Please fix the WDM driver it's been long enough now without any real commitment to getting it sorted out.
I am not speaking for the devs, nor am I picking on Orangeart here. But I think there is a lot of commitment .. the question is whether there is something that can be sorted out or not. (or even should for that matter) Other than the Schitt dacs referred to above, which I have successful configured one for a friend of mine ... (have to admit that one is strange.), most issues have disappeared since January.
Personally, I think for the majority of people this works great ... sure there are things that could be improved upon. Its a driver after all, not an additional program function.
In saying that, a laptop connection using a digital output or USB should not have a real problem with streaming Spotify – if JRiver is the renderer, and they are using a motherboard device using WASAPI exclusive … it shouldn't matter what laptop you have. But just because it works from an HTPC to an external DAC, and not with a laptop, IMHO, that doesn't mean necessarily it is a problem with the JRiver driver; I could jump to a conclusion that the laptop is not set up right .. not that this is the case. Or maybe the driver in the PC hasn't been upgraded since it was bought .. who can tell?
I have helped people install this on 14 systems near me ... only 2 had been a little bit problematic ... one person was using a DLNA renderer that was not totally compatible, and another was on a dirty USB connection, had zero ram, and was on a very slow internet connection streaming Flac files.
So, as I'm sure people know that DLNA and UPnP are not universal standards like a redbook CD, Blu Ray etc. right? -- if every DLNA device was normalized to an identical spec that would be one thing, but there is no way (MY thoughts here again not the developers), that I could test equipment and configurations that I don't have access to. Not to mention problems coming from specific configurations the Windows OS (especially Windows 8
) .
So, and I'm just guessing here, but how many people that have problems with noise and clicking etc. are using JRiver as the a renderer and not a DLNA device? How many are using a coax or optical connection to their "dacs", and not USB.
I'm just guessing here of course, but based on what I have seen, a simple default “audio device” using WASAPI, (in exclusive mode, no system sounds), pushed to an external dac/receiver .. well there shouldn't be really any problems. Same with ASIO (if using the JRiver ASIO or a good USB driver like a PSAudio dac I just set up), it just works?! Now most of the guys I helped don't like USB so they are mostly on Optical or HDMI out from their HTPCs. None of them are using pre-pro AV receivers, most have dedicated external DACs. Only one was multichannel. All have Win7 64bit installed
What I'm getting to is ... have you guys that have not found a solution tried setting up with say just WASAPI from your Realtek (or other motherboard adapter)? Not pulling media from JRiver or pushing to another renderer? If your system allows you to, I'd try that. Remember you can set up a specific zone, so if you set up a different one dedicated to streaming using the WDM driver, you can always switch back automatically to your normal configurations. I realize not everyone has the possibility to do this, or maybe their USB dacs, can't work that way, but most will I think. If this is the case maybe the devs can narrow down compatibility issues -- I severely doubt that every DLNA device is compatible, nor would every USB driver for that matter. I'm certainly not pretending to be an expert. Just trying to be logical
If there can be someplace specific to look at -- (eg. noise issues occur only with playback using external DLNA renderers, well maybe the manufacturer paid for the DLNA license stamp, but are short on some of the functions; or noise occurs only on Win 8,1 32bit; or only using specific dac USB drivers) -- then the devs might be able to wok on something specific. I just don't know how developers could test every external variable however.
Now, if the set up is a simple default one, using JRiver as the renderer, and WASAPI or ASIO drivers. Then they should know about that. (Reading through some of the problems, I'm not that sure if anyone has set their system up that way ... ) Others are very knowledgeable, but this is, once again my opinion, is an advanced option not an out-of-the-box-will-work-with-anything function. I just skimmed over the post again, but I'm not sure how the set up looks like, just what hardware they are using sometimes.
Just a note on synchronization issues (audio=>video). Yes, this can be frustrating. The first time it took me 30 minutes to get it more or less right. After wards I use the BBC sync video posted in the main thread, and just lower one of the two variables usually. Are people using a syncing video to help? Its very difficult IMHO without one.
Anyway, just my 2 cents (or a hundred as it were
) I want everybody to be able to take advantage of this driver, and I'm not belittling the frustration this is causing. However, I think this is going to go around in circles unless it can be narrowed down to how people have actually set this up to get some kind of a pattern.