Extremely basic question on Asio with Foobar

2009-01-15 19:24:29

Hi

I looked at the Foobar faq's and this forum thread and did not find answer to this q.

I am right now using the onboard sound card in my T42 laptop and using headphones from the headphones out jack.

I am using Foobar as the player, and with this setting I believe Asio won't do any good correct?

I tried to install asio and unclear what output device to choose.

Thanks

Shriram

Extremely basic question on Asio with Foobar

Reply #1 – 2009-01-15 21:26:52

ASIO is good only for three things:
* low-latency - e.g. when someone uses computer as a synthesizer or effects processor and doesn't want to hear a note half a second after he played it
* multi-channel playback/recording - e.g. when someone has a small recording studio, 4 stereo and 3 mono microphones and want to process them all at once with proper synchronization
* bit-perfect playback - it bypasses Windows' mixer, so system-wide volume changes and sounds from other applications are blocked; useful when sending the output to a recorder or for further digital processing (e.g. DTS decoder)

The only relevant point above for casual music playback is the last, which naturally works only when there are no DSPs and 100% volume in fb2k. If you don't need any of the special features, don't use it. You definitely won't hear any difference (apart from possible change in volume). There are even some downsides, because additional ASIO drivers have to be often installed and they are sometimes less stable than the "standard" ones.