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Post by qualityaudio on Mar 12, 2014 23:51:53 GMT -5
I have connected to my pre/proc a laptop running Windows7. I use it occasionally, mostly for TV shows using Slingbox and music via Rhapsody. I have it connected to the UMC-200 with an HDMI cable, and everything works just fine with two exceptions. One is no Dolby Digital. Everything is two channel and I don't know why. The UMC's Dolby PLii works pretty well as a substitute and I usually use DVD or BD if I want good surround sound.
The other and more pressing issue is playing high resolution audio files from HD Tracks. I have some Wav files recorded at 96kHZ/24bit and I'm not sure if they are playing at the right bit rate or not. At first, they would only play at 44.1/16. I checked out a couple different players (VLC and MediaMonkey) and found that both are compatible with hires files, I then went into Windows control panel and under Sound Devices found the Properties for the UMC-200. On the Advanced tab, you can change the sample/bit rate used in "shared mode", whatever that means. Changing this does indeed change the bit rate displayed on the screen when music starts playing, but I'm skeptical. I don't know if I hear a difference or not when I change this setting. maybe. At least I know the bit rate is changing, so what is happening here? Is Windows mucking around with the data stream, up/down sampling of all files per this setting? Or is it passing the data stream through untouched unless the source file is a higher bit rate?
What I'm getting at is there must be a default setting somewhere that takes a file encoded in 96/24 and sends a 96/24 stream to the UMC-200, or a 44.1/16 stream from a 44.1/16 file. I can't believe that I would have to change this setting each time I play a file that has a different bit rate. Maybe there's some other settings for the HDMI port I have not yet found?
Any help would be appreciated.
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kknadella
Minor Hero
Seeking Audio Nirvana thru Emotiva
Posts: 19 
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Post by kknadella on Mar 13, 2014 2:48:33 GMT -5
I use foobar2000 in WASAPI mode (event or push). No more doubts about windows 7 mixer mucking around the sample rates etc. Give it a try.
Here is a short description from foobar website:
WASAPI output support
Adds Windows Audio Session API exclusive mode output support, allowing bit-exact output and muting all other sounds.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using proboards
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bootman
Emo VIPs 
Typing useless posts on internet forums....
Posts: 9,358
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Post by bootman on Mar 13, 2014 6:39:50 GMT -5
Depending on the laptop, two channel audio may be only what you get over HDMI.
Only certain newer chipsets support full surround out of a PC's HDMI especially built in ones.
What model laptop?
Maybe I can verify any hardware limitations so you don't go chasing your tail for something that may just be impossible.
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Post by yves on Mar 13, 2014 16:52:21 GMT -5
On the Advanced tab, make sure that the "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" checkbox is checked.  Next, I suggest that you try foobar2000 with WASAPI output. Under File | Preferences | Playback | Output, select the Device as shown below, and make sure that the Output data format is set to 24-bit.  |
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Post by qualityaudio on Mar 13, 2014 21:30:01 GMT -5
OK, I guess I have my evening planned out figuring out the FOOBAR thing. Thanks! Only certain newer chipsets support full surround out of a PC's HDMI especially built in ones. What model laptop? Maybe I can verify any hardware limitations so you don't go chasing your tail for something that may just be impossible. It is an HP Pavilion dv7-6123cl It's billed as an "Entertainment PC" so I can't imagine it not support surround sound on the HDMI port, but you never know. Thanks for your help on this! |
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bootman
Emo VIPs
Typing useless posts on internet forums....
Posts: 9,358
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Post by bootman on Mar 14, 2014 1:36:45 GMT -5
OK, I guess I have my evening planned out figuring out the FOOBAR thing. Thanks! Only certain newer chipsets support full surround out of a PC's HDMI especially built in ones. What model laptop? Maybe I can verify any hardware limitations so you don't go chasing your tail for something that may just be impossible. It is an HP Pavilion dv7-6123cl It's billed as an "Entertainment PC" so I can't imagine it not support surround sound on the HDMI port, but you never know. Thanks for your help on this! That should have the intell 3000 graphics which should support hd audio. I would look for updated drivers from Intel and install them just to be sure. |
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Post by yves on Mar 14, 2014 2:37:39 GMT -5
OK, I guess I have my evening planned out figuring out the FOOBAR thing. Thanks! Only certain newer chipsets support full surround out of a PC's HDMI especially built in ones. What model laptop? Maybe I can verify any hardware limitations so you don't go chasing your tail for something that may just be impossible. It is an HP Pavilion dv7-6123cl It's billed as an "Entertainment PC" so I can't imagine it not support surround sound on the HDMI port, but you never know. Thanks for your help on this! Your laptop has Intel HD 3000. That means it will work just fine. That is, except for maybe one minor thing. The Intel Display Audio driver, which comes with the Intel HD Graphics software and driver package, has the "silent stream bug". The bug has been reported to Intel via Intel Support Community. communities.intel.com/thread/32305?start=15&tstart=0 It has since been confirmed by an Intel representative named Allan, on January 8, 2014 7:02 AM. communities.intel.com/thread/45733 I have just verified that the bug is still currently present in the Intel Display Audio driver ver. 16.06.00.3131 (release date March 9, 2014). There is a freeware solution for Windows users that can be used as a temporary workaround for this problem until Intel Engineering Department will produce a permanent fix. It's called AVR Audio Guard. www.marcsapps.co.uk I have verified that it works on my laptop, which has Intel HD 4000 and which uses HDMI to connect to my UMC-200. |
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Post by qualityaudio on Mar 17, 2014 9:15:11 GMT -5
Thanks for the information. The Foobar player does exactly what I need it to do. It plays all the various audio files I have and the UMC-200 displays the correct bit rate for each of them. The HDTracks files that I have sound superb! The dynamic range is mind-boggling, I thought I might damage my subwoofer listening to "The Firebird" a little too loud!
As far as problems with the Silent Stream bug, I have not had any. Whether listening to audio from any of the media players I have (VLC, Windows Media Player, Rhapsody, etc.), from the browser, or either of the media center packages I use from time to time like XBMC or Windows Media Center, I've never experienced this issue at all. I've still not had any surround sound audio from any source on the computer, but then I don't know if any of the content I've listened to is encoded in any surround format.
Thanks again for all the help!
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Post by yves on Mar 17, 2014 13:11:37 GMT -5
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Post by solidstate on Mar 22, 2014 17:36:45 GMT -5
On the Advanced tab, make sure that the "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" checkbox is checked. Next, I suggest that you try foobar2000 with WASAPI output. Under File | Preferences | Playback | Output, select the Device as shown below, and make sure that the Output data format is set to 24-bit. View AttachmentI'm curious yves why you suggest the output be set to 24 bit? Why not set it to 16bit? I believe, though I could be wrong, that without the checkbox "dithering" checked it will sent the bitrate of the source material IE if playing 16 bit audio it will pass 16bit, if passing 24bit it will pass 24bit even if it's set to 16bit. The dithering checkbox makes it output 16bit on 24bit sources. By setting it to 24bit on 16 bit material you are manipulating the signal and thus defeating the purpose of WASPAI exclusive mode in the first place. Please correct me if I'm wrong and explain the transport path inside win32/WASAPI. Is it simply padded? |
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Post by solidstate on Mar 22, 2014 17:39:02 GMT -5
Thanks for the information. The Foobar player does exactly what I need it to do. It plays all the various audio files I have and the UMC-200 displays the correct bit rate for each of them. The HDTracks files that I have sound superb! The dynamic range is mind-boggling, I thought I might damage my subwoofer listening to "The Firebird" a little too loud! As far as problems with the Silent Stream bug, I have not had any. Whether listening to audio from any of the media players I have (VLC, Windows Media Player, Rhapsody, etc.), from the browser, or either of the media center packages I use from time to time like XBMC or Windows Media Center, I've never experienced this issue at all. I've still not had any surround sound audio from any source on the computer, but then I don't know if any of the content I've listened to is encoded in any surround format. Thanks again for all the help! I had a link to a bunch files in all the various formats used for testing purposes. I'll try and track down the URL for you. |
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Post by garym on Mar 22, 2014 18:44:45 GMT -5
That is an intriguing piece of music and an excellent recording. Well worth the money. |
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Post by yves on Mar 24, 2014 2:08:15 GMT -5
On the Advanced tab, make sure that the "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" checkbox is checked. Next, I suggest that you try foobar2000 with WASAPI output. Under File | Preferences | Playback | Output, select the Device as shown below, and make sure that the Output data format is set to 24-bit. View AttachmentI'm curious yves why you suggest the output be set to 24 bit? Why not set it to 16bit? I believe, though I could be wrong, that without the checkbox "dithering" checked it will sent the bitrate of the source material IE if playing 16 bit audio it will pass 16bit, if passing 24bit it will pass 24bit even if it's set to 16bit. The dithering checkbox makes it output 16bit on 24bit sources. By setting it to 24bit on 16 bit material you are manipulating the signal and thus defeating the purpose of WASPAI exclusive mode in the first place. Please correct me if I'm wrong and explain the transport path inside win32/WASAPI. Is it simply padded? If the foobar2000 Output Format is set to 24-bit then if the hardware supports playback of 24-bit audio (not a problem with the UMC-200 and the Intel HDMI output), playing a 24-bit music file will produce 24-bit output, whereas playing a 16-bit music file will produce 24-bit output that has been upconverted from 16-bit to 24-bit by simply padding it with zeros so no data gets lost in the process. The WASAPI output support component for foobar2000 passes on the data from foobar2000 to WASAPI without applying any further processing, and, next, WASAPI "exclusive mode" also passes on the data to the device driver of the playback hardware without applying any further processing (i.e., if WASAPI is running in exclusive mode, WASAPI will prevent any further processing from being applied by Windows). |
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Post by qualityaudio on Apr 11, 2014 20:52:44 GMT -5
Thanks for the information. The Foobar player does exactly what I need it to do. It plays all the various audio files I have and the UMC-200 displays the correct bit rate for each of them. The HDTracks files that I have sound superb! The dynamic range is mind-boggling, I thought I might damage my subwoofer listening to "The Firebird" a little too loud! As far as problems with the Silent Stream bug, I have not had any. Whether listening to audio from any of the media players I have (VLC, Windows Media Player, Rhapsody, etc.), from the browser, or either of the media center packages I use from time to time like XBMC or Windows Media Center, I've never experienced this issue at all. I've still not had any surround sound audio from any source on the computer, but then I don't know if any of the content I've listened to is encoded in any surround format. Thanks again for all the help! Well, I spoke too soon on the silent stream bug. It has developed in the last couple weeks. Wierd that it didn't show itself sooner. Since it only happens when nothing's playing (including between tracks), I'll choose to ignore it. You got to pick your battles and this isn't it. I've got everything just the way I like it right now, which is to say I think I have the best sounding system ever(!), so I'll just leave it well enough alone. |
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