Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Computer Audio Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

I like nitpicking, it's my hobby :)

Posted by jbmcb (A) on August 25, 2006 at 10:59:06

In Reply to: Don't want to be nitpicking, but ... posted by Christine Tham on August 24, 2006 at 15:17:17:

>DLL is a Windows specific concept. Other operating systems have >similar but not exact analogies.

Yep, but as far as the end user is concerned, it's a file with some routines that apps use.

>It's important to have an open mind and realise Windows and related
>applications are very complex, and in many cases non-deterministic >(at least, not without deep understanding of the interaction between >components).

True. However, in my experience, if something breaks in windows it breaks *hard*. You get obviously distorted audio, or video, or corrupt files, or crashiness, or some similar result. I've never had a software compatability issue slightly tint the colors on my screen, or EQ my audio playback, or some other such minor change.

>I can actually think of quite a few cases where loading/unloading a >DLL may impact the sound quality. For example, a DLL may be keeping >an open connection to the sound device (for the purposes of issuing >notification alerts) - if you want to ensure there's no spurious junk >overlayed onto the music, or forcing the device to switch sample >rates or resample, you may want to ensure there are no other open >connections to the audio device.

Right, however if there's a sample rate issue you're going to hear it right away, usually it plays back REALLY slow. Otherwise, if something else is holding an audio channel open for some stupid reason, as long as it's not actively playing a sound, no data will get mixed into the audio stream. I'm not sure where "spurious junk" will come from, either there's audio data being played or there isn't.

>A DLL may also be part of a device driver (yes, device drivers in >Windows are implemented as DLLs, whether in user mode or kernel) that >is servicing interrupts for a device that is sharing the same PCI IRQ >level as the audio device. A badly written DLL may cause glitches to >the audio playback (if you scan the internet, there are lots of >people complaining about crackling in the sound and they usually have >no idea how to solve it).

I find that's usually a hardware compatability issue, coupled with lousy drivers. VIA chipsets are notorious for this. However, it's still a VERY obvious problem.

>A DLL may even be servicing a completely unrelated device on a >different IRQ level but with a high PCI latency - it hogs the PCI bus >for too long, again causing problems with audio. A common problem is >video cards, which are normally configured with high latency values >due to the high throughput required for graphics.

Again, that's more of a hardware compatability issue than a DLL issue. If you aren't moving a whole lot of video data around (HD video playback, 3d gaming, etc...) playing audio shouldn't be an issue at all. If you are draining the soundcard buffer due to PCI bus latency issues, then stuttering audio is probably the least of your worries.

>There are lots of examples like these - I wouldn't rule out the >possibility that loading and unloading a DLL may impact the sound, >but understanding the reason may require a fairly deep knowledge of >exactly what is happening in the system.

My contention isn't that unrelated software cannot affect the audio, but that such an issue would be patently obvious. If ZoneAlarm is going to mess with your audio, it's going to do it in a big way, like, in a staticky garbage playback way. It isn't going to slightly narrow the soundstage or remove sparkle from the percussion section.

PS - My background is in high speed data aquisition and playback, where moving HUGE amounts of data around strict timing tolerances is critical. Pretty much 100% of the time, the system would either work or not work. You'd either get clean data or distorted gibberish. In very rare situations you'd get wierd one-bit errors, but we're still talking about a bit error rate in the area of 1e-10 (one error every several trillion bits)


/*Music is subjective. Sound is not.*/

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---