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Latest Kernel - USB Audio sound quality?
scrutinizer:
Not sure if it's the right place for this but still,
I'm using JRiver on Debian stable with some extra backports.
For a while I struggled with a strange phenomenon of sound quality "changes" over time (hours/days)
using USB DACs (Arcam irDAC / Denafrips Ares II).
The sound was great at times and gradually became tainted/clouded for an unknown reason.
That went on until the recent backports kernel upgrade to version 5.19.11.
This upgrade has completely transformed the Denafrips Ares II sound quality, which now performs as it should and shows its true potential. No more sound changes over time. Everything is rock solid and sounding great.
I'm using the direct (hw) interface and there were no other changes.
What kernel change can cause this drastic improvement?
I thought the kernel doesn't affect the sound quality in itself and only brings the device to a working state.
Any hints?
Thanks
eve:
Following
bob:
If you are using the hw: driver, MC tells ALSA to do absolutely no processing of the signal so I don't know why a different kernel should sound different.
eve:
--- Quote from: bob on November 14, 2022, 05:23:49 pm ---If you are using the hw: driver, MC tells ALSA to do absolutely no processing of the signal so I don't know why a different kernel should sound different.
--- End quote ---
Yeah.
Even more interestingly, these are standard class compliant USB audio devices. I just don't know what would change between kernel versions in that situation. Sure, some of more esoteric audio devices require kernel modification but these do not.
scrutinizer:
Yet it changes.
Reverting to an older version hurts the sound quality - bringing it back to the previous state.
Could it be some timing issue between the kernel and the usb device?
I really don't understand how it can be but that's what's going on.
Have there been any usb-audio specific changes in this kernel version?
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