Newbie, help for DAC and DSD/FLAC files

2017-10-04 13:53:17

Hi all.

I'm a newbie of the "audio tech world", so please forgive me if I'm talking rubbish. 
I recently bought a DAC: it is a Douk Audio Mini DSD1796 Amanero Integrated USB Decoder & Headphone Amplifier (PCM384K / DSD256). It should also support high quality files, UPCM44.1K-384K/32Bit, DSD64-DSD256 (Automatic identification decoding).
I bought it to play my FLAC music but of course I also want to configure it for DSD files.

I have Foobar version 1.3.9. Here are the steps I took:
- installation DAC drivers (from https://amanero.com/drivers.htm)
- installation foo_input_sacd-1.0.10
- installation foo_out_asio-2.1.2
I didn't install ASIO_Proxy_Install because I read it's not required if foo_input_sacd version is > 0.9.7.
As output device I select : DSD: ASIO: Amanero384
This setup plays without problem MP3, FLAC, DSD64 and DSD128. I also tried to download a DSD256 music file from http://www.2l.no/hires/ website, but cannot play it. I tried with the older version of foo_input_sacd + ASIOProxy and it worked, but I prefer to use the latest driver version (guess there are for sure improvements).
Is there anything I need to do to fix it?
What about the FLAC music, do I need to set any parameter to make Foobar play it at best? I also read about the option to use the WASAPI audio driver in 10 instead of the ASIO one, would that be better?

Thanks so much!

System:
Windows 10
Foobar 1.3.9
ASIO support 2.1.2
foo_input_sacd-1.0.10

Re: Newbie, help for DAC and DSD/FLAC files

Reply #1 – 2017-10-04 15:56:55

For Windows 10, I assume ASIO is considered a "legacy solution"? Tried http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapi ?

Re: Newbie, help for DAC and DSD/FLAC files

Reply #2 – 2017-10-04 21:07:52

Same error, does not play DSD256 even with WASAPI.

Re: Newbie, help for DAC and DSD/FLAC files

Reply #3 – 2017-10-04 21:59:54

Maybe this instruction can be useful - https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/digital/pc-software/foobar-2000-for-dummies-part-3-new-experimental-sacd-plugin-v-0-9-x/

Re: Newbie, help for DAC and DSD/FLAC files

Reply #4 – 2017-10-11 13:14:39

I still cannot understand what the problem is. Foobar plays some files, not all. I tried to change the settings as suggested, but I cannot handle it.

Re: Newbie, help for DAC and DSD/FLAC files

Reply #5 – 2017-10-11 16:44:40

I think the problem is the Amanero drivers do not support DSD256 DoP which is what the SACD plugin is outputting.
You need to install the DSDTranscoder component and set it up to convert incoming DSD256 DoP to native DSD256 as shown in the picture under "Mode 2" in the guide referenced above..