Bit Perfect audio in Windoze - a solution
- Thread starter admin_exported
- Start date
The premiss that kmixer always upsamples to 48k is wrong so it seems, as discussed in earlier threads. If the only signal offered to kmixer is 41.k/16 at output is set to 100% and equal balance kmixer leaves the signal as it is and is transparent. Only if kmixer is offered different signals to mix it converts all to the highest sample/bitrate.
Pete10:
The premiss that kmixer always upsamples to 48k is wrong so it seems, as discussed in earlier threads. If the only signal offered to kmixer is 41.k/16 at output is set to 100% and equal balance kmixer leaves the signal as it is and is transparent. Only if kmixer is offered different signals to mix it converts all to the highest sample/bitrate.
Now that I'm using asio4all with Foobar, my DacMagic shows a 41.1kHz signal. Prior to that, it always showed 48kHz. That suggests to me that the premise that kmixer always upsamples is correct. Comments anyone?
The premiss that kmixer always upsamples to 48k is wrong so it seems, as discussed in earlier threads. If the only signal offered to kmixer is 41.k/16 at output is set to 100% and equal balance kmixer leaves the signal as it is and is transparent. Only if kmixer is offered different signals to mix it converts all to the highest sample/bitrate.
Now that I'm using asio4all with Foobar, my DacMagic shows a 41.1kHz signal. Prior to that, it always showed 48kHz. That suggests to me that the premise that kmixer always upsamples is correct. Comments anyone?
Interesting. Is this via USB or coax/optical? Are you sure there was no option set in the foobar driver, or in your soundcard settings (if you use coax/optical) to upsample to 48k?
Thanks interesting article in that link regarding Reclock. I've just built a HTPC and I can see the benefits for movie audio playback.
I'm using Foobar2000 at the moment but I might have a go with WMP and Reclock so I can make use of my G-Force visualisation plugin.
I'm away for a few days I'll give it a go when I'm back.
I'm using Foobar2000 at the moment but I might have a go with WMP and Reclock so I can make use of my G-Force visualisation plugin.
I'm away for a few days I'll give it a go when I'm back.
Pete10:
Interesting. Is this via USB or coax/optical? Are you sure there was no option set in the foobar driver, or in your soundcard settings (if you use coax/optical) to upsample to 48k?
USB connection. There is no option in Foobar that I'm aware of, and my soundcard is bypassed as I'm using a USB DAC. It showed 48kHz regardless of the player anyway (Windows media, Foobar, etc. etc.).
There is however, an option in asio4all to force upsampling to 48kHz, although I'm unsure as to why someone would want to.
Interesting. Is this via USB or coax/optical? Are you sure there was no option set in the foobar driver, or in your soundcard settings (if you use coax/optical) to upsample to 48k?
USB connection. There is no option in Foobar that I'm aware of, and my soundcard is bypassed as I'm using a USB DAC. It showed 48kHz regardless of the player anyway (Windows media, Foobar, etc. etc.).
There is however, an option in asio4all to force upsampling to 48kHz, although I'm unsure as to why someone would want to.
tractorboy:Pete10:
The premiss that kmixer always upsamples to 48k is wrong so it seems, as discussed in earlier threads. If the only signal offered to kmixer is 41.k/16 at output is set to 100% and equal balance kmixer leaves the signal as it is and is transparent. Only if kmixer is offered different signals to mix it converts all to the highest sample/bitrate.
Now that I'm using asio4all with Foobar, my DacMagic shows a 41.1kHz signal. Prior to that, it always showed 48kHz. That suggests to me that the premise that kmixer always upsamples is correct. Comments anyone?
That's what it looks like to me......although it may be something to do with the configuration of your PC.
My view is that you should have a go at bypassing the KMixer and see if you think it improves the sound. If it does, then go with it. If it doesn't, it hasn't cost you a bean.
The premiss that kmixer always upsamples to 48k is wrong so it seems, as discussed in earlier threads. If the only signal offered to kmixer is 41.k/16 at output is set to 100% and equal balance kmixer leaves the signal as it is and is transparent. Only if kmixer is offered different signals to mix it converts all to the highest sample/bitrate.
Now that I'm using asio4all with Foobar, my DacMagic shows a 41.1kHz signal. Prior to that, it always showed 48kHz. That suggests to me that the premise that kmixer always upsamples is correct. Comments anyone?
That's what it looks like to me......although it may be something to do with the configuration of your PC.
My view is that you should have a go at bypassing the KMixer and see if you think it improves the sound. If it does, then go with it. If it doesn't, it hasn't cost you a bean.
What could be the reason is that kmixer tries to find out what the acceptable formats are of your dac. if the driver's communication is not correct it could be that kmixer thinks that 44.1/16 is not an accepted format. In which case it sends the data after SRC to 48k to the dac. The asio plugin/driver might do this differently. The microsoft documentation is quite explicit that kmixer will not do SRC unless necessary.
Hi, I am responsible for the article over at Hi-Fi Insight and I can confirm that Kmixer will mix at 16/44.1 if that is the only input it receives (ie all other inputs are muted). However as pointed out in another post, the Kmixer still seems to perform some sort of DSP with regards to volume level as pointed out by someone hence why the DTS audio CD test fails as the maximum volume ouput is not 100% (so not bit perfect).
Reclock was designed to sync audio to video when viewing movies via PC on a CRT Television, however with the advent of progressive LCDs this has become unnecessary. However because ReClock supports Kernel Streaming in XP and WSAPI in Vista, you can lock its internal clock to the Sound Card clock to get a pure 44.1 signal and bypass the KMixer at the same time.
Using a dirt cheap £15 CMedia 8738/8768 soundcard with the excellent Homebrew Drivers from Drogbert, you get bit perfect audio via spdif when using Kernel Streaming (ie Reclock or Foobar/ASIO solutions etc).
I choose ReClock because I can use it with Windows Media Player and PowerDVD 7 Ultra for bit perfect BluRay movie audio output via an External Extigy soundcard which is connected directly to three power amps (Quad 405/3, Audiolab 8000A power amp section, and a modified Cambridge Amp A1 Mk 3 SE (with front panel bypassed - pure power amp). All volume levels controlled by the sound card.
I have three sound cards in my system, the Extigy is used for 5.1 output from the PC and Sky HD box, the CMedia 8738 outputs bit perfect audio to a Quad 99CDP2, and the onboard ALC888 also ouputs bit perfect audio to the Quad 99CDP2 but has the added bonue of 24 bit audio as well.
The Quad 405/3 powers the front speakers (Quad 11Ls on Partington Dreadnoughts) and i also use a custom built Vishay/Dale based stepped attenuator/Elna Swith passive pre-amp so as to control analogue inputs to the front speakers from both CD player, PC and Garrard 401 (which sadly does not get as much use as it should do these days :-( )
I would prefer to use the onboard Realtek soundcard for 5.1 output by the Extigy is one of the few soundcards that does realtime dolby decoding and does produce dynamic sound when the KMixer is bypassed.
Reclock was designed to sync audio to video when viewing movies via PC on a CRT Television, however with the advent of progressive LCDs this has become unnecessary. However because ReClock supports Kernel Streaming in XP and WSAPI in Vista, you can lock its internal clock to the Sound Card clock to get a pure 44.1 signal and bypass the KMixer at the same time.
Using a dirt cheap £15 CMedia 8738/8768 soundcard with the excellent Homebrew Drivers from Drogbert, you get bit perfect audio via spdif when using Kernel Streaming (ie Reclock or Foobar/ASIO solutions etc).
I choose ReClock because I can use it with Windows Media Player and PowerDVD 7 Ultra for bit perfect BluRay movie audio output via an External Extigy soundcard which is connected directly to three power amps (Quad 405/3, Audiolab 8000A power amp section, and a modified Cambridge Amp A1 Mk 3 SE (with front panel bypassed - pure power amp). All volume levels controlled by the sound card.
I have three sound cards in my system, the Extigy is used for 5.1 output from the PC and Sky HD box, the CMedia 8738 outputs bit perfect audio to a Quad 99CDP2, and the onboard ALC888 also ouputs bit perfect audio to the Quad 99CDP2 but has the added bonue of 24 bit audio as well.
The Quad 405/3 powers the front speakers (Quad 11Ls on Partington Dreadnoughts) and i also use a custom built Vishay/Dale based stepped attenuator/Elna Swith passive pre-amp so as to control analogue inputs to the front speakers from both CD player, PC and Garrard 401 (which sadly does not get as much use as it should do these days :-( )
I would prefer to use the onboard Realtek soundcard for 5.1 output by the Extigy is one of the few soundcards that does realtime dolby decoding and does produce dynamic sound when the KMixer is bypassed.
John Duncan
Well-known member
Hi Ben
Thanks for your insight here - I hope you'll be able to offer more going forward, as the Windows/Bit Perfect conversation is one we have here a lot...
cheers
JD
Thanks for your insight here - I hope you'll be able to offer more going forward, as the Windows/Bit Perfect conversation is one we have here a lot...
cheers
JD
Similar threads
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
-
I test OLED TVs for a living – and trust me, different sizes perform differently- Started by What Hi-Fi?
- Replies: 2
-
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram