[jasonwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by muad /img/forum/go_quote.gif You could use the opa627 for the headphone out but I haven't tried it. Be warned about the opa627 tho. It is a slightly dark sounding opamp. But musically very nice. Really takes any harshness out of the music. Plus a very clear soundstage. The treble doesn't seem to come through as well. But it sounds very nice. I would definitely call the opa627 opamp coloured. It makes some of my badly recorded songs and bad mp3s sound quite alright. Ive never heard music sound like this...

In a prior post you recommended the OPA627 over the LM4562NA, which seems to be the more popular choice. How is the LM4562NA in comparison?

 

[muad]

No no, ive never tried the LM4562. The LM4562na was recommended for the headphone out. I only use the dac as my preamp (speaker out). The LT1364 was the recommended for the preamp. I was comparing that one to the opa627.

 

[muad]

Lol spanky, I just put my xfi back in and you're right. So I guess I don't have to turn on bitmatched playback! Nice

 

[_Spanky_]

I figure bit-matched playback is for ASIO. WASAPI just talks directly and bypasses the whole control panel, probably even the bit-mached playback option

 

[muad]

I guess thats the only logical explanation for it. Either way, saves me having to switch modes

I think Ill keep the card in. I was gonna sell it because I was having annoying mic issues but I can just use the onboard mic and use the xfi for everything else. Plus I don't think audio creation mode liked gaming too much. Thanks for the tip

 

[_Spanky_]

No problem. As far as I know, Audio Creation Mode turns the X-Fi into a super basic sound card as far as gaming goes, so much so that you would probably be better off with onboard sound instead. In Game Mode all the goodies are there like EAX and hardware acceleration with OpenAL and whatnot.

 

[muad]

If I want eax I should turn on stereo mixing in the spdif options then?

 

[_Spanky_]

Tough question. X-Fi things are weird. I was told by Creative and also read on forums including this one that my model won't send EAX through SPDIF because only the higher models do it such as the PCI-E Titanium. They're wrong. I don't have the stereo mixing option in my control panel. The way it behaves for me is that what's sent out the analog channel is also sent out the digital as well. I can change the volume of the analog and it changes the digital as well. Your best bet is to test it yourself. You might want to check this out:
RightMark 3D Sound. Products. Audio Rightmark

 

[muad]

Well i've got the titanium, so shouldn't be a problem then. I'll just test eax in bioshock. The sound in that game is surreal!

 

[sfrancis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by muad /img/forum/go_quote.gif No no, ive never tried the LM4562. The LM4562na was recommended for the headphone out. I only use the dac as my preamp (speaker out). The LT1364 was the recommended for the preamp. I was comparing that one to the opa627.

Well to be exact, there are two order no. for LM4562, one is LM4562MA which is a SOIC packaging and the other LM4562NA which is a DIP packaging. You will need the NA version.

 

[doctorcilantro]

Bit-perfect relates to how the data is "streamed". No DSP and bypass Windows k-mixer (on XP). In the past this was ASIO & KS, but now we have WASAPI, and maybe DirectSound in new versions of Windows, but I don't think so??? Vista and 7 have changed things I think but I'm not an expert. The other test is to try to pass DTS to a reciever, if that works it's bit-perfect.

the curious thing about WASAPI on non-exclusive mode is that the sound is routed through the Windows mixer (I think). Or maybe it doesn't show up in the Windows VU meter but the volume slider still affects ampitude. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to know more about shared mode WASAPI; I think exclusive must be used to truly bypass Windows.

If you have drop outs it's not "bit-perfect", that's true, but that could be a latency issue or hardware problem. The bit-perfect signal is not making it to your transducers intact. Does that make sense?

Even you do you a software sample rate conversion (upsampling) and send it out with no DSP or ReplayGain etc. that should theoretically be bit-perfect, given the output mode and device of course.

Anyone chime to correct me, as I'm not really that up to speed on this for the most part.

Here's some good reading on bit-perfect.

DC


Quote:

Originally Posted by _Spanky_ /img/forum/go_quote.gif For me, bit-perfect means that whenever I change to a song with a different sample rate than the previous song, I get a brief moment of hiss and a click from the D1. This happens like clockwork with SPDIF from my X-Fi. With my onboard, the clicking seems random as well as with the USB. Sometimes it'll click when opening a 44.1kHz while playing a 44.1kHz. I know my X-Fi is bit-perfect so there's no need for me to mess with anything else. I do however use optical SPDIF from my onboard card for videos since it gives less "popping" than my X-Fi does. I don't even think I can pass bit-perfect with videos so less "popping" means more to me for videos than bit-perfect does. I don't really mess with USB since I have 2 other options. I do play around with it every so often but I get noise with the USB and can sometimes hear my mouse. It's probably just USB or my motherboard. Most of the time I just leave the USB unplugged. *EDIT* Guess I didn't answer your question. For my situation, SPDIF is preferred over USB. Generally, I think SPDIF is preferred over USB. Something about jitter with USB as well as noise. Personally, and others may disagree, I think the ideal way would be optical SPDIF via TOSLINK. This isolates the 2 components so grounding and noise isn't transferred, not that you'd find a lot of it with coaxial. But... optical has that extra "converting" stage where it has to be converted into light then unconverted, whether that makes a difference or not is for the forum warriors to decide.

 

[jasonwc]

Foobar2000 uses the "exclusive" mode for WASAPI. When exclusive mode is used, no system or program sounds are mixed in, and none of sound effect settings in the driver page make a difference. For example, on my onboard Realtek soundcard, SRS and environment settings are ignored when WASAPI is used. I don't hear system noises and if another program attempts to access the sound device, it spits out an error.

However, the Windows volume meter still works.

 

[doctorcilantro]

Yeah, well I know things changed in Vista, that's why J. River now has 3 volume control options:

System
Internal
Application

Matt at J. river said it was actually not the best revision they did even given all the hype about how much better Vista+ are. I guess things are going in the right direction with WASAPI though.

For me, it was strange to have Windows 7 have some control over my old EMU 1212M, when previously Windows would not touch the card (i.e. you could not change the volume if it was the default device); everything had to be done in EMU patchmix - Windows was locked out even for Wav not just ASIO.

DC

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonwc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Foobar2000 uses the "exclusive" mode for WASAPI. When exclusive mode is used, no system or program sounds are mixed in, and none of sound effect settings in the driver page make a difference. For example, on my onboard Realtek soundcard, SRS and environment settings are ignored when WASAPI is used. I don't hear system noises and if another program attempts to access the sound device, it spits out an error. However, the Windows volume meter still works.

 

[_Spanky_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorcilantro /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you have drop outs it's not "bit-perfect", that's true, but that could be a latency issue or hardware problem. The bit-perfect signal is not making it to your transducers intact. Does that make sense?

If you were talking about my "popping" as drop outs then I should probably clarify. I don't get popping while using WASAPI, only while playing videos and using the output of my X-Fi. I still suspect some kind of buffer issue or hardware related issue since it happens in both MPC-HC and VLC but completely goes away with my onboard SPDIF. Bit-perfect doesn't matter to me (damn hard to get if not impossible) for videos since it's mostly lossy audio.

 

[tommo21]

Well! Had my D1 for a month now.....extremely happy with it......done a little opamp-rolling and changed the stock-tube to a Raytheon 5670 D-getter tube. Gone a bit ebay-crazy and ordered around 10 other tubes to try out. Including WE396a 1949, Raytheon 5670 Windmill, RCA Command 5670, National 5670, CBS 5670 Black plate, Sylvania 5670, GE 5670 Five star, GE black plates and of course the GE Jan tube which Ryan sent me since I did'nt get it with the D1. Not feeling the need to fork out crazy money for a Bendix tube yet.....but who knows

I've also got av few opamps on the way. Of course the LT1364 and the LM4562NA. I've tried the LM49720HA and currently trying out the OPA6107. Also got 627's and 637's on standby to try. Gotten myself the Shure SHR 840's as well...

One negative thing about the D1.....that the outputs doesn't mute when using Headphones.....but that's it....