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Windows 7 PC audio setup guidance

post #1 of 4
4/6/11 at 8:41am
Thread Starter 

Hi all,

 

I have been doing a lot of searching through this forum and others, such as audiogon, avsforum, and stereophile.  However, I'm still a relative noob in the computer audio setup world, especially when it comes to the whole bit-perfect setup.  After much reading, I think I've set on running MediaMonkey as my media player, or Foobar.  From there, I'm pretty confused still.

 

My setup is as follows:

 

Dell Studio Slim 540s

Soundcard - Realtek ALC888 HD Audio 7.1 w/ S/PDIF

Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit

FLAC files ripped with EAC

MediaMonkey (or Foobar)

uDac2

Sony TA-AX500 Integrated Amplifier (soon to be Musical Fidelity X-Canv3)

Sennheiser HD595

 

With regard to bit-perfect playback, is it optimal for me to go with ASIO or WASAPI, or nothing at all, using the uDac2?  Being that the uDac2 converts at 24/96, how do I need to setup my soundcard to match everything up properly?

 

I've been reading up on 44.1 vs. 192k, etc. and honestly it all confuses me.  Maybe I just don't grasp that information very well.  All I know is that I want everything to stream at a consistent, compatible level the whole way through the chain.

 

If providing me links to clearer explanations of all this is the best way, please do so.  Otherwise, feel free to suggest your findings and/or preferences with this type of setup.

 

Thanks a bunch, fellas.

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post #2 of 4
4/6/11 at 10:59am

Use WASAPI with whichever media player you wish.  Don't turn on any resampling DSPs and what not, these reduce fidelity and color the sound.  You don't need to worry about those arguments concerning 44.1 vs. x higher sample rate, in fact, just ignore them.  Since you are using SPDIF output, and without any DSPs on, 96kHz audio will reach your uDac as 96kHz, 48kHz as 48kHz, etc.  So everything matches up fine.

In Control Panel, under Sounds > Playback Devices, make sure you don't have any of Windows' DSPs enabled for your selected output.

Then you kick back and enjoy your music.

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post #3 of 4
4/6/11 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks Mad Max.  I would be using the S/PDIF output from my soundcard, however, the uDac-2 is USB.  So, I'm running my audio out via USB.  Does that change anything in the process?

 

Additionally, I have a Blu-Ray drive that I use as my DVD/BD player, which I run HDMI video out of my PC, but want to run the S/PDIF audio out for movies.  Would this require me changing the audio out control every time I want to watch a movie vs. just listening to music?  And will this be interfered by WASAPI in any way?

 

Thanks again fellas.

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post #4 of 4
4/6/11 at 1:47pm

USB is fine.  If you want any special effects that your soundcard provides, they may still work even though you are outputting through USB, otherwise you don't even need a soundcard if you are using USB.

To get audio out through HDMI from a computer, you have to select HDMI output in your media player or in Playback Devices under Windows.  So no, no messing with settings required to get movie audio to your uDac.

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