I obtained the lossless version of the album and IMMEDIATELY noticed the difference in SQ. Well, I had this one album encoded in 192CBR MP3 (Transdimensional by Dimension 5). Quote from: greynol on 02:11:21 Can you explain mechanism you used to arrive at the conclusion that you need lossless because of sound quality differences? There are no bits or bytes in the analog output! If you've got a soundcard with an S/PDIF output, it's possible to send bit-perfect data from your hard drive (or DVD) into your reciever or S/PDIF computer speakers, or to a USB DAC or USB headphone amp. If you don't want to control the volume digitally, computer-speakers usually have an analog volume control, or you can use the analog volume control on an amp or headphone amp.Īnd of course, the analog output from your soundcard is never "bit perfect" since it's not digital. In both cases, you are reducing the "resolution" or dynamic range, and in both cases, anything "bad" happens at reduced-volume levels, so you never hear the loss of dynamic range unless you re-boost the levels later. It's really no different than reducing the analog volume. The computer's volume control works in the digital domain, so you can't reduce the volume without altering the bits/bytes. As mixminus1 said, if you don't want to alter the bits you need unity gain. I would guess the louder signal is bit-perfect. Quote I've played around with the WASAPI plugin in Winamp and foobar2000 and I've experience a big boost in volume whenever I use the WASAPI plugin. For this reason, I've decided to become a member. I've read these forums for quite some time and I must thank the entire community because without this site, I wouldn't have learned what I know now about digital audio. I've checked out certain sites like which has shed some light but still hasn't explained everything. In short, I've yet to find a simple answer to the following questions:ġ) Does one NEED WASAPI or ASIO in order to enjoy bit-perfect playback?Ģ) Is bit-perfect playback even something worth pursuing? (I know it's left up to the listeners ears but let us assume I can pickup the slightest change in quality)ģ) If neither is needed, then what sampling rate should I set for "Sound Settings" in Windows 7 to achieve bit-perfect playback?Ĥ) Generally, I'm a bit confused about the whole topic. I know what I'm saying may be incorrect but bear with me since I am fairly new to this.įurther research shows that in Windows Vista and 7, does not require WASAPI or ASIO plugins for bit-perfect playback because the sound settings are automatically sampled above 16bit/44.1KHz (mine are at 24bit/48KHz) and so if the audio is <= that sampling rate, the audio is essentially unaltered. Plugins such as WASAPI and ASIO bypass this mixer in order for the bits played to reach the headphones unaltered. This internal mixer (generally speaking) decreases or alters the sound quality of an audio file before it reaches the speakers. I've learned so far that Windows has an internal mixer that resamples audio played before it goes through the speakers. However, I've recently stumbled upon a topic that I have yet to understand and find a straightforward answer to: bit-perfect playback. Since then, I've collected my music collection in lossless quality, invested in a pair of high quality headphones, and researched into digital audio in general.įor the most part, I've been able to learn pretty much the basics. Maybe Audacity can do it, or a file compare utility.I'd say I've gotten into serious music listening the moment I learned that MP3's were lossy and that there IS a difference in SQ based on how the audio was ripped from the CD and how it was encoded. Perhaps a digital loopback of MC's output through an audio interface (or Windows itself?), capture/save it, then compare to input file bit-by-bit. I'd be curious to learn of other tests for real bit-perfect transmission. Using this method I have found MC 26, 27, & 28 are indeed bit-perfect over Windows USB (and over Chromecast Audio Wi-Fi) when (1) MC plays at full volume, (2) no MC DSP applied, and (3) Options> Audio> Advanced> Dither Mode (not zone specific)> No Dithering or JRiver Bit Exact Dithering. If at any time a perfect match is found to one of the test files, then a corresponding notification message appears on its screen. The DAC firmware continuously monitors incoming bit patterns. RME includes a set of audio test files with different bit depths and bit rates. I've tested for bit-perfect transmission from source file through a DAC input with the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. If you are sending something other than a valid MQA file, then I expect the blue cog will not light up, even for bit-perfect. MQA decoding is not supported within MC, but you may be able to bit stream to your DAC for MQA decoding ( ), if that is what you are trying to do. The blue cog sounds like an MQA indicator.
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