Tutorial : WASAPI support for KMPlayer, having a top-notch video/audio player

[The-One]

Ok, installed and set up.

What am I supposed to hear out for?

Hmm, I think the soundstage might have changed slightly? Not sure atm.

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The-One /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, installed and set up. What am I supposed to hear out for? Hmm, I think the soundstage might have changed slightly? Not sure atm.

Listen for the music you feed the player with, if you can hear something you have an audio player playing audio files and that's about it.

The claim about improved sound quality is mere nonsense. (2nd time I'm saying this)
Let this thread die, it's better for everyone.

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnor /img/forum/go_quote.gif Listen for the music you feed the player with, if you can hear something you have an audio player playing audio files and that's about it. The claim about improved sound quality is mere nonsense. (2nd time I'm saying this) Let this thread die, it's better for everyone.

That is nonsense is people claiming it make no difference without even listening.

But you are right its not improve the sound its just less degrade it.

There is a difference but since i use a good quality S/PDIF the differences are smaller. (the cable did a great improvement in sound,especially in bass)

I found the sound smoother and with a wider soundstage using KMPlayer with reclocker, Foobar sound more upfront and aggressive but please note that i don't really make a real comparison i only did it with few songs and btw i almost don't use headphones anymore now (i care for my hearing), though i plan on only using them for movies.

I agree that KMPlayer is not convenient for listening music and the buffer eat the first 200ms which is a big annoyance, but for movies i don't think any players can do better than KMP.

For music i prefer CD players or vinyl, much more easy to use and no lousy digital connections but this is another subject.

For bit perfect on video you need to have the refresh rate of your monitor to match one of the video i will explain it on the tutorial with pictures.

Hear by yourself.

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega17TheTrue /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is nonsense is people claiming it make no difference without even listening. [..] KMPlayer is not convenient for listening music and the buffer eat the first 200ms which is a big annoyance, but for movies i don't think any players can do better than KMP. [..] For bit perfect on video you need to have the refresh rate of your monitor to match one of the video i will explain it on the tutorial with pictures.

don't feed trolls my friend, they aren't worth it

yes, KMP is by far the best media player around...and watching movies w/o Reclock(through a bit-perfect audio renderer) is completely pointless indeed, 24/48.000Hz Reclock in KS/WASAPI = goodness

 

[ROBSCIX]

KMplayer works fine for me without reclock.

 

[donunus]

You guys have to try xmplay with wasapi exclusive mode. turn off all filters, eq and all effects and youve got one heck of a light and great sounding player. Its my favorite right now after obsesivelly listening to sonic differences

 

[sonci]

Omega,
what audio card do you use,
I tried your tutorial with windows 7, and theres no sound with creative xfi, audio creation mode, I hear the click of changing sample rate from the speakers, then no sound at all, the same goes for flac, mp3 etc,
While for multichannel audio, I get the message format not supported,
does xfi support Wasapi?

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif don't feed trolls my friend, they aren't worth it

I concur.

 

[Kpalsm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyway, this and the fact that W7 refuses to allow two applications to use audio at once (say Foobar2000 and KMPlayer or Foobar2000 and a flash video) is reason enough for me to stick with XP since W7 has no real benefits anyway.

I've never had that problem, I can listen to music in Foobar and watch a YouTube video at the same time if I want to and I hear both. Also, there are a lot of benefits upgrading to W7 over XP, even from Vista. A good example is, I haven't had a single BSoD in W7, unlike Vista and XP on the same hardware, and this is using beta versions, which I've been using since I helped overload Microsoft's servers the day the beta went public.

Unless you have older software that won't run on the newer OS there's not a lot of reason to keep using XP. Even then, W7 has XP Mode. Look it up along with other features of W7 if it interests you.

 

[The-One]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif You guys have to try xmplay with wasapi exclusive mode. turn off all filters, eq and all effects and youve got one heck of a light and great sounding player. Its my favorite right now after obsesivelly listening to sonic differences

do you *really* have to turn all filters/effect etc off?

Because I run a parametric eq plugin, which corrects for room acoustics on bass frequencies. That doesn't work anymore if the filter/eq option is switched off in KM Player. I know for a fact if that is turned off, the bass will be inaccurate. (I mainly use speakers and a subwoofer, only at nights do i plug in my iems)

 

[donunus]

well, in the first place. You cannot really compare different players side by side if you use any of their filters, plugins, effects etc... You are not just listening to the players sound on their own if you use any of those effects. Plugins, eq and other effects vary from player to player which will make all your players obviously different sounding.

I think the key point to this whole thread is that the kmplayer with reclock is supposedly a "lesser evil" than other players so far as sound degradation from the original data is concerned. Using extra effects makes the argument about which player sounds better a different topic altogether.

Coming back to KMplayer being the best sounding player using reclock, I agree that for the majority of my files that it sounds better than itunes, media player and foobar except for some aac and apple lossless files that go down in level when played through the kmplayer (Is there some sort of replaygain type of problem here?).

But then I used xmplay with wasapi exclusive mode.... I'm not sure which player is really more accurate to the bits of the original file but I like the slightly more crispy edged sound of xmplay with all possible extra effects (auto amplification, interpolation, ramping, surround, eq, etc...) off. With the Neutron Skin, It looks simple and cool too

 

[DeusEx]

Anyone's KMP freeze in Win7 at times, when you load a video?

 

[donunus]

mine is fine with windows 7. It freezes when trying to play an audio cd though

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the key point to this whole thread is that the kmplayer with reclock is supposedly a "lesser evil" than other players so far as sound degradation from the original data is concerned.

Yeah that's the OP's claim, but how could this even remotely be true if other players also support bit-exact output, i.e. input equals output?

 

[donunus]

Thats what is really weird about the whole thing with computer audio. Bitperfect might only mean "trying to be" bitperfect because not all players sound the same. This might mean that they buffer the data in some way that all the bits can go through instead of skipping some when the hardware is not fast enough to deliver everything on time. Anything in the software that can cause any eq or effect already makes the music not bitperfect right? Then why do eqs still work with wasapi on? Its only kmplayer with reclock where effects dont work when reclock is on. Either way, just go with what makes you happy. Its probably better to think that its totally bitperfect and be happy than to be paranoid like me