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Topic: Help for PC audio newbie (Read 3253 times) previous topic - next topic
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Help for PC audio newbie

Hi

I’m new to PC audio and need some help understanding how to set it up. I use an external USB DAC and dedicated headphone amp on my PC. The PC is a top end gaming rig I built myself (dual GPU’s in Sli, watercooling loop for CPU and GPU’s, 4x140 external radiator). I went for the external  USB DAC as there is no slot accessible for an internal soundcard – I’ve used Creative Audio X-Fi and Asus Xonar DX before. I’ve just bought some better headphones (Sennheiser HD650) and realised I could also use the PC for decent music audio as well as games.

So far, after doing plenty of research, I’ve downloaded Foobar 2000 1.2.3 to replace Windows Media Player to use with my Windows 7 64 bit operating system. I’m also using a Foobar plug-in called WASAPI to bypass the Windows mixer and I leave everything at default (no replay gain, bass boost or other funnies, volume at maximum) – I’m trying to get a bit perfect signal to my DAC. In the Windows advanced sound options I’ve set the shared mode at 44.1/16 (although the DAC is rated at 48/16) and I’ve ticked the two boxes to give applications exclusivity. I’m ripping CD’s to my 2TB hard drive using FLAC which I am given to understand is a lossless codec with light storage compression.

So far the results are extremely good. I was into hi-fi many years ago in the vinyl days (Linn Sondek LP12 turntable, Quad pre/power amp combos –ask your dad if you’ve not heard of them) and this definitely sounds hi-fi quality. Some overproduced pop albums sound awful which they tend to with good hi-fi whilst more natural recordings are sounding excellent.

As I’m new to all this I wanted some community advice – am I doing things correctly – is there anything in my set up which is blatantly wrong and needs correcting? I’ve also got a query regarding game audio. It is not as loud as the music volume from Foobar although this may simply be because it is recorded that way. Now I know a bit about bit perfect signals I want to know is there any way to improve game audio? Does foobar and WASAPI automatically control the game audio like it does music and cut out any Windows interference or do I have to do something to clean up the signal like Foobar does for music? Also, as stated above I rip CD’s to a mechanical hard drive but I have two SSD’s in my rig. For games this speeds up level loading times but is there any benefit having music stored on SSD in terms of sound quality.

I’m sorry if my questions seem a bit basic for this forum but I’m trying to learn and so far am enjoying the experience.

Thanks in advance

Regards

Mag

Help for PC audio newbie

Reply #1 –
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Does foobar and WASAPI automatically control the game audio

It's a completely different program, so no.

Quote
do I have to do something to clean up the signal like Foobar does for music?

That which is not filthy cannot be cleaned up.

Quote
is there any benefit having music stored on SSD in terms of sound quality.

SSDs are just faster. Yes, it speeds up program loading, but for obvious reasons this doesn't affect sound quality. Audio playback hasn't put any sort of stress on any desktop system built in the past 15 years. You could play your own music with foobar in the background while playing a game and there wouldn't be a single frame dropped.

Quote
using FLAC which I am given to understand is a lossless codec with light storage compression

Yeah, it's lossless, but compression's pretty good, so I'm not sure what you mean by "light". It's not as squashed as mp3, of course.

Help for PC audio newbie

Reply #2 –
Quote from: dhromed on
Quote
is there any benefit having music stored on SSD in terms of sound quality.

SSDs are just faster. Yes, it speeds up program loading, but for obvious reasons this doesn't affect sound quality. Audio playback hasn't put any sort of stress on any desktop system built in the past 15 years. You could play your own music with foobar in the background while playing a game and there wouldn't be a single frame dropped.



The big draw for SSD's for music PC's are they run silent.  If your water cooled PC is fanless (and not a loud water pump) then eliminating mechanical hard drives would be the next step in cutting the background noise of your listening room.  You could also put your file server in a different part of the house and have a totally silent receiver in the listening room.

Help for PC audio newbie

Reply #3 –
Whether fb2k with WASAPI improves sound? Matter of opinion – it makes it easier to ensure that other stuff does not deteroriate the sound, and that is desirable whether you would call it an “improvement” or not. If you use e.g. the Spotify playback client (it can play your local mp3s too!), then under Win7 there is – to my knowledge – no way to keep system sounds and Spotify apart (except by turning the former off). fb2k with WASAPI can take exclusive control over the device. That is ... well, at least just as good as an improvement.

I was surprised though, when i found out that I had not the same control as under XP. Under XP I could use soundcard #1 for Spotify by changing the default device before starting Spotify, and then switch back; Spotify would only know the device that was active when it started, but the system sounds would go to the internal speaker, so I wouldn't get loud beeps and whatnot over the hi-fi. fb2k with ASIO got soundcard #2, and nothing else could touch that one.

In some posting, Peter surprised me with an explanation that the behaviour under XP was really only a side-effect. Too bad.

Help for PC audio newbie

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Porcus on
Whether fb2k with WASAPI improves sound? Matter of opinion
Subjective opinion is not a valid indicator of a difference, and so WASAPI does not improve sound unless anyone can prove otherwise using blind methods, something that I am not aware has ever happened. I’m sure this wasn’t what you meant there, in which case, I’m choosing to misread these phrases in the hope of precluding anyone else from doing so.

Help for PC audio newbie

Reply #5 –
Quote from: db1989 on
Quote from: Porcus on
Whether fb2k with WASAPI improves sound? Matter of opinion
Subjective opinion is not a valid indicator of a difference, and so WASAPI does not improve sound unless anyone can prove otherwise using blind methods, something that I am not aware has ever happened. I’m sure this wasn’t what you meant there, in which case, I’m choosing to misread these phrases in the hope of precluding anyone else from doing so.



OK, matter of "definition" then. Obviously, system sounds in the music is A Bad Thing, whether eliminating this "improves sound" or just idiot-proofs my computer ...

I suppose the TOS never intended to require proof that it might be audible when a web page auto-reloads and all for sudden starts playing a flash ad and mixing it into the music.

(It is also my subjective opinion that a system sound kindly informing me that my remote session has expired, would not exactly enhance the sound of any nice Spoiler (click to show/hide)
)
 

Help for PC audio newbie

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Porcus on
OK, matter of "definition" then. Obviously, system sounds in the music is A Bad Thing, whether eliminating this "improves sound" or just idiot-proofs my computer ...

I suppose the TOS never intended to require proof that it might be audible when a web page auto-reloads and all for sudden starts playing a flash ad and mixing it into the music.

Of course, these are valid reasons to seize full control of output. This may well improve the overall experience as, of course, quality of music is reduced when something intrudes upon it.

My point was that, assuming no unwanted sounds or processing, a piece of music played back over an exclusive or bit-perfect output method will not sound different from the same stream played through DirectSound.

As I said, I’m not implying that you insinuated otherwise; I’m just making a distinction that I feel is important for other readers who don’t understand the differences between output methods. If its presence in the archives forestalls future questions based upon misconceptions about sound quality, then I’d count that as justification.