example can change...so if your just typing in "chrt -f -p 51 367" command and changing 51 to whatever...you using might not be doing anything - even if you WERE rebooting after every change

Dynobot does suggest in the "small print" that you check these values in YOUR system first and change the address values (i.e 367) to what matches your system.
You did do that, right?

Keep the faith brother, these mods DO work.