[haloxt]

Something I noticed in my various setup experiments is that nothing makes music sound as unnaturally hyperactive as using DirectSound on the PC. Whether I'm using my on-board Realtek HD Audio or HT Omega Halo soundcard or audio-gd Compass dac/amp, DS (in contrast to KS/ASIO/WASAPI) has the same unnatural effect on music, which to my ears is make music seem like all the instruments and voices are sharing a single emotion, none of them have their own minds or individuality. It's almost like a puppetmaster controls all the instruments and voices and when he moves one instrument he must also move a bunch of other instruments. DS does this to all the music I've listened to, but what made the biggest impression on my mind was while listening to bubblegum music, which I now don't think exists anymore after listening to the most bubblegummy music through WASAPI/KS/ASIO (Okay, some Britney Spears' songs I might still consider bubblegummy on account of bizarro lyrics but it gets ~5 times worse with DS on).