What can I do to improve my computer?

Jeffatus --

Download Fidelizer:

http://www.windowsxlive.net/fidelizer/

Timlub, as Audioengr said you cannot really improve it other than improving clock (reducing jitter) on the other side of the bridge. You can run all the programs you want in parallel and it won't make a bit of a difference, since it affects only timing and timing is removed by networking. If cat7 cable makes a difference it is only by quality of shielding that is reducing ambient electrical noise.

Music is sent in packets as data without any timing. Timing is recreated on the other side of the bridge where good, low jitter clock and clean power are a must.

Foobar is the best playback software I know of. Also, asio4all makes the sound better, smoother like an upscale piece.

Both can be downloaded for free - google search for them.

Hi,
I saw the threads about Fidelizer and tried it with my PWD II and Bridge. First I installed it on my Windows 7 laptop that runs either jRiver or eLyric. I tried jRiver first with the Professional setting. Wow, what a difference. The soundstage became more solid, the images firmed up and stayed in place. Bass notes were better defined. An overall improvement. As eLyric sounds better I soon switched to it. The sound became even better there. The only downside being with eLyric it really slowed down the album art display on my iPad.

Next I installed Fidelizer Professional on my WHS as well. There was easily 2 times the difference.

Then restarted both computers and tried the Audiophile settings. This was even better. Certainly on the scale of updating from the PWD to PWD II or more. Easy to hear. The speakers seemed to disappear. The music seemed to slow down, have its own space, become more deliberate. It wasn't as if I knew there was a problem before but I'd call playback without Fidelizer kind of jittery.

I did try the Extremist settings. This did not work for me it closed down the network and did not allow communication between the laptop and WHS. Maybe I'll try other combos latter.

As for Ethernet cables not making a difference, I've found that it clearly does, Cat 6 better than Cat 5, and Cat 7 superior to both. Not huge blow me away differences if you go step to step but certainly worth doing from CAT 5 to Cat 7. I've heard that the new Ethernet cables from Audioquest are CAT 7.

I'd try Fidelizer on any Windows computer. All you have to do is reboot your computer to remove it. And if your PC is restarted you'll have to reinstall Fidelizer each time.

Try it you'll like it.
And it is free.

thanks for the heads up Phusis/Steve!. just downloaded Fildelizer and will give it a go. sounds pretty promising!.
odd how you need to reload it every boot. i only reboot once a week and will need to remember it's gone. however... a free app to demo that kills itself by default?? love the idea!

also agree with Steve regarding higher grade Ethernet cables *and the pwd2* . i stepped up to all cat6 cables a while back and cat7 more recently. definitely noticed improvements in my networks performance as i stepped up. couldn't pin down the sq improvements mainly due to losing interest in trying. noticed improvements in some areas but not consistently enough to draw any conclusions. got sick of it and gave up. however, overall network performance was easier to detect in my set-up (25+ Mbps service/Moto SGB6580/Linksys WRT610N/PWDII using Ipad3 and E-Lyric 32.03 or JR17).