Hello,

Could not get foobar 0.77b to recognize 24 bit & 96 Khz WAV files via the WaveOut device. The program refuses to import the files, whatever parameters I choose. In contrast the good-old Winamp 2.81 player plays these high-resolution WAV files with the correct bit depth and sample rate.
My question: Are the high-resolution output capabilities of foobar still in development ?

The same lack of 24 bit support is found for the output of multichannel WAV files. Eight channels of 16 bit & 48 KHz from a single 8-channel WAV file plays fine in foobar 0.77b, but increasing the bit depth to 24 bit causes the program to truncate the lowest 8 bits on all channels. The final result accounts to 16 bit resolution audio at the outputs, as measured independently by Digicheck software. Is the absence of real 24 bit audio support caused by limitations in the Windows drivers or from Foobar itself ?

Computer details:
Pentium 2.8 GHz
Windows2000 (SP3)
RME HDSP Digiface, latest drivers
Foobar Output: waveout --> ADAT1(1+2)
RME Digicheck 4.0

Regards,

Hippo

Please provide more information.

Does foobar2k refuse to add these files to the playlist? What error does it report?

Did you choose 24 bits as the output data format? It's on the 'playback' tab in the preferences window.

Did you try using a different output device in the WaveOut properties?

Did you try Directsound, kernel streaming or ASIO?

• Try some 24/96 file from here. (You need Wavpack decoder for playback if you don't have it already installed.) Here it works without any problem.
• Make sure you have chosen the correct settings: DSP: Resampler disabled, Playback: correct bitdepth; Output: try Directsound/Kernel Streaming

I have to come back on this one. It turms out that here on my computer at work the 24 bit & 96 Khz WAV files play fine without import errors in Foobar 0.77b. The soundcard in this computer is a simple Soundblaster PCI card, so it's difficult to check what bit format may really come out, but I'm going to check the results again on my computer at home to see where the problem actually is located.
Perhaps the incompatibility is soundcard related. Mind you the RME soundcard is not really a Windows WDM multimedia device, there are only two real choice of output: waveout and emulated directsound device, the last with all the limitations of Windows drivers. By the way: In my version of Foobar I don't see the ASIO driver option, as pointed out by Moneo.

Will report back tomorrow.

Hippo

You need to get ASIO plugin separately, e.g. here.

It was my mistake to blame Foobar of not being able to play 24 bit & 96 kHz audio files. I forgot to set the 24 bit option (back from 16 bit) in the "preferences -playback" submenu. In addition, I tried to play WAV files which are very big in filesize. Everything plays fine now with the correct bit resolution and samplerate. Except that Foobar still gives an error when trying to play back 24/96 WAV files with a size larger than 2.12 Gbyte. This lead to an error with the following general message:

INFO (CORE) : location: "file://E:\Sounds\Vivavoce 211203\Vivavoce 211203_Track01.wav" (0)
ERROR (CORE) : error opening file for playback :
INFO (CORE) : location: "file://E:\Sounds\Vivavoce 211203\Vivavoce 211203_Track01.wav" (0)

The same WAV file (2.4 Gbyte) plays fine in Winamp 2.81, but to be honest there are only a few Windows programs which can deal with >2 Gbyte WAV files. Foobar belongs to this class of programs I'm afraid, but that's not too dramatic.

With the correct settings of the Foobar player in 24bit fixed playback mode and replaygain disabled, 24 bit & 48 kHz multichannel (6 & 8-channel) WAV files are still refused by Foobar. Works however when the output capability of Foobar is set back to 16 bit in waveout. Same observation is made for the options directsound & ASIO in "Output", the original 24 bit files play fine in 16 bit mode, but are not supported by foobar at higher bit resolutions.

Error message for 8-channel WAV (24 bit & 48 KHz format) - 24 bit playback mode:
INFO (CORE) : startup time: 110 ms
INFO (CORE) : opening file for playback :
INFO (CORE) : location: "file://E:\8_Channel_ID.wav" (0)
ERROR (foo_output_std) : The specified format is not supported or cannot be translated. Use the Capabilities function to determine the supported formats.

Hope that clarifies a lot of things up. Thanks for the support and suggestions.

Best regards,

Hippo