[Zeper]

Is ASIO or WASABI nessary if you use headphones to listen to music?

 

[euphoracle]

They aren't necessary.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Not necessary. Vista does a better job with regular audio playback than XP. The mixer and audio processing in Vista is better than XP so sound quality isn't degraded as much.

Still, the goal for many here is bit-perfect playback. To get bit-perfect you need to use ASIO/WASAPI/kernel streaming or visit a witch doctor.

Foobar supports ASIO, WASAPI, and kernel streaming in Vista. Try all three and pick the one that works best for you on your equipment (easiest setup, fewest dropouts or clicks, fewest quirks).

Kernel streaming won't work for all devices (eg not all USB DACs)
ASIO requires ASIO4ALL or ASIO drivers from your device manufacturer
WASAPI requires Vista and compliant Vista audio drivers

 

[ford2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeper /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is ASIO or WASABI nessary if you use headphones to listen to music?

Some cards only have Asio drivers,Vista will not recognize these cards,so to play through them you need a player that will use the Asio drivers.
In these cases, then yes, Asio is needed.

 

[olblueyez]

Only if your outputing digital information. Analog outputs like the headphone jack will not benefit from this. You can try it and see if it does anything for you.