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

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by el_matt0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif if i already have an external zhaolu dac, is the best course of action for me with my AV710 to still use the wolfson dac onboard and run that into my zhaolu, or would flashing the card to prodigy drivers (which im having trouble doing) and running it "bit-perfect" to my zhaolu be a more solid option?

You want the best optical output capability, which will be found by flashing to the Prodigy drivers. Otherwise, what's the point of having the Zhaolu?

 

[mrmin123]

Hello all, I've been having some problems with my AV-710 and I figured that I should ask here, since you guys seem pretty knowledgeable about the card.

Basically, I've been experiencing pops in audio playback at certain spots in certain songs, and whenever my CPU seems to be under load (this could actually be a bigger problem than I think it to be, since my mouse jumps as well). I've tested the problematic music files on different music players on the same computer (same spot, same pop), and on different computers (same spot, no pop), so I'm pretty certain that this is a hardware issue (maybe driver?).

I'm using the 4.73b drivers for the AV-710 on a ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX motherboard. I am also using the onboard sound on the motherboard for my microphone, since I heard before that I can't use the mic using the setup outlined on the opening post (is this still true?).


I haven't done any extensive testing yet, but I was wondering if anyone else had this problem and knew of a way to remedy it before I jumped into trying a billion different hardware and software configurations. Maybe an idea of what's going on?

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmin123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Basically, I've been experiencing pops in audio playback at certain spots in certain songs, and whenever my CPU seems to be under load (this could actually be a bigger problem than I think it to be, since my mouse jumps as well). I've tested the problematic music files on different music players on the same computer (same spot, same pop), and on different computers (same spot, no pop), so I'm pretty certain that this is a hardware issue (maybe driver?).

When you say "under load," what kind of load do you mean--nearing 100%? It could just be the CPU thrashing, but with a LGA 775 motherboard, that doesn't sound too likely. But, if the mouse is also lagging, that indicates a system-wide conflict or issue.

It could be an issue with the onboard sound. Try disabling it in the BIOS to test. Also, try monitoring the Processes and Performance tabs in the Task Manager to see if any particular process is causing a performance problem.

 

[mrmin123]

Today I tried disabling the onboard sound (didn't change anything) and changing drivers to the most recent VIA ones (didn't change anything either).

I was running Memtest86+ earlier and one of the test gives me 10 errors and freezes the damn thing; could that be the cause of all this? I haven't had the chance to take my RAM out and test it yet, but that's on my to-do list...

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmin123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was running Memtest86+ earlier and one of the test gives me 10 errors and freezes the damn thing; could that be the cause of all this? I haven't had the chance to take my RAM out and test it yet, but that's on my to-do list...

Very possible. In February, I built a Core 2 Duo computer around an Asus P5N-E motherboard and the system was extremely unstable. Ultimately, it was a RAM incompatibility that was solved by updating the firmware, only using the yellow RAM slots, setting the RAM timings by hand, and increasing the voltage by a notch. Needless to say, I was not too pleased--this was my first-ever Asus motherboard, and I don't think I'll be a repeat buyer.

Keep testing settings until you pass Memtest86+ three times without errors, then run Prime95. If there are errors in either, the system needs further setup, IMO.

Check the Asus sub-forum for your motherboard for a thread about compatibility information with your RAM. If there isn't one and you manage to figure out your problem, make a new post there to help everyone out.

 

[Seaside]

Instable memory always cause problems. Fix that first and see the problem still is there.

If it still act weird after you fix the memory issue, there must be some sort of interupt conflict between AV-710 and other devices.

Go to control pannel - system - device manager, choose view at the top - choose resource, and choose interupt request (IRQ). And see what's the interupt number AV-710 is using. The chance is video card, lan card or mouse uses the same interupt # with AV-710. If this is the case, interupt conflict could happen between those devices and AV-710 when those device are heavily used, thus that can slow down AV-710 significantly. Installing AV-710 at the other PCI slot and reinstalling VIA driver could fix it.

Oh... Not all, but some onboard sounds, usually using Cmedia chipset, hate share the computer with other sound devices. If it's Cmedia chipset, disable it at the bios.

 

[royalcrown]

Hello,

Great thread, but I was wondering if you could help me to run either ASIO or Kernel Streaming on Winamp using this soundcard. I just tried both and failed, but have had nightmare experiences with foobar (mainly aesthetic, but also in terms of functionality). I get a "failed to output pin" or some such thing with kernel streaming, and absolutely nothing at all happens with the ASIO plugin. Any help? Thanks in advance.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Did the KS and ASIO components work in Foobar?

I've heard that some people have experienced problems with the Winamp plug-ins even when everything was correctly setup. A Winamp user will have to help me out.

 

[Seaside]

http://otachan.com/ for plugins for winamp and foobar.

Via driver version 1.10d, 3.12a or 4.73b for they are known working version with asio. Set it up according to the guide at this thread. Also use asio4all ver 1.8, other versions are not stable with AV-710.

Install driver and asio4all first.

For winamp, visit http://otachan.com/out_asio(dll).html.
It's japanese site, but you will have no problem locating download link.
Then unzip it, extract bin/normal/out_asio(dll).dll to plugin directory of winamp folder. Run winamp, go to preferance - plugins - output. Then you will see Asio output is there. Choose it, click OK.
You will now able to use asio with winamp. Good luck.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Thanks for the help, Seaside. Isn't there a mirror of that file that's not in the 7zip compression format? Seems like I found it at Hydrogen Audio once...

Edit: Ah, found it in another thread. I can't verify if this is the same version posted on Otachan's site, but it may be worth a try:

out_asio(dll).dll

 

[royalcrown]

Downloaded 4.37b off the Via site, downloaded ASIO4all 1.8 beta 1. Open up ASIO4all, seems to have picked up the device well enough. Go to winamp, using the otachan output (that was the one I'd always tried). Winamp appears to be playing, but no sound comes out. I go back to ASIO and the device, as well as output/input, are unavailable. I guess I fail. I'm really not sure what to do at this point, as it's really kind of annoying me - I hate the fact that foobar looks ugly (and skinning is the biggest pain of all time) and won't minimize to tray, so that kind of shoots it out of the water for me. =/ I guess I might just be stuck with using directsound. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for all of your help so far.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Have you done the trick to output 44.1 kHz audio without resampling (enable S/PDIF output with PCM selected)?

 

[MrKazador]

I got it working fine over here. Have you done the "trick" to enable 44.1khz through the "Wolfson DAC Back Surr." output?

 

[infinitesymphony]

That's a little confusing... The trick is not to use the Hi-Sample feature. I think you meant "the trick to use the Wolfson DAC Back Surr. output at 44.1 kHz with regular 2CH."

 

[Seaside]

infinitesymphony.
Try winrar ver 3.53 or higher to extraxt 7zip files. Trial version will do the job too. I heard about that site and I think the file is legit, but not sure which version of octachan's dll it is.

MrKazador, wolfson DAC is NOT supposed to work with 2CH setting, but Via drivers is somewhat buggy, and They are too lazy to fix that bug. That enables us use wolfson DAC in 2CH mode. So basically using wolfson DAC a trick that utilize those bugs. Anyway, who cares its bug or not when it is working beautifully?