Foobar DEL 820 3G Memory, XP Pro/SP3, ASIO4ALL, problem with setup and Proton

[Wavelength]

Gang,

 

I have been all over this problem and maybe someone else can help.

 

A customer has the setup above. With 96K he get's a hiss like tape hiss out of his Headphones Etymotic 100 ohm units. He also get's a click when he changes tracts but I think that is the sample rate changes as I hear that going from 96K to 44.1 on XP/Foobar.

 

Sent another tested Proton same problem. This was tested on 2 XP machines with Foorbar and J River without issue.

 

ASIO4ALL is version 2.9 and Foobar is 0.92, I have also tried 1.0 Foobar.

 

I do not get a problem with this setup unless I put the hardware mode on inside ASIO4ALL. But then I get hiss all the time and drop outs and stuff.

 

He has a couple of USB cables and has an Apogee 16/44.1 Adaptive USB device that works fine.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

Gordon

 

[daveross]

Gordon, thank you for posting this. Let me clarify one aspect of the post: the (sometimes loud) transient click occurs at the beginning of every file, regardless of the sampling or bit rate (if I stop (but not pause) a file that's playing, I hear the transient when I press play again). The noise is not at all associated with a change in sample rates between consecutive files.

 

[BobH]

..would be my guess. I've had exactly the same problem as you describe, in the past, with and without A4A, and it has always been resolved by moving to a different driver.

 

Will the Proton work with Foobar's Kernel Streaming plug-in? I'd try that first, to see if the problem goes away. If it does then you can be fairly sure that it is one of those 'your particular system/this particular device/this paricular driver' things that defies rational explanation!

 

If the KS plugin works and returning to A4A brings the problem right back then I would consider either sticking with the KS plugin - easy option - or doing a clean OS install and trying A4A again - the PITA option!

 

Hope this helps,

 

[Wavelength]

Bob,

 

It very well could be the driver though it is the Microsoft driver and he is on SP3. I have never been able to get Kernel Streaming to work on XP.

 

David, one thing you could try is remove the instance in the device manager. While it is plugged in go through the maze of options and delete the device from the system.

 

Then plug it in again and when it asks to go to the internet to find the driver... go ahead and let it see if it finds a newer driver.

 

Also would be interested to hear about the IBM laptop you have and if it worked on that.

 

Thanks

Gordon

 

[daveross]

Thanks very much for the suggestions but no luck so far. First, I tried updating the driver but after searching Windows Update, Windows said the driver is current. I also tried the KS extension for Foobar but that doesn't work at all (files don't even play).

 

[danny71]

I think that the KS will not work at all unless you use Vista or Windows 7. That goes for USB and KS in general if I understand it correctly.. At least this is true for the setups I tried..

 

Is it an option to upgrade the OS to Vista or Windows 7? In that case you will besides the KS also be given the option to work with WASAPI..

 

Good luck either way!

 

[Lars]

Instead of AFA, try ASIO2KS with XP:

 

http://www.asio2ks.de/download.shtml

 

 

 

[BobH]

..but just to set the record straght and avoid any unnecessary confusion - the Kernel Streaming plugin for Foobar was written specifically for Windows XP and should not be the driver of choice on Vista or 7 machines. For those two OS's, wasapi would normally be the weapon of choice, for Foobar, if it's catered for by your output device/dac. Full details here.

 

Unfortunately though, as Gordon says, he's never got XP with KS to work with the Proton, so that's going to be a dead end anyway

 

So, good luck with Lars suggestion, Dave! It looks like the best option at the moment, for you.

 

[Lars]

A number of years ago when I ran XP with my Cosecant, I had trouble with AFA. I used Foobar at that time. ASIO2KS always worked well for me. Now I don't remember if it supports 96/24 as I was limited to 48/16 at that time.

 

[vortecjr]

how about trying the standard ASIO driver as a check?

 

Jesus R

 

[daveross]

Lars, thanks for the ASIO2K suggestion. Unfortunately, it still supports only 16 bit audio. Just to try it, I installed it anyway and found that it doesn't show up in Foobar. And even if I simply assign ASIO2K to the Proton and select no ASIO driver in Foobar, the result is still the same.

 

Perhaps more importantly, I just noticed something I didn't notice before: When playing a 44.1/16 file, the Proton's sample rate indicator jumps to 96 and then returns to 44.1 (even when the previous file was also a 44.1/16 file). The indicator jump lines up with the transient I hear at the beginning of each file.

 

[Wavelength]

David,

 

I just noticed something I didn't notice before: When playing a 44.1/16 file, the Proton's sample rate indicator jumps to 96 and then returns to 44.1 (even when the previous file was also a 44.1/16 file). The indicator jump lines up with the transient I hear at the beginning of each file.

 

Ok this is the problem as this should not happen. Basically the computer tells me to change the sample rate and I do whatever it says to do. So here we are moving from one oscillator (22.5792: 44.1/88.2) to the other oscillator (24.586: 48/96) and back again. As well as changing filter coeffecients. So this is the problem....

 

Still wondering if your IBM experiences the same problem?

 

Thanks

Gordon

 

[daveross]

Gordon, I just checked out the Proton on the IBM (which is running XP Pro SP2). I get the same results with uncompressed .wav and .flac files: the sample rate indicator jumps to 96k at the beginning of a 44.1 file and then returns to 44.1k. The audio transient seems to be associated with the jump to 96k.

 

[daveross]

More info - I found that the sample rate shift doesn't occur in iTunes, but always in Foobar, JRiver, and Media Player. Actually, in Media Player, the sample rate change also occurs when I stop playblack (click the stop button). Does this suggest anything?

 

And...the results are the same whether I use ASIO or whether I avoid ASIO and just un-map the Proton from KMIXER in Audio Device properties.

 

By the way, thank you all for trying to help with this.