HOW TO...Setup Foobar2000 to use WASAPI

[Anonymous]

I am not in front of an XP machine at the moment, but usually once you have found your sound card under Sounds & Devices, can you not bring up more driver settings by clicking properties or advanced ?

Sometimes the driver also installs its own shortcut in the control panel - can you see one ?

Failing that download the latest VIA driver for it as it may be using a generic windows driver which does not allow you to change all the settings and hence the lack of a control panel.

 

[kena]

Does you card not have supplied S/W ?? if not all you may have then is in control panel ->sounds, audio playpack (for your card ) Advanced -> Performance where sample rate conversion should be set to best.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks kena, the sample rate is already set to best, but i realy don't know if this means it passes 44.1kHz or upsamples to 48 kHz

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks bendrummond, ALL tabs checked, but there is nowhere sample rate setting. I will try to update to latest VIA driver and report back/ask for help.

 

[Anonymous]

OK. So here's what I've done (With a little help from my friend...):

Found out that I have a VIA VN896 chipset on my laptop and VIA High Definition Audio soundcard. I've downloaded and installed latest audio driver (package version VIA HDA v5.00b, driver version 6.0.1.1400, codec type VT1708), and the driver installed its own control panel on the taskbar.

On the VIA's driver control panel, effects are off, volume is 100% and when I play music on foobar, Wave is not working. But there is not a sample rate setting.

Then I go to Control Panel - sounds and audio devices: - audio - sound playback Wave is not working, and when I try to open advanced it says DirectSound settings not available.

When I play flac in foobar, asio control panel is still showing WDA Device List - Out: 2x48kHz, 16 bits, and when I move the cursor above asio control panel without opening it, it shows 2048 samples at 44100Hz (but I think this only means that the sound which is coming to the soundcard is bit-perfect).

So, finally:

1.Is my soundcard upsampling from 44.1 to 48kHz? (most probably yes?!)

2.If I buy external DAC and connect it to laptop via USB, will it COMPLETELY bypass the soundcard, or will it still receive 48kHz sample rate packets?

Thanks,

Goran

 

[Anonymous]

Goran,

Here are the offline settings as reported by ASIO4ALL on my work PC as an example

From top to bottom

My bluetooth headset will only ouput 16/44.1

The Realtek onboard audio will:-
a) output 6 channel analogue at 16/48 only
b) record spdif in at any frequency between 8-48khz in 16bit
c) output 2 channel SPDIF at 16/48 only.

If you audio output shows only one sample rate in the offline ASIO settings then I can almost guarantee the driver is locked at that sample rate and you would need another method to ouput 16/44.1 digitally from the laptop without re-samping.

A USB connection will bypass the onboard soundcard but most USB DACs are limited to 16bit although some will do 24/96.

 

[kena]

Thought "always resample 44 <-> 48" should be unchecked! Tho i'm not on Vista so not using WASAPI

 

[Anonymous]

bendrummond:

Goran,

Here are the offline settings as reported by ASIO4ALL on my work PC as an example

From top to bottom

My bluetooth headset will only ouput 16/44.1

The Realtek onboard audio will:-
a) output 6 channel analogue at 16/48 only
b) record spdif in at any frequency between 8-48khz in 16bit
c) output 2 channel SPDIF at 16/48 only.

If you audio output shows only one sample rate in the offline ASIO settings then I can almost guarantee the driver is locked at that sample rate and you would need another method to ouput 16/44.1 digitally from the laptop without re-samping.

A USB connection will bypass the onboard soundcard but most USB DACs are limited to 16bit although some will do 24/96.

bendrummond,

As russ74 adviced me in separate thread, correct settings are:

Latency compensation In: 0 samples, Out: 0 samples; all 3 boxes unchecked, and Kernel Buffers set to 4; ASIO Buffer size set to max 2048 samples for uninterrupted playback.

Hope this helps!

Goran

 

[Anonymous]

...although, honestly, I did not notice any discernable difference with/without asio4all, so my next logical step will be bying a DAC or maybe A/V receiver.

(the difference is much more noticeable when comparing 128-192 kbps mp3 with flac).

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry,

That picture is not of my actual home system, like I said I don't use ASIO, I use ReClock under XP.

I just quickly installed the above on my work pc (Vista) to see what it would report with regards to soundcards to assist you.

If listen to music at work, I use WASAPI sent to the headset at 16/44.1

 

[Anonymous]

I've got two quick questions:

a) Should I be able to change the volume whilst streaming bit- perfect via WASAPI/Foobar, because I can and I thought the idea was that you can't?

b) Does anyone know why bit rates higher than 16 might not work, do others have this problem?

Thanks a lot.

 

[PJPro]

a) When using WASAPI, the OS volume (usually a button on the task bar) does not work. I have mine set to maximum anyway (force of habit).

b) Don't know. I only have 16 bit files.

 

[kena]

Check if your card in the software or setup is set to 16bit . this would prohibit 24bit playback.

 

[PJPro]

If I look at the output preferences in foobar2000, I have to set the bit rate...with the choices of 8, 16, 24 and 32 bits.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, my volume bar still works in Foobar. Does that definitely mean I'm not using it correctly?

I can set the bit rate in the preferences menu, but when I set it higher than 16bit, files do not play.

 

[kena]

sezchwarn:

Oh, my volume bar still works in Foobar. Does that definitely mean I'm not using it correctly?

I can set the bit rate in the preferences menu, but when I set it higher than 16bit, files do not play.

Sounds like your card is set to 16bit or .. doesn't support 24 bit hence it wort play.

 

[Anonymous]

And do you know about the volume bar thing? Is there anyone who knows what it means that I can change the volume via the foobar toolbar thing?

thanks.

 

[PJPro]

You should be able to change the volume within foobar....but I set it to 100%

What you shouldn't be able to do is change the volume with the Windows system volume mixer control.

 

[kena]

I have foobar at 100 and just use my manual volume control on amp tho can adjust down if needed on Foobar

 

[Anonymous]

PJPro:You should be able to change the volume within foobar....but I set it to 100%What you shouldn't be able to change is the volume with the Windows system volume mixer control.

Thank you! Exactly what I wanted to know, cleared that up for me. Thanks Kena for your info as well. Much appreciated.

 

[PJPro]

No problem.

 

[Anonymous]

PJPro, just followed your excellent instructions for WASAPI download into Foobar.

Perfect. Now going to sit back and enjoy some music, bit perfect for the first time.

Thanks for taking the time to post these instructions.

 

[PJPro]

Good to know that they're still proving to be useful.

 

[Cpt.Issues]

PJPro:Anyone tried this?

Yes, thank you very much for the guide!

I use Foobar2000 set up in this way to play my music collection ripped to FLAC lvl 6 using EAC to create .wav files first and am very happy with the results.

Regarding the creative console launcher, I'm running in 'Audio Creation Mode', all setting disabled except bit-matched playback but the drop-down list for Digital Output (PCM) Sampling Rate Settings is greyed out? Under SPDIF out properties in the windows sound panel all sample rates are supported up to 96.0kHz. I can test all successfully and the control volume slider affects the volume level in the control panel does this mean the sound is being up-sampled?

 

[PJPro]

Cpt.Issues:......I'm running in 'Audio Creation Mode', all setting disabled except bit-matched playback but the drop-down list for Digital Output (PCM) Sampling Rate Settings is greyed out?......
Hmm. Within the Settings dialog I am able to set the Master Sampling Rate in the Clock Settings sheet (I use 44.1kHz), I can select some headphone options in the Headphones sheet (I have both check boxes unchecked) and I can enable bit-matched playback in the Bit-Matched sheet (I have the single checkbox checked).

Cpt.Issues:......Under SPDIF out properties in the windows sound panel all sample rates are supported up to 96.0kHz. I can test all successfully and the control volume slider affects the volume level in the control panel does this mean the sound is being up-sampled?
I've set the sample rate to 44.1kHz (Supported Formats sheet).
I've set the SPDIF out slider (Levels sheet) to 100%.
Under the Advanced sheet I've selected 2 channel, 16 bit, 44100Hz (CD Quality) as the Default Format and checked both check boxes under the Exlusive Mode options.

In my humble opinion, you don't want Windows or Creative software doing anything other than get the signal to the DAC. Clearly, you can experiment to see which settings you prefer.