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[lightminer]

So I'm trying to get audiophile sound out of MC15 on a Dell 620 XP Laptop, using a docking station and SPDIF output into a DAC.

So, for XP, the two high-end choices seem to be ASIO4all and Kernel Streaming.  ASIO4All is up and running, but doesn't seem to support over CD level, i.e., it chokes on 24/96.  Kernel Streaming doesn't work at all, it says:

"Media Center encountered errors while trying to play the last several files.  Please make sure that the path in your media library points to the right location.

Error Details:

Playback could not be started on the output 'Kernel Streaming' using the format '44100 Hz, 24 bits per sample, 2 channels'.

This ouptut format may not be supported by your hardware.  You can use DSP studio to change the output to a compatible format.

Also, make sure that your system has a valid sound playback device and that it is properly configured in playback options."

The device does show up under Audio Options / Audio Ouptut / Output Mode Settings (which is what I assume they mean by playback options?), for "Device" it correctly shows SigmaTel Audio.  I saw some other threads where if your device doesn't show up there it won't work, bu mine does.

So, perhaps SigmaTelAudio on a Latitude D620 doesn't support Kernel Streaming?  Anything else to look for?



So, if this is indeed the situation, then this is interesting.  I can do high-end 16/44.1 but not 24/96.  I suppose I should downsample in the DSP studio to 24/48 which seems to be the highest supported by ASIO4All that I can personally get to work.  That of course defeats the purpose of paying extravagant prices for 24/96 material .

I will buy a Windows7 computer next year, but I'm stuck with this system for now, so if anyone can suggest a way to get high-end 24/96 with these limitations I'm all ears!

Thanks!

[JimH]

Welcome to the forum.  Maybe this wiki article would help:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes

There is also an "Audiophile Info" article on the wiki.

[lightminer]

Thanks! 

Yeah, I was actually thinking of updating that page as, for example, it could let us know that ASIO4all doesn't do over 24/48 - that took me many hours to determine.  I'm actually still not 100% sure if that is even true, and that is one of the questions I'm asking.

We might also expand it with known incompatibilities between kernel streaming and soundcards that don't support it.

Of course Win7 and wasapi resolves most or all of this, but I think there are still a couple of years where there will be a bunch of XP users.

[Vincent Kars]

I don’t think it is a limitation of ASIO4ALL
Observe it can only play those sample rates supported by the hardware.
Might very well that the Sigmatel chipset is very limited and can do only 48 kHz max.
Google a little on combination  Dell/Sigmatel
I’m afraid it won’t make you happy

http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Trouble/Dell.htm

[lightminer]

Yeah - did that a bunch and its so low-end there isn't much chatter about it.  I hit 4 hrs of research on the issues overall, and I have a personal rule to start asking questions at 4 hrs...  Otherwise these things go on forever. 

I saw some info that other people had a 24/48 limitation on ASIO4all, but that was 3.5 years ago, so not sure if anything changed between now and then.  I can poke around some more on the soundcard(chip), but as I said its low end enough that there is very little info available...  Tons of discussion on soundblaster this and that, the Lynx card, etc.

[lightminer]

Here is a tiny amount of info for someone in a similar situation - they basically ended up with the same conclusions I did.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/playing-2496-files-mac-music-server-dell-laptop#comment-57294