Impressive fidelity from your unimpressive soundcard

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Pandovski

Super Member
OK I wont mock about or philosophize. This is a simple tutorial known to work for improving sound quality from cheap generic computer integrated soundcards with onboard DACs. If you dislike it fine then. Don't bother. :dunno: If your willing to try it don't worry everything is simple and reversible.

For the ones who think a run of the mill PC/MAC integrated soundcard with onboard DAC cant sound amazing do this to prove yourself wrong :D:

1) Start using foobar2000 as your main player. Download to install the latest version here http://www.foobar2000.org

2) Download and install the foobar2000 plugin called WASAPI here http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapi

3) Go in foobar2000 Preferences > Components > Click Apply on the newly installed WASAPI if you already haven't.


componentso.png



4) Go in foobar2000 Preferences > Playback > Output > Select WASAPI (event) or if your using external DAC, select WASAPI (USB to DAC) or WASAPI (event).


dihter.png



5) In the same window as step 4) set your soundcard latency to the lowest level possible without hearing distortion or your OS and programs acting out.

6) In the same window as step 4) set 24bit as Output format if your using 24bit 192kHz resolution files. Use 16 bit otherwise. Do not exceed to 32 bit, its pointless to upsample, it will only deteriorate sound. Do not use Dithering option unless your using 24bit files.

7) Right click on the volume icon (Windows) and go in Playback Devices > Speakers, right click for > Properties > Advanced tab. Make sure you have checked both Exclusive mode boxes. This will allow WASAPI and foobar2000 to take care of business, not clumsy Windows.


soundcard.png



*For MAC owners, manage how to do the same process in your MAC OS, the steps maybe different but the end result is the same. Excellent sound from cheap electronics!

How does it work? Basically WASAPI plugin bypasses the bottleneck - your OS and hands control of data stream to foobar2000 directly to do bit to bit... and stuff :nerd: Read more on the forums here http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=94907.

The WASAPI plugin doesn't work on older OS such as XP, ME etc. For Windows it needs Vista or above. Still you will benefit better sound quality from foobar2000 over other players even without WASAPI.

Enjoy FLAC/ALAC/Hi-Res files to their full potential!!!

:beerchug:
 
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Hmm, interesting. I have an external DAC but I am going to try this with that and see how it works.

Thanks for posting this!

Edit: Hmm I'm gonna have to figure out how to do this with MacOS.

OK well thanks to this thread, it made me aware that the computer was sampling and processing the sound before reaching my external DAC. What did I do? I bought this little app called BitPerfect, which works with iTunes and basically disables the audio output of it and any other program, and sends a pure signal to your audio device. Now? It's much, much improved. I'm getting a bit perfect signal to the external DAC and I can honestly say this is just as good as my CD player now, which previously it was not.

Thank you for this! I was wondering why it didn't sound as good.
 
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canuckaudiog said:
Hmm, interesting. I have an external DAC but I am going to try this with that and see how it works.

Thanks for posting this!

Edit: Hmm I'm gonna have to figure out how to do this with MacOS.

OK well thanks to this thread, it made me aware that the computer was sampling and processing the sound before reaching my external DAC. What did I do? I bought this little app called BitPerfect, which works with iTunes and basically disables the audio output of it and any other program, and sends a pure signal to your audio device. Now? It's much, much improved. I'm getting a bit perfect signal to the external DAC and I can honestly say this is just as good as my CD player now, which previously it was not.

Thank you for this! I was wondering why it didn't sound as good.
Click to expand...
Find a player for MacOS that will give exclusive access to the DAC (also called hog mode sometimes). I use Decibel. The DAC will adjust to the resolution of the file being played. 16/44, 24/96, etc. Bypasses all the iTunes crap.

Not trying to sidetrack the thread, just wanted to address this as I've done it recently.
 
RamblinE its free and doesnt require Ninja skills. Checkout what canuckaudiog and John wrote before your post.

The idea is to make a bit perfect data transfer bypassing every conversion standing in its way between the file and the DAC. foobar2000+WASAPI or something else. If you like do the research like canuckaudiog and John did.

I still cant believe how better my cheap onboard soundcard sounds on my cheap laptop. Its like when you remove tone controls on a cheap integrated amp. Remove the veil. Give it a try.
 
Pandovski said:
RamblinE its free and doesnt require Ninja skills. Checkout what canuckaudiog and John wrote before your post.

The idea is to make a bit perfect data transfer bypassing every conversion standing in its way between the file and the DAC. foobar2000+WASAPI or something else. If you like do the research like canuckaudiog and John did.

I still cant believe how better my cheap onboard soundcard sounds on my cheap laptop. Its like when you remove tone controls on a cheap integrated amp. Remove the veil. Give it a try.
Click to expand...

I've also been told ASIO is a great driver as well for Windows.

But yes, this made a good improvement to my sound. It's the way it should sound now.
 
there is also a WASAPI plugin for winamp

http://maiko.elementfx.com/


I use this both with my Xonar DG and Focusrite Scarlett 2i2


oh yeah also don't forget to click on the config option in the sound properties and select full range speakers.





you can also download a thing called fidelity you can use with your spotify premium account to get WASAPI and ASIO options for streaming spotify content.
http://www.fidelify.net/
 
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Thanks for the contribution atarione.

I changed the WASAPI (push) to WASAPI (event) as a preferred option in the tutorial. To me it sounded slightly better.
 
hm, I'll have to give this a try on my workshop computer. Its sometimes used as a music source when I'm working on stuff. Its got that same cheap onboard Realtek chip. Hey, if I can make it sound better for $0 and a few minutes of my time, thats worth doing.
 
Folks on the Hydrogen forum came to the conclusion that newer OS do horrible job at up-sampling from 44.1kHz to 192kHz sample rate at 24 bit rate or higher. They recommend that pure 16 bit 44.1kHz is much better. So you can basically bypass this unpleasant rolloff (that makes everything coming out of your PC sound like mp3) by using WASAPI or similar plugin, or just stick to 16 bit at 44.1kHz in normal Windows settings to lessen the damage.

index.php

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=86676

1) For the onboard soundcard DAC I say best to try which option sounds best to you if you choose foobar and WASAPI, 24bit or 16bit. I decided to use the 24bit just for the 24-96 Hi-Res files.

2) If your using external DAC via USB you need to exactly match it, not go 24bit on foobar if the external DAC is 16bit. And select WASAPI (USB DAC) in the options to bypass everything from your PC except the pure bit transfer from player to external DAC.

Probably (would be logical) same thing applies for any player and plugin your using to achieve the same result - minimize re-sampling done by your OS.

Important: keep dithering option in foobar OFF unless your using 24bit files.
 
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Just gave this a shot, and I definitely hear a difference. Thats quite possibly the biggest $0 improvement I've ever tried. I'm using a 5 year old Dell business desktop out here, so its absolutely nothing impressive but what the heck, a free upgrade is a free upgrade.
 
Yes. I agree. Helluva change with such a simple little tweak.

I just went for 16-bit 44hz as I listen to primarily CD rips via Foobar.
 
I'm now having an issue where I Spotify claims there is a problem with my soundcard. Going to try a few things....[EDIT] And it was resolved by restarting Spotify, which is always so buggy anyway.
 
RamblinE said:
I'm now having an issue where I Spotify claims there is a problem with my soundcard. Going to try a few things....[EDIT] And it was resolved by restarting Spotify, which is always so buggy anyway.
Click to expand...

The thing is both Foobar2000 and Spotify want use over the soundcard if played at the same time. If you turn foobar off while playing other audio apps like spotify or youtube there shouldn't be a problem. Most playback apps just go with the integrated and onboard OS drivers that foobar bypassed with WASAPI to make better sound fidelity. Spotify though very good, still is a mp3 compressed format and runs through the OS resampling bottleneck.
 
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yeah if you use WASPI or ASIO bad things happen if you have multiple apps that want to use the soundcard going at the same time.

i don't use foobar2000 (no offense to those that like it...) i have always used winamp and prefer it after all this time

but with the WASAPI plug-in for that i mentioned earlier it has some configuration options you can choose for exclusive control and whatnot...of course if you want bit-perfect you kinda need to give it at least override of the windows volume control.

but anyways as per the screenshot you can set it such that it will play fairly nice with other audio apps..the exception being other apps that are trying to use WASAPI



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


if instead you had selected the exclusive mode then pretty much any other audio apps would choke if you tried to run them while the other was running.
 
I wish there was some kind of WASAPI mode for Spotify. I'm slow to actually acquire/burn music :/

This is turning into a helluva night. I've just been kind of doing other things to the tune of background music. I think I actually need to sit down and really, critically, listen to this!
 
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