Bug Head Player

[jls001]

Pardon my ignorance - but wont a graphic equalizer do the same job ??

I've been struggling to explain the sound of this player . However, having tried my hands with different foobar EQ settings, I can say that EQ boosts or cuts selected frequency bands, helping tailor the overall sound to one's liking and, more importantly, help overcome - in a limited way - the problems of the room acoustic. Of course it is no match in this aspect for dedicated room correction applications. An EQ shapes the overall amplitude response, and does not change the overall tonality of the sound much, nor does it drastically improve imaging and sound stage, nor lead to a quantum jump on resolution of micro details, nor improve the texture of bass.

The Bug Head player does a whole lot of signal processing. It also upsamples the source signal, by as much as x8 times upto 384 kHz (provided our DAC is capable of handling that kind of high sampling rate). It is also optimized to take advantage of such processor features like multi threads (hyper threading), make use of dual channel capability in RAM, utilize multi media specific features of the processor like MMX and SSE, cleans/resets the memory to reduce jitter, etc.

The result is a dramatically improved tonality, deep (and I mean deep) sound stage, pin point imaging, imaging width that easily transcends the physical width of the speakers, smooth highs devoid of edginess and etchiness, but most of all a sense of it being unforced and relaxed and open, with delicate mids and highs (I love this aspect of the sound - makes my humble system sound like a much-higher-fi setup).

Provided we tune it right So like most things in life, there's a catch

 

[jls001]

There is no graphics or video involved so bug would not bother the GPU at all IMO

+1.

My new board is capable of 4k video. What a waste I'm using an ancient SVGA monitor.

 

[jls001]

It might be a good idea to share the settings being deployed as well as the individual tracks being tested on and what to hear for in terms of subtle differences, etc.?

Let's do this!

We can upload screenshots of what we're using, with added text explanations of settings which are not obvious from screenshots. Followed by a brief description of the sound the settings achieve.

 

[regeHA]

Let's do this!

We can upload screenshots of what we're using, with added text explanations of settings which are not obvious from screenshots. Followed by a brief description of the sound the settings achieve.

Please do, it will help much.

It would also be a great starting point for my weekend experiment, where I plan to test the Bug on 3 systems ranging from a dual core to an i7 with 4 GB to 32 GB RAM. Might throw in a laptop too as well as an Intel stick time permitting.

Kind of a LAN party, but instead of gaming the focus is going to be on the Bug. So any information you share on settings, tracks, subtle differences and variations, etc. will be a great starting off point as well point us in the right direction on what to focus on hearing.

 

[keith_correa]

OT, but did anyone notice the relatively inexpensive Korean DAC that this guy claims is the best?

 

[rikhav]

OT, but did anyone notice the relatively inexpensive Korean DAC that this guy claims is the best?

Hi keith
where has he written about it?

Please share the link if possible

 

[keith_correa]

Hi keith
where has he written about it?

Please share the link if possible

I think I read it in the PDF that came with the software. Check that please.

 

[spirovious]

I am still confused with this player.Why do we need a processing when hifi people wont appreciate it?
Are not we playing with actual recording and its sound quality?
Yes,if one likes final sound,that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[jls001]

I think I read it in the PDF that came with the software. Check that please.

There's a PDF?

 

[keith_correa]

There's a PDF?

And a MS Word document too if my memory serves me right. Half of it is gobbledygook

 

[manniraj]

There's a PDF?

Yes their is a PDF document that comes along in the ZIP file that you download instead of the .exe file but yes albeit I think in Japanese language only with some references to English here and there

 

[Nikhil]

Provided we tune it right So like most things in life, there's a catch

Fantastic stuff Josh! Must try out some of the settings you have shared.

I have left my settings to Normal: Default in High Class Professional mode.
I read somewhere that it was supposed to be the best.
I think the settings are SGalaxy35: mmx2+ with no oversampling.

 

[jls001]

Tried BH on my laptop (i3, two cores with four threads, 8GB memory, Win 10). It just doesn't have the processing juice to handle any flavour of x4 beyond 3-4 lines of self optimizer. Also, it needs at least 1024 bytes in the ASIO driver. 512 or lower doesn't work on my laptop. For BH playback I think it's best to stick to a desktop PC as the processor is much more powerful than those on laptops. For instance my old music PC was an ancient Dual Core (two threads only) with just 4 GB of RAM but it could play 4 lines of x4 without breaking down.

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

I downloaded the latest version of BugHead 6.03 yesterday and listened to it. It is a clear improvement over the previous version 5.56, I was using .



Regards
Rajiv

 

[jls001]

Incidentally I also downloaded that version for a friend's PC last night but could not make it sing due to some USB driver issue for his new Peachtree DAC.

Will install on my PC.

 

[Nikhil]

Hi,

I downloaded the latest version of BugHead 6.03 yesterday and listened to it. It is a clear improvement over the previous version 5.56, I was using .

Regards
Rajiv

Great share! I had no idea there was an update.
Just installed and running without any frills - sounds good!

 

[raj_krish]

Could any one post the settings with steps...

1.Launched the bug head player
2.Clicked on setup
3.Selected the Dac USB driver
4.Now confused which one to select
currently 1,2,3 and 9 are selected at left side and right side 1st option

Its taking 2.8 sec for processing

Running the ANC (Don't know what it does)

Any experts please correct me of if some thing i need to configure for better output

 

[jls001]

Installed the 6.03. It's a clear step up from 5.56. I used the same settings on both versions.

 

[jls001]

4.Now confused which one to select
currently 1,2,3 and 9 are selected at left side and right side 1st option

Its taking 2.8 sec for processing

Running the ANC (Don't know what it does)

You can try 4 and 10 too and hear if you prefer with or without.

For 5, I like "A" setting.

6 will be selectable if you have at least 8 GB of RAM. If you have 8 GB, "Setup DIMM" can be 2, 2, 2, 2.

8 will activate if you use double sided RAM.

On right side, I prefer 4 and "Enable Stardust Mode".

After this click Start button.

On the main player screen, go for a medium setting:

1) select x4. I definitely prefer four time sample rate upsampling over no upsampling or twice rate upsampling. Please experiment to figure out your preferred sound.

Within x4 drop down menu, select a modest level like Emerald Level 3. After you select this, you'll see that the black window below Self Sound Optimizer which was so far blank will get populated with a number of the Self Sound Optimizer icons. The number of icons/lines which shows up corresponds to the level you selected on x4 drop down menu. The small window to the left of " LPD free" which was showing 0 will now show 176.4 kHz. This is x4 times of 44.1 kHz. Don't select too many lines since your processor and RAM will get heavily loaded - more lines means more processing time. Also, more lines does not always equate to better sound. Start with 4 to 5 lines. Scale up number of lines and decide which one sounds best for you.

2) try all the options on sGalaxy button. I prefer Star setting but YMMV.

3) choose Bug Level 3 or 4.

4) choose Kitty Level 3 or 4.

Bug and Kitty buttons show up after you select x4 flavour.

5) below Self Sound Optimizer window, select number of threads supported by your processor. For example if your processor is a dual core with hyper threading capability, it means you can run 2 cores x 2 threads, so select 4 threads. The maximum supported thread will be user selected on the Thread button. For example a six core i7 with hyper threading will support 12 threads.

6) mmx+ and SSE+ - try level 2 or 3.

You're ready to click Play button after loading a playlist.

PS: I'm not clear what you mean by ANC.

 

[raj_krish]

ANC is all core any core

I have 4 Gm ram so those options are not enabled in my pc