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[aqus]

Please help me understand.
I just purchased a new Denon 4200 to replace an older yamaha avr.
I installed everything and the sound I was dissapointed at first. I used Kodi to play music. set audio to wasapi denon passthrough. Removed all possible sound enhancements and I didn't like the sound. Played same music through JRiver media player and my smile came back. Also using pass-through.
My question ( and I don't want to start a thread on which is better) If I am using passthrough on both Kodi and JRiver shouldn't the AVR do all the processing? Therefore shouldn't both softwares sound the same?

[astromo]

 

Well, the result should be the same if all other details are equal but you won't be up for a fight here if you think that MC sounded better. Audio beauty is in the ears of the beholder, I reckon.

Though I'm not sure what significance the Denon "Pass Through" makes here. From what I can gather, that function simply enables audio to be sent to the TV in the event that the receiver is on stand-by. So, as long as your listening test is consistent in terms of final sound output device, then you should be hearing the playback under conditions that offer a level playing field and accordingly, "Pass Through" will make no difference.

[blgentry]

"Pass through" on an AVR normally means "all processing has been turned off".  In some it can be a pure analog path, which bypasses digital processing of all types.  In others it just turns off selected functions.

As for the sound being different, it's very hard to say.  Maybe your other software was using the Windows Mixer, which does sample rate conversion.  Or maybe it was using windows sound effects or other driver based sound processing. 

Or maybe it's placebo.  <shrug>

Brian.

[Wungun]

I think something like Plex might "pass thru" the way you'd expect. Kodi, however, is just crap for tv and video streaming. I would never consider playing music thru it.

[aqus]

Ok thanks for the comments. So I guess in order to get the best sound possible I need to listen to different software to find one to my liking even though all processing is turned off. I thought it would act like a cd player and just play the file as is therefore not make any difference on the software used.
WunGun you say Kodi is crap for... why do you say this? How about for Movies?

[blgentry]

Ok thanks for the comments. So I guess in order to get the best sound possible I need to listen to different software to find one to my liking even though all processing is turned off.

I disagree with that statement.  Any player that is using WASAPI or ASIO and is not altering the signal via intentional (or hidden) processing should produce identical sound.  JRiver MC is known for it's "high quality sound", which pretty much means it does it's job correctly.  As opposed to having any special magic.

I think trying to find differences in software players is something that just leads to false psychological impressions because you are *looking* for differences that shouldn't exist.  Kind of like power cables, or pebbles on top of equipment, or cable lifters, or green pens used on CDs, or any other of the myriad "tweaks" that have no basis in science or engineering.

Brian.