Why USB to SPDIF and not optical?

"Do you get 16/44.1 out of J River?"

Yes, but with my USB converter it's 24/44.1. With some devices attached to my Pace-Car, it's 16/44.1. The Sonos is also 24/44.1, but bit-perfect.

"If I read your comment correctly Vista converts 16/44.1 to 24/44.1, so I would not call that bit-perfect."

Vista and XP both change 16/44.1 into 24/44.1 with my USB converters. It's bit-perfect. The data is not modified. The noise floor is just lowered.

"Is your software adding the bits or is Vista?"

Both, its the firmware of the USB interface talking to Windows audio stack S/W in XP and Vista.

I think your problem is iTunes. If you use Jriver or Foobar and either unmap or use Kernel Streaming with XP, you will be bit-perfect. The sound quality will be a lot better too. I recommend Foobar 0.8.3.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Hey dtc.

"The purist in me would still like to get the original 16/44.1 out to my DAC without the any changes happening in the PC."

Why do you prefer 16/44.1 over the higher resolutions? I am under the impression that 16 bits is better than 24 and 48kHz is better that 44.1 and 96 is better than 48, etc...
Am I missing something?

Hey Steve.

Why is Kernel Streaming better than ASIO for KMixer avoidance?

Mmarvin19 - I would rather have my DAC (Musical Fidelity) do the upscaling rather than some unknown software buried in the PC. So I am looking for a simple USB to optical or coax converter that will bypass the XP upscaling. The 44.1 to 48 upscaling may not have much effect on the final sound, but I would still prefer to be able to control it. I would think you would also prefer 44.1 for files ripped from CD for your NOS DAC. Part of the idea of a NOS DAC is to not do any upscaling. Can you tell if your Behringer is putting out 44.1? I assume with ASIO it probably is. I have tried a couple of devices today with J River Media Center and ASIO4ALL but they do not work with ASIO4ALL. So I am still looking for new options. I am very happy with what I am currently getting, but want to see if I can get it to another level.

"Hey Steve.

Why is Kernel Streaming better than ASIO for KMixer avoidance?"

Because at least with XP, every ASIO plug-in that I have tried sounds different. I dont trust them anymore. Unmapping has a clarity that ASIO just does not delivery IME.

Steve N.

Dtc - it turns-out that hardware upsamplers are mostly inferior to software upsamplers. Makes perfect sense. There are limitations to what you can do in hardware and how long it takes to do it. It usually a compromise.

Software on the other hand is more flexible for editing and integrating the latest algorithms, and for file re-writes (such as R8Brain and Adobe Audition), the S/W can take all night to do the upsampling task, and it often does. More time to do it equals better quality. Not all upsampling algorithms are equal either.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio