My first audioPC (+ introduction)

[damhooligan]

Hi guys.

 

I just joined this forum

So a quick introduction.

 

My name is johan, born in the netherlands, but now living in Australia.

I have a strong passion or electronic music , so digital music is a logical step.

 

After discovering audiophile optimizer I have been interested in an audio only pc.

unfortunately my budget is very low atm, so I could not do much.

But, during a recent hard rubbish collection find, I got a working laptop for free.

 

So far I managed to install a trial version of windows server 2012.

Got wifi working, and managed to install jriver19.

 

My goal is to compare my current windows 7/jriver19/dacmagic combo to WS2012/jriver19/dacmagic combo.

If I can hear a difference, I'm ready to invest in audiophile optimizer.

If not , I stick to my current windows 7.

 

Up until now it went forward, but now I'm stuck.

My dac is the dacmagic 100.

To get usb2.0 I need the driver, I could not install the 1.43 driver, as it said it was no compatible.

So I installed 1.67 driver.

Jriver now recognises dac in usb2 mode.

But that's where it ends.

If I go to dac control panel it says ; nothing is installed.

If I try to play a file, jriver says , cannot playback.

 

So the driver is not working.

According to CA I might need a firmware update, and to do so I have to contact them.

Which I have done trough their channel, but so far no reply.

 

Does anybody else have any experience with windows server 2012, and dacmagic 100?

Is it possible to get dacmagic working under WS2012 ?

[iago]

I could not install the 1.43 driver, as it said it was no compatible. So I installed 1.67 driver.

 

Welcome to CA! I have no hands-on experience with WS2012 or DacMagic, just some general suggestions.

 

Usually later Windows versions have something called "compatibility mode". Did you try this with the older driver? See this forum entry for an example.

 

Also you have to switch the DacMagic to UAC 2.0 mode before using it.

 

Your DacMagic 100 will come set to driverless USB Audio Class 1.0 by default, but it can be configured to run in either USB Class Audio 1.0 or 2.0 mode. To change USB Class, press & hold the Source button while bringing the unit out of standby . One of the digital input source LEDs will illuminate to indicate the current USB setting: Digital 1 represents USB Audio Class 1.0, likewise Digital 2 is USB Audio Class 2.0.

 

But you probably did this already.

[damhooligan]

Welcome to CA! I have no hands-on experience with WS2012 or DacMagic, just some general suggestions.

 

Usually later Windows versions have something called "compatibility mode". Did you try this with the older driver? See this forum entry for an example.

 

 

thanks.

 

I have heard/read about the compatibility mode, but have not yet tried it.

 

Once this works, I am planning of running the pc in 'core' mode, as that's where I should hear a big difference in sound.

I am not sure if compatibility mode works in core mode.

That's why I am mainly focussed on getting it to work outside compatibility mode.

 

 

Also you have to switch the DacMagic to UAC 2.0 mode before using it.

 

Yes, I am aware of that.

It caused me a small hiccup for the the first time I went to set it up for windows7.

I couldn't get the button combo working straight away.

but once I got it, it was a breeze.

 

And I'm stil using the dac for my current windows7 set-up, so it's definatly in uac2.0 mode.

[iago]

Once this works, I am planning of running the pc in 'core' mode, as that's where I should hear a big difference in sound.

 

There are two things you could try while waiting for the Cambridge Audio support.

 

Install the 1.4x driver from the command line (directly from the INF file, without using the setup.exe). There are two challenges: you have two INF files, one seems to be for Windows WMA (which should include kernel streaming), the other for kernel streaming. No idea which is the right one. There is a tool in ServerCore for driver installation (pnputil), I don't know if it's present also in the standard installation.

Patch the driver installation. Stop the service installed by your driver and replace the 1.6x DLL files with the ones from the 1.4x installation. It may work, but will probably fail utterly, so keep a backup of the modified files. From the INF file it looks as if the driver files are copied directly into the system32 directory, but it's easier to check by searching.

[damhooligan]

There are two things you could try while waiting for the Cambridge Audio support.

 

1. Install the 1.4x driver from the command line (directly from the INF file, without using the setup.exe). There are two challenges: you have two INF files, one seems to be for Windows WMA (which should include kernel streaming), the other for kernel streaming. No idea which is the right one. There is a tool in ServerCore for driver installation (pnputil), I don't know if it's present also in the standard installation.
   

 

1. Patch the driver installation. Stop the service installed by your driver and replace the 1.6x DLL files with the ones from the 1.4x installation. It may work, but will probably fail utterly, so keep a backup of the modified files. From the INF file it looks as if the driver files are copied directly into the system32 directory, but it's easier to check by searching.
   

 

Thanks for your reply iago.

 

I have decided to give compatibility mode a fair go.

I uninstalled the 1.6 driver, and tried to install 1.4

I actually worked this time, and I got audio coming out of my pc the way it is suppose to.

 

I have not yet played with pc in 'core' mode, as that is on my to do list.

I first wanted to install and test al the things that could cause hiccups first , before I go and explore the 'core'.

[AudioPhil]

Hi

 

be aware you will probably don't hear anything in core mode. Bringing back Kernel-Streaming is a core feature of the AudiophileOptimizer. You could instead switch to minimal-server mode which supports Kernel-Streaming and WASAPI also without Optimizer.

 

best,

Phil

[damhooligan]

Hi

 

be aware you will probably don't hear anything in core mode. Bringing back Kernel-Streaming is a core feature of the AudiophileOptimizer. You could instead switch to minimal-server mode which supports Kernel-Streaming and WASAPI also without Optimizer.

 

best,

Phil

 

Hi phil.

 

Thanks for your response.

I remember reading that about wasapi/kernel mode in core but i forgot, thanks for reminding me.

 

I got WS2012 up and running, but when i compared it to standard windows7 i could not hear the difference.

The only variable is the os, everything thing else is identical.

 

Am i doing something wrong, or am i just not able to hear the difference.