Fidelizer Useful or snakeoil?

Discussion in 'Computer Audiophile: Software, Configs, Tools' started by kirayamato, Nov 1, 2015.

?

fidelizer actually works?

  1. yes

    20 vote(s)
    52.6%
  2. snake oil 101

    18 vote(s)
    47.4%
  1. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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  2. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Why not try it yourself and let us know what you think? If you like it, why not spring for the Pro version and tell us what you think then?

    Alternatively, you can look into ways to tweak the Windows OS, even just stuff as simple as temporarily disabling services, and let us know if you think that makes a difference.

    Sometimes I use the free version of Fidelizer because...why not? It doesn't seem to hurt the sound. It's quick and easy. Great for lazy people.
     
  3. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    well don't want to spend money for nothing so ya wanted impressions from people who have
     
  4. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    I'll try it over the next week. I know that eliminating processes and turning off some things on my mac has had a positive impact on sound.
     
  5. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    It's free, just like green marker pen (assuming you own one ;) ) so nothing lost by trying it, I suppose.

    I'd better admit that... I don't use MS Windows. I have not used it for such a long time now that I suspect that the XP partition on one of my hard drives is probably suffering from a very nasty case of bit rot. I'd be very happy if I never see another MS operating system ever, and I certainly won't ever upgrade from the licenses I own.
    But, of course, being one of them humans, I have an opinion. |\/|

    Let's assume that the various options on the Fidelizer do what they say they do. It may be necessary, and can, sometimes, be essential, to tell operation systems to, in one way or another, Make Way For Audio! Because, usually, it is not considered one of the most important processes going on in there. When you hear your mouse pointer moving across the screen, it's simply that your OS considers video display more important than audio, so the audio gets interrupted and distortions, clicks and drop outs happen.

    I've probably got across my general feelings about Windows, in my mild, somewhat British-understated way. No I don't have a Mac. I use Linux. I use Linux with a tweak or two (courtesy of KXStudio; just the essentials, not the whole package) for audio. Interrupt balancing; process priorities; that sort of thing. It is not snake oil. It does not harm, and may even be needed: my Firewire interface, on Ubuntu 10.04, would not have worked without it.

    Looking back to my early days with Audio, computers, and whatever Windows version I was using then, I do believe that some of the optimisations really helped. It was probably W2K already, which was vastly superior to much of the crap that preceded it , but it still did stuff that got in the way of audio. I still like simple media players that do not do much in the way of graphics, and the reason is that, way back then, we did not want to waste processing power drawing stuff on the screen when playing music. How much that was justified, in retrospect, I'm not really sure --- but I am sure that computers are monsters now, compared to then. I don't know, because I don't do movies or gaming, but I would guess that some of the video stuff that people do today would have smashed my old Pentium machine into the ground, and, as for the 486/386 machines that came only very shortly before it.... Hmmm....

    But playing audio is relatively trivial. Really. It is. I know some people just hate to admit that, but it is. Even though computers don't always do it right.

    Do you need Fidelizer on today's machines with today's versions of Windows? Do you have audio problems that need fixing? Even today it is perfectly possible. And possible that this software might fix it.

    But if you don't need it, it is also perfectly possible that one might think it changed something.

    Some people take pills, every day, for headaches that they don't really have: that doesn't mean that the pills are snake oil.
     
  6. jsgraha

    jsgraha 30% of my portfolio is magic beans - Friend

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    I have both AudiophileOptimiser and fidelizer on my setup. When I had first AO, I did had usual subtle positive impact (deeper stage, bit darker background, bit smoother sound with JPlay as music player and Tidal for streaming). Then I add fidelizer pro on top. I can't hear much improvement on JPlay playback, but there was subtle Tidal improvement, bit less grainy, bit smoother sound and bit bass extension (Yggdrasil-stratus-hd800-he1k)
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2015
  7. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    I tried Fidelizer and ended up buying Jplay. I don't know I would buy it again if I could to go back in time. I definitely wouldn't recommend spending money on these types of programs that could be spent upgrading actually hardware.

    I do believe they work, but that is just my opinion and is in no way verifiable. Since fidelizer is free just try it out for yourself.
     
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I think it works, but effects are so small that I am not sure. On my hardened optimized laptop, neither JPLAY or Fidelizer seem do anything.
     
  9. Xen

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    As someone who runs all three daily (typing this through VNC from Win7 to Debian), I think the drivers are more important than these kinds of "optimization" tools. Considering Windows does not ship with USB Audio2 drivers, the quality of them from the various DAC makers is way more important.

    That being said, the analog drivers for Windows are so much better than ALSA. I have virtually the same motherboard in both machines. Both machines output via analog headphone jacks into an integrated speaker amp, for now. My Linux box hisses like a racoon in heat (exaggeration) while my Windows machine outputs sound with a much lower noise floor (not audible in my listening environment). ALSA drivers for the RealTek soundchip just does not compare with RealTek's drivers.
     
  10. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    When I first looked at that my brain made an auto-correct into Fiddlizer. I know, my bad, not keeping an open mind. I am the first in line to complain about the MS K-mixer. However there are workarounds. JRiver and foobar2000 both do a nice job here. Streaming the digital data to an output is just not that hard, though Microsoft does their damndest to make something that should be simple very hard. But that stems all the way back to IBM prioritizing the 8259 interrupt controller for hard drive higher than real time clock in the BIOS.
     
  11. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Last edited: Nov 1, 2015
  12. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    @purrin maybe a guide of on how to make my pc as hardcore as your hardened laptop XD

    @Luckbad hm but i thought dpc latency increasing effects audio quality even if its high if your listening to music it is not a realtime application so shouldn't be affected
     
  13. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Pardon the language, but DPC Latency shits all over audio. It is more noticeably impacted than pretty much anything else because it can cause dropouts, stutters, crackles, etc. You're only likely to notice a problem if you're using lossless files going to an external USB DAC or something along those lines, but it actually has the most negative impact of almost anything on a machine.
     
  14. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Well, quite. DPC Latency problems do not even come close to the audiophile-night-and-day-difference stuff: they can make audio throw-the-machine-away impossible. Been there, thrown the machine away. It was worse than an old shellac 78 with a crack in it.
     
  15. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    @Thad E Ginathom @Luckbad ok i have been enlightened so now i ask what is bad dpc latency for example if its stable at a high latency is that fine if not whats the max that is acceptable and how can you check it in windows 10 ?
     
  16. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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  17. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Yep... use the tools.

    But this is not something you need to put numbers on: if you have bad DPC latency, you will hear cracks, pops and dropouts. I used to get, literally, gaps in the music, ie completely unlistenable. That machine, actually, worked with its onboard card, but not with any other interface, internal or external.

    If you do not have this problem, you don't need to go looking for it --- but those who get the symptoms may not know the cause. I'd never heard of it until I heard it.
     
  18. kirayamato

    kirayamato Friend

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    ya mine is perfectly fine but what is the optimal like obv lower is better but what is achievable etc
     
  19. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

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    Kira, I suggest using proper punctuation to make your posts easier to read, more useful and more likely to get a response. I'm not a pedant but it makes it harder to have a discussion.

    Are there any operating systems that are real-time? Some Linux distros I suppose?
     
  20. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    I suppose the optimum would be none, but the achievable/desirable is what you have: no problem. Don't try to create one!

    Is really real-time possible on the architecture? I have a feeling that it goes deeper than the operating system, and into the way that the hardware works. Hey... I forgot all that stuff, but someone here knows!

    There are "real-time" kernels available for Linux. I don't dig deep to that level, but I did use one with my first Linux machine. Then I used a "low-latency" kernel. Now I just use a "generic" kernel and it plays audio fine, as long as I turn off one thing: the CPU-speed switching.

    It's all relative. Linux/Unix are multitasking systems that appear to do more than one thing at a time. They produce that illusion by swapping from one thing to another, very very fast: you see all the plates spinning, but you never see the guy running from one to another.

    Process priorities and interrupt balancing. It isn't rocket science. Oh, wait... it is for me!
     

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