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Author Topic: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!  (Read 33157 times)

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AstralStorm

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #80 on: January 05, 2013, 02:35:35 PM »
Uhm, even the old DirectSound can be bit perfect - just pick the right settings in the playback device preferences, maximum volume.
Of course, the resampler will still kick in if the sample rate doesn't match.
Bit depth conversions in DS were actually always fine and don't involve any resampling. Of course it truncates to instead of dithering as necessary.

I'm not getting any sonic differences in Linux unless there's something to resample.
The tricky part there is that ALSA dmix by default picks 48000 Hz, which will make almost everything resampled, and defaults to either Speex old-school Kaiser-windowed sinc or linear(!), depending on installed plugins.
PulseAudio also defaults to Speex sinc, at slightly lower quality, faster setting, but it defaults to 44100 Hz making it less relevant.
Libsamplerate resampler is available in both as an option, but in ALSA plugin implementation, it is high CPU usage and can cause dropouts, because it runs on the same CPU time as sound outputting process - so it will choke single-threaded apps.

Speex resampler at medium settings has a notable rolloff, might be audible. At highest setting though, it is accurate to 16-bits (not one more!) and the rolloff is sharp enough to be inaudible.
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Willakan

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #81 on: January 05, 2013, 03:12:19 PM »
A while ago I performed digital domain null tests on some "audiophile" and normal players on Windows, using ASIO, WASAPI and DS. To cut a long story short, they're all bit perfect unless you're configuring things incorrectly. The reason to use ASIO and WASAPI is to avoid having to change sample rate options depending on content, as it happens for you. I can't imagine that it would be any different on Linux or OSX - Pulseaudio/ALSA/CoreAudio/Windows audio service are all battle-tested audio implementations.
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donunus

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #82 on: January 12, 2013, 10:46:47 PM »
Whatever the explanation is I really don't know but the differences in windows 7 and 8 are very minute if ever there is a difference. I would say that the difference between media players in windows are bigger than w7 vs w8.

I just went back to linux last night, this time previewing it first from a dvd. Linux sound was just richer and more relaxed/less glary maybe due to the seemingly bigger and more controlled bass. I formatted my lenovo again LOL. Even onboard sound to an o2 is sounding musical WTF!
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Cristello

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #83 on: January 13, 2013, 04:39:21 AM »
the Tux is da' #!@&.

/endThread  headbang
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AstralStorm

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #84 on: January 13, 2013, 04:38:55 PM »
Quote from: donunus on January 12, 2013, 10:46:47 PM
I just went back to linux last night, this time previewing it first from a dvd. Linux sound was just richer and more relaxed/less glary maybe due to the seemingly bigger and more controlled bass. I formatted my lenovo again LOL. Even onboard sound to an o2 is sounding musical WTF!

Perhaps Linux HDA-Intel driver sets up different analog parameters in the soundcard's amp. Not necessarily better.
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Cristello

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #85 on: January 13, 2013, 04:54:55 PM »
I think it has a lot to do with the suck that is realtek/broadcom integrated codec packages.

I'm using ALSA on a ubuntu and it eliminates the need for any proprietary driver (at least with a X-Fi card)
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drez

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #86 on: February 03, 2013, 05:49:11 AM »
I strongly suggest listening to computer software first rather than trying to find measurable differences to work out if there is a difference. 

IMO Bitperfect is an insane concept - why are we using bitperfect in the first place?  Because it satisfies some abstract concept of correctness or because it sounds better?  Why even worry about bitperfect streaming unless there is an audible difference at the analog output of the DAC?

The influence of computer software is very similar to that of driver software or firmware, beyond that I can't really say what could cause audible differences in computer software and hardware, I do not have the expertise to contribute a valuable opinion on the technical side of things.  I can speculate however that players such as JPlay somehow are more efficient in how they hand memory and can use much smaller buffer sizes without dropouts - this does not mean they sound better, but it is a difference I have observed with these audiophile memory players.

I can say though that the difference between JPlay and say Foobar kernel streaming is pretty apparent to me, with my system and my uncontrolled listening practices.  Maybe I would not hear these differences with different components so I can't say for sure that anyone else should be able to here the same things.  Anyway I encourage listening to these players first before forming an opinion, or even an attitue p;)
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donunus

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Re: As of Windows 8, WASAPI is bit-perfect. MASSIVE WINDOWS AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS!
« Reply #87 on: February 03, 2013, 05:52:38 AM »
^^ I agree... and even bigger difference between players is the difference between using a different OS
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