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Post by chinook9 on Dec 21, 2014 16:37:28 GMT
I use Foobar for all my music.
A year or more ago I did some experimentation to determine the best output from my PC (Windows 8) from Foobar into my Musical Fidelity V-DAC.
I tried Fidelizer, Asio4all, kernel streaming, and Wasapi, and I also tried a JRiver player trial. As a result of my trials, I settled on Asio4all, but I believe that kernel streaming and Wasapi both gave equal results. The JRiver Player might have been the same but it costs money so I eliminated it.
Since that time I have tried a three different DACs. Most of the DACs can't use Asio4all and in these cases is used Wasapi (event) and/or kernel streaming.
Its my understanding that these various outputs sound the same because the driver takes control away from Windows and gives it to the DAC.
I would like to know if those of you who understand more about these Foobar drivers could confirm if the Asio4all, kernel streaming, and Wasapi outputs should be expected to sound the same.
If you believe that one of these should provide better SQ than the others then that information would also be appreciated...possibly with some explanation of why.
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Javier
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Post by Javier on Dec 21, 2014 17:24:19 GMT
They should all sound the same with an exception of WASAPI in non exclusive mode which doesn't bypass Windows Mixer.
ASIO4All is a relic from the past. It is nothing nut Kernel Streaming inside an ASIO wrapper, it comes from the days when media players didn't have Kernel Streaming as an output option. There was either DirectSound or ASIO as output mode and most sound cards or DACs didn't have ASIO drivers so it was the only to avoid DirectSound when no other alternative was possible. We are talking in the days of Windows XP (2003-2006). In Vista Kernel Streaming was renamed WASAPI and had two modes, exclusive and non exclusive. The former works exactly the same way as Kernel Streaming connecting directly to the sound card's (or DAC) WDM drivers, the latter doesn't lock the drivers nor bypass the Windows Mixer so all apps can still send sound simultaneously to the card/DAC but it means going through part of the Windows audio chain and re-sampling.
True ASIO end to end (IE ASIO drivers for the sound card + player supporting ASIO output) is the best option. With ASIO the Windows audio chain is completely bypassed and, as an added bonus, it has much more flexibility when it comes to supported formats which includes even native DSD or PCM rates higher than 192KHz. But... as good as ASIO might be, it still won't sound any different than WASAPI or Kernel Streaming when they use the same sample rate.
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Post by chinook9 on Dec 21, 2014 17:50:05 GMT
Great! Thank you Javier.
I will check to see if there are Asio drivers for my sound card. I use a cheap Acer ultrabook for my music. The sound card, of course, is built into the motherboard. I'll check into it.
The information you provided helps me and, I expect, will be very helpful to lurkers interested in this topic. From what I've read, there is a lot of misunderstanding due primarily to the changes that have taken place over time.
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Javier
Administrator
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Post by Javier on Dec 21, 2014 20:39:07 GMT
Mmmhhhh..... most probably a Realtek or ALC chip, there are some ASIO drivers for the former but they are not really worth using because they have a very limited implementation of the ASIO standard and as to the latter there are none AFAIK. If you are using Vista or later stick to WASAPI and, if your card supports it, select 'WASAPI (Event)" so the PC becomes slaved to the probably much better clock of the DAC.
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Post by chinook9 on Dec 22, 2014 0:01:21 GMT
Mmmhhhh..... most probably a Realtek or ALC chip, there are some ASIO drivers for the former but they are not really worth using because they have a very limited implementation of the ASIO standard and as to the latter there are none AFAIK. If you are using Vista or later stick to WASAPI and, if your card supports it, select 'WASAPI (Event)" so the PC becomes slaved to the probably much better clock of the DAC. Thanks Javier. I hadn't had any luck finding an ASIO driver so I will go ahead and use WASAPI(event).
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