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In Reply to: well, ... posted by Yashu on April 11, 2007 at 06:38:53:
Yashu:I did some light reading on the Audigy 4.
It appears many users are complaining about the resampling issue with these cards, the same issue that was well known with the Audigy 2 series cards. (A4 uses the same engine as A2).
So, you may be getting a 44.1khz output, but if the card uses the Kmixer exclusively, then you've definately been resampled to and from 48khz.
The guys on the forums were talking about a unoffical driver to get the card to have a bitperfect output.
It doesn't look good for the Audigy 4, Yashu.
Oh, and to test slider positions, get a program called "virtual audio cable" and some recording software. You can patch the output of a device into the input of a recording device using a "virtual patch cable". This way, you can test what is played back for bit-transparency. Simply time-align the recorded material with the original, clip off the ends of both tracks and subtract them. A bit-perfect transfer will mean the subtraction is X-X=0 for each bit. The maximum sample should be zero. Anything other than zero, and you've had bits that have changed status in the process.
Follow Ups:
The card has a bitrate selection of 44.1, 48, and 96khz. This is for digital out.I don't know if ASIO overrides this or not, however... There is a chance that it may.
The virtual audio cable is interesting, because I bought a program back in the day for some production work called "wave clone" by the same guy.
I am going to attempt this VAC test but I hope I can get it working... Do you have any IM software? My e-mail is there but remove the spaces
I agree that there is just no way to know if it is resampling to 48 first and then back to whatever output I have selected... well other than the DTS bitperfect test, but I don't have an a/v receiver handy, and it does seem more trouble then it is worth. I saw that virtual audio cable was not a free download, so I scratched that idea since I would probably never use it but the one time. I do have a good USB s/pdif adapter coming, and I do have one that works right now but is of less quality and slightly less compatable with my DAC since it does not give a signal unless you are actually playing music, but it will get me by until I get my hagUSB. Right now I don't know what differences are jitter/ect related or related to the possible resampling. At least using the adapter I can relax a little and enjoy the music because I know I am getting an honest signal.I appreciate the help, and this issue shows that, as usual, when it comes to mass-market electronics, the simplest things are sometimes the most difficult.
Yashu:The problem is this: is the card resampling everything to 48K first, then REsampling to 44.1? The Audigy 2 series *did* do this. And I cannot say for sure how exactly the Audigy 4's ASIO driver works.
Personally, the more I dig into the background of this card, the more it's starting to seem like a good contender for the "cards to avoid" list. (Funny - I was thinking of getting one because of the good DACs they used on that card).
Seriously - keep it for games, movie watching, MP3 listening, everyday computer use... But your idea to get a bitperfect spdif out with USB is definately much simpler - plus you can have a fully functional sound setup under Windows while keeping your 2-channel audio separate and away from the Windows Audio Stack.
USB-> I2S DACs are all the rave around here, but many guys are getting great results using USB-> SPDIF or even PCI-> SPDIF to good external DACs. I think how much jitter one is dealing with depends on so many things that it's hard to tell who is getting what performance.
Aside from actually measuring jitter with a proven technique, these "I think I hear clock jitter" experiments are a little too subjective to be able choose one component over another. Unless one sounds GREAT and other is TOTALLY HORRIBLE!! :o) THen I guess it would be good enough.
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