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[teodorom]

Hi,
I'm using JRiver MC with the WDM Driver (and Fidelizer, otherwise my PC crashes).
I see that among the streamer (TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, ...) an IPC is established, through the pipe live://ipc?pipe=00000XXX&streaming=1.
My question is: what is in the pipe ?
I guess that the bytes received by the streamer are decompressed (FLAC, MP3) by "someone".
Who ? the streamer ? JRiver MC ?
I know, for example, that the Spotify bytes (even with the Premium subscription) are MP3 320KB CBR, by my DAC "sees" 16/44.1.
Where the "magic" occurs ?
Thanks

[Awesome Donkey]

As noted in the other thread mentioning Audio Fidelizer, use of any "optimizer" or "enhancer" programs is considered unsupported.

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Windows_System_Requirements

JRiver does not support running Media Center on Windows Server, especially when in Core Mode, or with any kind of third-party OS "enhancer" utilities. If you are doing either of these things, then we will be unable to assist you with any issues you encounter.

[Listener]

I see that among the streamer (TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, ...) an IPC is established, through the pipe live://ipc?pipe=00000XXX&streaming=1.
My question is: what is in the pipe ?
I guess that the bytes received by the streamer are decompressed (FLAC, MP3) by "someone".
Who ? the streamer ? JRiver MC ?
I know, for example, that the Spotify bytes (even with the Premium subscription) are MP3 320KB CBR, by my DAC "sees" 16/44.1.
Where the "magic" occurs ?
Thanks

The streamer software decompresses the MP3 stream and outputs PCM samples to the WDM driver.  JRiver outputs PCM samples to the DAC (assuming that it is directly connected to the PC or Mac where JRiver is running.)

[Trumpetguy]

The streamer software decompresses the MP3 stream and outputs PCM samples to the WDM driver.  JRiver outputs PCM samples to the DAC (assuming that it is directly connected to the PC or Mac where JRiver is running.)

Is that so? In my head, WDM was just a tunneler, and that all decoding happened in the MC audio engine. If you're right, WDM need a number of audio codeces, which should be unneccesary since these are already present in MC. But this is only how I have it depicted in my mind.

[Listener]

Is that so? In my head, WDM was just a tunneler, and that all decoding happened in the MC audio engine. If you're right, WDM need a number of audio codeces, which should be unneccesary since these are already present in MC. But this is only how I have it depicted in my mind.

The s/w that receives the audio stream from Tidal or other service decodes Flac or MP3 or other format and outputs the raw audio probably through a Windows interface like DirectSound or Wasapi.  The Windows audio stack then passes raw audio data (possibly altered) to  a device driver. In this case, to the JRiver WDM driver.

WDM drivers deal with raw audio, not formats like Flac or MP3.

I've written device drivers for audio, video and other devices.  What's the basis for your understanding?

[Trumpetguy]

Thanks for the clarification. As I said above, my previous understanding was based on...nothing :-)

[teodorom]

I asked my question since in Qobuz I have many possibilities to talk with the MC WDM Driver: WASAPI, WASAPI Exclusive, DirectSound, WinMM (?)). This is the point confusing to me.
E.g. when in Qobuz I set WASAPI Exclusive, as in MC, I get the best result: comparing

• what is streamed by Qobuz and MC (in the way I said before)
  
• the content of my CD (converted in FLAC using EAC) through MC only
  

I'm unable to hear any difference.
What is WASAPI ? only a communication protocol ? the (PCM) bytes transmitted along the pipe (or the cable) are absolutely the same ?
Thanks