Windows 10 Finally Getting Native USB 2 Audio Support

[Baldr]

Nope still won't start here with 14971 running. All C-Media stuff cleaned up, reboots and recycle multiple times. I'm refreshing device manager and "Schiit Audio Gen 3 USB" shows up with !-sign and not running, despite the new native driver being installed.

Dang!  I will mess around some more and report.

 

[cskippy]

You've probably already tried this but have you tried plugging into a different USB port than the one you've been using?

 

[Aktersnurra]

You've probably already tried this but have you tried plugging into a different USB port than the one you've been using?

 

Thanks, I did to switch - the only thing that happens is that it rolls back to the C-media driver despite having it uninstalled.
Don't know if this is causing the issues, but it seems like Microsoft is having code-10 troubles for other hardware as well.
Not ready for official release I guess.

I'm just getting too tired of USB in Windows overall. I will either go to Linux, buy a Lynx E22 card or get a CD-transport just to be done with this... :/

 

[Aktersnurra]

I'm running Daphile Linux over USB-stick while waiting for Microsoft to sort this out....
Works like a charm, no stupid driver in the way.

 

[TG04]

The latest Windows 10 Preview (14986) actually forces the Audio 2.0 driver to install while replacing any existing 3rd party driver -- Chord Mojo in my case (which is actually wiped off your system).  Luckily, the Microsoft driver, which is called "Mojo(WASAPI)" in J River Media Center, works quite well and I think it may even improve the sound on PCM stereo (maxed out at 32-384).  Haven't been able to get DSD to work though.  Also can't get Foobar to work at all with this driver.

 

[InsanityOne]

 
The latest Windows 10 Preview (14986) actually forces the Audio 2.0 driver to install while replacing any existing 3rd party driver -- Chord Mojo in my case (which is actually wiped off your system).  Luckily, the Microsoft driver, which is called "Mojo(WASAPI)" in J River Media Center, works quite well and I think it may even improve the sound on PCM stereo (maxed out at 32-384).  Haven't been able to get DSD to work though.  Also can't get Foobar to work at all with this driver.

 
It's good to hear that the driver completely removes any "conflicting" driver files upon installation, but some users really won't like that. Also, I am not surprised that DSD isn't working as that probably requires some special driver features that Microsoft probably won't address, however, I find it very strange that you can't get F2K working. The driver is labelled WASAPI, do you have the WASAPI output component for F2K? If not, I would give that a try and look at your current output settings in F2K.
 
- InsanityOne 

 

[TG04]

Thanks for the quick response, InsanityOne.  You were right, the link you provided to the Wasapi component did the trick, Foobar now plays PCM flawlessly (I have tried up to 24-192) -- thanks again // TG

 

[TG04]

Thanks for the quick response, InsanityOne.  You were right, the link you provided to the Wasapi component did the trick, Foobar now plays PCM flawlessly (I have tried up to 24-192) -- thanks again // TG

 

[InsanityOne]

  Thanks for the quick response, InsanityOne.  You were right, the link you provided to the Wasapi component did the trick, Foobar now plays PCM flawlessly (I have tried up to 24-192) -- thanks again // TG

 
Great! Glad that you could get it working again! Be sure to do lots of testing with the Windows driver and send in lots of feedback to Microsoft! It probably wouldn't hurt to alert them to the DSD issues either!
 
- InsanityOne 

 

[Michgelsen]

But if PCM works at high bitrates via WASAPI, DSD should also work via DoP, because Windows won't see the difference between a real PCM stream or a DoP stream. Did you enable WASAPI exclusive mode in Windows?

 

[TG04]

Thanks for your interest in this.  Yes, on the Speaker Properties panel of the Mojo driver, Allow Exclusive Control is selected along with Give Exclusive Mode Priority.  On the Enhancements tab the Disable All Enhancements is selected.  On the Advanced tab, the highest resolution available (32-384) is selected.  Level is set to 100%.
 
Likewise, in JRMC on the Options panel under Audio Device, Open Device for Exclusive Control must be chosen or no sounds at all will be the result, regardless of file format.
 
 
But you are on to something -- Microsoft does say in the press release as follows:
 
"Some things that we are already aware of:

• Our class driver does not support ASIO
• Our class driver does not work in WASAPI exclusive mode in certain applications"

 
So it is of course entirely possible that JRMC and Foobar are among those apps in which case I suppose all we can do is to wait for the next update.
 
Have you been able to get it to work on your machine?

 

[InsanityOne]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

  Thanks for your interest in this.  Yes, on the Speaker Properties panel of the Mojo driver, Allow Exclusive Control is selected along with Give Exclusive Mode Priority.  On the Enhancements tab the Disable All Enhancements is selected.  On the Advanced tab, the highest resolution available (32-384) is selected.  Level is set to 100%.
 
Likewise, in JRMC on the Options panel under Audio Device, Open Device for Exclusive Control must be chosen or no sounds at all will be the result, regardless of file format.
 
 
But you are on to something -- Microsoft does say in the press release as follows:
 
"Some things that we are already aware of:

• Our class driver does not support ASIO
• Our class driver does not work in WASAPI exclusive mode in certain applications"

 
So it is of course entirely possible that JRMC and Foobar are among those apps in which case I suppose all we can do is to wait for the next update.
 
Have you been able to get it to work on your machine?

 

 
The only player I know of that supports native DSD playback is Jriver(?), but if you want to get native DSD playback working at all on Foobar2000 I recommend doing these steps:
 
1. Update to the latest version of Foobar2000 which is v1.3.14 beta 1. This build includes several fixes and a new feature for native playback of WavPack 5 DSD files.
2. Follow this guide: http://www.audiostream.com/content/how-play-dsd-file-using-foobar2000#2fOxkRDLY2GhsubK.97 (Make sure you download the latest version of both the ASIO component and the SACD component for best results)
 
But as you have said, it most likely won't work as the new built-in Windows USB Audio 2 driver doesn't support ASIO, but you tested WASAPI exclusive mode and it seems to work for the most part so it may be worth it to test out DSD afterall. I would go for it!
 
- InsanityOne 

 

[Jobbing]

Does native usb2 support have the same effect when using Kernel Streaming?

Because my setup is stable I'm hesitant to uninstall drivers, it's been awhile since I have last updated and wasn't planning to. However if sound quality will increase drastically I might just do that...

Seagate Backup ext. HDD -> USB 3 -> mini PC Windows 10 pro -> (USB 2) -> M2Tech HiFace Evo (mk1) -> (AES/Ebu) -> M1DAC -> ... ->

When uninstalling M2Tech driver and updating FB2K, will I have to re-install plug-ins and settings as well after re-installing Windows driver for M2Tech?

 

[TG04]

Many thanks for these comments.  
 
I have to say though, all this complication is a little more than I thought I bargained for when I bought the Mojo at $500-and-change -- but that's what makes all of this silliness a hobby as opposed to pleasure, I suppose.  Just very glad I didn't go for the dCS Rossini at $30k as reviewed in Stereophile last month (not that I ever would consider such an amount for a stereo component).  
 
Alice got it right :  Lewis Carroll — 'Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)

 

[InsanityOne]

Does native usb2 support have the same effect when using Kernel Streaming?

Because my setup is stable I'm hesitant to uninstall drivers, it's been awhile since I have last updated and wasn't planning to. However if sound quality will increase drastically I might just do that...

Seagate Backup ext. HDD -> USB 3 -> mini PC Windows 10 pro -> (USB 2) -> M2Tech HiFace Evo (mk1) -> (AES/Ebu) -> M1DAC -> ... ->

When uninstalling M2Tech driver and updating FB2K, will I have to re-install plug-ins and settings as well after re-installing Windows driver for M2Tech?

 
Yes, when you update Foobar2000 you will need to reinstall any components and re-do all of your settings, also, when removing the M2Tech driver and installing the Windows 10 Driver you will have to re-do any driver specific settings you had as well.
 
 

  Many thanks for these comments.  
 
I have to say though, all this complication is a little more than I thought I bargained for when I bought the Mojo at $500-and-change -- but that's what makes all of this silliness a hobby as opposed to pleasure, I suppose.  Just very glad I didn't go for the dCS Rossini at $30k as reviewed in Stereophile last month (not that I ever would consider such an amount for a stereo component).  
 
Alice got it right :  Lewis Carroll — 'Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)

 
When you get everything working just right it will all be worth it in the end!
 
- InsanityOne