[tomscy2000]

Argh... for the longest time, I'd been using WASAPI to output music to my DAC/amp. My amp had its own ASIO implementation that played nice with Foobar, but I never found it to be as crisp and clean as what WASAPI was able to deliver. Plus, it never locked out the Windows DirectSound stream, so if I didn't mute all my other sounds, they would play in the background, leading me to believe that the ASIO implementation my manufacturer had designed wasn't quite bit perfect. Thus, I happily stuck with WASAPI (after a SoX resampler kicked everything up to 24/96).
 
Fast forward eight months, and my manufacturer (DA&T), released a newer version of the ASIO drivers it had. I installed it, and it didn't sound any different. WASAPI still sounded cleaner and crisper.
 
Fast forward to just a half hour ago, when I found that Foobar had an update for its ASIO support component. I promptly downloaded it, and tested it out. In my volume mixer, instead of Foobar, it now says ASIOhost32 when playing back music. Foobar now auto-detects my DAC/amp's ASIO driver; no need to label left and right channels. Great!
 
But here's the REAL kicker ---- ASIO output now sounds BETTER than WASAPI! I couldn't believe my ears at first; bass was more textured, FR sounded smoother, and highs were sparklier. I thought it was the placebo effect working its magic. I kept switching between ASIO and WASAPI, turning my SoX resampler on and off... there was no denying it --- ASIO now sounds better than WASAPI. Period.
 
What is going on? I'm so confused.
 
The most recent change to the Foobar ASIO component: http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_asio

 

[darkswordsman17]

I'll give it a try.
 
I've always had WASAPI and ASIO sound different for whatever reason. ASIO usually sounded a bit cleaner more transparent with a bit tighter bass. Tried WASAPI again recently and chose it as the bass sounded just a bit better.
 
On my TitaniumHD ASIO doesn't stop directsound, which actually caused me to prefer ASIO as I'd get issues with WASAPI. The only issue is that sometimes it would kick the sampling rate when another audio source started playing, but changing the settings solved that.
 
Ok, I just gave it a try. Haha, now WASAPI and ASIO sound the exact same to me, which was never the case before, so its basically the opposite of your experience. 
 
This is with v1.1.7, no resampling or other DSP. I'm actually running a modified one that I found on deviantart (Shades Lossless) although I don't think that matters (didn't notice any sound differences which isn't surprising since I'm using the same settings as I was before).