[Mikeb]

Have just downloaded and installed the latest Vista service pack SP2, no problems with installation, there appears to be an improvement with the sound quality with this new service pack when using foobar 9.6.6 with wasapi output through my lynx aes16 soundcard. would be interested if anyone else has noticed any changes in sound quality with the new service pack.

 

[iszatso]

What specific changes have you noticed?

 

[milkweg]

When was Vista SP2 released? Must-go-get-now.

 

[Ares]

I doubt SP2 improved sound quality, but it is possible. The upgrade was actually very minor, and very few features were added. The list can be found here:

Notable Changes in Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2

However, it did change the driver model to make Vista play nicer with more drivers. I believe that this could affect sound quality on some systems.

 

[Bojamijams]

I highly highly doubt it.

 

[Turnerman]

I too have noticed a very significant improvement in Vista sp2 I cannot explain it but mp3 streams and playing cd's sound much improved.

 

[milkweg]

I don't hear any difference using foobar w/wasapi but it definitely changed something to do with sound because after SP2 install my SPDIF was disabled and had to re-enable it.

 

[paulb09]

My Realtek manager loaded on start up after installing SP2, whereas it was most certainly disabled as a start up program before. I didn't install a new version, neither was it listed in my Windows Update before, so SP2 definitely made it start up.

As for a difference in sound, everything seemed exactly the same to me, but then I am running digital out anyway.

 

[Bojamijams]

I wonder if the perceived sound 'improvement' with SP2 is because SP2 enabled some sound software that was previously disabled as you guys mentioned.. maybe some EQ got turned on that was disabled before, etc.

 

[43st]

I had to reconfigure my speakers in the Vista playback menu. The SP2 install defaulted my system to 5.1, which was not what I had before the install.

The playback configuration menu is also slightly different, perhaps why it was set incorrectly after the install.

 

[Telstar]

I didnt make a clear A/B, but I dont think SP2 improved the sound quality.

 

[tattoou2]

No discernible change for me on my Toshiba laptop.

 

[brn80]

I notice a difference too after SP2. I thought I was imagining things. Interestingly, I didn't find this post from the browsing Head-Fi. I actually did a search in Google to see if anyone else noticed a difference with WASAPI and SP2 and came across this post.

Maybe I wasn't setup properly before? Not sure. Either case, I noticed it just after I did the update 2 nights ago. Bear in mind since I didn't read this post or anything related to it so I didn't have any preconceived notion that there was going to be a difference--somewhat discounting placebo I'd think. So I just shrugged it off as some EQ setting or a well recorded track. Then today I was listening to some Buddha Bar and a track I'm very used to sounded more clear?... seemed to have more clarity. I checked to make sure crystalizer and all that crap was off, but it shouldn't matter since it's going SPDIF anyways.

My setup is X-fi xtrememusic=(SPDIF)=>Beresford 7510=>AKG K601. Tracks are lowly 160kbps WMAs.

 

[apatN]

I highly doubt there is a difference. FWIW I didn't hear a difference but that might be because I use X-FI's SPDIF and my DAC is doing all the calculation. Also thinking a service pack might affect SQ sounds foolish to me.

 

[brn80]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif I highly doubt there is a difference. FWIW I didn't hear a difference but that might be because I use X-FI's SPDIF and my DAC is doing all the calculation. Also thinking a service pack might affect SQ sounds foolish to me.

Yeah my setup is the same, the 7510 is the external DAC. I thought it was silly too, that's why I didn't come here the first time around. A service pack really shouldn't make a difference and it does sound silly except that WASAPI is at the OS level. However, I don't recall seeing anything that improves/changes at the audio level in the SP2 details--just one about streaming HD audio/video and something about directx.

But, as I mentioned, it's possible something in my setup before made it crappy and this just reset it? not sure. I guess I'll tinker a bit more. Also, it's only WASAP+foobar I notice the difference, I tried another random player, Zune (Directsound), sounded the same as before to me.