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[Golbeze]

I know most people here prefer to use ASIO or WASAPI, but is there a reason JRiver uses DirectSound? DirectSound has been deprecated for a long time now, and while I can understand that you may not want to leave XP users out, I still have to question why you don't add XAudio2 as an option for those with more modern systems who don't want to (or can't) deal with ASIO or WASAPI.

[Hendrik]

XAudio2 is designed for games, not necessarily designed for media applications. DirectSound has no disadvantages over XAudio2 for media use-cases, so it would be an exercise in busy-work mostly.

[6233638]

Could there perhaps be latency advantages to using XAudio2 since it's primarily designed for gaming?
That might help when trying to keep audio in sync with an external video player and passing audio through MC with the WDM Driver for example.

[Hendrik]

For minimal latency, you would want MC using WASAPI excl. or other exclusive outputs, as XAudio2 still goes through the system mixer which always adds latency.

Anyway, let me cut the discussion short here, we do not have any plans for this, as we do not think there is any advantage.
If you care about your audio output that much, you would be wise to use WASAPI or ASIO anyway.

[6233638]

If you care about your audio output that much, you would be wise to use WASAPI or ASIO anyway.

ASIO is the best option for low latency in my experience.
However, I still can't use ASIO in MC20.

[Golbeze]

Ah okay, I can understand if it won't add any benefits. At first I thought DirectSound went through some kind of emulation layer, then I remembered that I was thinking of DirectDraw, which is a different thing entirely!  (I had to deal with spotty DirectDraw support on an old program sometime last year.) Anyways, thanks for the answers. 

[6233638]

I'm not sure why you would use DirectSound in preference to the modern WASAPI though.
Whatever reason you have is probably a configuration issue.

[Golbeze]

I'm not sure why you would use DirectSound in preference to the modern WASAPI though.
Whatever reason you have is probably a configuration issue.

Eh, I actually am using WASAPI, more out of a "no reason not to" reason, though not in exclusive mode as I hate being unable to hear other Windows sounds. I'm sure most of you chose this media player for audio quality reasons, but myself, I chose it out of preference of having a decent interface while still being able to tinker with settings, and I loved the equalizer the moment I tried it out.  However, I'm not really an "audiophile", I'm barely an enthusiast, in fact. I can't hear the difference between high-bitrate lossy like 320kbps mp3 or AAC and something lossless like flac, much less decipher whether a track has been resampled. However, I do enjoy the sound a good pair of cans or in-ears can give, recently bought my second and third mid-range earphones/headphones; a Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear and an HD 558, and just got my Fiio E07K dac/amp yesterday.

Anyways, yeah, my question was more out of curiosity, just struck me odd that a commercial media player was using DirectSound, though I understand why MC still does now that I've read other people's replies - no point in adding XAudio when it'll add so little over what's already supported.

[Awesome Donkey]

AFAIK, iTunes still uses DirectSound by default unless you enable WASAPI output. So the continued use of DirectSound isn't that uncommon.

[Golbeze]

AFAIK, iTunes still uses DirectSound by default unless you enable WASAPI output. So the continued use of DirectSound isn't that uncommon.

Oh wow, okay, guess it's something I just don't pay attention to that much. Yet, I paid attention to it with this player, though in my defense it's only because reviews on my Fiio dac/amp mentioned ASIO and WASAPI, so it ended up being something I looked into when I got MC. Guess I just figured most media players would've switched from DirectSound to XAudio, though I see now that's not the case.

[Awesome Donkey]

Yeah, I also believe Windows Media Player, Winamp and foobar2000 use DirectSound by default as well (correct me if I'm wrong).

It'd be logical to switch to WASAPI, not XAudio2 which is mainly intended for gaming. But I don't see this happening anytime soon, at least in Windows Media Player's case (unless that's changed, I'm way out of the loop with WMP) - the latter two either have native support for WASAPI output or plugins are available to enable WASAPI (and ASIO) output. I can't really remember which it is as I don't use any of those media players.