Linux or windows vista for music

[audiodelic]

In Foobar go to File > Preferences > Playback > Output Device. That will list all plugins, you need to select which plugin/output device you want to use.

Im going to try this today. nice post moserw.
My hardware is Dell Studio 17
running an creative x-fi notebook card via express slot.

Will this creative card work for this application?
Also confirming all i need to do is install foobar and select device in File > Preferences > Playback > Output Device correct? If i need to do additional things please specify .....

 

[Vijay_s]

Im going to try this today. nice post moserw.
My hardware is Dell Studio 17
running an creative x-fi notebook card via express slot.

Will this creative card work for this application?
Also confirming all i need to do is install foobar and select device in File > Preferences > Playback > Output Device correct? If i need to do additional things please specify .....

I dont think asio support or wasapi installed default, atleast it was not in my case. you need to download these dlls from here Download foobar2000 and optional components
and then copy it into Components folder of your foobar2000 installation.

Do not forget to restart foobar to get the plugin loaded.

 

[moserw]

Yes it will work without a hitch. All you need to do is d/l Foobar from Download foobar2000 and optional components.

On the same page lots of plugins and in particular you can start with Kernel Streaming support, ASIO support, WASAPI output support. These plugins will d/l as RAR files and you just need to copy the .dll file in it to the folder > C:\Program Files\foobar2000\components i.e. components folder in Foobar's installation folder. KS and WASAPI (for Vista) will bypass the Windows mixer and give way better SQ than the Windows mixer. For ASIO you will need to d/l and install ASIO4ALL from ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver.

To use any of them go to File > Preferences > Playback > Output Device and use either KS: Creative X-Fi (I'm assuming) or WASAPI (for only Vista) or ASIO: ASIO4ALL. The default will be DS: Primary Sound Driver which is Windows and these plugins will bypass it resulting in way better sound. Of course if you can try cPlay (for WAV & FLAC) then its way better than anything else.

Im going to try this today. nice post moserw.
My hardware is Dell Studio 17
running an creative x-fi notebook card via express slot.

Will this creative card work for this application?
Also confirming all i need to do is install foobar and select device in File > Preferences > Playback > Output Device correct? If i need to do additional things please specify .....

 

[moserw]

@svkndv - From the same dlls page get ASIO support and then ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver. Use the same procedure to select ASIO4ALL from the Output Device settings. Note that ASIO4ALL needs to be installed and not copied to the components folder like with other dlls but I'm sure you know that.

I'm on Windows XP now, and have not tried ASIO4ALL with Vista so let me know which is better, ASIO4ALL or WASAPI in Vista.

I dont think asio support or wasapi installed default, atleast it was not in my case. you need to download these dlls from here Download foobar2000 and optional components
and then copy it into Components folder of your foobar2000 installation.

Do not forget to restart foobar to get the plugin loaded.

 

[Vijay_s]

Installed and configured ASIO4ALL on my vista, I could not make out any quality difference with WASAPI, it is almost identical so i decided to continue with WASAPI.
between 2, Decided to continue with WASAPI o

@svkndv - From the same dlls page get ASIO support and then ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver. Use the same procedure to select ASIO4ALL from the Output Device settings. Note that ASIO4ALL needs to be installed and not copied to the components folder like with other dlls but I'm sure you know that..

 

[gobble]

Best to listen for a few weeks then decide - you will discover a few tracks where the difference is apparent.

Cheers

 

[thevortex]

While cPlay is pretty good for music quality, it is very pedantic when it comes to managing songs (can only play one song at a time) and also requires the cue file (which is sort of an index file for an album). Without this, it becomes pretty useless.

foobar2000 with wasapi is the best bet and it really provides lots of value through media mangement functionality, auto tagging from freedb, file conversions as well as album creations disk files and much more. I use mediamonkey for my digital media management and foobar with wasapi for playback.

Correct, Marsilians. But talk of the output quality. That alone is worth paying whatever price there is to pay with an unabashedly clunky interface.

But for the practical minded out there - there is a very very useful plugin/tool called cPlaylisteditor. You can get it from here - Computer Audio Asylum - Substantial updates to the CPlayListEditor application - aljordan - April 10, 2009 at 20:53:00

Basically this will allow you to choose any WAV/FLAC file out there and "make" a CUE file - as easy as pie. This is not very dissimilar to the way we create playlists in other media applications.

This combined with another tool called Recursive Cue Creator (this is a must for people who have loads of FLAC or WAV files sorted in folders) makes cPlay easily accessible and a joy to use. Recursive Cue Creator can be found here - Recursive Cue Creator

To the original poster - if, as one of the other posters mentioned, Xonar has drivers for Linux, it is a no-brainer if you ask me. Especially if this machine you are building is a dedicated music source. If you do other things - as in normal work - then you would be better off with Windows, if for nothing because people are more familiar with it.

 

[thevortex]

svkndv (wow, that's a fingerful and I hope I got that right), since you are a WASAPI user could you try out the XXHighEnd player and let us all know if you are able to hear anything wonderful out of it. I have been reading a lot of good things about it and would like to know if there is something significant I am missing.

This player is supposed to be especially good with Vista and WASAPI drivers. You can get it from here:

XXHighEnd - Index

The author of this application has a few interesting thoughts to share about his player here:

Why XXHighEnd ?

 

[thevortex]

Moser - I have been meaning to mention those two lovely little tools for cPlay to you, but have been away for so long.

How are those AVI speakers that you ordered? I am eager to hear more about them.

 

[moserw]

To my knowledge this not freeware.

svkndv (wow, that's a fingerful and I hope I got that right), since you are a WASAPI user could you try out the XXHighEnd player and let us all know if you are able to hear anything wonderful out of it. I have been reading a lot of good things about it and would like to know if there is something significant I am missing.

This player is supposed to be especially good with Vista and WASAPI drivers. You can get it from here:

XXHighEnd - Index

The author of this application has a few interesting thoughts to share about his player here:

Why XXHighEnd ?

 

[moserw]

Moser - I have been meaning to mention those two lovely little tools for cPlay to you, but have been away for so long.

How are those AVI speakers that you ordered? I am eager to hear more about them.

The AVI ADM 9.1 are damn good. It's like an all in one solution. The sound is crystal clear, lots of great soundstage and the music literally has opened up like never before. They are great for nearfield listening but go quite loud too and are great at distance listening too. The connectivity options too are great. I realize now the Asus Essence was a great choice as with dual analog outs they are a perfect fit to the AVIs.

I've been travelling so did not get a chance to check with digital vs. analog. But I can say I'm very, very satisfied with the speakers and they are a practical steal at the price they came for.

The only con is you would need a sub for bass heavy music and for genres like rap, hip-hop, etc. I'm planning on going for the subwoofer from AVI itself, but other than this they are a great sounding pair of speakers for music.

 

[thevortex]

Glad it worked out for you, Moser. All the best for future fatigue free listening (FFF listening)!

 

[thevortex]

To my knowledge this not freeware.

There is a demo version of this available which does not place limits on play time or audio quality. I remember playing with this on XP - but did not get much out of it. Then I read that this was supposed to be something extra special on Vista specifically.

 

[Vijay_s]

There is a demo version of this available which does not place limits on play time or audio quality. I remember playing with this on XP - but did not get much out of it. Then I read that this was supposed to be something extra special on Vista specifically.

Still in office :sad:, I will try it out asap and let you know the performance and quality.
I wonder why windows media player output quality is far inferior than foobar2000 even though media player output is WASAPI

 

[thevortex]

Still in office :sad:, I will try it out asap and let you know the performance and quality.
I wonder why windows media player output quality is far inferior than foobar2000 even though media player output is WASAPI

Beware of placebo effect, svkndv. Please check for all plugins and equalizer effects you might have on on in the different players. With a good output system (amp and speakers) and clear drivers like the WASAPI or ASIO4ALL, there is no need for equalizer controls. Not if you would like to hear what the recording artist intended - at any rate.

Different players sometimes do sound slightly different. If you would like, do try AIMP2. Its a very nice player - except that it does not support ASIO as of now.

 

[Vijay_s]

If you would like, do try AIMP2. Its a very nice player - except that it does not support ASIO as of now.

Does it support WASAPI? At first glance on web i like the appearance but end result depends on the SQ, i will try it only if it supports WASAPI

 

[suprateep]

well the thing is ASIO or wasapi does make things sound a lot better. Though a 2 channel card like Essence is on my radar I decided to get ASIO working for the onboard Realtek/Nvidia audio chipset on my Asus M3N78EM mobo.

Default drivers - no asio support
Downloaded WDM drivers from the web
Install and also install ASIO4all
Install plugin for winamp/foobar for ASIO
Playback - Dil Se audio CD, Eagles LIVe audio CD

Was blown away - I could not believe that it was playing from my HTPC. And the chainwas bad with no actual dedicated SC.

BTW coming back its still windows all the way - BTW i demoed windows 7 - its looks and sounds awesome out of the box. Though the codec part is messy - it plays bluerays effortlessly.

 

[moserw]

Still in office :sad:, I will try it out asap and let you know the performance and quality.
I wonder why windows media player output quality is far inferior than foobar2000 even though media player output is WASAPI

Anything that is Windows interferes that's why. WASAPI, ASIO, KS will all bypass the Windows mixer hence way better SQ. For Vista WASAPI is the best right now in terms of architecture so don't thing anything will give better output than that.

 

[moserw]

Beware of placebo effect, svkndv. Please check for all plugins and equalizer effects you might have on on in the different players. With a good output system (amp and speakers) and clear drivers like the WASAPI or ASIO4ALL, there is no need for equalizer controls. Not if you would like to hear what the recording artist intended - at any rate.

Different players sometimes do sound slightly different. If you would like, do try AIMP2. Its a very nice player - except that it does not support ASIO as of now.

This is very much true. Just disable all equalizers, DSP, FX, etc. Just play without adding any coloring or FX/DSP for the best SQ.

Was not too impressed with AIMP2 myself. Coming to it actually VLC and MPC too perform quite well for audio. But Foobar is the audio specialist especially with the right plugins.

 

[thevortex]

This is very much true. Just disable all equalizers, DSP, FX, etc. Just play without adding any coloring or FX/DSP for the best SQ.

Was not too impressed with AIMP2 myself. Coming to it actually VLC and MPC too perform quite well for audio. But Foobar is the audio specialist especially with the right plugins.

The thing is Moser - AIMP2 ticks all the right boxes as far as functionality for a media player goes. The only thing lacking in this is the ASIO support.

There is another media player that is up and coming. Musicbee. It is not as light weight as AIMP2 but it holds some promise. Happily I was among the earliest people requesting the author for an ASIO plugin and the author has obliged. Am looking forward to testing this as well.