[dnaimad]

so far not working, foobar is giving a playback error popup: Unsupported stream format

also all the features of the ap80 are not accessable when in dac mode

seems like dac mode is crap compared to OTG mode

i can connect a 10TB hard drive with OTG mode and play the files directly bit perfect and access the MSEB too. so what good is this dac mode crap?

For "unsupported stream format" make sure you have selected WASAPI push AP80 as the output device. You may also need to set the output format bit depth to the same as the source files, eg 24-bit.

Yes, MSEB and EQ seem to be disabled in DAC mode. This feature still allows to play sound from a PC/Mac through the AP80's DAC unmodified, which will be far superior to the inbuilt sound card, so a very useful feature IMO.

You also have at your disposal a range of high quality EQ options with Foobar. Highly recommended is the Mathaudio parametric EQ.

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

For "unsupported stream format" make sure you have selected WASAPI push AP80 as the output device. You may also need to set the output format bit depth to the same as the source files, eg 24-bit.

Yes, MSEB and EQ seem to be disabled in DAC mode. This feature still allows to play sound from a PC/Mac through the AP80's DAC unmodified, which will be far superior to the inbuilt sound card, so a very useful feature IMO.

You also have at your disposal a range of high quality EQ options with Foobar. Highly recommended is the Mathaudio parametric EQ.

if its using my computers sound card in any way then it will be bottlenecked by that, upscaling is an illusion.

and if its not using it then simply putting your files on an external hard drive and using OTG mode would be better anyway

poeple should have backups of their files anyway.

 

[AndySocial]

if its using my computers sound card in any way then it will be bottlenecked by that, upscaling is an illusion.

and if its not using it then simply putting your files on an external hard drive and using OTG mode would be better anyway

poeple should have backups of their files anyway.

Using a DAP in DAC mode is essentially using it as your computer's sound card. That doesn't mean it's the same as just playing the files on the DAP, though, because it's bypassing all of the digital signal processing and file management parts of the DAP, performing those on the PC. The only steps being performed by the AP80 if it's in DAC mode are the digital-to-analog conversion and amplification. There are still plenty of other DSP steps before a file gets presented to the DAC - it has to be converted from whatever file format it is in into a pure digital stream that the DAC can process. If you want the AP80 to perform the DSP and DAC and amplification steps, then OTG mode is what you want. If you want to use the AP80 as a more powerful and cleaner DAC/amp for the audio that is being handled by your PC's media programs, then DAC mode is what you want. There is no "pure" path that takes a FLAC or DSD file and outputs it to your headphones - there are steps that are unavoidable no matter what the file is and what the DSP/DAC/Amp chain is.

 

[dnaimad]

if its using my computers sound card in any way then it will be bottlenecked by that, upscaling is an illusion.

Seriously? After all my effort to explain? I give up!

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

Using a DAP in DAC mode is essentially using it as your computer's sound card. That doesn't mean it's the same as just playing the files on the DAP, though, because it's bypassing all of the digital signal processing and file management parts of the DAP, performing those on the PC. The only steps being performed by the AP80 if it's in DAC mode are the digital-to-analog conversion and amplification. There are still plenty of other DSP steps before a file gets presented to the DAC - it has to be converted from whatever file format it is in into a pure digital stream that the DAC can process. If you want the AP80 to perform the DSP and DAC and amplification steps, then OTG mode is what you want. If you want to use the AP80 as a more powerful and cleaner DAC/amp for the audio that is being handled by your PC's media programs, then DAC mode is what you want. There is no "pure" path that takes a FLAC or DSD file and outputs it to your headphones - there are steps that are unavoidable no matter what the file is and what the DSP/DAC/Amp chain is.

why are people doing this instead of just playing the music off the ap80 alone?

because they have some audio files on their pc they are too lazy too move onto the sd card or external hard drive?

 

[AndySocial]

why are people doing this instead of just playing the music off the ap80 alone?

because they have some audio files on their pc they are too lazy too move onto the sd card or external hard drive?

Maybe because they like the sound of the AP80's DAC/Amp combination, but don't like how it handles files, or want to play music from a massive collection on their computer, or want to use the Tidal or Qobuz services that aren't available on the AP80. Maybe they have a great equalizer and media manager on their computer, but they haven't invested in a great sound card, so the AP80 can fill in for them. There are any number of reasons why someone would use an external DAC for their computer, and laziness isn't necessary as a motivation.

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

Maybe because they like the sound of the AP80's DAC/Amp combination, but don't like how it handles files, or want to play music from a massive collection on their computer, or want to use the Tidal or Qobuz services that aren't available on the AP80. Maybe they have a great equalizer and media manager on their computer, but they haven't invested in a great sound card, so the AP80 can fill in for them. There are any number of reasons why someone would use an external DAC for their computer, and laziness isn't necessary as a motivation.

ya but then they have to mess around with foobar2000 and wasapi plugin and use that to send a proper signal to the ap80, otherwise they are doing nothing but upscaling which is an illusion

 

[AndySocial]

ya but then they have to mess around with foobar2000 and wasapi plugin and use that to send a proper signal to the ap80, otherwise they are doing nothing but upscaling which is an illusion

It's not my thing, but plenty of people seem to think it's worth the effort. And, you only need to configure once, so it's not a huge amount of excess effort.

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

It's not my thing, but plenty of people seem to think it's worth the effort. And, you only need to configure once, so it's not a huge amount of excess effort.

or maybe these dac companies are lying to poeple by implying that you can just plug it into your crappy pc and magically get top quality sound.

when really its an illusion haha

unless you go out of your way to configure some special software that they dont tell you that you have to do

 

[moisespr123]

why are people doing this instead of just playing the music off the ap80 alone?

because they have some audio files on their pc they are too lazy too move onto the sd card or external hard drive?

Why? Well, let's say I'm watching Music Videos on YouTube, or maybe watching a movie on Netflix, and I want to use my AP80 as the "sound card". Or let's say you're editing music, and want to hear the result with your AP80.

Or maybe you want to use the AP80 as a DAC -> Bluetooth transmitter for your aptX, LDAC, or UAT receivers.

There are a lot of use cases.

 

[headfirst]

Why? Well, let's say I'm watching Music Videos on YouTube, or maybe watching a movie on Netflix, and I want to use my AP80 as the "sound card". Or let's say you're editing music, and want to hear the result with your AP80.

Or maybe you want to use the AP80 as a DAC -> Bluetooth transmitter for your aptX, LDAC, or UAT receivers.

There are a lot of use cases.

Exactly. It comes down to the very basic fundamentals of using a separate DAC at all. All sound coming from a superior DAC will be better than sound coming from an inferior DAC. In many cases, such as mine, the AP80’s DAC is superior to the one in your computer. When I play any audio from my laptop through the AP80, I hear objectively better quality than if I were to use the built-in headphone jack.

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

Exactly. It comes down to the very basic fundamentals of using a separate DAC at all. All sound coming from a superior DAC will be better than sound coming from an inferior DAC. In many cases, such as mine, the AP80’s DAC is superior to the one in your computer. When I play any audio from my laptop through the AP80, I hear objectively better quality than if I were to use the built-in headphone jack.

ya thats the promise, and the illusion.

wanna buy a magic wand that will magically make your music better? poof abracadabra!

doesnt work if its going through your computers sound card before it reaches the ap80

unless you want to setup foobar wasapi properly and have that hassle and limitation (assuming it even does what it claims)

shouldnt it work properly by default without special 3rd party software?

 

[moisespr123]

ya thats the promise, and the illusion.

wanna buy a magic wand that will magically make your music better? poof abracadabra!

doesnt work if its going through your computers sound card before it reaches the ap80

unless you want to setup foobar wasapi properly and have that hassle and limitation (assuming it even does what it claims)

shouldnt it work properly by default without special 3rd party software?

It doesn't go through the PC sound card... It goes through the Windows Mixer, and it really isn't that bad. You just have to set the sample rate manually to whichever rate you want.

Setting up Foobar with WASAPI is really simple and straightforward and will bypass the Windows Mixer.

Windows mixer is not your PC sound card. It is a Windows software component.

 

[dnaimad]

ya thats the promise, and the illusion.

wanna buy a magic wand that will magically make your music better? poof abracadabra!

doesnt work if its going through your computers sound card before it reaches the ap80

unless you want to setup foobar wasapi properly and have that hassle and limitation (assuming it even does what it claims)

shouldnt it work properly by default without special 3rd party software?

This is how all USB DACs work. They need to be set up with ASIO or WASAPI drivers to get untouched sound. This is now off topic and I think you are trolling.

 

[AndySocial]

ya thats the promise, and the illusion.

wanna buy a magic wand that will magically make your music better? poof abracadabra!

doesnt work if its going through your computers sound card before it reaches the ap80

unless you want to setup foobar wasapi properly and have that hassle and limitation (assuming it even does what it claims)

shouldnt it work properly by default without special 3rd party software?

You expect specialized niche products to work without any extra steps? That's a pipe dream. I can't imagine the Microsoft team is going to put "plug and play" hooks into the OS for something that nearly nobody uses.