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Author Topic: DAC comparison methodologies  (Read 5925 times)

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Anaxilus

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #30 on: January 23, 2014, 05:08:33 PM »
Quote from: TheGame on January 23, 2014, 10:25:49 AM
I wish I had more DACS to compare with. ALl I have is the Titanium HD soundcard, which has a pretty good DAC for a sound card, and the Bifrost Uber. But i have no idea how to compare them. As of right now, I cannot notice too much of a difference between the two, but the Bifrost Uber is only about a month old so maybe it needs some burn-in time to reach it's full potential.

I think I noticed you were using SPDIF on the Uber Bifrost.  IME, it sounds much better via ASIO if you have the upgraded USB.  The SPDIF is the weakest input on it IMHO.
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TMRaven

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #31 on: January 23, 2014, 07:32:54 PM »
How's the spdif compared to the generation 1 usb? 
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thegunner100

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #32 on: January 24, 2014, 03:44:25 AM »
Quote from: Anaxilus on January 23, 2014, 05:08:33 PM

IME, it sounds much better via ASIO if you have the upgraded USB.  The SPDIF is the weakest input on it IMHO.


What's the general consensus here on ASIO, WASAPI, etc? I honestly don't notice a different between directsound and ASIO with the gungnir USB gen 2 and windows 7.
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DaveBSC

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #33 on: January 24, 2014, 04:03:04 AM »
Quote from: thegunner100 on January 24, 2014, 03:44:25 AM
Quote from: Anaxilus on January 23, 2014, 05:08:33 PM

IME, it sounds much better via ASIO if you have the upgraded USB.  The SPDIF is the weakest input on it IMHO.


What's the general consensus here on ASIO, WASAPI, etc? I honestly don't notice a different between directsound and ASIO with the gungnir USB gen 2 and windows 7.

If you can get it to work, Kernel Streaming > the rest.
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Armaegis

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #34 on: January 24, 2014, 04:31:36 AM »
Quote from: DaveBSC on January 24, 2014, 04:03:04 AM
If you can get it to work, Kernel Streaming > the rest.

On my Lenovo Win7 machine runing JRiver19, kennel streaming works best for me with the plug and play dacs. Wasapi gets weird and glitchy for some reason, as does Asio4all sometimes.
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Anaxilus

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #35 on: January 24, 2014, 04:39:53 AM »
I've had the best results w/ ASIO myself.  WASAPI has been by and large inferior by comparison on my gear and review samples.  Kernel streaming has been hit or miss depending.  I actually thought kernel streaming on the OR5 sounded worse than WASAPI which I found odd.  Win8Pro 64 here.
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Marvey

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #36 on: January 24, 2014, 06:57:26 AM »
ASIO for PWD2 USB
WASAPI for OR5 (OR5 no support ASIO)
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Original_Ken

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #37 on: January 24, 2014, 07:28:16 AM »
On 32-bit Vista, ASIO4ALL was consistently better SQ than WASAPI, but has minor annoyances.

The Schiit ASIO driver 1.03 is much more robust than ASIO4ALL and has worked perfectly.  I have yet to compare it to WASAPI or ASIO4ALL.

There are rumors that WASAPI in Windows 7 is better than WASAPI in Windows Vista, but I have yet to find any official information to that effect.
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DaveBSC

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #38 on: January 24, 2014, 02:29:12 PM »
Quote from: Original_Ken on January 24, 2014, 07:28:16 AM
There are rumors that WASAPI in Windows 7 is better than WASAPI in Windows Vista, but I have yet to find any official information to that effect.

WASAPI in Vista pre-SP1 was basically broken. Post SP1 they were supposed to have fixed it, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if 7 was a further improvement. Vista was half finished in a lot of ways.
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Original_Ken

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Re: DAC comparison methodologies
« Reply #39 on: January 24, 2014, 05:46:09 PM »
Quote from: DaveBSC on January 24, 2014, 02:29:12 PM
Quote from: Original_Ken on January 24, 2014, 07:28:16 AM
There are rumors that WASAPI in Windows 7 is better than WASAPI in Windows Vista, but I have yet to find any official information to that effect.
WASAPI in Vista pre-SP1 was basically broken. Post SP1 they were supposed to have fixed it, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if 7 was a further improvement. Vista was half finished in a lot of ways.
Vista SP1 was released February 4, 2008 - long before I did my comparisons of Windows players and ASIO vs WASAPI.
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