ronross
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2004
- Posts
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Tl;dr: I need a DAC solution that will switch between the different sample rates required by my apps transparently.
Bear with me, please, this is new to me.
I have been using an old Audiophile 2496 coaxial out to an amp with a built-in dac. Sound is fine, when it works correctly. Currently I use the amp's tape outputs to a Vali 2. Sound is fine.
The problem comes when I switch between sources on the pc. I use the card to output audio for Kodi (16/48), Google Play Music/Spotify (16/44) and my mp3/flac files via MusicBee (variable up to 24/192). I use shuffle on MusicBee so a playlist can contain different sample rates. The only way to get those sample rates to switch automatically is to use the Audiophile's ASIO driver and then MB works fine.
However, the streaming services and Kodi will not use the ASIO driver and from what I know Windows' wasapi driver does not switch sample rates for the card automatically. So at a minimum if I don't reset the card's control panel manually I've potentially got an incorrect sample rate going from MusicBee to Spotify (e.g. 96khz back to 44). But at least after quitting MB, I can get sound from the streaming services.
The problem is even more pronounced with Kodi. MusicBee's ASIO exclusive mode breaks Kodi's audio even after I exit from MB. I have to restart the pc and reset the sample rate in the control panel. If I forget Kodi won't work at all.
Since I switch between audio applications frequently this is getting old.
I want a solution that will play files up to 24/192 and switch between the various sample rates transparently. I thought about getting a basic USB Modi. I'm ok with the optical inputs of the amp so I don't think I need an Uber. I would connect the Modi to the amp via RCA and leave the tape outputs from the amp out to the Vali 2. If it makes life easier, I don't mind using the analog out from the Audiophile into the amp for Kodi since the sound on video is not a priority. But an all in one solution that handles all of the sources correctly is preferable, obviously. I'm tired of manually switching.
If this won't work the way I want it to, what's the next best thing? Thanks.
Bear with me, please, this is new to me.
I have been using an old Audiophile 2496 coaxial out to an amp with a built-in dac. Sound is fine, when it works correctly. Currently I use the amp's tape outputs to a Vali 2. Sound is fine.
The problem comes when I switch between sources on the pc. I use the card to output audio for Kodi (16/48), Google Play Music/Spotify (16/44) and my mp3/flac files via MusicBee (variable up to 24/192). I use shuffle on MusicBee so a playlist can contain different sample rates. The only way to get those sample rates to switch automatically is to use the Audiophile's ASIO driver and then MB works fine.
However, the streaming services and Kodi will not use the ASIO driver and from what I know Windows' wasapi driver does not switch sample rates for the card automatically. So at a minimum if I don't reset the card's control panel manually I've potentially got an incorrect sample rate going from MusicBee to Spotify (e.g. 96khz back to 44). But at least after quitting MB, I can get sound from the streaming services.
The problem is even more pronounced with Kodi. MusicBee's ASIO exclusive mode breaks Kodi's audio even after I exit from MB. I have to restart the pc and reset the sample rate in the control panel. If I forget Kodi won't work at all.
Since I switch between audio applications frequently this is getting old.
I want a solution that will play files up to 24/192 and switch between the various sample rates transparently. I thought about getting a basic USB Modi. I'm ok with the optical inputs of the amp so I don't think I need an Uber. I would connect the Modi to the amp via RCA and leave the tape outputs from the amp out to the Vali 2. If it makes life easier, I don't mind using the analog out from the Audiophile into the amp for Kodi since the sound on video is not a priority. But an all in one solution that handles all of the sources correctly is preferable, obviously. I'm tired of manually switching.
If this won't work the way I want it to, what's the next best thing? Thanks.
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