[plonter]

Hi.  I recentely started to use digidesign Mbox mini sound card with my computer. this card is mainly for use with protools software for mixing and recording music,but i also want to use it for music listening purposes.  now, in the output settings in foobar i chose DS.  I directed all windows xp sounds to go to my onboard realtek and even disabled the sound in the sound control panel. am i bypassing the wondows kmixer intirely? 
I checked ,and the main volume slider and also the wave volume slider are not influencing the volume at all..this is a good sign for me.  am i bypassing the kmixer then?
thanks!

 

[Mad Max]

Use WASAPI output instead.
DS is DirectSound, which doesn't bypass kmixer.

 

[plonter]

yeah..thanks.  but isn't wasapi only in vista and 7?  i have xp.      like i said ,the wave and master volume sliders don't do nothing,isn't that a fact that i actually DO bypassing the kmixer?

 

[Roller]

No, kmixer is still being used. You're right about WASAPI, it's a Vista/7 exclusive feature. An alternative would be to use ASIO4ALL.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

No, kmixer is still being used. You're right about WASAPI, it's a Vista/7 exclusive feature. An alternative would be to use ASIO4ALL.

are you sure about that?    let me be more exact.. all the native(default) xp sounds are routed to the  internal sound card of my computer (realtek) and are shut off completely (just in case ).  foobar is routed to my outside dac throught directsound.   I checked the volume sliders in the sound control panel and they don't have any effect on the sound at all!  I just don't understand how am o passing through the kmixer if those sliders don't have any effect what so ever?  I thought that this is the method of checking if bypassing the kmixer or not.
I will mention again, all the default sounds of xp are going to the internal realtek soundcard and the only thing that goes to the outside dac is foobar.    so,you are still saying that the kmixer is taking effect on the sound?
 

 

[plonter]

oh..and by the way I have another question:  my headroom dac only get up to 16/44.1 digital input from usb ..and i think that this  may be another proof that i am getting bit perfect stream from my pc,because the kmixer should upsample all data to 48 right..? but in this case i would not hear anything from my dac beause it can't handle 48,only 44.  so I think that this also points that i am bypassing the kmixer,and even if i am not, it is not doing any upsampling to the bits anyway.  am i right ?

 

[Roseval]

A bit dark.
XP can deliver bit perfect output if:
• the master volume control is set to 50% and the "Wave" to 100%,
• 1 and only one audio stream is playing,
• the sample rate is supported by the audio device,
• the bit depth is supported by the audio device.
 
This are the settings to avoid the k-mixer to kick in.
Not to be mistaken for bypassing it.
However, the moment you apply volume control, it will kick in
As you are using DS I expect system volume control to work.
Have you installed any special software, drivers?
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/HastalaVista.html
 

 

[plonter]

 
Quote:

A bit dark.
XP can deliver bit perfect output if:
• the master volume control is set to 50% and the "Wave" to 100%,
• 1 and only one audio stream is playing,
• the sample rate is supported by the audio device,
• the bit depth is supported by the audio device.
 
This are the settings to avoid the k-mixer to kick in.
Not to be mistaken for bypassing it.
However, the moment you apply volume control, it will kick in
As you are using DS I expect system volume control to work.
Have you installed any special software, drivers?
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/HastalaVista.html
 

thanks for the response.. like i said before,the volume control isn't taking any part here,it is muted completely!  so does it matter if i set the master volume and the wave to a certain level?? they don't have any effect so i don't think it is matter in my case.  am i right?    I routed all the xp system sounds to go to the internal sound card (realtek) and only the foobar is playing through DS routed directly to my dac.   I am just not sure if i am bypassing the kmixer completely or i am just getting a bitperfect stream but still go through the kmixer anyway.  what does it mean that the master volume isn't doing anything? I thought that this IS the kmixer..
 

 

[Mad Max]

Oops, WASAPI is vista/7.
There's ASIO4ALL (which is free) and I think Kernel Streaming works in XP, right?

 

[fufula]

There's ASIO4ALL (which is free) and I think Kernel Streaming works in XP, right?

KS works in XP, correct. Foobar supports Kernel Streaming (I'm not sure whether the plugin is included with the installer, but you can dl it off the official website), so I don't believe there's much of a point using ASIO4ALL with it since it's just an ASIO->KS wrapper. And yeah, I'd go with KS over DS to be on the safe side.

 

[plonter]

yeah..i already experimented with those plug ins. KS doesn't work with my dac from some reason,and i have glitches and noise problems with asio4all plugin which i didn't manage to work out.  so as you see,i have no choice but to go DS..but actually the sound is very good and i am almost sure that i am getting bitperfect sound.  going through the kmixer or not..  but i wasn't sure so i wanted to consult with you guys

 

[Roller]

Thing is, KS was never that much stable, but for non-WASAPI OSes, like (ancient) XP, it's one of two alternatives, where ASIO is the other one. To fix the glitches you have with ASIO, just increase the buffers. Playback doesn't require low latency. And like Roseval said, kmixer is still being used, no matter if you set things to avoid any action from it.

 

[nagual]

 
[size=medium]

I´ve got some improvement in sq,  or at least I think so, enabling "Do not map through this device", in  C Panel/ Sounds and Audio Devices/ Hardware/ SB X-Fi E Audio/ Properties/ Properties/ SB X-Fi/ Properties.  This setting seems to belong to the dark side of WinXp, as I couldn´t get an explanation of his behavior, in Google.  Though, it must  involves Kmixer.
​

[/size]

 

[plonter]

I found a link that talks exactly about the method i am using...  please read this and tell me if this is true and producing bit perfect stream like they explain in the page.    
 
http://www.ayre.com/usb-xp_setup.htm

 

[Roller]

Quote:

I found a link that talks exactly about the method i am using...  please read this and tell me if this is true and producing bit perfect stream like they explain in the page.    
 
http://www.ayre.com/usb-xp_setup.htm

It should work acceptably, but is it possible for you to upgrade to Windows 7? Much less hassle and a more audiophile friendly audio stack.