WASAPI plug-in version 3.0 beta [closed], Discussion & feedback Options

[-187-]

Using Beta5 and am getting a lot of random crackling from both regular and even mode. Using a USB DAC (iBasso D4) on 1000ms for buffer length if this matters. Haven't tried changing it. WASAPI 2 plugin doesn't cause crackling unless I set the buffer too high.

Interesting. With what settings exactly are you able to use the old plug-in without crackling?

Using the old pluging and setting the buffer to 2000ms would cause me problems. I believe I would get the same at 1500ms too. I was not able to turn it up high much after 1000ms without the old plugin causing problems. So with the WASAPI 2 plugin at the default 1000ms would work cleanly.

This post has been edited by -187-: Jun 11 2012, 17:31

[-187-]

Alright so I played with Beta5 some more today with buffer set at 1000ms for both modes. I'm finding this a bit strange now... The normal mode started working fine without any glitches. Event mode will still have minor glitches when doing other stuff like browsing the web. I made a new post cause apparently I couldn't find the edit button.

[off&on]

* Enabled sandbox functionality for better stability (known to work-around fb2k deadlocks when cycling output modes).

WASAPIHost32 seen eating up to 5% of CPU (rare... 1% more common, yet hardly reproducible).

* Changed internal buffer sizes for hopefully better event-driven mode behavior.

Increased? Sounds as if spectrum of jitter has shifted down in frequency (very speculative "as if").

* Increased MMCSS priority from "Playback" to "Pro Audio" for hopefully better glitch protection.

Would love to discount this as source of difference (no other high-priority processing is going on system-wide, AFAIK).

Thank you, Peter, for cracking this one step at a time.
-------
Win7/32SP1, old Merom laptop, Fiio E10, event, less magic than beta4.

[Jackal29a]

Further testing with my Musiland 02 has shown that there are lots of clicks with both b4 and b5, moreso with high sampling rate tracks like 96KHz, they are not there with the Xonar ST (the soundcard I use 99.9% of the time) nor when using JRMC with either. This happens both in push and pull modes. I've played with buffer sizes (500-2000ms) and process priorities but it doesn't help. CPU usage is very low (<5%).
Another issue I have with both soundcards is that if I open another app with sound I get a loud "pop" as if Foobar's WASAPI hadn't true exclusive access, again, this doesn't happen with JRMC.

[Alex841]

Beta 2 is working perfect with my USB DAC , but the others (Beta 4 and 5) could not work fine after a pause ?

Is there anybody have the same problem ?

[Mr.Duck]

^^^^ you should add which mode you are using in beta 4 and 5.

[Alex841]

My USB DAC is working perfect at DS mode and WASAPI mode (Beta 2) but not at WASPI mode (Beta 4 and 5).
Beta 4 and 5 can work fine before a pause. Once pause and play I can get noise only.

[Kohlrabi]

Beta 2 is working perfect with my USB DAC , but the others (Beta 4 and 5) could not work fine after a pause ?

^^^^ you should add which mode you are using in beta 4 and 5.

What Mr. Duck was referring to: Do you use standard or "event" WASAPI output?

[Sandrine]

If I may add my 2 cents: The only valid version so far for me personally has been beta2. Why? Wasapi should not only give bit-perfect output but also provide bit-streaming. beta2 has been the only version which - in conjunction with the SPDIFER add-on - would bypass foobar2000's internal DTS decoding and bitstream the intact DTS stream to my receiver for it to decode. Arguably hardware DTS decoding is superior to software decoding, and working bit-streaming is what I personally hope to get out of the WASAPI component - preferably without SPDIFER.

[Alex841]

^^^^ Both standard and event have the same problem . Thanks

[User24]

Comments on beta4 and beta5, on 2 different USB soundcards/"DAC"s, and fixes:


My motherboard is a P35. My OS is Win7 64-bit. I prefer a large 3000ms buffer to ensure gap-free playback, as I might be playing Diablo 3 et al.

1. Audiophilleo 2

This device had skips/glitches/pops/clicks in the audio at random. It was not wasapi-specific. Happened on asio4all, kernel streaming, wasapi, or wasapi event mode. Could not get rid of the problem, no matter what buffer size, USB port, or USB hub. All USB hubs power management disabled.

I finally got rid of the problem with a Dynex 2-port USB PCI card. It now plays smoothly and consistently, no clicks whatsoever.

2. Gigalab Moon DAC MKII

The USB input on this device goes to a CMedia based section. It never has any issues with clicks/pops no matter what.

I have or had a number of USB/Firewire products over the years on prosumer brands (Edirol, Ego-Sys, M-Audio) that all supported native Steinberg ASIO, never a single glitch up to 24/192... I have not had to deal with audio pops/clicks since the ISA/SoundBlaster16/Pentium MMX days like 12-14 years ago.

If you have non wasapi-specific glitches, I would try a $20 usb pci card.

This post has been edited by User24: Jun 15 2012, 04:37

[Peter]

If I may add my 2 cents: The only valid version so far for me personally has been beta2. Why? Wasapi should not only give bit-perfect output but also provide bit-streaming.

What exactly is the difference between "bit-perfect output" and "bit-streaming"?

[User24]

Also there was more than one cause, another contributor was the Belkin high-speed usb 2.0 hub. Some USB audio devices did not have error-free playback while on that hub.

This post has been edited by User24: Jun 15 2012, 16:01

[elik_r]

I'm using AudioEngine's D1 DAC.

My best experience is using beta 4. Smooth as ever, no crackling whatsoever.
I play mostly flac files, some hi resolution ones as well.

[User24]

Once I got kernel streaming playing smoothly, I focused on troubleshooting my wasapi playback glitches. In order to get wasapi beta 5 playing smoothly, I had to go into BIOS and disable C1E and EIST. Crossing my fingers on smooth wasapi audiophile2 usb playback, seems ok so far with those throttling disabled.

[Sandrine]

If I may add my 2 cents: The only valid version so far for me personally has been beta2. Why? Wasapi should not only give bit-perfect output but also provide bit-streaming.

What exactly is the difference between "bit-perfect output" and "bit-streaming"?

In my layman's terms the difference would be that bit-perfect would reproduce the inherent codified bits of any sound format without altering them while allowing for de-compression/de-codification while bit-streaming would be the ability of passing through undecoded bitstream formats like DTS, AC3, SACD etc. to be decoded by hardware. The accepted formats for bit-streaming also depend on the transport device like SPDIF, HDMI etc.

WASAPI as an interface - again in layman's terms - can do as little or as much of the above as one cares to program it with, I guess.

[shakey_snake]

FYI, what you call "bit-streaming" everyone else calls "pass-through".

[RAZOR87]

I understand version 3 follows in the footsteps PlayPcmWin?

[Sandrine]

FYI, what you call "bit-streaming" everyone else calls "pass-through".

Please provide supporting links when making absolute statements like this, like from Wikipedia. Anyhow, niggling about how to name the child doesn't further its development.

[SoNic67]

If I may add my 2 cents: The only valid version so far for me personally has been beta2. Why? Wasapi should not only give bit-perfect output but also provide bit-streaming.

It is bit perfect, HDCD flag passes corectly (and that is very sensitive to bit-perfect playback since it is the LSB).

This post has been edited by SoNic67: Jun 16 2012, 18:51

[Jackal29a]

Cannot edit my previous post but it was wrong. I found out that WASAPI was indeed working fine with my Musiland 02 in both modes, the problem I had was a due to a dodgy USB 3.0 port, moved it to another one and it is now fine with no clicks whatsoever.

DPC latency tool reports higher latency in WASAPI than in ASIO mode (80-95us Vs 45-65us) any one knows the reason why? as it is the same with the XOnar and the Musiland I don't think it is driver related.

Cheers

[SoNic67]

ASIO is expected to be fastest... if is native, included in the sound card drivers.

[A_Man_Eating_Duc...]

I'm also getting occasional glitches using WASAPI Beta 5 and my AudioEngine D1 listening with headphones. it's very hard to hear the glitches when listening to my speakers.

My output buffer is 2000ms and bit depth is 24.

I'm currently testing event mode.

This post has been edited by A_Man_Eating_Duck: Jun 18 2012, 06:25

[elik_r]

I'm using AudioEngine's D1 DAC.

My best experience is using beta 4. Smooth as ever, no crackling whatsoever.
I play mostly flac files, some hi resolution ones as well.

After further testing, the only problems I'm experiencing is when I play "non conventional" combinations of bitrates and samplerates.
For instance, playing 24/96 flac is usually smooth (although more prone to errors due to cpu load), but playing 24/88 files is glitchy from the start.

[Oery]

if possible; please add an option to "run with high(est) process priority" --- like option of ASIO (v2.1.2) output plugin
thanks.

This post has been edited by Oery: Jun 24 2012, 23:13