[vooch311]

Hi all! I recently acquired an AudioEngine D1 USB DAC and am loving it. Using Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I have been reading up quite a bit on here but still have some questions about a few things. Any help would be great
 
 
1. Im using Kernel Streaming through Foobar at the moment and it has a definite clicking/popping problem until I resample using the DSP to 48 kHz, then it sounds great. Same goes for when I use ASIO4All. Is there a reason the resampling eliminates the popping?
(I cant get WASAPI to work at all, it plays for a second and then freezes)
 
2. Ive noticed that I cannot listen to anything else while kernal streaming is being used. Is there a way around this, say for instance if I want to play a game and run foobar in the background? Or do I have to go back to using DirectSound in foobar?
 
3. what setting should be used in Windows control panel under the advanced tab where it says Default Format? Im guessing 24/96 since that is what the D1 is capable of. Would that mean that 16/44 files (which is the majority of mp3's) would be "upconverted" to 24/96? 
 
4. Does playing a 16 bit file through a device set to 24 bit cause any loss in quality or issues? 44 kHz to 96 kHz?
 
Sorry if these are basic questions to you guys, I am new to this and have searched quite a bit but figured I would go ahead and ask for some advice finally. Im beginning to think that this rerouting around the Windows mixer is not worth the trouble...
 
 

 

[esn89]

1.  Make sure you are using Windows 7 for WASAPI, everything else, use ASIO.  Some may be against this, but there is a money version of which is better in my opinion:  http://www.aqvox.de/Asio-USB-Audio-installation-e.htm
 
2.  There is a way to go around that, you might want to tinker in your Control Panel -> Sound.  From there you want to disable the DS and set the USB/DAC as default.
 
3.  Honestly, it's preference.  16/44 is plenty, there is no reason to upsample even if your DAC is capable of such feats, the difference is not discernible.
 
4.  No.

 

 

[Roller]

You can increase the buffer size in preferences, as that can help eliminate the issue.
 
If you're listening to sound other than the player's when its set to Kernel Streaming, you might as well disable it entirely since bitperfect playback will be broken. Do you get any noticeable quality drop when using DirectSound?
 
By having the output format set higher than the audio formats you use, the files will be upsampled, which might or might not be desirable, depending on personal preferences and the way gear handles resampling. If you set the output format too low and you try to play a file on a format that's higher than what you've set, the file won't play. Do some tests with different formats and see what sounds best to you, but remember that placebo also plays its part when it comes to hard to notice changes in sound.
 
There is no problem in playing back 16bits content on 24bits, since there are 8bits of padding added to the original file, maintaining its integrity.

 

[vooch311]

Thanks for the info so far guys.
 
Am I right in guessing that because ASIO and Kernel Streaming both make popping noises unless resampled to 48000 Hz that there must still be some interaction with the windows mixer or perhaps the sound card because we all know that windows resamples everything to 48000. i was under the impression that usb audio would go straight from foobar to the usb cord and into the DAC. This however does not appear to be true as I believe there are drivers, sound card, windows etc somehwere in the mix there that are altering the data somehow.
 
If the above is true then I would be better off with optical out rather than the usb connection right? When using optical do you still need to select ASIO or Kernel or can you use the normal optical out. Does this still get altered, is there no way to just flat out send the digital signal untouched to the DAC? This seems more complicated than it should be.
 
Please correct me if anything above is just flat out wrong or doesnt make sense.
 
thanks again

 

[Roller]

Windows XP KMixer does indeed apply very poor quality resampling, but that isn't the case with either Vista or 7. With modern OSes like Vista and 7, as long as you send audio in the same format as what's set on the Windows control panel, there will be no resampling done.
Kernel Streaming was a valid option during the XP time, but now it has been superceeded by WASAPI. It's unfortunate that you're having issues with WASAPI, but they do seldom happen. ASIO is an alternative, although its main purpose isn't so muhc for playback but rather for pro audio and DJ usage, where minimal latency is a must.
 
If the particular USB host on your computer does indeed cause issues, then optical could avoid all that.

 

[littlexsparkee]

Thanks, you just solved my problem with the D1. Resampling to 48k fixed everything. It took me several weeks to figure out what was wrong; too bad those ASIO and Wasapi are so buggy.

 

[vooch311]

Glad I could help!
Still not sure why it has to be resampled for those kernal streaming plugins but it def works. I actually know a guy who works at Audio Engine and he has his foobar resampled to 48k as well lol.