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Wow Windows Vista sounds sooo much better

I just installed Vista. I was not happy with the sound I was getting from my benchmark dac1. This thing got such great reviews but it never sounded right to me. It was way to soft with some voices and drums. Like there was this huge suckout. It drove me nuts. Certain ranges were way to low and behind a vail. I knew this coundn't be right. I could never get into the music enough.

Foobar2000 and Asio was better than not having it. But not what it should be. I did every thing. I did the whole asio, kernal streaming, asio4all, bitmatched, etc. Checked all settings. Tried different digital cables. Messed with EVERYTHING in my drivers and foobar2000.

As a last ditch effort before selling the DAC I thought I'd try Windows Vista. After all I knew Microsoft completely revamped its audio section. No more k-mixer was the big plus. Sounded good on paper anyway.... but lets see if it was truely implemented well.

I get home, install Vista (clean install). Go through all the settings first. Turn off any extra junk that comes turned on with the x-fi drivers.

Went to windows settings.... how pleasantly surprised to find setting for 24 bit, 96 khz setting (and any other settings too).

Went to foobar2000... how pleasantly surprised to find an option for "spdif out". That option allows for direct by-pass now. No longer routing through anything in windows. I tried this but it was full blast. I needed a volume control though. Again pleasantly surprised that using windows Vista volume sounds just as amazing. No loss in quality what so ever.

I no longer need any special asio drivers, or kernal streamers or any of that junk. I can now use all my audio and video apps and have just as great of sound.

I'm really floored what a difference Vista makes. All the power and dynamics and soundstage is there. Just how it should sound. A big thumbs up to microsoft for fixing all tha was wrong with xp's sound. I highly recommend upgrading. Thumbs up!
kacz
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
I'm no expert, but I have been playing with the Vista intensely.Assuming you use a DAC.

First off go into your Sound Devices in the right hand corner of the screen. Make your USB DAC the primary device.Click on the DAC that's enabled and go into properties. Make sure use this device is selected at the bottom of this page.

Go to enhancements. Disable all enhancements.
Go to Advanced and set the output at 16bit/ 44kHz.
Check both exclusive modes.
1)Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.
2)Give exclusive mode applications priority.

Apply setting. Go back to the Main sound device page.
Click on your on board sound card in playback devices.
Go to properties> general.
Select "Don't use this device(disable)".

Foobar so far seems to be the best playback software with Vista for me. I've tried two versions. The latest version 9.4.2. allows the plugin for kernal streaming.This will give you more selections in the output section. Preferably KS:USB DAC.
The version 0.8.3 doesn't allow the use of this plugin.

I noticed that I can still control the volume on Winamp and Foobar 0.8.3 through the windows sound mixer controls. Not so with Foobar 0.9.2 using KS:USB DAC as the output.

You'll notice with the Vista audio there are no problems with running your screen saver. No popping are pausing of the music when the screen saver comes up.

Correction if you get the 3.63 plugin for Winamp kernal streamimg. It will allow you similar operations as Foobar KS: USB DAC.

Hope this helps a little
elhazard
11 posts
 
Here is a post (#39) of David A. Hoatson, co-founder of Lynx Studio Technology on harmony-central.com :

Vista will work just fine if you are only using ASIO, since that bypasses everything Microsoft. If you do use the WDM driver (MME/DirectSound/Direct Kernel Streaming), then you are forced to use Microsoft components, and there are some new limitations with Vista.
The biggest problem at the moment revolves around sample rate support with Vista. Vista wants to be in complete control of the sample rate. That means that any application that used to set the sample rate by itself (CoolEdit Pro comes to mind), can no longer do so. The user must manually set the sample rate in the Audio Control Panel for the device in use. This also means that if you are clocking externally, as soon as the external sample rate changes you must also go into the Audio Control Panel and set the same rate there, otherwise you will not get audio. Some audio cards may get around this limitation with a driver rewrite (the code changes required are not easy), while others may decide that pro audio users really will just use ASIO and leave it at that.

Another issue has to do with device naming. Microsoft completely changed where the device names come from, and Vista the names of the devices by itself (with XP, the driver had complete control over how devices were named). This presents an interesting issue when dealing with a pro audio card that is also used for high-end home theater applications. To allow multi-channel playback for DVDs, the device must be named "Speakers" otherwise Vista simply won't present the Speaker Configuration to let the user select how many speakers they have. In a multi-card configuration, you end up with multiple devices all named "Speakers" which can be confusing to the user.

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1521198&page=2
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 
Just when I thought someone had tamed this beast....
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
A new version Of ASIO4All is available for download now Version 2.8 BETA 1. Comparing it to the KS: USB DAC output in Foobar.It sounds basically the same too me. So take your pick.

Since I only use this PC for two channel using a USB DAC. I have no concerns. I can run mutli channels from the spdif output if need be. The Vista is sounding terrific none the less.

I just received my USB+Paradisea today. The sound is open and lush. I could spend the entire day listening and never become fatigued by this sound.

Good listening
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 
I was supposed to get a free express upgrade to Vista as a rebate for my new Sony VAIO.

It seems, however, that I have missed the deadline.

Now, I see that there are several versions of Vista.

Can someone please explain -- which version would be best to buy if a) I dont have monstrous amounts of RAM and b) my main concern is streaming WAV files to an external DAC?

Thank you.
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