playing cds with several media players+asio4all plugin ,question

[plonter]

Hi. i want to use asio4all plugin to bypass the kmixer in my pc and connect my pc to an outside dac.
now...because until now i used ipod as my main source,i ripped all my cds to apple lossless format. the problem is,that all the media players that support the asio4all plugin (foobar2000 for example)does not play applpe lossless files.
so i thought that maybe i could play the music straight from the cd in the cd-rom(dvd-rom) drive,and play it through the foobar or winamp or whatever.

this is sound too much perfect to be true...! can it be that in this way i can play cds and also bypass the kmixer altogether.?? than it will be the perfect transport unit! isnt it...? please tell me what i am missing here guys.!
and give me more suggetions if you can to help me improve my way of getting the best digital output for my new ultra micro dac!

thx!

 

[obobskivich]

I don't see why it would be the perfect transport, but I also don't see any reason for this to not work

and honestly, this is what you get for using proprietary container formats

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't see why it would be the perfect transport, but I also don't see any reason for this to not work and honestly, this is what you get for using proprietary container formats

I guess it was not in place to say "the perfect"but honestly i just cant figure out what is the difference between a "good" transport or a bad one, because all they doing in the end is to read the digital information and send it out to the dac, am i right...? so i figured that if i use the asio4all plugin and bypass the windows kmixer then i will get a transpot unit which is good as a high end cd player !

do you think playing a cd in the cd-drive will be the same like reading a flac file or any other format..?
the reason i ask is because i thought that playing a cd in the cd-rom is different from just playing a file from the hard disk in the way that maybe the cd-rom is connected to the soundcard or something, or maybe the kmixer is still effecting the cd-drive volume and not bypassed by the asio4all plugin .

 

[plonter]

and one thing i forgot to ask is...what do you mean by " proprietary container formats "? my english is a bit rusty ... thx!

 

[obobskivich]

well, the issue is, not all digital devices are the same, I know a lot of people are gonna wanna scream "BUT ITS 1's AND 0's", yeah thats correct, but theres also issues of jitter and clock inaccuracy, and noise can still play into digital lines (can create more issues like jitter and clock inaccuracy)

basically you are correct, however using something "higher end" as a transport will net overall better results than using something "lower end" as a transport

you should be fine going with asio4all, although to be honest, I'd just go with re-ripping your data into nonpoprietary containers (i.e: FLAC or WMA Lossless (granted, WMA is proprietary to Microsoft systems, however more or less anything can read it without DRM issues, while Apple Lossless basically works on Apple, and Apple))

would probably really help to know what operating system you're using here, Windows or Linux?

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif well, the issue is, not all digital devices are the same, I know a lot of people are gonna wanna scream "BUT ITS 1's AND 0's", yeah thats correct, but theres also issues of jitter and clock inaccuracy, and noise can still play into digital lines (can create more issues like jitter and clock inaccuracy) basically you are correct, however using something "higher end" as a transport will net overall better results than using something "lower end" as a transport you should be fine going with asio4all, although to be honest, I'd just go with re-ripping your data into nonpoprietary containers (i.e: FLAC or WMA Lossless (granted, WMA is proprietary to Microsoft systems, however more or less anything can read it without DRM issues, while Apple Lossless basically works on Apple, and Apple)) would probably really help to know what operating system you're using here, Windows or Linux?

i am using windows xp sp3 ...and i guess you are right that the "safest"way to go is to rerip my collection again to flac or wave. i just wanted to save me the time doing so because i have already spent a lot of hours riping into apple lossless format and now i will have to go through that again.

 

[obobskivich]

sorry about that bit mate, honestly you can avoid the re-rip if you'd like, and go with your idea, it'll work fine, but I'm just thinking long term, you'll probably get fed up switching CDs out (thats why my dedicated transport is sitting next to me in standby mode, where its been for about a month, it just gets tedious to cycle discs every 30-45 minutes, or if you have listening habits like me, every 5-10 minutes)

I wouldn't suggest wave, as its going to give you huge filesizes, check out WMA Lossless as part of the Windows Media Encoder (available from Microsoft if you have genuine Windows), or FLAC for a more "generic" filetype (there isn't realy a standard for lossless audio, in terms of container formats, FLAC, Apple Lossless, and WMA Lossless are all good containers, but nothing is really agreed on, the idea to use PCM is good, but its tedious, if that doesn't bother you though, go with it)

 

[plonter]

i have one more question regarding this issue...if i use my dac through the usb port..so it bypasses the onboard sound card totally right...?
so in that case...will the asio4all plugin still be benefitial for me?
how will it improve the sound(or whatever it does...) if the soundcard is bypassed totally? the kmixer is not related to the soundcard, its in the windows aplication only?

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif sorry about that bit mate, honestly you can avoid the re-rip if you'd like, and go with your idea, it'll work fine, but I'm just thinking long term, you'll probably get fed up switching CDs out (thats why my dedicated transport is sitting next to me in standby mode, where its been for about a month, it just gets tedious to cycle discs every 30-45 minutes, or if you have listening habits like me, every 5-10 minutes) I wouldn't suggest wave, as its going to give you huge filesizes, check out WMA Lossless as part of the Windows Media Encoder (available from Microsoft if you have genuine Windows), or FLAC for a more "generic" filetype (there isn't realy a standard for lossless audio, in terms of container formats, FLAC, Apple Lossless, and WMA Lossless are all good containers, but nothing is really agreed on, the idea to use PCM is good, but its tedious, if that doesn't bother you though, go with it)

thx for the help and encouragement mate! it is very helpful

 

[obobskivich]

yes, you're using the USB device as your "sound card" (primary audio output device, to be like Windows), although kmixer can still apply, thats where asio4all comes in (and to be honest, I hear no difference between asio4all (or proper manufacturer asio drivers) and using kmixer under XP)

 

[plonter]

what the settings should be in the windows mixer panel?
(master volume,wave volume,etc.) and what should be the volume in my player(winamp,wmp etc.) i am asking that in case i am not going to use the asio4all (to tell you the truth..i honestly prefer not to )and also if i will use it.

 

[obobskivich]

varies based on your preference, I honestly have no experience with your DAC/amp setup so I can't really speak to that

personally I keep my computer's output at 100%, wave at 100%, and let the amplifier adjust the signal, basically I assume that 100% output is equivalent to 0.0 dB (I know on a lot of soundcards this is true, on some however 0.0 dB lies at something like 85 or 90%, and anything above that is + dB (which usually introduces audible distortion))

 

[plonter]

i will put everything under 100% for any case...but maybe there is no difference whan talking about digital output, only analog.(when everybody say that you should put your ipod at full power or a hair less).
i will try first without the asio and see how it sounds. i hope it will be much better sounding then my current setup: ipod>line out>ultra micro amp.
thx for the comments!