[rb2013]

Ok success! Got the WaveIOasio to install. Foobar reinstall (needed it anyway was a 1.34 beta almost a yr old). Forgot I needed to configure the ASIO Virtual Devices in Foobar Output. Funny it showed the, I guess stock, ASIO:XMOS USB Audio 2.0 ST 3033 and the ASIO:WaveIO ASIO driver as choices as well as KS and WASAPI. But the ST 3033 would not setup in the Virtual Devices Foobar menu, probably do to a conflict with WaveIO.

I assume WaveIO is the better ASIO driver.

So how does it sound...well not as incisive or dynamic as the KS. Smoother, 'rounder'. Low output level. Nice, but I not sure better then KS. I'll have give the two some evaluation. One thing I already noticed - I'm able to increase the Buffer size in Foobar past 2,000ms, which I was limited in KS mode. Pushed up to 7930ms, sounding better! Smoother still, but gained back some incisiveness.

I love computer audio!!!! Now I can switch on the fly between KS and ASIO! Tweek buffering, dithering, with SoX upsampler 44k wave files to 96k and alaising, bandpass filtering, phase response.

Sounding Awesome! World class already. For $155 a screaming audio bagain

 

[ThurstonX]

Yer killin' me here, Bob!  Love your enthusiasm.  OK, dumb it down for me: why do I need this device in-between my Win 7 PC and Bifrost w/ their Gen 2 USB?  Obviously I wouldn't be using that $100 element of the Bifrost, if I got this.

 

[Chodi]

Ok success! Got the WaveIOasio to install. Foobar reinstall (needed it anyway was a 1.34 beta almost a yr old). Forgot I needed to configure the ASIO Virtual Devices in Foobar Output. Funny it showed the, I guess stock, ASIO:XMOS USB Audio 2.0 ST 3033 and the ASIO:WaveIO ASIO driver as choices as well as KS and WASAPI. But the ST 3033 would not setup in the Virtual Devices Foobar menu, probably do to a conflict with WaveIO.

I assume WaveIO is the better ASIO driver.

So how does it sound...well not as incisive or dynamic as the KS. Smoother, 'rounder'. Low output level. Nice, but I not sure better then KS. I'll have give the two some evaluation. One thing I already noticed - I'm able to increase the Buffer size in Foobar past 2,000ms, which I was limited in KS mode. Pushed up to 7930ms, sounding better! Smoother still, but gained back some incisiveness.

I love computer audio!!!! Now I can switch on the fly between KS and ASIO! Tweek buffering, dithering, with SoX upsampler 44k wave files to 96k and alaising, bandpass filtering, phase response.

Sounding Awesome! World class already. For $155 a screaming audio bagain

Actually, you probably need to close foobar and restart it when you change from ks to asio for it to register properly. I mostly use Jriver and I have to close the program and restart/open it again after such a driver change for it to switch. I think foobar is the same in that regard. The spy tool I included will easily tell you what is happening if you run that while using foobar it gives you all the information including any errors that might be present.
 
I might also suggest that you go into your audio control panel and select something else as the default output. If ks or asio are working properly they don't need to be set as default. That will insure that you are bypassing the windows mixer. You could set the sound chip on your motherboard as default output device. There really should not be a volume difference between ks and asio, at least nothing significant.

 

[rb2013]

Actually, you probably need to close foobar and restart it when you change from ks to asio for it to register properly. I mostly use Jriver and I have to close the program and restart/open it again after such a driver change for it to switch. I think foobar is the same in that regard. The spy tool I included will easily tell you what is happening if you run that while using foobar it gives you all the information including any errors that might be present.

I might also suggest that you go into your audio control panel and select something else as the default output. If ks or asio are working properly they don't need to be set as default. That will insure that you are bypassing the windows mixer. You could set the sound chip on your motherboard as default output device. There really should not be a volume difference between ks and asio, at least nothing significant.

Well in Foobar you just select the KS or ASIO and hit 'apply'. No need to open and close Foobar, same goes for settings changes to the buffer in the dsp upsampler SoX. You can hear the audible change when going from KS to ASIO. You are right the voln level doesn't change, but the KS is more dynamic so sounds louder. I have the reg DS set for default.

I'm really liking ASIO sound with buffering set at 7800ms.




I've had trouble opening the Spy tool. I dragged to the desktop.

 

[rb2013]

Yer killin' me here, Bob!  Love your enthusiasm.  OK, dumb it down for me: why do I need this device in-between my Win 7 PC and Bifrost w/ their Gen 2 USB?  Obviously I wouldn't be using that $100 element of the Bifrost, if I got this.

This replaces the Gen 2 USB. It takes the signal from the pc by usb to output by spdif to the rca spdif input on the Bifrost. It isolates the pc noise and electrical ripple from the pc and the dac. But it does more, it's a critical part of the audio chain. The software drivers are important in this conversion process. With several methods to this conversions. The best is considered what is called ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output).

 

[rb2013]

Edit

 

[Chodi]

Well in Foobar you just select the KS or ASIO and hit 'apply'. No need to open and close Foobar, same goes for settings changes to the buffer in the dsp upsampler SoX. You can hear the audible change when going from KS to ASIO. You are right the voln level doesn't change, but the KS is more dynamic so sounds louder. I have the reg DS set for default.

I'm really liking ASIO sound with buffering set at 7800ms.




I've had trouble opening the Spy tool. I dragged to the desktop.

Leave the spy tool in the install folder. The just right click on it and create a shortcut which will go to your desktop. If you try to move the entire spy tool out of the install folder and put it on the desktop it won't run. It needs to be inside the install folder or it cannot find the data. You can just run the spy tool from inside the install folder by double clicking it but it makes more sense to create a shortcut to the desktop so you don't have to keep opening the install folder to run it.

 

[ThurstonX]

This replaces the Gen 2 USB. It takes the signal from the pc by usb to output by spdif to the rca spdif input on the Bifrost. It isolates the pc noise and electrical ripple from the pc and the dac. But it does more, it's a critical part of the audio chain. The software drivers are important in this conversion process. With several methods to this conversions. The best is considered what is called ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output).

 
That's what I thought.  Thanks for confirming.

 

[genclaymore]

It seems to me xmos is a very good chip, when i had devices with Tenor and VIA's usb32 chip i could never get asio or KS to work right for me no matter what i did.  With my Peach tree Audio X1 I bough recently, I don't have any of those issues. Are there any latest xmos drivers out there? I not having issues i just curious, other then the xmos evaluation drivers.

 

[rb2013]

It seems to me xmos is a very good chip, when i had devices with Tenor and VIA's usb32 chip i could never get asio or KS to work right for me no matter what i did.  With my Peach tree Audio X1 I bough recently, I don't have any of those issues. Are there any latest xmos drivers out there? I not having issues i just curious, other then the xmos evaluation drivers.

I believe the latest V2 driver is 2.23

 

[rb2013]

Leave the spy tool in the install folder. The just right click on it and create a shortcut which will go to your desktop. If you try to move the entire spy tool out of the install folder and put it on the desktop it won't run. It needs to be inside the install folder or it cannot find the data. You can just run the spy tool from inside the install folder by double clicking it but it makes more sense to create a shortcut to the desktop so you don't have to keep opening the install folder to run it.

Worked -thanks again! The Spytool is very cool. Confirm the KS and ASIO switching in Foobar, without reopenning. In the Spytool when I switch to KS the ASIO tab dissappears.

Where would look for dropouts or hiccups? In the error fields?

 

[rb2013]

OK I cracked open the case for some photos. While it was open, I decided to swap the Philips BC 2,200uf 25v filter caps for some same sized Pana FCs I had leftover from another project. Should give a little better ps ripple filtering.

Here are the photos:

 

[Chodi]

Worked -thanks again! The Spytool is very cool. Confirm the KS and ASIO switching in Foobar, without reopenning. In the Spytool when I switch to KS the ASIO tab dissappears.

Where would look for dropouts or hiccups? In the error fields?

Open the spy tool and look down the main menu for ISO Streams and click that. The rest should be obvious as it shows you everything in real time including errors.

 

[rb2013]

Open the spy tool and look down the main menu for ISO Streams and click that. The rest should be obvious as it shows you everything in real time including errors.

I've been running for 5 hours with the new caps - not one error in the list. Looks like it's working pefectly. Thanks!

 

[sandab]

Got my Gustard U12 today, and it sounds excellent.  Much better device than the Peachtree X1.  The X1 by itself sounded pretty harsh with distorted highs and was unlistenable to me without a Wyrd.  Clearly the USB +5V noise was beyond it and affected its PLL badly.  Swapping out the X1 for the U12 helped smooth out and clean up the sound substantially, and although I can tell on any recording it's most noticeable on really bad ones (think Amy Winehouse / Back in Black).  When I have time I'm going to try it with only the U12 and no Wyrd.  But between the X1 and U12 there's no question which is better spent money...