Computer Audio Asylum

RE: Honest report. Some thoughts and suggestions:

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Honest report. Some thoughts and suggestions: posted by carcass93 on February 15, 2010 at 06:45:37

In terms of computer optimizations, I do have alot of RAM (8GB), fast processor (Core2Quad 2.8GHz). I've exhaustively tuned DCP latency down with turning off C1e and EIST in the BIOS. When I listen with Win XP, the DCP latency is down to 5us with no spikes though Win 7 seems to have higher latency overall but DCP Latency Checker stays in the green zone (can't remember how many us).

I have tried cPlay. Honestly, again I can't say I hear much difference if any between this and ASIO output on the E-Mu with Foobar. Will try ReadyBoost with some high speed UDMA CF cards as some folks have suggested; I guess this may decrease noise/interference from the 7200rpm drives but can't see how this is any different from using cPlay.

As for Foobar (I'm using newest 1.0 release) ABX. Is there a thread discussing why it sucks or degrades sound quality!? I see it's sending the audio via ASIO so how is it modifying anything? Because I ABX'ed with WAV files at the same sampling frequency & bit depth (24/96 or 24/88 whether native or through 16/44 downsampling step), ABX doesn't even need to switch any of these parameters toggling between the samples (no loud clicking or pause to resync).

Ultimately, I hear the criticism of the E-Mu 0404 USB and sure, maybe this is the limiting factor... Wish someone like John Atkinson would run these budget interfaces through his test battery just to have some comparison data though (of course, I'm sure many will disagree whether the results are useful or valid).

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