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Topic: Optimal audio settings for iTunes on Windows 7 (Read 25360 times) previous topic - next topic
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Optimal audio settings for iTunes on Windows 7

I play my music via the most recent release of iTunes (currently 11.0.4.4) on Windows 7 x64.

I want to ensure that I've optimized my audio playback settings.

I mainly playback 16-bit 44.1kHz AAC & ALAC files (the bitrate of the AAC files varies).

I use the built-in High Definition Audio Device on my motherboard (which has an AMD chipset from around 2007).

My desktop is connected to my receiver (a basic Yamaha RX-V596) via an S/PDIF connection.

My receiver supports 24-bit / 96kHz audio signals as its maximum quality input.

In iTunes, I have:

"Play Audio Using" set to "Windows Audio Session"
"Bitrate for Audio Playback" set to "96kHz"
"Bits Per Sample for Audio" set to "24"

In the Windows Sound control panel, I:

Disabled all jacks except for my S/PDIF output
Specified that my receiver supports DTS Audio, Dolby Digital, 44.1kHz, 48.0kHz, 88.2kHz, and 96.0kHz
Disabled all enhancements (e.g., Virtual Sound)
Use 2-channel 24/96 in shared mode
Allow apps to take exclusive control with priority

Should I change any of these settings?

Are there any other pertinent settings that I omitted to list above?

I use track-specific Volume Adjustments to normalize inter-track volume levels by quieting loudly-mastered albums (the 1997 reissue of Raw Power by Iggy & The Sttoges, and Cherish the Light Years by Cold Cave, I'm looking in your direction).

Should I keep all the other volume settings in iTunes & Windows at max, to prevent signal attenuation, and just adjust the volume on my receiver?

When I do that, I normally set my receiver's volume knob to be somewhere around -40dB (maybe up to around -34dB).

I've heard about ASIO being supported by other Windows apps.  Is Windows Audio Session as good as ASIO?  If not, does iTunes support ASIO? (I assume not)  If iTunes doesn't support ASIO, how much improvement will I notice switching to an ASIO-supporting app? (probably none, given my receiver & speakers)

Would the settings that I should use (besides the supported sample rate, obviously) change if I bought better audio equipment?

Lastly, though it's slightly outside audio settings, is there any advantage to buying a standalone sound card to improve upon my built-in motherboard audio chip (again, my audio is being output digitally, so I'm not using any DAC in my computer).

Thanks for any advice.

Optimal audio settings for iTunes on Windows 7

Reply #1 –
Quote from: CPL_593H on
[resampling to 24/96]
Totally unnecessary unless you have proof that, if you don’t resample in software, your hardware will do it itself and makes a very bad job of it. This would probably not be the case even for an onboard card, but it’s less likely still for an outboard receiver, which I presume was made by competent designers. In case you’re unsure, resampling upwards cannot create higher quality from nothing. We have a lot of past discussions on this. And there are ways to test the hardware resampling if you’re really concerned, although it’s probably fine.

Quote
Should I keep all the other volume settings in iTunes & Windows at max, to prevent signal attenuation, and just adjust the volume on my receiver?
Technically this is a good idea, but in practice, are you really going to notice the floor of quantisation noise added by digital attenuation, even in a 16-bit signal? It’s quite unlikely. This is another thing that can be researched and tested.

Quote
I've heard about ASIO being supported by other Windows apps.  Is Windows Audio Session as good as ASIO?  If not, does iTunes support ASIO? (I assume not)  If iTunes doesn't support ASIO, how much improvement will I notice switching to an ASIO-supporting app? (probably none, given my receiver & speakers)
Probably none regardless of speakers and receiver. To quote a recent post of my own, but again, you can find many more statements on this by many members if you want further confirmation:
Quote from: db1989 link=msg=0 date=
Allegations that differing methods of output sound different are no less crap, unless someone proves otherwise. These different options exist to enable monopolisation of the output and/or better use of certain hardware, not anything to do with quality. […] stop worrying about the output method. Unless some element of your setup is broken, it can make no difference to audible quality.

Quote
Would the settings that I should use (besides the supported sample rate, obviously) change if I bought better audio equipment?
Best practices tend to be the same regardless of technical ratings, and often, even cheap hardware is more than good enough for the use-case in question.

Quote
Lastly, though it's slightly outside audio settings, is there any advantage to buying a standalone sound card to improve upon my built-in motherboard audio chip (again, my audio is being output digitally, so I'm not using any DAC in my computer).
If you’re outputting digitally and not hearing large glitches, chances are the stream is bit-perfect. What advantage would another card give you?

My main recommendation is to search for previous discussions on a lot of these subjects; most of them have been done many times before.

Optimal audio settings for iTunes on Windows 7

Reply #2 –
@db1989

Thank you very much for your answers.

It sounds like the only setting that I might possibly want to change is to set my iTunes output to 16/44.1 instead of 24/96.  Would 24/96 output help prevent quantization noise from using volume adjustment to attenuate certain tracks?

Also, I assume that, since iTunes & my computer are handling my audio solely in the digital realm, it makes sense to use the track volume adjustment to attenuate loudly-mastered tracks rather than to amplify quietly-mastered tracks, since the quantization noise from the former would probably be less noticeable than clipping from the latter.  Is that correct?

Thanks again for the help.

Optimal audio settings for iTunes on Windows 7

Reply #3 –
Quote from: CPL_593H on
It sounds like the only setting that I might possibly want to change is to set my iTunes output to 16/44.1 instead of 24/96.  Would 24/96 output help prevent quantization noise from using volume adjustment to attenuate certain tracks?
Well, increasing the sampling rate will make no difference. As for the bit-depth, in theory it can increase the accuracy of amplification/attenuation, of course. However, and crucially, the main limiting factor is not the depth of playback but rather the depth of the source stream. The quantisation noise about which you’re concerned will originate there, after all. However, just how quiet do your 16-bit files get? It’s unlikely that quantisation noise is audibly relevant unless the amplitude is very low. Anyway, noise from subsequently scaling the amplitude upon playback, even within 16 bits, is even less likely to approach perceptibility, so although increasing the bit-depth prior to digital scaling has merit in theory, I doubt it’ll make much difference in practice.

Quote
Also, I assume that, since iTunes & my computer are handling my audio solely in the digital realm, it makes sense to use the track volume adjustment to attenuate loudly-mastered tracks rather than to amplify quietly-mastered tracks, since the quantization noise from the former would probably be less noticeable than clipping from the latter.  Is that correct?
It seems to me there are two separate questions here, presented as one. As I said before, you probably want to use your analogue volume control wherever possible, at least in terms of theoretical best practices, although any quantisation noise introduced by digital scaling is most likely going to be perceptually completely benign. As for clipping, unless I’ve missed something, this should only be an issue if something on the digital side of your signal chain is pushing things over 0 dB, which is to be avoided anyway.
 

Optimal audio settings for iTunes on Windows 7

Reply #5 –
That’s an important bit of additional information…but only when the stream in question is analogue. The OP has been talking about streams that are digital exclusively until reaching an outboard decoder.