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Is DirectSound as good as ASIO or KS? - Page 3

post #31 of 100
1/13/09 at 7:13am
Quote:
So, I guess the only way to be sure I am getting bit perfect is by using something like the DAC1 USB port, right?
That device doesn't even have digital output ports and the measure of "bitperfect" can't be applied to it.

There's an article on my site which outlines the term "bitperfect" and its requirements on Windows systems.
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post #32 of 100
1/13/09 at 7:26am
amm but I mean, the DAC1 should get bit perfect from my PC
Right?
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post #33 of 100
1/13/09 at 7:47am
that's undecidable for me - you can verify this by hooking up a logic analyzer to the DAC's digital input or by sniffing the USB port or by reverse engineering the driver.
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post #34 of 100
1/13/09 at 7:50am
LOL
Seem not that easy at all

But as for the software part, using VISTA 64 bit, with foobar2000 and WASAPI and 24 bit output, with volume set to 100% and no DSP on it
Should it be fine?
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post #35 of 100
1/13/09 at 7:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taikero View Post
However, I'd suggest whenever you make your next major audio hardware upgrade that you go back and forth again and see if it makes a difference with that new equipment. What you don't hear now you might hear down the road and appreciate.
In am using wasapi in foobar now so am bypassing kmixer and using bit perfect output @44.1khz just because that is what is most commonly recommended and not because I hear a difference. I have a Lunchbox Pro tube amp arriving this week so will compare again when it arrives.
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post #36 of 100
1/13/09 at 7:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by D0gbert View Post
Even if you use WASAPI, kernel streaming or ASIO, there is still a good chance that sound processing is done: the majority of consumer soundcards has drivers which process the sound in one way or another.
Yea, but on my X-Fi I use audio creation mode which trurns off any processing and it is using SPDIF to my EMU 0404 USB so I really doubt it is doing any sound processing.
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post #37 of 100
1/13/09 at 8:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadLover View Post
LOL
Seem not that easy at all

But as for the software part, using VISTA 64 bit, with foobar2000 and WASAPI and 24 bit output, with volume set to 100% and no DSP on it
Should it be fine?
Yes, that will be about as clean as you can get. Except I use 16bit with dithering instead of 24bit. I don't really understand the bit depth setting in software because I am fairly certain I read that my EMU 0404 USB converts to 32bit internally in hardware anyway. If it does that then why does it matter if one uses 16bit or 24bit in software setting?
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post #38 of 100
1/13/09 at 8:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadLover View Post
But as for the software part, using VISTA 64 bit, with foobar2000 and WASAPI and 24 bit output, with volume set to 100% and no DSP on it
Should it be fine?
one link in the audio chain is fine, but that doesn't give enough evidence if the entire chain is performing well.
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post #39 of 100
1/13/09 at 8:09am
amm so what else can I do to make sure it is bit perfect ?
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post #40 of 100
1/13/09 at 8:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by milkweg View Post
Yea, but on my X-Fi I use audio creation mode which trurns off any processing and it is using SPDIF to my EMU 0404 USB so I really doubt it is doing any sound processing.
The EMU is hardly a consumer product, so it's a pretty good bet that their drivers won't process the sound. Creative products have a notorious fame for their drivers, so I'm not entirely convinced.
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post #41 of 100
1/13/09 at 9:25am
I don't use the EMU drivers because I feed it via SPDIF from the X-Fi instead of using USB on the EMU. That's why I have to turn it off/on to get external clock sync if I change the sampling rate. If I did use USB and EMU driver it would be simply a matter of setting sample rate in the driver settings. But then I would have to change the sound card driver used between X-Fi and EMU every time I decided to listen to music or play games. This way I only have to deal with X-Fi driver settings and EMU acts as pure external DAC and not soundcard.
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post #42 of 100
1/13/09 at 9:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by milkweg View Post
I don't use the EMU drivers because I feed it via SPDIF from the X-Fi instead of using USB on the EMU. That's why I have to turn it off/on to get external clock sync if I change the sampling rate. If I did use USB and EMU driver it would be simply a matter of setting sample rate in the driver settings. But then I would have to change the sound card driver used between X-Fi and EMU every time I decided to listen to music or play games. This way I only have to deal with X-Fi driver settings and EMU acts as pure external DAC and not soundcard.
It is a shame that PC audio remains such a hassle.

Of course, I've never been convinced that anything other than good two channel sound was necessary for games - I had several of the Live! cards back in the day, and all you get is something almost like 3d white noise, only colored by your room.

I mean, I guess it is a neat effect, but not really necessary for positional cues.
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post #43 of 100
1/13/09 at 2:40pm
I only use 2 channel audio on my X-Fi. It's a good gaming card and is easy to switch between game mode and audio creation bit perfect playback/recording mode. My other PC has a Chaintech AV-710 but that is XP and need Vista PC for wasapi so moved my music library over to Vista PC. I even have an older PC with Turtle Beach Santa Cruz still doing duty.

I've got it easy compared to a friend. He has Audigy2 and Auzentech Amon which only has USB input. Everytime he switches from Audigy to Auzentech Amon and looks in the Amon soundcard options panel it crashes his PC. I told him he should have got EMU 0404 USB but you know what they say about hindsight.
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post #44 of 100
1/13/09 at 4:44pm
Quote:
My other PC has a Chaintech AV-710 but that is XP and need Vista PC for wasapi so moved my music library over to Vista PC.
WASAPI, kernel streaming and ASIO are entirely equivalent when it comes to audio playback. The chaintech drivers support at least kernel streaming, so that move wasn't necessary.
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post #45 of 100
1/14/09 at 4:05am
Wasn't necessary but wanted to try it out. I have a USB data switch coming this week so will have my music library (which is on external USB HDD) available to both PCs. Both PC's are already hooked up to my EMU 0404 USB via SPDIF. After that I plan to setup TVersity so the music library will also be available to my PS3.
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