HELP!! zhaolu / transit with ASIO!

[el_matt0]

alright ANY help anyone can offer would be GREATLY appreciated. im trying to setup ASIO to play bit perfect from winamp. i run an m audio transit out of my computer, toslink to a zhaolu dac, and into a gilmore lite amp to k701s. at first i installed asio4all, but then later read in various places that this is unneeded as the transit supports ASIO natively. i install the plugin for winamp that enoyin suggests in his ASIO thread. however, in preferences > output > configure for the ASIO output plugin, i can select M Audio transit USB A (i cant even see the rest of whats there because the box is too small), or M audio ASIO interface. with the first option selected, it does "work", on restart winamp is playing fine etc etc, but ASIO actually working? is there any way to check? when i select the m audio ASIO interface option and restart winamp i simply get no playback at all! for some reason i think things arent working as well as i should hope....as well, what settings should i have set for my transit in its own control panel? 16 bit or 24 bit output? and low-high latency or what? PLEASE help me out!!!!

 

[el_matt0]

slight change...i just looked at it again, tried reconfig the plugin etc etc...ok now when i select the M audio transit USB A.... , the one i thought it used to work on, it plays ONE track fine, but as soon as i click next track or the track ends and it moves onto the next, winamp encounters an error and needs to close. if i select the M audio transit ASIO interface option, still, no signs of sound when i play the tracks, but i can skip from track to track without winamp closing. i just installed asio4all to give it a try, and it gives me the option of selecting ASIO4all as my output instead of those 2 m audio options. this option seems to work fine in all senses, it plays fine, no shut downs etc. but does this mean my ASIO is up and running?

 

[el_matt0]

i download this http://www.sr.se/laddahem/MultiKanal...EST_011212.zip and try it. even with the 5.1 surround option checked off in the winamp plugin configuration menu, just pops and hisses constantly! this confirms i havent setup something properly? hope to get some solid answer from someone soon - SO lost! lol

 

[psyllium]

You don't have any effects plugins or the winamp equalizer turned on do you?

 

[el_matt0]

nope i made sure to turn the EQ off!! no other plugins other than a cd burning plugin. like i said, ive just got the asio plugin set to the ASIO4ALL option, not the transit option, and its playing music and all fine. but im pretty convinced im not using ASIO or bitperfect, seeing as that surround test track came out merely as pops and hisses! i SHOULD be able to get ASIO and bit perfect playback with my setup shouldnt i???

 

[el_matt0]

k question, if i pick up a chaintech AV710 instead of using my mobos onboard sound, would that help my situation? lots have said this is probably the cheapest solution to get bit perfect output from a computer, if i flash it to the prodigy drivers. would i still want to use my transit as a transport before running the spdif to my zhaolu? as well, i am quite into gaming and audio is quite important for me there too. would i only get bit perfect playback when listening to stuff via winamp if i took that route? if so, what would my resulting sound quality be like when gaming or watching movies etc? anyone know?

 

[el_matt0]

k question, if i pick up a chaintech AV710 instead of using my mobos onboard sound, would that help my situation? lots have said this is probably the cheapest solution to get bit perfect output from a computer, if i flash it to the prodigy drivers. would i still want to use my transit as a transport before running the spdif to my zhaolu? as well, i am quite into gaming and audio is quite important for me there too. would i only get bit perfect playback when listening to stuff via winamp if i took that route? if so, what would my resulting sound quality be like when gaming or watching movies etc? anyone know?

 

[Brewmaster]

I can't comment very well as I don't have that card and use Foobar for Asio, but you should be able to use ASIO natively with the M Audio Transit. You shouldn't use Asio4all.

Does the ASIO plugin for Winamp give you any options with regards to bit format? Quite often you have to set that setting to 24 bits, or 24 bits padded to 32, and in some cases 32 bits. Does the M Audito transit have a control panel where you can select the output format of the digital stream? You should check that.

Do you every use Foobar? It might be usefull for troubleshooting as you can download their ASIO plugin and compare. Another option would be to download JRiver media center and using their demo as it supports ASIO out and is easy to configure.

If you can't play the dts wave file then you aren't getting bitperfect output.

 

[el_matt0]

hey, well ya the m audio transit actually DOES have its own control panel with adjustable settings. there are a ton of options, changing the number of in/outs as well as the bitrate. i currently have it at just the default 2-in, 2-out 16-bit something or other..but i know for a fact that there are at least 3 settings at 24-bit. maybe that would do the trick? ive tried foobar in past, and like it, the only reason i use winamp is because my keyboard has shortcut buttons which work with winamp and not foobar i think! kind of a bad reason in reality...but winamp should be ASIO compatible for bit-perfect playback! k so...bottom line is..if i cant play that surround test and hear anything normal...something aint right?! ill TRY reinstalling foobar and the foobar asio plugin to see if i can get it working under that application. ill also uninstall asio4all as you have confirmed what i thought, i shouldnt need it to play via my m audio transit. im at work right now but ill try out changing the transit's settings first. if not the ASIO4ALL option when configuring the winamp plugin, should i be using the transit ASIO interface option or the USB A (cant read the rest) one..? lol

 

[Joshatdot]

1. Do you have the latest Drivers?
2. Did you set it Operating Mode to Dolby Digital / DTS pass-through, 16-bit, 48000 Hz?
3. Try Foobar & its ASIO. Foobar has customizable hotkeys, so you can set it up like Winamp hotkeys.

 

[el_matt0]

k ya i do have all the latest transit drivers, secondly, yep i did try it with it set on pass through. and i did all of this on a fresh install of foobar with the ASIO plugin. i did everything as described, which option should i select when adding a new ASIO device in foobar output. under the DRIVER option when ive selected m audio transit, i can choose either "M audio transit USB ASIO" or "M Audio transit USB ASIO interface". it doesnt really seem to work on either setting unfortunately i tried both! as well, when i try setting my transit on pass through, and try to play a surround test track, foobar says no hardware found error, etc. would switching over to an av710 solve this unecessary hassle? i use it ONLY with my desktop, so the transit isnt relaly needed, just the logic of going from a 100 dollar transport to a 30 dollar sound card is a bit strange. i wont be "downgrading" will i? im under the impression that all i need is a bit perfect optical out for my cpu, as i already have a zhaolu and a good amp, am i correct, or is this going to hold back my system?

 

[Zodduska]

Try adjusting your windows mixer volume settings while listening to music. The main volume control might work.. if it does try Wave out, afaik this should not raise or lower your ASIO output.. and its a good way to confirm it is working.

for example neither the main volume or wave volume effect my Prodigy flashed AV-710 running Prodigy's native ASIO driver.

check this guide for configuring your software player if you are still having trouble: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=223586

 

[el_matt0]

thanks, thanks the guide i used initially to install it tho . still ran into problems!! if i switch to the AV710, which im seriously considering doing, if nothing else just to get rid of the hassle of USB transit with my desktop. however, i saw someone make a post to someone else considering geting the av710 asking if they game alot and would want 3d imagining, in which case the av710 isnt the best option? can you explain? if i flash the av710 for bit perfect and ASIO, does that mean its like that only when running ASIO apps like foobar etc, or is it with ALL applications involving sound, games, movies, etc? in that case, will having bit perfect playback make the 3d imagining suffer? or was that guy just saying that as in, if your really interested in gaming, there are sound cards specifically designed for 3d imagining (which i imagine wouldnt be great for music though compared with a bit perfect card?). the setup i have now works well enough for me for gaming, i find i get a lot of 3d depth, so long as this wouldnt SUFFER, im not too worried. let me know what you think!

 

[EnOYiN]

Okies, I have read it all and I'll try to make some sense out of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brewmaster /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you can't play the dts wave file then you aren't getting bitperfect output.

This is only partially true. It's true if you are playing a DTS file with a DTS compatible program ( 9 out of 10 times those are videoplayers) and you are using a bit-perfect connection to a DTS compatible receiver. Which means the receiver will tell you that what you are playing at that particular time is a DTS file and it will recognize it as such. It will show something like "DTS sound playing" on the display.

This is also the best (if not only) option to check whether you are actually getting a bit-perfect signal from your computer. A DTS file cannot be resampled without being corrupted. ( if you still want it to actually play as a DTS file)

Playing a DTS in foobar or winamp does not give you any idea of whether you are getting bit-perfect output or not. Foobar and winamp are both using plug-ins to change the DTS file to something else. It won't play as a DTS file any more and will therefor not require bit-perfect output to play. A DTS compatible receiver will not recognize this as a DTS file any more.

A good indication (which has been mentioned before in this thread) is that the WAV slider in Windows does not work any more. Only the master volume slider will work. (it won't when using KS btw)

ASIO is only used when there is an option for it in the application itself. Otherwise it will not be used. I haven't seen a game yet using ASIO. Only audio applications will be able to use this and some of them require a 3rd party plug-in to do so. (foobar and winamp for instance)

If you want to play music while gaming the only way to go is direct sound. The song and the sounds from the game will need to be mixed to get output from both of the applications. Otherwise you will only get sound from the application using ASIO (or KS for that matter) because it takes "control" of the device. Bit-perfect playback will not make 3D sounds suffer, but it will have to take control of the device. OpenAL does this. Depending on the game it will either use OpenAl or (most likely) Miles 3D or even Miles Fast 2D. The last ones are using DS.

I am using ASIO for music only. For games I use DS. You will not have to do anything to do this, except for turning off your music or playing your music using DS.

When using a device like the M-Audio Transit you will not need to install ASIO4All or another ASIO wrapper. Just get a ASIO plug-in and select the device you want to use. In your case this will be the M-Audio.

I don't have a Transit myself so I will start guessing a bit right now.

In the options of the M-Audio Transit there might be an option called something like: "bit-matched playback'

If that option is there turn it on. It will play everything just fine. Otherwise I would suggest to use 16-bit and 44.1 kHz since most songs are recorded with this bitrate and samplerate.

Slightly off-topic now. I can advice you to turn off any Windows sound. This will prevent unneccesary resampling when using DS. And think about it. Why would you want Windows sounds anyway? You know you don't want it. Admit it.

I hope this helped a bit and that you will be able to concentrate while reading this post. I am rambling a lot, I know I do. If somehow you have any further questions please ask them. I missed the thread earlier so if you want me to respond a bit earlier then just shoot me a PM.

 

[el_matt0]

k...heres the update. with asio4all uninstalled, winamp doesnt work on EITHER setting under output, asio, config, etc. neither of the 2 available M Audio Transit ASIO... options produces anything viable in winamp. with the first option selected, it shuts down with an error message after pushing next track, and with the second option, it just cant play tracks at all, never changes from 0:00. however strangely enough, i reinstalled asio4all, changed the ouput setting in winamp back to the asio4all option, and voila, i can play all of my tracks again! isnt this contradictory to what everyone says though, that the transit natively supports asio? so clearly something isnt quite right. as well, now that i have it "working" again, i tried adjusting windows mixer while listening to music, none of the options change anything in terms of sound output. not even master volume effects it. is this a good or a bad sign? still no luck with that surround test file..but apparently thats meaningless? lol....on a slightly different note, if i was to grab an AV710 (if for no reason other than to get rid of the USB hassle), and flash it to prodigy for bit perfect output, would that be pretty much all i need for my computer setup, given that i already have an external dac and amp? ie. there would be no greater advantage to paying more for an expensive sound card right?