Hey Guys (and Gals),
I am waiting on my Schiit Modi 3/Vali 2 package to be delivered.
I have been using the trial version of JRiverMC25. In the DAC settings, there are several WASAPI, DoP and ASIO options. I was wondering if there is a good simple straight forward recommendation as to what settings to use to obtain optimal benifit from this player. Can someone recommend a “dummies” article to help me begin to understand these type of settings.
THANKS,
John
DoP (DSD over PCM) is only for DSD content, which the Modi 3 you have on order will not play, so you can forget about that one.
ASIO or WASAPI, properly configured, are useful because they can bypass the Windows internal System Mixer and System Volume controls, which means a simpler path with no “effects”, “processing” or “sample rate conversion” being applied, and can be more efficient (lower latency).
ASIO is a third-party standard, originally developed by Steinberg. It often requires a wrapper to use, called “ASIO4ALL” (which has it’s own issues), and/or requires ASIO compliant drivers for the DAC.
WASAPI is a Microsoft standard, has two modes of operation, and the simple version is if you want unmolested data (i.e. a reliable way of getting bit-perfect, un-processed) to your DAC then WASAPI in Exclusive mode is what you want to use.
IIRC, I was able to use ASIO with M0di MB with Jriver, can’t recall if it was the Schiit driver, jriver or generic asio driver, asio4all does not work well for me. If ASIO does not work, just use Wasapi Exclusive mode, you’ll hear the same sound.
Thanks for the info.
I know I could have googled these terms but for now I wanted a basic understanding of these terms.
Torq and Kerplunk both suggested using Wasapi Exclusive mode in JRiver. That is where I will start when the amp/dac arrives (hopefully today!)
Thanks Again
John
I only use WASAPI in Exclusive mode…selected in the Windows Sound Control Panel, under Properties for the DAC under ADVANCED.
Then in the Music Player select WASAPI for Jriver, and in Foobar2000 you have a few selections, WASAPI (event) or WASAPI (push), both will work but I use event over push.
Alex
Do you manage to get it to play bit-perfect? In my case I could never achieve that for more than a few minutes.
In order to get my USB DAC to play bit-perfect I had no choice but to use WASAPI(push) since WASAPI(event) crashed almost before I clicked Play. I’m not too sure but if the syntax has the same meaning in Foobar than it does in C++ then (push) should mean to force WASAPI to move its butt otherwise everything in the chain is affected and prone to crash which invariably happens EXACTLY every 12 minutes when I use Foobar, this is probably workflow-related and like most such bugs affect the registry to the point it gets out of sync after 12 minutes. That was so annoying that I had to resort to using the function “RunAsDate” which of course never fails to wreak havoc system-wide but at least
I could steal almost 2 hours of music before the big crash awoke me from my stupor with myriad beeps and display of relaxing screens delicately painted in an exquisite hue of blue. But that never lasted long 
(event) must mean that some event-driven circumstance must take place for WASAPI to step in. Your USB DAC, does it have its own power supply or does it gets it from a USB port? I’m just curious to find out if it’s PSU-related. USB-powered DAC’s can be very powerful, depending on the chip’s design (some have firmware that allows them to suck more power out of a USB port’s theoretical limit and set first priority for themselves so they can deliver impressive musical performance with a 700+watt PSU, provided they are connected to the computer via triple-shielded USB cable) but the more juice they suck out of said PSU the less there is left for other components: print or burn something and watch all Hell break loose beeps, BSOD’s and all. You just gotta make sure
That’s why my other serious DAC (Naim Preamp/Class A room heater aka AP amp DAC V1) is self-powered even though it has USB connectivity and provides DSP software for it. And of course it plays DSD files. it couldn’t care less. I went up to Quebec City last week for my daughter’s B-Day and to attend the Carnaval parade. Jeez why is it always a polar climate when I go in winter and a sweltering jungle in the summer. You’d think that the proximity of Quebec City and Montreal would have nurtured similar climates but you’d be wrong. Quebec City thrives on extremes that can reach more than 50f during a same year. 28c to 34c of suffocating, humidity-laden air that makes it downright dangerous for light-skinned chaps like yours truly to venture outdoors too often between June and mid-to-end-Septembre lest it’s for an emergency such as the procurement of a strong therapeutic beer (“therapeutic beer” was often above 25% alcool content with other goodies thrown in the mix including opium oil, morphine and, in the late 1880’s to 1907 anyone could purchase a vial or 10 of Heroin (yes. it was a legal trademark and best-seller for Bayers, the inventors of the much, much less exciting Aspirin (personally I detest aspirin even though I’m not allergic to it., Ibuprofen is far superior for small-to-low-moderate pain. My daughter the doctor (like her mother) is an anesthesiologist who knows a lot more about pain control than your average GP. She says old GP’s who hang around ambulance bays prescribe too much painkiller to the elderly than they do to kids, teens and young adults. They had it hammered in their head that if an old patient dies of opioid overdose it’s faith but when a younger patient displaying similar pathology (appendicitis) that person may be left on guerners agonising in visibly strong pain for hours before s doctor deigns to see them and when he or she come to see the patient they holler "what is this patient doing here, give him 10mg morphine IV and bring him up to ICU STAT! So the staff complies, pumps her up with morphine in case she aches somewhere and up they go. Naturally the ICU is full so corridor Poultry (ICU hallway) is just as good. I beg to differ. My first wife died of negligent supervising practices. She too had been parked in the hallway because she was only 20, in good shape and likely to be pregnant, they almost convinced her brother And I that was certainly it and she was not the whining kind
The Dac I used for years was a Schiit Bifrost and recently I upgraded to a Bifrost 2 and use the Unison inteface.
Foobar 2000 has issues with WASAPI event, and its documented, but no real fix that I have seen. That
said running in WASAPI Push is just fine…no real audible differences…
I dont have any of these issues anymore, but when I first tried a beta Unison board in the Bifrost 1 I did see some intermittent issues with Foobar 2000.
But using Jriver MC 24 I never have had any issues at all.
So it could be a Unison or Foobar combination and Windows 10 in my case bug.
Alex
Thanks, I’ ll give JMC a go at it, been looking for a pretense to the relatively modest expense lately if I could shake that True-Fi-induced laziness as of late. True-Fi doesn’t do miracles with all headphones but with the Elear it’s nothing short of holiness. One of the staff at the Latvian company commented to me in an email that even they have rarely if ever encountered an audiophile-class phone that shouts “pimp me!” as loud as the Elear. Personally I have come across a few cans that responded well to frequency and gain tweaks but nothing so dramatic especially in that tier. Now my Elears sound better than my Clears. My new Elegias went straight to the collection, closed-backs have never been my cup of tea… but maybe the Stellias due for arrival late Spring will smooth my judgement who knows. But I doubt it… They are gorgeous though, center-piece material. I expect this is the last Focal batch with that look and build, heard tha they’re overhauling the whole audiophile segment, from the Elegias all the way up to the Utopias. That ought’ta be interesting…