HOW TO...Setup Foobar2000 to use WASAPI

Happy to be corrected. What can I say? It just gets better and better.

PJPro:

Updated original post to include setting the X-fi soundcard to 44.1kHz.

 

Where is this option in the console launcher?  thanks

PJ Pro,

I came across this old thread and noticed you use the SPDIF of your X-Fi gamer set at 44.1 to feed your Beresford DAC.

I thought I'd better check whether as well as selecting 44.1khz in X-Fi console, you also have the facility on your card to enable "Bit Matched Playback" in Audio Creaton Mode as this is key on the X-Fi to bypassing the DSP and "getting bit perfect audio" ?

l4d:

PJPro:

Updated original post to include setting the X-fi soundcard to 44.1kHz.

 

Where is this option in the console launcher?  thanks

You need to ensure that you're in Audio Creation Mode. If you look at the bottom left hand corner of the launcher dialog box, you'll see a setting button. Clicking this allows you to set the master sampling rate (44.1kHz.) and to enable bit-matched playback

bendrummond:

PJ Pro,

I came across this old thread and noticed you use the SPDIF of your X-Fi gamer set at 44.1 to feed your Beresford DAC.

I thought I'd better check whether as well as selecting 44.1khz in X-Fi console, you also have the facility on your card to enable "Bit Matched Playback" in Audio Creaton Mode as this is key on the X-Fi to bypassing the DSP and "getting bit perfect audio" ?

Yes. Thanks for pointing that out bendrummond but I already had that setting selected.

Hi PJPro,

Largely 'by your fault', I started to believe that PC music can sound like a proper Hi-Fi - thanks for that! I am using Foobar2000 now, and I have managed to make asio4all working with it on my Laptop (XP SP3). As far as I understand, now foobar is bypassing kernel mixer and is sending bit-perfect sound to the soundcard. But I still have doubts regarding my soundcard: is it just passing bit-perfect audio or is it resampling from 44.1 to 48 kHz and how can I check this? The thing that confuses me is that in asio control panel it reads "VIA High Definition Audio (Compatible); In: 2x48kHz, 16Bits; Out: 2x48kHz, 16Bits", but when I play music in foobar and move the cursor above asio control panel, it reads "2048 Samples at 44100Hz". I am confused?! *Output is through 3.5mm phono out, I am still saving for a DAC...

Thanks in advance,

Goran

The software on your soundcard may well be resampling to 48kHz. You'll need to check its settings.

How should I check the settings? I go to Control Panel ---> Sounds and Audio Devices and look at all tabs: Volume, Sounds, Audio, Voice and Hardware, but I can not found any settings regarding bit depth or bit rate. Any advice?

Anyone?

I am not in front of an XP machine at the moment, but usually once you have found your sound card under Sounds & Devices, can you not bring up more driver settings by clicking properties or advanced ?

Sometimes the driver also installs its own shortcut in the control panel - can you see one ?

Failing that download the latest VIA driver for it as it may be using a generic windows driver which does not allow you to change all the settings and hence the lack of a control panel.

Does you card not have supplied S/W ?? if not all you may have then is in control panel ->sounds, audio playpack (for your card ) Advanced -> Performance where sample rate conversion should be set to best.

Thanks kena, the sample rate is already set to best, but i realy don't know if this means it passes 44.1kHz or upsamples to 48 kHz

Thanks bendrummond, ALL tabs checked, but there is nowhere sample rate setting. I will try to update to latest VIA driver and report back/ask for help.

OK. So here's what I've done (With a little help from my friend...):

Found out that I have a VIA VN896 chipset on my laptop and VIA High Definition Audio soundcard. I've downloaded and installed latest audio driver (package version VIA HDA v5.00b, driver version 6.0.1.1400, codec type VT170, and the driver installed its own control panel on the taskbar.

On the VIA's driver control panel, effects are off, volume is 100% and when I play music on foobar, Wave is not working. But there is not a sample rate setting.

Then I go to Control Panel - sounds and audio devices: - audio - sound playback Wave is not working, and when I try to open advanced it says DirectSound settings not available.  

When I play flac in foobar, asio control panel is still showing WDA Device List - Out: 2x48kHz, 16 bits, and when I move the cursor above asio control panel without opening it, it shows 2048 samples at 44100Hz (but I think this only means that the sound which is coming to the soundcard is bit-perfect).

So, finally:

1.Is my soundcard upsampling from 44.1 to 48kHz? (most probably yes?!)

2.If I buy external DAC and connect it to laptop via USB, will it COMPLETELY bypass the soundcard, or will it still receive 48kHz sample rate packets?

Thanks,

Goran

Goran,

Here are the offline settings as reported by ASIO4ALL on my work PC as an example

From top to bottom

My bluetooth headset will only ouput 16/44.1

The Realtek onboard audio will:-
a) output 6 channel analogue at 16/48 only
b) record spdif in at any frequency between 8-48khz in 16bit
c) output 2 channel SPDIF at 16/48 only.

If you audio output shows only one sample rate in the offline ASIO settings then I can almost guarantee the driver is locked at that sample rate and you would need another method to ouput 16/44.1 digitally from the laptop without re-samping.

A USB connection will bypass the onboard soundcard but most USB DACs are limited to 16bit although some will do 24/96.