Windows 8: New audiophile-specific updates!

[PelPix]

Just installed W8 Retail when it popped up on my MS Dev account.  At first, I was really angry.  Apparently MS wrote a new kernel scheduler and my audio was jerky because it kept interrupting my ASIO driver.
Then I begrudgingly tried WASAPI.  After various tests, I can verify that it's bit-perfect as of right now, and integrated into Windows so there are no compatibility problems!  The only "problem" I can find is that, if your DAC is 24-bit native but accepts 16-bit input, it will output 24-bit data and fill the extra bits with NULL.  No issues there, as the DAC is still interpreting it the same way!
 
EDIT:  THERE IS ALSO A COMPLETELY NEW DIRECTSOUND WITH A HIGH-FIDELITY, HIGH-PRECISION, ALIAS-FREE RESAMPLING FILTER!
 
I have access to it because I am a MS partner.  W8 hits retail shelves on October 26th.  Just giving a heads-up.
 
 
Edit:
Apparently consumers can also download Windows 8 and get a 90-day grace period!  Go try it out!

 

[mjock3]

I was playing with the pre release version for while and thought the sound quaility was better on the new 8 version, not to mention boot up time was lightening fast. Looking forward to it's release.

 

[XxDobermanxX]

everyone give microsft the clap, oooooooops...i mean a clap 

 

[NamelessPFG]

I'll be truly impressed when they do away with that XAudio2 + X3DAudio crap and bring DirectSound3D support back.
 
Still, for all the back-end improvements they've done, is it really worth putting up with Metro for KB+M desktop use?

 

[leeperry]

no UAC2 native support I presume?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Can any1 confirm the DirectSound will actually make a return and it'll work and games will be using it etc. I've seen lots of people talking about it possibly making a comeback but I never saw any official confirms on this matter. I'm just too skeptical against MS to celebrate yet, if it's there, I guess I'll have to switch even if there's no other things I want (especially the horrible new GUI features).

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

 
EDIT:  THERE IS ALSO A COMPLETELY NEW DIRECTSOUND WITH A HIGH-FIDELITY, HIGH-PRECISION, ALIAS-FREE RESAMPLING FILTER!
 
 

 
Is there a way to make Directsound bit-perfect?

 

[OmarCCX]

Quote:

I'll be truly impressed when they do away with that XAudio2 + X3DAudio crap and bring DirectSound3D support back.
 
Still, for all the back-end improvements they've done, is it really worth putting up with Metro for KB+M desktop use?

Definitely. It makes slow computers feel relevant. And Metro doesn't bother me at all, I only use it to search things. Same thing with the start menu, I only used it for searches.

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PelPix /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
EDIT:  THERE IS ALSO A COMPLETELY NEW DIRECTSOUND WITH A HIGH-FIDELITY, HIGH-PRECISION, ALIAS-FREE RESAMPLING FILTER!

 
I don't think so. DirectSound is now categorized as legacy API. The improved resampling algorithm has nothing to do with DirectSound per se. You can also download the hotfix for Windows 7: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2653312.
 
DirectSound is still there because Microsoft doesn't remove legacy stuff since it would break old applications. DS now (since Vista I guess) just "sits" on top of WASAPI (shared mode).
 
 
Why would they do away with XAudio2 when it's the successor of DirectSound, recommended by Microsoft?! From MSDN: "XAudio2 is the long-awaited replacement for DirectSound. It addresses several outstanding issues and feature requests."

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

Why would they do away with XAudio2 when it's the successor of DirectSound, recommended by Microsoft?! From MSDN: "XAudio2 is the long-awaited replacement for DirectSound. It addresses several outstanding issues and feature requests."

 
And Microsoft thinks that it's better to simulate a 5.1/7.1 speaker system than three-dimensional reality with XAudio2, apparently. How about my feature request of binaural HRTF surround mixing for headphones, not constrained to a virtual 5.1/7.1 speaker image? I sure don't see that in the current implementation, and it certainly can't be retroactively added to existing games!
 
I'm sure they could have improved the DS3D approach of "pass off the sound coordinates to the audio device and let it do the mixing" instead of doing what they did and making current games sound worse than those over a decade old in terms of positioning because they don't have proper 3D audio support.
 
Not that any of this affects OpenAL one bit, that API being OS-independent and all. I'm quite thankful for that, even if only a few developers use it now.