08-31-2019, 11:39 AM
(08-31-2019, 06:32 AM)Vhond Wrote: What are your experiences?
This topic is about complaints concerning the sound quality of release 6.x.
I still like the 3.8.4 RT kernel version when talking about the sound quality. I tried 4.x and 5.x but still find the sound quality of 3.8.4 RT the best.
It sounds more open (wider soundstage).
To be fair, that topic is concerned with *one* user's experience with distortion caused by *one* digital equalizer with *certain* settings.
The 3.8.4 RT kernel is dead to us and never coming back. The real-time Linux project is ongoing (https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/realtime/start) but it still takes extra work at the outset and ongoing maintenance work to integrate a project like moOde with it. No one has volunteered to take on this responsibility.
Meanwhile much of the goodness of the real-time Linux activity has already been implemented in the mainline Linux kernel. So much that most projects which used to require RT no longer bother.
Have you read the MPD User Guide (https://www.musicpd.org/doc/html/user.html)? The subject of Real-Time Scheduling using the mainline kernel has its own section and a recipe is given so you are free to explore the subject yourself. Pay special attention to the closing note in that section
Quote:Note There is a rumor that real-time scheduling improves audio quality. That is not true. All it does is reduce the probability of skipping (audio buffer xruns) when the computer is under heavy load.
I am in no position to try to evaluate the sound quality of various versions of moOde running various kernels and I wouldn't try even if I were. So much depends on the surrounding system---the DAC drivers, the interface to the DAC, the DAC itself, the downstream audio system, the music source. Conducting valid tests and tabulating the results in hard data which others could apply to their own situation would be exhausting.
Regards,
Kent
