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[Angelo58]

I noticed by chance that WDM driver resamples before passing the audio into the Audio Path.
It is a non-transparent behavior and certainly not oriented towards quality.
Furthermore, if I wanted to carry out a resampling in DSP Studio I would find myself a double resampling. Is it so or am I wrong?

[Awesome Donkey]

You need to enable exclusive mode in the audio device settings to use WASAPI exclusive, otherwise it's WASAPI shared and goes through the system mixer.

[Angelo58]

I didn't understand.
My DAC is IFI zen DAC V3

[Awesome Donkey]

Yes, I have the same DAC too.

MC's Options > Audio > Audio Device section > Device settings... and check the Open device for exclusive access box.

[Angelo58]

Where is it?

[mattkhan]

Where is it?

ASIO is naturally exclusive so that option only applies to a wasapi output

seems that you want to set the WDM driver to exclusive though so that's in the windows audio output settings not MC

[Angelo58]

I did it, but not the result I'm looking for

[Angelo58]

Yes, I have the same DAC too.

MC's Options > Audio > Audio Device section > Device settings... and check the Open device for exclusive access box.

And where you find it?

[mattkhan]

I did it, but no the result I'm looking for

the previous post is referring to MC options but that's for the MC output device not WDM. I don't read Italian but those 2 options are the exclusive ones so looks like it's configured correctly.

you said "I noticed by chance that WDM driver resamples before passing the audio into the Audio Path.", what exactly do you see and where?

[Awesome Donkey]

ANd where you find it?

It's in MC's Options, not Windows' sound options.

ASIO is naturally exclusive so that option only applies to a wasapi output

Not exactly... most ASIO drivers are actually shared for PCM, meaning for PCM if you playback media (e.g. in a web browser) at the same sample rate as the media playing back in MC via ASIO, you'll hear both with no way to actually force enable exclusive for ASIO PCM. Out of the DACs I've had over the years, only Schiit's ASIO drivers have been exclusive for PCM. iFi's ASIO driver certainly isn't exclusive for ASIO, sadly. This has been a somewhat dealbreaking issue for me for the last 5 or so years now, which has forced me to use WASAPI exclusive.

ASIO is exclusive for DSD though.

[mattkhan]

I was imprecise, I meant from the perspective of exclusive as a synonym for "nothing is resampling" (as the subject of this thread) as opposed to the other side effects of wasapi exclusive

[HPBEME]

In the event the OP is still unable to find where to set exclusive mode within MC, see attached picture.

[Angelo58]

What a mess

[Angelo58]

Where is IFI Audio Zen Dac V3 Wasapi?

[mattkhan]

What a mess

you seem a bit confused as to what the signal chain is & what each option does/when it applies

your signal chain appears to be qobuz -> WDM via wasapi exclusive -> MC -> your DAC via ASIO

there's no resampling in this

[Awesome Donkey]

And you're using ASIO, not WASAPI in Media Center so you'd have to switch the Audio Output device too.

[Angelo58]

Sorry but I don't understand anything.
I run a 24-bit and 44.1 streaming from Qobuz, but already switching to WDM the resolution changes. Depending on how I set WDM I find it inside the Path as a 192 or 384 16 bit or 24 or 32 input. But that's not enough: when it comes out in output it undergoes a further variation. I am told that I have to change the audio output as well, but where should I send it if not to my iFi which only has an ASIO driver?

[Angelo58]

Why input is 24 bit and output is 32 bit?

[mattkhan]

You don't have to change the output from asio

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,104255.msg724769.html#msg724769 is one post that explains what bit depth is and how such a change is basically no change at all (except the no of bits used to represent each value)

[Angelo58]

I didn't change anithing

[JimH]

A DAC may require 32 bit.

[Angelo58]

?

[Angelo58]

A DAC may require 32 bit.

Not my DAC. With Foobar or other player the output is like I want to. 16, 24, 32 bit

[Awesome Donkey]

Why input is 24 bit and output is 32 bit?

This is normal, as it's padding the bit-depth to the highest bit-depth supported for the DAC. Useful for DSP and things like that. Even though it says 32-bit, it's still really 16-bit or 24-bit with extra zeros padded at the end to 32-bit. This is not to be confused with dithering which is NOT happening, it's just simple padding with zeros.

[mattkhan]

Sorry but I don't understand anything.
I run a 24-bit and 44.1 streaming from Qobuz, but already switching to WDM the resolution changes. Depending on how I set WDM I find it inside the Path as a 192 or 384 16 bit or 24 or 32 input. But that's not enough: when it comes out in output it undergoes a further variation. I am told that I have to change the audio output as well, but where should I send it if not to my iFi which only has an ASIO driver?

This post is contradicted by the pic shown in the other post showing no change

you need to show your signal chain to demonstrate these changes otherwise it's guesswork

[Angelo58]

How can I show it

[Angelo58]

But the question is about WDM that resamples, and couldn't do it

[Awesome Donkey]

Where is it resampling? Do you mean the 24-bit to 32-bit output thing? Because that's not resampling, that's just padding. It's normal in Media Center.

[Angelo58]

No. I play a 192 24 bit, but if WDM is setting to 44 16 bit then play 44 16 bit

[Angelo58]

I show

[Angelo58]

this is a 24 bit 44.1 kHz, but Audio Path shows 44.1 and 16 bit

[Angelo58]

beecause WDM is setted 44.1 16 bit
If I set WDM 192 24 bit then in Audio Path the same 44.1 24 bit will get 24 bit 192

[JimH]

Angelo,
Why don't you focus on getting it to play and forget about trying to understand it?

[Awesome Donkey]

You need to use the Qobuz app in order to enable exclusive mode for Qobuz (the dedicated app should have this as an option). You shouldn't try doing this through Media Center and its embedded Edge/Chromium browsers as web browsers (including the embedded ones) don't support exclusive mode audio output and will always resample through the system mixer before being sent for output via the WDM driver. Same applies to Tidal too in this regard. You have to use the dedicated app instead of doing it from a web browser.

One thing to consider and note is if you try to playback 24-bit/192 kHz content with Qobuz/Tidal apps with the WDM driver, there likely will be issues with stuttering and gaps during playback, it's a known issue with no workaround or fix (other than disabling exclusive mode in Qobuz/Tidal, which it then goes through the system mixer).