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[bjas]

Hello all. I'm an enthusiast who is a big fan and supporter of MC. My technical expertise is limited, so please pardon my question if it's elementary. I'm running MC 25 (upgradeable to 26) on a windows 10pro Dell laptop (Dell laptop is used only for MC and Tidal to stream to an iFi Audio Dac).

Unless I'm mistaken, the audio configurations on wiki seem to be for older versions. My question:

What are the optimal audio settings in MC and Windows 10pro for bit perfect streaming (all file types/resolutions, including DSD - no DoP) to an iFi audio DAC that is capable of processing all audio types including native DSD (no DoP). I would like to cleanest path from the audio file on the internal c drive to the USB DAC. The only processing I would like JRiver to perform is volume leveling. Other than volume leveling I do not want any processing or alteration done by MC or Windows 10pro. I'd appreciate learning the settings I should use in both MC 25 and Windows 10pro to accomplish my objective.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies and thanks JRiver for an amazing product.

[JimH]

The topic called Audio Setup on the wiki should be accurate.

[dtc]

For DSD native sample rates, you need to use the ASIO driver provided by IFI. You need to set DSD to bitstreaming in audio setup.  Note that you cannot do volume leveling with native DSD. That is a limitation of the format. There is an option in bitstreaming DSD to convert higher sample rate DSD to PCM if the DAC does not handle the high sample rate.

If you use ASIO and then only set volume leveling in DSP Studio that will give you a very clean signal.  Make sure none of the other DSP options are checked. Then volume leveling will be the only DSP used.

You can experiment with the Play from Memory options, but you probably will not hear any difference.

You do not have to do anything special with Windows 10. Some people will turn off Windows Defender looking at audio files, but, again, you probably will not hear any difference.

[Awesome Donkey]

Also DoP would be considered bit-perfect (when bitstreaming) as well. The end result is exactly the same as native DSD, DoP is just packed differently but unpacks to the exact same data as native DSD when it reaches the DAC.

[bjas]

Thank you all for the replies. Configuration is much simpler than I anticipated.

Given that my Windows 10pro Dell Laptop is solely used for JRiver (ASIO) and Tidal (WASAPI) streaming to my iFi USB DAC, does anyone see a benefit to the following:

Setting my iFi USB DAC as the default playback device in Windows Control Panel?

or

Setting MC as the default playback device in Windows Control Panel?

I understand that using MC with my USB DAC's ASIO driver causes the signal to bypass any Windows 10pro processing. I'm not so sure if the same occurs when I use the Tidal desktop app (WASAPI) with my USB DAC (I have the Tidal Hi-Fi/Masters subscription).

If I set MC as the default playback device in Control Panel does that mean all sounds from all apps, including Tidal, will bypass any Windows 10pro processing?

Thanks again for any replies.