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Output Modes (ASIO, Kernel Streaming, WASAPI)

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teodorom:
Hi
I must confess that, even after having read a lot on this subject in this Forum, I'm confused more than before !
First of all Kernel Streaming do not work on my computer (an old Compaq Presario Core 2 Duo, Windows 7 32 bits).
My DAC is an Audiolab 8200CD. MC is at 18.0.1.175.

* To be more precise, Kernel Streaming works when the recording is at 24/48.0 or 24/44.1, when 24/88.2 my DAC says "Error" quite often, when 24/96.0 MC starts but then, after 5 seconds it stops.
I have disabled the networking, but with no success.

* I have installed the latest release of ASIO4All, but with it strange things happen.
Why MC Audio Path says that the Output is 32 bits when the recording is 24 bits ?
Why when the recording is at 24/44.1 the DAC displays 24/48.0 ?
Why, when the recording (a CD ripped using EAC) is at 16/44.1 the DAC displays 16/48.0 ?
Is ASIO4All doing some oversampling ? Sure that ASIO and Kernel Streaming are equivalent ?

* WASAPI and WASPI Event Style seem the only Output Modes that give consistent informationThanks
Teodoro Marinucci

mwillems:

--- Quote from: teodorom on May 01, 2013, 08:37:04 am ---Hi
I must confess that, even after having read a lot on this subject in this Forum, I'm confused more than before !
First of all Kernel Streaming do not work on my computer (an old Compaq Presario Core 2 Duo, Windows 7 32 bits).
My DAC is an Audiolab 8200CD. MC is at 18.0.1.175.

* To be more precise, Kernel Streaming works when the recording is at 24/48.0 or 24/44.1, when 24/88.2 my DAC says "Error" quite often, when 24/96.0 MC starts but then, after 5 seconds it stops.
I have disabled the networking, but with no success.

* I have installed the latest release of ASIO4All, but with it strange things happen.
Why MC Audio Path says that the Output is 32 bits when the recording is 24 bits ?
Why when the recording is at 24/44.1 the DAC displays 24/48.0 ?
Why, when the recording (a CD ripped using EAC) is at 16/44.1 the DAC displays 16/48.0 ?
Is ASIO4All doing some oversampling ? Sure that ASIO and Kernel Streaming are equivalent ?

* WASAPI and WASPI Event Style seem the only Output Modes that give consistent informationThanks
Teodoro Marinucci

--- End quote ---

WASAPI and WASAPI Event Style are the preferred output modes (unless you have a well-behaved native ASIO driver), and generally provide better performance than alternatives.  Kernel streaming or ASIO4All will not (generally) be an improvement in performance or sound quality over WASAPI, unless there is something about WASAPI that doesn't work the way you want (or some other reason that you don't want to use WASAPI)?  Or are you just trying to figure out what's going on with kernel streaming/ASIO4All?

Kernel streaming/ASIO4All may not support automatic sample rate switching on your DAC, so that may be what's behind your errors.  When you look at the settings for your audio device in windows control panel, what is the output sample rate set to?  Did you try changing this and seeing if the problem went away?  

teodorom:
Kernel Streaming, when it works, is the best. Soundstage is deeper, and there is "more air" around instruments. It's a pity that it doesn't work all the times.
ASIO sometimes works better (as before), sometimes not (or it is unclear). I have not established a correlation among the sound and the "strange numbers".
I would be happy if I knew that those "strange numbers" are miscalculations artifacts with no effects on the sound.
Thanks again.

Matt:
The official JRiver answer is here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes#Choosing_Audio_Quality_Output_Mode

We do not recommend Kernel Streaming (except on XP) or ASIO4All.

kstuart:
"Why when the recording is at 24/44.1 the DAC displays 24/48.0 ?
Why, when the recording (a CD ripped using EAC) is at 16/44.1 the DAC displays 16/48.0 ?"

ASIO4ALL has a checkbox that says:

"Always resample 44.1khz <->48khz"

Your reports suggest it is checked.

"Sure that ASIO and Kernel Streaming are equivalent ?"

They are not "equivalent" - that is the sort of Internet Myth that comes from taking ten complicated technical sentences and boiling them down into one sweeping generalization.

mwillems wrote:
"Kernel streaming or ASIO4All will not (generally) be an improvement in performance or sound quality over WASAPI,"

It turns out that what works better in each system is quite variable.

The author of ASIO4ALL once wrote:

"ASIO4ALL sits on top of the same Kernel Streaming interface that WASAPI sits on top of and thus also completely bypasses WASAPI."

Whether or not that is better or worse depends on many other things that vary from system to system.

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