[GreenFloyd]

I read in a review @Newegg that I'll need an encoder to get the most out of a 24bit card, is this true? I don't currently have one, but once I buy one I'll need to get one.

Are there different encoders? What's a good one?

 

[luukas]

MAD plugin. I have no idea if there are better decoders for Winamp, though.

 

[Stoner]

You can start w/ Chaintech's AV-710. It's damn cheap at $24.50 outside of CA, and I read it sounds pretty damn good.

Turtle Beach has this new card called Catalina, that does hardware DD 5.1 and DTS, AND optical in and out. $63 though.

 

[lan]

Do you mean decoder not encoder?

I use in_mpg123 instead of MAD for decoding.

 

[pbirkett]

While we're on the subject of Winamp, somebody mentioned a "TOP QUALITY" mode which they said sound better than Foobar. What is all that about?

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenFloyd I read in a review @Newegg that I'll need an encoder to get the most out of a 24bit card, is this true? I don't currently have one, but once I buy one I'll need to get one. Are there different encoders? What's a good one?

Do you mean decoder for playback? I switched to foobar because it has high-res modes for playback.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett While we're on the subject of Winamp, somebody mentioned a "TOP QUALITY" mode which they said sound better than Foobar. What is all that about?

That's a setting for the resampling quality in the ASIO output plugin. If you're going to do resampling in realtime then this setting in Winamp is better than the one in foobar's.

 

[GreenFloyd]

Yes, I meant decoder. Sorry.

 

[GreenFloyd]

Are they really necessary to get better sound, anyways?

 

[pbirkett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan That's a setting for the resampling quality in the ASIO output plugin. If you're going to do resampling in realtime then this setting in Winamp is better than the one in foobar's.

Well I've tried that tweak, and it could be my brain playing tricks on me, and I'm fully prepared to hold my hands up to that possibility, but I think i do like the sound of it better than Foobar. It seems a bit bassier and more punchy, it seems to make Foobar sound a little thin, it definitely seems warmer sounding.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenFloyd Are they really necessary to get better sound, anyways?

I recommend just trying them and choosing what you like the most.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett Well I've tried that tweak, and it could be my brain playing tricks on me, and I'm fully prepared to hold my hands up to that possibility, but I think i do like the sound of it better than Foobar. It seems a bit bassier and more punchy, it seems to make Foobar sound a little thin, it definitely seems warmer sounding.

I find that the Winamp TOP setting preserves more detail. Transients and microdynamics seem to be better. foobar seems to be a bit too smoothed out in comparision. It maybe subtle to some. Should be more evident if you had a better card like the emu

 

[Jigglybootch]

Where can I find the ASIO plugin for Winamp 2.91?

 

[pbirkett]

http://www3.cypress.ne.jp/otachan/out_asio(exe)_043.zip

Then dump the out_asio(exe) dll and exe file which are in the bin\normal folder in the zip into winamps plugin directory.

Then go to preferences, and output, and configure the options there.

HTHs

 

[Jigglybootch]

Hmm, I did everything you said to do, but whenever I hit play, Winamp does nothing. What's going on?

 

[pbirkett]

I dont know it worked first time for me, are you using version 5 of Winamp?