[jesselussier]

So, I've just recently discovered that my laptop has a spdif out, which is great, cause I just bought an ibasso D1. But for some reason the music sounds awful out of the computer, almost like a low quality mp3, any ideas why or how to fix it?

Additional info:

I know it's the computer because if I use my H140 as the source instead, with everything else being the same, it sounds great. Both have an optical mini out and I use the same cable to connect them to the D1.

Thanks.

 

[azncookiecutter]

Some laptops mght not have an ideal SPDIF output. Many sources of the problem, one being components in a laptop being stuffed together, and as such, noise and other factors can cause the output to degrade. Might be worth it to stick with USB on the D1.

 

[snoxu]

Give foobar+Asio4all a try...

Coincidentally I just received an OMZ from Ori today and I also own and HP-120 and a lappy with optical out.

 

[tot]

Very often laptop audio chipsets resample everything to 48kHz which is not optimal if the source is 44.1kHz.

 

[kipman725]

hmm that wouldn't cause it to sound awfull like a very bad MP3. Are you using a proper 75ohm cable? (most devices don't care about this but it's worth a try)

by any chance are you using windows vista? that cripples digital outputs when playing drm infected files and that could be causing your problems.

 

[MrKazador]

It's digital, shouldn't affect the sound at all. Either you get audio or you don't. Maybe you have some kind of enhancements from the control panel.

 

[kipman725]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrKazador /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's digital, shouldn't affect the sound at all. Either you get audio or you don't. Maybe you have some kind of enhancements from the control panel.

heh im not on about it like the silly silver cable etc therads. the spdif spec states that the interconnecting cable between the transmiter and revicer should have an impedance of 75ohm's this I think is to combat the capacitance of the cable causing spreading of the digital pulses sent along the interconnect. Most cables are not 75ohm impedance but I have never hered of this causing a problem... no one else had a likley solution so I went for the unlikly (after all who uses vista )

 

[jesselussier]

Using Windows XP. It sounds equally as crappy in Windows Media Player as it does in Foobar, and I haven't played around with any system wide sound controls, and I don't have any drm'd files, only MP3 Lame encoded and/or FLAC. When I plug headphones in directly is sounds fine, so it seems to me it has to be the optical output.

I think azncookiecutter is right, maybe it's just no good out of the laptop.

Oh well, thanks anyways for your input everyone.

 

[IPodPJ]

The same as on the low end Sound Blaster cards, it resamples the audio before it gets converted to SPDIF. That's why it sounds like crap, no other reason. Unless maybe he has his laptop plugged into AC.

 

[Logistics]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif The same as on the low end Sound Blaster cards, it resamples the audio before it gets converted to SPDIF. That's why it sounds like crap, no other reason.

My SbLive! automatically resamples everything to 48kHz and it doesn't sound bad. I'm thinking there is a messed up setting somewhere. For instance, I remember back when I used to play CD's using my CD-ROM instead of ripping them, if I had normal CD Playback and CD Digital Playback set both to on, it would jack up the sound, heavily, but if I turned one or the other off, it was fine. If he can't do ASIO due to chipset limitations, maybe he should try the Kernel Streaming plugin.

 

[thomaspf]

What type of laptop with what type of soundcard are you using?

If it happens to be a Realtek HD audio chipset then you can control the sampling frequency of the digital output in the Realtek sound manager.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[ph0rk]

It is likely poor resampling. if you have a digital out you can make it perfect, it just requires.... force under a windows OS.

 

[thomaspf]

Whether that requires anything at all is pretty much up to the sound card vendor and has nothing to do with Windows.

My old and trusted M-audio DIO24/96 seems to work just fine and sends out whatever the sample rate of the input material is to its digital ports . That has worked since Win95 without any problem.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[bhjazz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrKazador /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's digital, shouldn't affect the sound at all.

Ouch.



//cough...jitter...cough...