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[Belarathon]

I don't know if this will be news to anyone, but I've found the reason for  WASAPI skipping and stuttering on my machine.  I recently installed Media Center from scratch after wiping my drive.  I had WASAPI working nicely before re-installing, but afterward, had lots of issues with WASAPI.  The problem wasn't anything in the audio output mode configuration applet.  Rather, the issue was resolved by simply un-ticking the "Do not play silence (leading and trailing)" option.  Hope this helps someone.

[Matt]

Are you sending very low levels through the audio chain for some reason?  For example, using internal volume at a low percentage?  What does the 'Peak Level' read in DSP Studio?

I'm wondering if low volume playback due to internal volume is triggering the silence code.

[Belarathon]

No, just an M-Audio 2496 audiophile card playing mostly lossless flac, ape, and wv.  Peak levels ranged from mix-sixty percentile while playing dark ambient to mid-nineties while playing CCR.  The skipping would often start, but was not limited to transitions between mixed tracks from different albums and or sampling rates.  I guess I can't be 100 percent sure that un-ticking the silence option is what fixed the issue, but after experiencing stuttering for the last seven days, and turning the option off, the problem has yet to return.  Incidentally, I'd like to point out that JRiver Media center is the only WASAPI capable player I have used that works at every resolution and sample rate that my card is capable of....16 & 24 bit, 22.5Khz, 44.1Khz, 48Khz, 88.2Khz, and 96Khz.  Thank you. :-)

[Matt]

I don't want to jinx it, but I can't think how the suppress silence option could explain hiccups or stutters.  The option has been there for years, is widely used, and this isn't a report I've heard.

Maybe you could flip it back and forth a few times to see if it really is reproducible?

Either way, glad WASAPI is working well for you now.

[Belarathon]

I ticked the option again, and eventually it did skip again.  I am going to leave it checked for a few days, then off for a few and see if there is a definite connection.

[murrayp]

Thanks for the tip - unfortunately it doesn't show the same effect here ...... oh well ....will keep trying....

[Belarathon]

Doh!   So much for that theory.  I had some skipping this morning.  I am going to try to reduce the buffer to minimum - I know a minimal buffer is required for certain other WASAPI capable players.

[Tolga]

I may have an explanation to account for stuttering at the end of a file in relation to not playing silence at the end.

I found that in some cases stuttering loops happen at the end of the song (see my recent post). If the song has some silence at the end, silence is looped and the effect is minimized. If you are not playing the silence at the end, the negative effect may be emphasized because it does not happen at the silence part of the song.

Just a hypothesis!