Guide Improve your music playback

This guide is mainly aimed at all those people who have an audigy soundcard, and to a lesser extent , those using their onboard AC'97 sound , and those who care to have good sound quality ( and by that i mean more detail in the sound , not better bass :P) , and with speakers with a good high end.

Have you ever wondered why movies sound just right on your rig, but music not so? Well, the root cause of it is the mediocre quality resampling in the hardware. This is most obvious in the audigy series cards, and to a lesser extent , in AC'97's

to get an idea about it, check out the IM Distortion graphs at 44.1 Khz and 48 Khz The difference is pretty obvious !

imd44tx5.gif


at 44 khz

imd48km8.gif


at 48 khz



original measurements


Thankfully, help isn't far away!

The cure involves using a much higher quality software resampling and output direct to the sound card( and in doing this ,we bypass the windows default mixer which removes one less component) .



note : using software resample eats up CPU cycles like hell so attempt this only if audio fidelity matters more to you
:ohyeah:

There are two ways ...

ASIO

ASIO stands for Audio Stream Input/Output , a low latency interface , which by itself has only the low latency bit as its merit, but combined with external resampling , proves to be just the ticket to audio heaven!

Kernel streaming

Unfortunately, all cards don't support ASIO, ( of course , there is always ASIO4all, a generic ASIO driver ) and thats were kernel streaming comes in. it works pretty much like ASIO functionally, and streams the audio direct , (bypassing the windows mixer) to the soundcard. the drawback being that KS tends to be buggy ( it didn't work at all on my Nforce onboard audio)

Now to utilize these, you need to use the appropriate playback plugin for playback

I'll talk about foobar ( actually i was a fan of QCD player , but its ASIO output plugin doesnt seem to work with my audigy ASIO , but it strangely has no issues with nVidia ASIO..)

Install foobar ( howto for winamp given at the end)

Setting up foobar

First of all you need the SSRC resampling plugin for foobar, as it is better than the stock PPHS resampler that comes with foo. Then you need the out_asio and if you're feeling adventurous , the out_ks plugins.

Extract the plugins to the foo plugins folder, and restart foobar

Enable the SSRC plugin, and set it to resample to 48 Khz.The higher the quality, the better ... but at the same time , keep an eye out for CPU. I use these settings as mine's an old barton :D(20% cpu at these settings) ( if you have a 96/24 capable card, then set to 96K !audigy users: disable all the EAX, CMSS , speaker calibrator.. pretty much all the ear candyif you want 96/24 playback.... The audigy DSP engine runs at 48Khz )

also remember to add the mono to stereo converter as ASIO doesnt detect mono



now for playback. If you're going the KS route, all you have to do is choose the KS instead of DS in the list.



ASIO... you need to choose from the list of possible ASIO devices , and in case of the foobar plugin, you can custom map the channels. If you plan to playback multichannel files (say dts) you need to have all the channels mapped. Then choose the newly added ASIO device in the playback list. Enable dithering if you know what dithering means and intend to use it (and your card supports it )



Winamp: the basic idea remains the same... the options here are much more varied , as a number of plugins and ways exist to accomplish the same thing..

1)resample to 48 khz

2)output to ASIO or Kernel streaming , or if neither works , directsound

Links

ASIO 4all :ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver

FOOBAR

ASIO for foobar: http://www.foobar2000.org/components/foo_out_asio.zip

Kernel streaming for foobar : http://www.foobar2000.org/components/foo_out_ks.zip

SSRC for foobar: http://otachan.com/foo_dsp_ssrc_057.7z

Sercret Rabbit code Resampler : Secret Rabbit Code Resampler for Foobar2000.

Winamp

Kernel streaming for winamp : Assorted Steve Monks Related Stuff

this plugin does not resample by itself, you need to use another resampler like the

Hqsoft resampling plugin: HighestQuality Software Processing - Homepage

and then route it to kernel streaming output

ASIO for winamp : a) dll version : WINAMP5? ASIO??????? (dll version) - ??????MIDI/Audio???



b) exe version : WINAMP5? ASIO??????? (exe version) - ??????MIDI/Audio???



c) x64 version : WINAMP5? ASIO??????? (x64 version) - ??????MIDI/Audio???

scroll down to the 4th point to download the file

don't ask me the difference ... i have no idea :D

all these ASIO plugins support built in Sample rate conversion so configure them right and you're set!

And lastly for the faint of heart, a directsound plugin (very much like the default DS plugin , with added SSRC ) : http://nunzioweb.com/sawgstuff/wa/out_ds_ssrc.zip



DISCLAIMER : a few of these plugins are betas or (in some case ) alphas , so use at your own risk !
 
hehe yeah... sorry....

I downloaded Winrar and it recognised this format and unzipped it. My comp is acting up and right now am on a spare hdd with a fresj installation of XP and so I hadnt installed Winrar yet... sorry :P
 
ASIO, its more stable :)

do remember to map all the channels as shown in the pic in the guide. matters if you're going to play ac3 and dts stuff as well as use dsp to simulate surround.

Resample to 96Khz and output at 24 bit :)
 
I dont use DTS or AC3 files on foobar... thre high quality stuff is all FLACs.

And how do I map all the channels ?? It isnt very clear. I have left it for now coz I listen only to stereo music.
 
read the guide ..and dint understand completely

...before i start of with the tweaking ...just wanted to ask

will this do any good or show noticeable difference on ATP3+onbaord soundmax setup..?

or is it only for high end Sound cards+speaker setup ?

by da way guys do try out the noise sharpening plugin for foobar ..it's really nice...and you can hear da difference in SQ even in a decent setup..
 
atp3 + soundmax should show some difference , based on the type of music you listen to + how you listen to it
for those of you using the ep 630's on your PC , its VERY obvious :D
 
greenhorn said:
atp3 + soundmax should show some difference , based on the type of music you listen to + how you listen to it
for those of you using the ep 630's on your PC , its VERY obvious :D

gr88 then i must try it out ..for two reasons ATP3 and the EP-630..:)

by the way greenhorn can u just guide me out of all the things uve posted in ur guide which all will work best for me ..??

by the way the music that i listen to is trance..mostly the progressive and uplifting tracks. and very occasionally i listen to normal hindi and english hip hop for a change .

main genre = trance..

also do u knw of a good EQ. preset in foobar for trance music ??

right now i am using clear and find it pretty ohk.
 
clear should do just fine :)

install foobar, and the asio/kernel streaming plugin (whichever one that works will do fine) and the ssrc plugin

resample to 24 bit/96khz if its an HD audio , 16/48 if AC'97
 
greenhorn said:
clear should do just fine :)

install foobar, and the asio/kernel streaming plugin (whichever one that works will do fine) and the ssrc plugin

resample to 24 bit/96khz if its an HD audio , 16/48 if AC'97

thanx a lot .will try it soon and post back with the result..:D

by da way reps coming ur way for this guide..and help:)
 
tried it out .both kernal streaming and ASIO 4 ALL ..work like magic..can notcie the difference in sound quality..to a great great extent....
the ATP 3 just sound like pure bliss to me..
thanx a lot greenhorn..
but still cant make out any difference between kernal streaming and ASIO4ALL ...err whats the difference and which one's better ??

also..first i tried the asio4all using my normal 2.1 ATP3 ..and it works perfect ...but today i just connected my another 2.1 system in surround more learning about it from your post in this thread..
http://www.techenclave.com/pc-peripherals/which-5-1-speakers-3-5k-106765.html

and i tested the speakers and i am getting output in all 4 speakers while playing movies..and even music in VLC player.
but in foobar only the front speakers work..
though i have no intentions of listening music in 4.1 mode but just for the heck of trying it..
i enabled convert stereo to 4 channel in foobar DSP.
but still i dont get any output from the rear\surround speakers..though the same mp3 track when played in VLC gives output in all 4 speakers.

also ..if i change the output of foobar to kernal streaming ..or back to the default direct soundmax audio...i get output ..in all 4 speakers...

so is there any way to change the ASIO 4 ALL settings to get output in all 4s speakers ??.i tried editing the speaker mapping but i didnt work....:huh:
 
kernel streaming and ASIO4all are essentially the same thing. some cards have issues with kernel streaming, and dont have ASIO drivers. so the ASIO4all works as an ASIO emulator , and kernel streams the output itself.

kernel streaming is the better one , if you can get it to work without skipping

PS: try this plugin if you want more control over the sound

PS : when you play mp3's in vlc, it shouldnt play over all channels unless you have enabled some soundmax feature to upmix stereo to 4.1
 
so u mean to say..so i should stick to kernal streaming if its working for me ??..

if yes then i dont have to worry about ..output from all 4 speakers..as in kernal streaming theres sound from all 4 of them..

the only problem with kernal streaming and both ASIO are...they eat almost 3-37 % of cpu processing while playback...rest it works fine..

KS : Soundmax digital audio is kernal streaming right?

but then i dont think i will enjoy music in 4.1 mode..i better stick to my ATP3 for those..

also wanted to know what are

-6db limiter and advance limiter plugins which are there in foobar ..from default...are they any good ???
 
yup. stick to KS if it works fine, yes , the KS: soundmax is the option

Glad to know that you've 'gotten' something a lot of us here at the forums have been trying to get newbies to understand , that a good 2.1 is better than an average 4/5.1

regarding CPU usage, use the SSRC resampler, choose a lower resampling quality if required. also, if your cpu supports SSE2, use that version of the resampler.

no harm in leaving one of the limiters- they're supposed to prevent the soundcard outuput from going over its limits- it wont damage the soundcard , but will result in clipping if you are using the EQ or some other DSP to boost volume levels , and these plugins will prevent that
 
hellooooooooooo. haha. two questions:

-Why ASIO4ALL and KernelStreaming sounds different if they suppose to be the same? ASIO4ALL sounds more clearer to me. KS do the muddy sound...

-This is true that the Audigy SE/LS/Live24bits don't resample the stuff cause' they are based on the 'p16v' chip??

i've trying to do 24/96 recordings of my music expecting not compromising my waveforms with resamplings.
but, if ASIO bypass the kmixer don't volume control/creative mixer suppose to be disabled??? ....my mixer works...:huh:

I have two cards: the good 'Envy's' Chaintech AV-710 and the Audigy SE.

Thanks.:)
 
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