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[Matt]

The playback stall issue is fixed with this build:
http://files.jriver.com/mediacenter/test/MediaCenter150111.exe

We believe the 'Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) [event style]' is now ready for general release, and would appreciate testing.  

I'm especially interested if this solves the original out-of-order-buffer issue documented in this thread.

You may need to experiment with buffer sizes using event style WASAPI.  If you hear hiccups, try a larger buffer size.  Some buffer sizes may cause playback to be silent or fail.

Also, some hardware (like my internal motherboard sound card) simply do not support event style WASAPI.

Thanks for any testing.

[Blue Boy]

I downloaded 110 and realy try to "stress" it with jumping from track to track,  played Albums for a few minutes and then jump to next album let that album play for some hours then start jumping again between tracks, it works without "stutter"
But when "cuing" a song with the "timebar" it stops. Have to shut down MC and start again.

Is it just me or has the sound been altered aswell? To me it seems to lack in details, when I made
comparings with earlier versions to my CD player it was absolute equal in sound, When making a A-B comparing with my CD player with the latest build I hear a difference and at least to me there is some brillians lost in the 110 build. Not a big difference but still............I have used the recommended buffert settings.

But another thing that has chanced I couldn't play with any other settings than 44,100 in the upsampling "tab" now that issue is gone, and I have tried the settings uppsampling to 48 000
works fine with my equipment.
When will this version be stable? Is there anything to do with the sound? Should I make a "clean install instead of the uppgrade version?

[Matt]

it works without "stutter"

Good.

But when "cuing" a song with the "timebar" it stops. Have to shut down MC and start again.

Please install 111 above for a fix. 

Install point releases (i.e. all builds of v15) over the top using 'Express' in the installer.

[Blue Boy]

Thank you, I will download 111, but what about my question about the sound? Do you have anything
on that issue? Is there anyone else experienced the same that I did?

[HiFiTubes]

.111 w/ EMU 0202 WASAPI [event style]

Gapped Standard 2 seconds: no problem yet, but MC doesn't use a gap - tried 2 and 4 seconds and often get instant, almost gapless playback (tried toggling remove silence). Use gapless for sequential is off.

Gapped Fade: blurb of faded track "reappears" for split secod after fade, and prior to start of next track

Crossfade Aggressive 1 second: no stuttering but this is definitely causing MC the most buffering but it's not real "smooth"  - sometimes it won't even load the next track but will skip to another (6 second prebuffering w/ remove silence disabled). EDIT - works much smoother with remove silence enabled.

buffer = 100ms

.111 w/ EMU 0202 WASAPI

Can't stop playback (was fixed with .08 I think)

.111 w/ Lynx AES16-E WASAPI [event style]

report to follow

Can't comment on audio quality yet until further listening.

[Blue Boy]

I'm looking forward to your report on the Audio...........

[Matt]

Thanks for the testing everyone.

There will be no audio quality difference between the WASAPI methods since they both deliver the same data to the card.  I would look elsewhere (DSP, phase of the moon, etc.) if the two methods sound different.

Instead, this change is about providing a WASAPI solution that works well on as wide of a range of hardware as possible.  The initial tests look good for the event-based WASAPI with regards to improving the USB DAC experience.

I've been a little amazed at how differently each piece of hardware reacts to different modes, settings, etc.  I'll write a little more about this once the dust settles.

Thanks again.

[Matt]

.111 w/ EMU 0202 WASAPI

Can't stop playback (was fixed with .08 I think)

I think the EMU will require event style WASAPI.  Build 108 _only_ had event style WASAPI (it was before we forked to two outputs).

With non-event style WASAPI, the card dead-locks in a way that we have not seen from any other hardware.  I'm not sure it's even worth chasing if the event style works well.

This sort of compliments my point that different WASAPI methodologies will work better with different hardware, and it's a good thing that we now support both major WASAPI data flow methods.

[Blue Boy]

For your infomation, my 110 build has now running without problem for 12 hours non stop and there

is no problem with stutter anymore. Tommorow I will download 111. My version of MC feels very stable.

Thank you for all answers.

Blue Boy

[HiFiTubes]

No problem's yet on the AES16-E to Zodiac+ w/ .111 after 4 hours.

It just sounds real darn good.

default of 50ms led to some breakups (like ASIO buffer drops = crackles), so I'm using 100ms for testing.

[Matt]

I'm very happy to hear the event-style WASAPI is working without degrading into stutter with USB DACs.

It's been working well for me too including usage as the renderer for HDTV (which didn't work with the old WASAPI on this USB DAC).

Thanks for all the help on this one.

[JazzDoc]

I loaded Build 111 last night and used it for a couple of hours without problems. Playback is free of stutter and I was able to move from one track to another and one album to another without stopping playback. I am running default settings. I finished by setting playback to shuffle mode and this caused no problems with seamless and fast transition between tracks. I did not experience the stutter and playback hang that I got with Build 110 at all.

Looks like Build 111 is good!

Thanks Matt

[HiFiTubes]

No problems last night; so I left it overnight to play. Maybe hit a corrupt file? My system, is set at resample all to 96kHz.

Gene Ammons sounded extra special.

[Matt]

No problems last night; so I left it overnight to play. Maybe hit a corrupt file?

That's a file problem.  It's some URL that uses a Directshow filter (that crashed) for decoding.  If you look just before the log snippet you posted, you should see the filename.

Please start a new thread to chase the problem with the file, as this thread is already long.

Thanks.

[HiFiTubes]

Sounds good. Maybe it was something trying to use DC-Bass source.

[jmone]

So for those of us where both WASAPI mode works, what is the recommended default?  "Normal" or "Event Mode"?

[Blue Boy]

111 works perfect. No problem anymore now this software runs like a dream!!!

[torpedo_los]

Hi, I found that simply moving a mouse over the track list in Standard (or 3D) views often causes stuttering of playback in my Win 7 64bit / HiFace driver 1.0.3.140/ JRMC15 build 159 with WASAPI Event Style.

To illustrate this, I recorded a video using iPhone that can be accessed thru the URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyhVAkB8vKQ
The quality of the video and sound is poor but the stuttering is quite audilble (after some 15 seconds).
I did not have to click anything, it is just moving the mouse that causes this. I move it quite fast in the video but it can be observed also at slower moves.

The hardware buffer was 50msec, using longer times seems improve the situation but stuttering also might be heard. I also have observed similar beaviour using KS.

This seems strange that moving mouse has anything to do with audio...

[TontonGuigui]

Wow,

I've been suffering this issue with MC14 and earlier MC15 releases.
As my netbook is limited to 100Mbits networking capabilities, I always thought this was due to some buffer filling issue.

Now it has vanished with Event Style, even though sometimes the music stops, but I think this is due to the limited network bandwith with this computer (never happened with a Gbits capable one).

Cool feature !

TontonGuigui

[torpedo_los]

The WASAPI Event Style is indeed a big progress and I even thought for a moment this was finally what I was looking for. But after having played a bit with this mode, issues still can be found.
I am just playing from my laptop harddisk - no computer network in my setup. Have not observed the stutter in Direct Sound mode.

[JimH]

Here's a Hi-face thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=56403.0

Please copy and paste your post to that thread and then post your System Info from MC Help.

[HiFiTubes]

The WASAPI Event Style is indeed a big progress and I even thought for a moment this was finally what I was looking for. But after having played a bit with this mode, issues still can be found.
I am just playing from my laptop harddisk - no computer network in my setup. Have not observed the stutter in Direct Sound mode.

Run PCI Latency Checker, then start playback, then disable your wi-fi adapter completely in Device Manager, keep watching DPC Checker.  Maybe try other devices.