Usb 24 192khz M2tech Hiface

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoYouRight /img/forum/go_quote.gif How does it sound on 32bit? Give us a taste! Wish you had a musiland to compare with

I am ABxing right now with this setup.

1. Mac Pro (boot camp) using Foo bar 0.9.6.9 with Wasapi -> Optical out to Ref1
2. laptop -> XP 32bit -> Foo bar 0.9.6.9 with KS using Hiface -> BNC to Ref1.

I am playing the exact same song with same software. only difference is the input method on Ref1 and Operating System used(and Wasapi vs. KS obviously)

A few things that are noticed right away.

a. When I play on Mac Pro, I get this noise/click when the music first starts. This issue disappears on hiface.
b. Not all songs shows the noticeable differences. Some are more apparent than the others.
c. Overall, the sound is smoother, but not by much.
d. #c contributes to less fatigue sounding
e. The instruments sound more natural to me. Mostly playing with Chopin's.
f. Listening to "oh, danny boy", the holographic imaging is more audible through hiface. With optical, it disappears rather rapidly, but with hiface, it remains longer.
g. There is occassional pauses with hiface when the laptop is locking the screen and etc. This probably disappears with high performance power options.

Longer I listen to, it's hard to tell the differences.

Now, I am onto other songs. I will update more if i find more. Hopefully I get the solution from m2tech on 64bit drivers soon.


EDIT:
g. The pause does disappear with high performance power options.

 

[tosehee]

Due to time differences, I doubt I will hear anything from m2tech for today.

EDIT:

Trying to see if it works under Windows XP VMware.

The driver installs fine, but when I try to run in foobar, it hangs. so, big no-no if you want to play around with vmware + xp.

EDIT:

I found another way around it. Instead of using Mac Pro + OSX + VMWare + XP, I used XP Mode under Windows 7. It installs fine and it also lets you play the music.

However, there are so many glitches, clicks, noises in the system that this mode is not usable at all. I have also increased the memory of xp mode to 2g and that helps a bit with glitches, but still far from the quality that you can expect from this device.

With that said, I think this device is FAR from ready for a public use. There is no 64bit driver available, and it still hangs and crashes the Foobar2000. IMO, this product needs more thorough testing, more solid driver, and availablility of 64bit driver is the bare minimum.

I will continue to play around and monitor the progress on this device, but for now, Musiland seems like a better buy.

 

[slim.a]

I should get my unit today, I hope that it works fine with windows xp media center I am using

Any new update on how it sounds/more comparisons ?

 

[tosehee]

Just got a response from m2tech that they have 64 bit compiled already and performing the test with foobar.

EDIT:

I have volunteered to be a beta tester for m2tech folks, and I might be able to get the developer compiled driver for x64. I won't report here any issues with the driver as it is 'beta' and should be reported back directly to the m2tech, but I can/will share the sound quality once it's verified to work.

 

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slim.a /img/forum/go_quote.gif I should get my unit today, I hope that it works fine with windows xp media center I am using Any new update on how it sounds/more comparisons ?

Does the media center work with KS? Hiface only works with Kernel Streaming as far as I know.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tosehee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does the media center work with KS? Hiface only works with Kernel Streaming as far as I know.

The media center doesn't work with KS. I will have to use foobar or mediamonkey with the hiface.
If the hiface outperform my other converters, I will still have to connect another usb converter (through optical) to use the Media Center. Hopefully, m2tech will release DS drivers down the road.

 

[DoYouRight]

why use media center for your headphones?

i have mediadirect on my dell its a slimlined xp tho

 

[tosehee]

Doesn't DS can't output bitperfect? I thought KS, Wasapi, ASIO are the ones that are capable.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoYouRight /img/forum/go_quote.gif why use media center for your headphones? i have mediadirect on my dell its a slimlined xp tho

I am using media center to watch movies and tv series (not for music). In fact since I did all my recent upgrades to my system, I watch movies and series (whenever I am alone) with my headphones as it provides a unique immersive experience

It is a much more enjoyable experience than through speakers (in my set-up). So for me, it would be nice to have DS drivers.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tosehee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Doesn't DS can't output bitperfect? I thought KS, Wasapi, ASIO are the ones that are capable.

I think that in some conditions (as claimed by Benchmark Media) there is a possibility to have bit perfect output with DS. But it seems that the majority prefers KS, wasapi and Asio.

 

[DoYouRight]

Im sure you can find a media player that excepts wasapi or asio or something.

 

[tosehee]

I just received the dev compiled x64 driver to test out. What a quick turnaround. I will let you guys know how it works out.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tosehee /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just received the dev compiled x64 driver to test out. What a quick turnaround. I will let you guys know how it works out.

let us know, it seems that you are the first one to get it on head-fi

 

[DoYouRight]

sweetness. great to be an early adopter youll get everything faster

 

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoYouRight /img/forum/go_quote.gif sweetness. great to be an early adopter youll get everything faster

Well, I am helping myself by helping them out.

I have listened many hours yesterday on Windows XP using laptop, and I enjoyed the music through hiface immensely . I actually re-partitioned my Mac Pro (boot camp) using Disk manager in Windows 7, so I could install the older Vista 32bit to use. I enjoy that much to go through such hassle.

Now that there is 64bit driver to work with, I could avoid that route.Thank God I was tired and couldn't install the Vista 32 on it yet.

I will report on 64bit compatibility and how it sounds. This, if works out and stable under 64bit environment, will be 1.02 from what I hear.

Regards