[crutex]

 

[chinesekiwi]

For XP, oh boy it does!

One of the biggest free upgrades to your sound you can do if you're running Windows XP or before.

Quote:

[size=small]Configuring kernel streaming via Foobar2000[/size] * First download the Kernel Streaming Plugin and unzip the .dll file to your 'components' folder in Foobar2000. This is usually 'C:\Program Files\Foobar2000\components' or whatever directory you installed Foobar2000 in. * Open up Foobar2000 * Go 'File ---> Preferences' * If needed, expand 'Playback' by clicking on the [+] symbol. * Click on the word 'Output' * Under 'Output Device', there should be a drop-down menu. Select the one which has 'KS: [Name of your soundcard] [Name of the PCI port you installed it in]' * Click 'Save All' then 'Close' and then restart Foobar2000.[/b] You're all done! Sidenote: The 'Buffer Length' Playback issues can include skipping, 'static' or the track not even playing at all. The higher quality your soundcard and CPU, the less chance of issues arising because of lowering the buffer length. Mine's set at 250ms but this is purely optional and not essential for bit-perfect output. [size=small]Configuring kernel streaming via Winamp[/size] Well, although I personally use Foobar2000, I admit that installing this in Winamp is slightly easier. * Firstly, download the latest version of the Winamp Kernel Streaming Plugin (v.3.63 at time of writing). * Unzip the .dll file and put it in the 'Plugins' folder of Winamp, usually C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins' or whatever directory your Winamp installation is in. * Open up Winamp and go to Options ---> Preferences --> Output. Click on 'Kernel Streaming Output' and then click 'Configure' at the bottom of the Winamp Preferences box. Select your soundcard under 'Output Device'. Optional: I recommend ticking the 'Gapless Mode' box as well, as playback will not be interrupted between tracks. This is particularly useful if you're listening to an album track-to-track as a lot of albums are made to feel like one continuous track. * Click 'Ok' and restart Winamp. Congrats, you did it! Thanks for taking the time to read this guide and enjoy your better sounds!

 

[Good Times]

Does ASIO work on iTunes?

 

[iriverdude]

Not under Windows no. I've noticed a increase in sound quality using ASIO/Kernal.

 

[Slogra]

My experience is that it depends on the soundcard. Some soundcards have perfect waveout/directsound. While other soundcards might sound better with ASIO and others Kernel Streaming.
I've only tested with digital out (that's why i'm mentioning bitperfect). I'm not sure if it's another story when you use analog out.

With digital out you can actually test if it's perfect, while analog it much harder to test, you will have to trust your ears.

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slogra /img/forum/go_quote.gif My experience is that it depends on the soundcard. Some soundcards have perfect waveout/directsound. While other soundcards might sound better with ASIO and others Kernel Streaming. I've only tested with digital out (that's why i'm mentioning bitperfect). I'm not sure if it's another story when you use analog out. With digital out you can actually test if it's perfect, while analog it much harder to test, you will have to trust your ears.

The reason why ASIO/KS is applied is to skip XPs own volume control that forces its ugly head in every sound related application, and force resamples it to 48Khz, AND even does ****ty job at it. So every soundcard, even those with bitperfect output on SPDIF, should be improved.

Im not sure about Vista though. Does having WASAPI or ASIO enabled help there or is vistas volume control wiser?

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaZa /img/forum/go_quote.gif The reason why ASIO/KS is applied is to skip XPs own volume control that forces its ugly head in every sound related application, and force resamples it to 48Khz, AND even does ****ty job at it. So every soundcard, even those with bitperfect output on SPDIF, should be improved. Im not sure about Vista though. Does having WASAPI or ASIO enabled help there or is vistas volume control wiser?

ZERO difference in Windows Vista/7 for me.

 

[milkweg]

I use WASAPI on Vista but I can't claim I hear any significant difference between that and Directsound either.

 

[Scrith]

All ASIO (or DirectSound or WASAPI) does is route the audio data from the sound program directly to the audio driver, bypassing DirectSound. In Windows XP (and probably previous versions) this was important because DirectSound in XP manipulates the audio data (for volume control, or resampling to some other data rate, or who knows what).

In Vista (and Windows 7, I assume) this is no longer a problem, so there is no audible difference (that I've heard, or ever heard of anyone claiming after a blind test). However, some people who got used to using ASIO in XP (or read about how wonderful it is in a post that didn't say it only helps in XP) continue to use it in Vista (and sometimes claim that it is better because they read that somewhere). In theory it seems like a good idea to bypass DirectSound, even in Vista where it doesn't affect the sound, so there isn't really any opposition to using it, but I don't think there is much of a benefit either.

 

[r@mside]

Kernel Streaming did nothing for me:
Notebook>foobar>KS:SB Audigy 2>HD 595

should add, XP SP3

 

[Gitbags]

Found a big difference (to my ears) in sound with both KS and ASIO over direct sound with both headphones and speakers through foobar. but can't hear a difference between ASIO and KS. Using m-audio 24/96 and audigy 2zs, running xp sp3.

 

[rederanged]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaZa /img/forum/go_quote.gif The reason why ASIO/KS is applied is to skip XPs own volume control that forces its ugly head in every sound related application, and force resamples it to 48Khz, AND even does ****ty job at it. So every soundcard, even those with bitperfect output on SPDIF, should be improved.

DirectSound does not always resample to 48 kHz with every sound card. For instance, it leaves a 44.1 kHz bitstream going to my AV710 at 44.1 kHz. I don't know if it's bit-perfect when the volume is maxed out, though.

 

[daglesj]

I find it hard to tell a difference using it or not. Therefore, I suspect a degree of FUD.

I played with ASIO on everything for a while but it was just a fad. I dont tend to bother installing it on new builds.

 

[obobskivich]

I've done ASIO with bit-matched/etc blah blah to my external decoder vs "default everything" with my hardware

and found that:
in terms of "this is more accurate on paper"/"more accurate to a meter", yeah, I'll agree, its not resampling the audio, its not adulterating it, etc -> more accurate (as in the #'s in to the #'s out line up more correctly)

in terms of "can I hear a difference", ever so slightly on some notes, more noticably (at least for me) the highest frequencies (and I'm saying slightly), personally I don't bother with the added hastle/complexity of it (which isn't really "that much"), for the improvements, but like chinesekiwi said, it is a free upgrade (and given that we are talking about free, you should at least try it for yourself and decide if its worth it in your opinion)

you'll probably hear a bigger difference in adding something like an AVR box (which is a fairly minor tweak, albeit an expensive one), to give you an example

ultimately, see #3

 

[rederanged]

The problem I had with ASIO and kernel streaming when I played around with it was that inevitably the OS or some other application would decide to make a sound, which would cause my music to cut out until I restarted playback. Since I couldn't hear a difference anyway, I decided it just wasn't worth the hassle of going through all of my apps and turning sound off.