Chaintech AV-710 Setup Thread, Including True 44.1kHz Wolfson Output in XP

[MontyPythizzle]

I am having a weird issue.
I used to be able to just hear KS output from Foobar with my speakers.
I reinstalled the drivers and now I get both KS music out of Foobar and then I get regular audio from system sounds and game sounds now.
Now the headphone output puts out regular audio and not KS anymore.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MontyPythizzle /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am having a weird issue. I used to be able to just hear KS output from Foobar with my speakers. I reinstalled the drivers and now I get both KS music out of Foobar and then I get regular audio from system sounds and game sounds now. Now the headphone output puts out regular audio and not KS anymore.

Maybe you had the Wave channel muted? Hard to say... Everyone should be hearing both Foobar+KS and sound from other applications (games, browser, etc.). The only reason you shouldn't be hearing system sounds is if you disabled them to prevent KS from being interrupted.

 

[n00bler]

5.20b vista drivers on viaarena.com are working just fine in "high quality mode" (96 Khz, analog rear line out) for me in vista x64. After browsing the thread, I'm still not sure what issue other vista users have had aside from getting the drivers and cp to actually install, both of which installed correctly first time I tried. Am I missing something?

By the way infinitesymphony, thank you for the guide!

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n00bler /img/forum/go_quote.gif 5.20b vista drivers on viaarena.com are working just fine in "high quality mode" (96 Khz, analog rear line out) for me in vista x64. After browsing the thread, I'm still not sure what issue other vista users have had aside from getting the drivers and cp to actually install, both of which installed correctly first time I tried. Am I missing something?

Maybe not... I don't have any computers with Vista to test. The 5.20b drivers in your link are the same as the XP drivers. If they're working for you, would you be willing to uninstall them and try version 4.73b? Assuming it works, it could result in better sound quality for you and all other Vista users with the AV-710.

 

[n00bler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe not... I don't have any computers with Vista to test. The 5.20b drivers in your link are the same as the XP drivers. If they're working for you, would you be willing to uninstall them and try version 4.73b? Assuming it works, it could result in better sound quality for you and all other Vista users with the AV-710.

The 4.73b drivers linked on the first post? They don't have 64-bit drivers, so it failed (driver signing not a problem, I've got it disabled on my compy for rivatuner). I also tried swapping the cp (enmixcpl) with its libraries from 0.0.3.5 in 5.20b to 0.0.2.0 in 4.73b, but the older mixer would just hang when I tried to execute it.

To clarify what's working for me with via's 5.20b drivers in vista x64, I'm in high quality mode 96khz (can also select 192khz, but mixer wont drop or autodetect to lower sample rates

) using foobar2000 resampled, 24-bit, with kernel streaming (ds works fine too of course).

Right now I'm trying to see if I can get asio4all with foobar2000 working with the av-710 ("beyond logic" when I switch to the wolfson dac). I also still need to test digital output when I get my iBasso back. (not going to untangle my onkyo receiver from the spaghetti monster for this)

 

[infinitesymphony]

Ah, I understand. Thanks for the excellent information, n00bler!

I see that the 5.20b drivers on VIA Arena are designed to work with all current versions of Windows XP and Vista, while the 4.73b drivers only offer support for Windows 95 through Windows XP 32-bit. I'll update the first post to reflect this new information, including a driver specific to the 64-bit version of Windows XP (since it requires one).

Let us know how well the digital output works with the stock drivers upsampling to 96 kHz.

 

[n00bler]

via, you tease!
(can't select auto while using wolfson dac)

5.20b drivers installed, using 0.0.2.8 cp (from 5.10beta1027)

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n00bler /img/forum/go_quote.gif via, you tease! (can't select auto while using wolfson dac)

Yep, that functionality is the same in all driver versions, hence the little trick in 4.73b and earlier to get around it using regular 2CH instead of 2CH Hi-Sample Rate. 96 kHz is the minimum sampling rate when Hi-Sample Rate mode is selected. Nice try using an older control panel, though.

 

[PascalT]

question: is trying to upsample to 192khz or 96khz actually increase the quality? I haven't noticed much changes in foobar from 44.1 to 96.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PascalT /img/forum/go_quote.gif question: is trying to upsample to 192khz or 96khz actually increase the quality?

No... I've found that the sound quality is better without upsampling, which is why the guide recommends circumventing it if possible.

 

[PascalT]

Thought so.. I used 96khz for a while and just now went back to no upsampler, and it sounds slightly clearer.

 

[PascalT]

Should I use 24-bit output in foobar? I am currently using 24bit/44.1khz/KS output

 

[infinitesymphony]

I don't think it matters too much. Since you may encounter 24-bit material, it's best to use 24-bit or higher. Some sound cards might prefer the 32-bit padding, since 32-bit or higher calculations are used by many audio programs. Higher bit-rates also allow you to avoid the use of dither.

So, in general, I'll recommend 32-bit. You might try some A/B comparisons. I did, and found that I couldn't reliably tell apart 24-bit or 32-bit on my 1212M.

 

[kikker]

Thanks for all the great information in this thread. Ok, in the first post, it's stated that "Note that there is currently no way to prevent resampling to 96 kHz with the AV-710 in Vista." Does this apply only to the analog outputs?

I'm only interested in the S/PDIF output and am wondering if I can really get 44.1k out of the digital interface in Vista. FWIW, I cannot get either the ks or the ASIO Winamp plugins (with ASIO4ALL) to get any sound to my receiver. As soon I start to play a file, my receiver displays 'No Data'. This is really driving me nuts.

If PCM in Vista is indeed oversampled via SPDIF, this is probably not optimal, is it?

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, in the first post, it's stated that "Note that there is currently no way to prevent resampling to 96 kHz with the AV-710 in Vista." Does this apply only to the analog outputs?

I'm not sure, but I do know that it's true for the analog output. It might depend on which analog output you have selected (2CH, 2CH Hi-Sample, or one of the multi-channel outputs); maybe 96 kHz is only forced in 2CH Hi-Sample mode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikker If PCM in Vista is indeed oversampled via SPDIF, this is probably not optimal, is it?

No, it's not optimal since software resampling is never perfect, but resampling to 96 kHz may be the only way for you to get information to the receiver. There might be a hack or workaround for easier digital output, just as there was for XP. Some people flashed the AV-710 to use AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 drivers; doing so disabled the analog outputs, but digital output was much easier to control.

If resampling to 96 kHz doesn't work, try 192 kHz. Before n00bler commented that the official VIA 5.20b drivers were working in Vista, there was a workaround that used drivers for the Onkyo SE-200PCI sound card, which needed to force a 192 kHz sampling rate.