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[evermoore]

Hello! New to the forum and my first post. Though I've been enjoying audio for decades, I have very limited experience with Internet music streaming, and working knowledge of computers. Loving the journey so far, and learning as much as I can as I go.

As the subject reads, I'm trying to figure out a way to play music streamed from various Internet music streaming services (eg. Apple music, Amazon, Tidal, etc.) bit perfect, while still being able to hear my PC (Windows 10/11) audio sounds at the same time. ie. Bit perfect music streaming while playing video games, hear notifications, discord coms, and so on. I'd also like the bitrate and sampling to auto switch to match each song being streamed, which I understand is another limitation with the Windows mixer(?).

I don't mind if the PC audio sounds are up-sampled, but I'd like the streamed music to be bit perfect. I understand the Windows mixer makes this challenging.

The research I've done so far has resulted in limited answers and solutions. Some members in another community have told me that a hardware mixer may be a solution? They were not able to provide any more working detail than that, although I understand the concept. I'm not sure if that would retain the lossless quality of the music(?). Another member said the Zahl HM1 amplifier could do what I was looking for, but surely an $8000 USD amp can't be the only way this can be done. I've also reached out to some audio hardware companies, but with very little ground gained. I've looked into audio interfaces and mixers, but don't understand if this is the actual solution, as all information I've consumed thus far focuses on music or microphone audio endeavors.

Over time, I've been met with a commonly shared outlook to my inquiries, which is "why does it matter?". Many have implied that my endeavor was unnecessary for a myriad of reasons. It isn't the end of the world if it isn't bit perfect, I get it. But at the same time, why not? As an inexperienced user of melding computer usage and Internet music streaming - I feel like I'm missing something, or not understanding things.

In case it matters, I'm interested primarily in headphone use, though the versatility to also use speakers would be nice, but not a necessity.

Thank you very much for your time.

[JimH]

Big subject, but yes, you can do that.  No, you don't need an $8,000 DAC.  Any USB DAC can play the output.  Or any receiver.

You can use our WDM Driver to play any sound from any application.  Please read the wiki topic.

When you select the audio device you want MC to use, pay attention to Exclusive Mode.  If you select it, no audio source other than MC can play while MC is playing.  Try a Google search to learn more.

[evermoore]

But won't exclusive mode make only the streamed music play but no other PC audio applications? And if I choose sharable, it won't be bit perfect?

If I understand the above correctly, then sadly it is not the answer to my original question. As I'm wondering if there are solutions that allow both to be played at the same time. Whether it involve hardware, software, or both - I'm open to all ideas and insights.

[JimH]

If you use Exclusive Mode, other applications will play if you stop MC, not just pause it.

You could try it to learn more.

[dtc]

As I understand it, you want to maintain bit perfect output except when another system sound/music wants to play simultaneously, in which case they are mixed in. Obviously, if that happens, the original music cannot be bit perfect when the system sound mixing is happening.

With Exclusive mode set you cannot mix MC and other system output. If MC is actively outputting under exclusive mode, then any other system sounds/music will not be heard.

The Windows Mixer is needed to mix MC output with other system/app sounds/music. MC cannot do that. In non-exclusive mode, the Mixer will change the MC output to the shared sample rate set in Windows. If you set the Windows shared sample rate to 44.1 KHz and resample everything in MC to 44.1 KHz then hopefully Windows will not change the MC output except when there is another sound/music to mix in. So, MC music by itself with hopefully be bit perfect (at 44.1 KHz) except when some other sound needs to be mixed in. Of course, that leaves you at the whim of the Windows Mixer which is a bit of a black box.

Many ASIO drivers are meant to operate in shared mode. If your DAC has one of those, it is a good option for maintaining bit perfect audio and mixing other sound. It is meant to do that.

EDIT: If you do not have an ASIO driver, WASAPI non-exclusive is probably your best bet.

[dtc]

The Zahl HM1 amplifier is a 2 input analog mixing headphone amplifier. It mixes 2 analog signals that come out of 2 DACs. It has nothing to do with the mixing 2 digital streams in a single Windows PC.   

It could be used to mix system sounds from one PC with music for a second PC with separate DACs for each PC. Or from a PC that can simultaneously output 2 separate digital or analog streams.  But I don't think that is what you want to do. If you want to go that route (I doubt it) there are far less expensive analog mixers.

[eve]

What you want is the opposite of the definition of 'bit perfect'. Mixing 2 audio sources, in the digital realm, and outputting to a single device (with the inputs mixed) is by definition, not bit perfect.

I think you may be a little confused by your concept / understanding of bit perfect output and what it means for your music.
What may suit your needs is forcing your output 'format' (so sample and bitdepth) to match your important source (your music) and forgoing exclusive mode. This is not *bit perfect* but it should at least prevent your music from being needlessly resampled and windows can easily handle mixing your non critical content in.

If you *really* want like an actually 'bit perfect' output system, you'll need ideally 2 DACs, you can do it with specific multichannel DACs but I have a feeling that's out of your depth. 1 DAC handles audio / critical playback, the other handles desktop audio, then you mix them either in your headphone amp or before it.

Frankly, because mixing in the analog domain is not... well perfect, you may actually get objectively better output, by mixing in the digital domain on the source machine. Don't get me wrong, analog summing can be beautiful sounding but, it's pretty imperfect.

Up to you.
Pretty sure though you just aren't fully understanding why / if you need bit perfect here since what you want is literally the opposite of that.