flimflam wrote: > -Although DirectSound does not claim to be "bit-perfect" since it takes > the integer audio --> converts to 32-bit float --> dithered back to > 16/24-bit and sent to the DAC through Windows Mixer at a specific sample > rate (set in your Control Panel for the sound device), it looks like it > is able to do this with a single audio stream of the same sample rate > without significant deterioration in the output in the 24-bit domain > (remember the DMAC Test is 24-bit audio) - not exactly rocket science so > this is to be expected. I believe many folks feel the quality of the > Windows Mixer has improved over the years.- > > Hi Archimago > > A lot of hard work and results on your blog, which I enjoyed reading. > > I would like to say that, for 'audiophile' use, the 'mixer' in Windows > XP was the pinnacle, as DirectSound is bitperfect (if the hardware and > audio driver allows). > > In Vista and Win 7 (I have not tested Win 8), not only is this > impossible to achieve with DirectSound, but the mixer permanently > engages in more than you describe, the results of which do not look > pretty on a proper suite of tests. > > > ff.
Thanks for the note flimflam. I can't speak for XP since I don't have a machine with it installed any more. True, these days with Win8, DirectSound will always dither as far as I can tell, so will never be exactly bit perfect. I would not use DirectSound in the 16-bit setting since lack of bit perfection is easily demonstrated, but based on what I see, 24-bit setting seems OK. The dithering in the lowest bit usually is below the noise floor of DACs (since there's no DAC that actually can demonstrate 24-bit resolution - the best is around 21/22 bits). Not sure what else you feel gets mixed in there if we're only playing a single audio stream... Of course, one must also make sure the music is the same sample rate as the DirectSound setting otherwise it gets resampled. Archimago's Musings: (archimago.blogspot.com) A 'more objective' audiophile blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=98933 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
