[Scrith]

I'm doing quite a bit with my 1212M:

1) optical digital out to Benchmark DAC1
2) optical digital in from on-board sound chip (used for Windows/Game sound)
3) ASIO in from Foobar2000 for music.
4) Soon, I will probably be using the analog L/R input on the 1212M for sound from a TV card.

The problem is, to use the digital in for sound from the on-board audio chip, I have to re-sample my music (in Foobar using SSRC) to 48K, because the frequency of ASIO must match that of the digital input (apparently 48K is the only option there). But is that a problem? I've tried listening carefully to the difference between my music at 44K and resampled to 48K and haven't really heard any problems, but switching is a hassle and I haven't really listened to a wide variety of music in the two formats yet.

Using the digital version of my on-board sound card's output (which is then converted to analog by the DAC1 after being mixed with ASIO by the 1212M) definitely sounds better than using the analog out from the on-board sound, converting it to digital on the 1212M, mixing it with the ASIO input on the 1212M, and then sending it out to the DAC1 to be converted back to analog. This is definitely the way to listen to music from games and other regular windows applications!

But my main goal is to have my music sound as good as possible, so I'm willing to switch back to using the analog input of the 1212M for the on-board chip's sound, if it means that leaving my ASIO output from Foobar at 44K will make the music sound best.

Does anyone have input on what I'm doing?

 

[thomaspf]

Is there any particular reason to use the output of your on-board sound card to begin with? It sounds like you are simply passing the signal through the emu card back out the digial output on the emu card to your DAC.

Is the sound chip on your motherboard providing any benefit over the emu for gaming?

Cheers

Thomas

 

[lan]

The benchmark has multiple digital inputs no? If so, just send both soundcard's digital outs to it. If you have 2 optical outputs but only one input, then get a cheap convertor to use with onboard -> benchmark.

 

[minya]

There's no need to use onboard sound in Windows. Just go to your Sound control panel, and change the device from your motherboard's soundcard to your EMU's S/PDIF output.

- Chris

 

[Scrith]

I enabled the on-board sound because the 1212M was very poor at sound for gaming; I was getting stuttering, and losing sound in some games. I've heard others complaining about problems (or poor performance) with games and the 1212M, hence the many people asking about using a second sound card in addition to their E-MU. In my case there is added incentive, because my motherboard's BIOS does not provide a way of disabling the on-board audio chip (a VIA Envy chip, by the way), so I might as well use it for something.

And, as long as I'm using it, I might as well let my expensive Benchmark DAC1 do the digital-to-audio conversion, right? So I'm sending the optical out from the on-board audio to the 1212M, which is then mixing it with the ASIO input that I use for music from Foobar. And then I'm passing the digital out from the 1212M to the DAC1 to be converted to analog, of course.

The main concern is that, because my on-board sound chip sends the digital out at 48K, the 1212M wants to have all inputs at 48K, so I have to resample my music in Foobar (using the SSRC Resampler) from 44K to 48K. Which, in theory, shouldn't be a big deal...but am I possibly degrading the sound of my music when I am performing this upsampling? I know it will ultimately be upsampled even more (to 192K, I believe) by the DAC1, so perhaps it isn't a big deal and I'm just worried about nothing. As I said, I did not detect any changes when I did a bit of comparing between 44K and 48K, but this is a difficult switch to try (have to change it in Foobar prefs and in E-MU's mixer), so my comparisions were probably not very effective.

Ian's idea sounds good, but does the Benchmark automatically mix both inputs (which will be at 44K and 48K, potentially another problem)? I have never heard of it doing this...I believe the selector on the front is there because it only wants to use one of the digital inputs. I guess I could use both inputs and just switch to one or the other depending on whether I want to listen to music or game/windows audio, but I've become accustomed to hearing both (like providing my own soundtrack for a game using Foobar while playing a game, and still hearing game-related sounds such as voice-overs, shots, jumps, etc.).

 

[Budley007]

I'm curious as to why your BIOS doesn't allow you to turn off the onboard sound. I'm not saying you're mistaken, but that's the first time I've seen that before on a motherboard. Weird.

 

[Scrith]

I'm using a Chaintech ZNF3-250 (nForce3-250 chipset) and, yes, I was also surprised to discover that there is no way to turn off the onboard audio (this is the first time I've seen a motherboard without this capability, also). But checking a few message boards (notably at amdmb.com, a place where owners of AMD-specific motherboards like mine tend to hang out) has verified this...there is in fact no way to turn off the onboard audio for this motherboard (the request was made to Chaintech to add a BIOS option for this, but they replied that a hardware revision would be required in order to disable the chip).

 

[Budley007]

Wow. Sorry to hear that bro. Wish I could help you out.

 

[lan]

Ah, if you want to listen to music and game at the same time then you'll have to go through a mixer. You don't really have a choice what you do anyhow. If the onboard is outputting 48khz, then you'll have to upsample your audio on the emu to 48khz also to keep everything at the same rate.

 

[Mr.Radar]

Why not make a session in Patchmix DSP with the digital inputs disabled for music listening and another one with the digital inputs enabled for gaming?

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrith And, as long as I'm using it, I might as well let my expensive Benchmark DAC1 do the digital-to-audio conversion, right? So I'm sending the optical out from the on-board audio to the 1212M, which is then mixing it with the ASIO input that I use for music from Foobar. And then I'm passing the digital out from the 1212M to the DAC1 to be converted to analog, of course.

You paid a lot more than you needed to if all you needed was a bit-perfect digital out. The cheap chaintech or emu 0404 could have done that just as well as the 1212m and for a fraction of the price. Unless you're using the card for music creation as well, of course.

 

[Scrith]

Distroyed, I used the 1212M for a few months before upgrading to the DAC1, so I did get a chance to appreciate the great DAC that is on the board. Also, I'm using the analog out from the 1212M as the source for my computer speakers (Klipsch 2.1, which I do listen to on occasion), so it's not going to waste.

Mr. Radar, I do have several different sessions (including one for 44K ASIO only from Foobar)...I guess if there is no real loss in music quality when resampling with Foobar to 48K that I might as well just stick with the 48K dual-input (ASIO and optical) that is now my default.

So far I'm not mixing any music, just various inputs. And, like I said, I expect to have another input for the 1212M soon (TV/HDTV PCI board), which I assume is going to be analog.

 

[lan]

In my perception, resampling does reduce the quality. But it won't matter if you're listening to music and games at the same time.

 

[Scrith]

Hmm, I wonder if I can perceive a difference...I think I need to do more testing to compare un-resampled music at 44K and music upsampled 48K. Ian, could you recommend some music, or if not a particular piece of music then a sound typically heard in music, for which I might detect a difference between the normal and upsampled sound?

By the way, I don't normally listen to music only while playing games...but I certainly do listen to it sometimes while playing (particularly time-consuming games like Far Cry, Doom 3, or EverQuest, for which I still like to be able to hear environmental sounds, which is why I've gone with the setup I have right now). And those games sound amazing when I let the DAC1 do the digital-to-analog conversion, rather than the cheap DAC that's on the motherboard.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrith Distroyed, I used the 1212M for a few months before upgrading to the DAC1, so I did get a chance to appreciate the great DAC that is on the board.

Could you elaborate on the DAC1 vs. 1212M difference, please? Thanks