Windows 7, audio drivers and spotify

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I know there are some clever computer people out tere so this ones for you :)

My mini pc in the living room has an optical output ... Unfortunatly it is problematic in as much as i get clicks and pops through the speakers I anyone walks around or even moves slightly ...
To solve this I use a creative soundbaster 24bit live external soundcard thing ... It's the one thats white all over and has 2 grey control wheels ...
I take a USB cable from the mini pc into it and a coax cable from it into my dac - the dac has no USB
I use windows 7, have never installed any drivers, I have a shortcut to "sound" from the control panel on the desktop that allows me to switch between USB out for sound and hdmi output for sound to come out the tv (we watch a lot of 4od and iplayer and the sound from the tv is adiquate for the most part)

I'm wondering how I cam improve the sound without sacrificing function

I used asio and foobar on vista to good effect ... But this is for spotify etc ... And foobar had it's own settings for asio ... Can these better audio drivers be used for spotify?
If so which ones?
If not is there other ways I can tweak the sound quality without extra hardware?

At some stage I will swap out the creative thing for possibly a hiface or this new musical fidelity thing ... Or maybe one of the cheaper options mentioned here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?p=183367#post183367 like the muse thing ...
When I do that will I need to change loads of settings again?
Or are these things plug and play like the Beresford is?

I love windows 7 to use... But I really haven't got to grips with the audio side of it yet ...
Any thoughts anyone?

[Ali Tait]

Buy a Squeezebox! :lol:

[Jonboy]

Buy a Squeezebox! :lol:


+1 sorted :lolsign:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Im hopin linn or a third party will find a way to get spotify to talk to a ds ... But in the mean while I need a solution that doesn't mean 2 streamers in the living room ...

To quote my self


If not is there other ways I can tweak the sound quality without extra hardware?

Notice the bold bit ;)

[Jonboy]

i had a sound blaster card many moons ago and thought it had its own slide bar controls like a graffic eq thingy, can you not download the drivers or original install disc from thier website or am i still not getting what you mean :scratch:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

They don't make the drivers for windows 7 for it

What I mean is, is there a way to make windows 7 and spotify sound better through my current hard ware. And if I upgrade the creative thing to something more
"hifi" will that involve another change of configuration ...

[StanleyB]

Or are these things plug and play like the Beresford is?
It's not easy and cheap to replace the Beresford with other components;).

But seriously though: let's put away the sledge hammer and try alternative and simpler solutions to crack the egg.

If you are having problems with the optical output when people move about, why not try to find out why? Then rectify the fault. Maybe the cable is not fitting properly? Have you tried any other cables?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I have tried 2 cables ... A qed one, and a cheap one with a circular plastic plug ...
Have you heard this sort of thing and solved it Stan

I didn't really want to have to use a sledge hammer and upgrade the hardware ... I was more interested in messing with the software for better results .. Is it not possible?

[Jac Hawk]

Ok, i also use a small pc in the lounge, i run windows 7 and use the optical "toslink" output to link it to my A/V reciever, it works a treat, the soundcard is a realtek though. Have you tried altering the bit rate and frequency in advanced section of sound properties.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

My sound card is realtek I think
What should the settings be?
It seems more of a mechanical thing ... If that's the right word .. What with it clicking when people move ...

[Maximum]

I've looked into getting Spotify to use kernel streaming. The only thing I managed to find was some driver called Virtual Audio Cable which I haven't figured out how to get to pass along the output, and I'm not convinced it will actually work in bypassing anything to be fair. The output options for Spotify are pretty poor so it's not going to be easy to optimise.

I bought a cheap creative usb soundcard/hub a while back which uses an external PSU (cheap switch mode), and find it harsh through its coax output and also through its usb into the 7520's usb input and through the hiface. The hiface directly into a motherboard usb port is much better.

There have been reports that Service Pack 1 improves things. I'm using it now and it does seem better, but there is no easy way to sanity check it. Only the Release Candidate has been released yet and I heard a rumour on another forum that you will have to uninstall the RC version once the RTM version is ready to be rolled out.

[Rare Bird]

Hamish i feel you would be amazed at the sound quality from a USB 'HRT II' Streamer

[Jac Hawk]

My sound card is realtek I think
What should the settings be?
It seems more of a mechanical thing ... If that's the right word .. What with it clicking when people move ...

Hmmm i'm not sure if it's mechanical as you say, it could be a driver but i doubt it, as windows 7 has that aspect well covered, is it an on board sound card, or is this a pc which was home built? cos going to the manufacturers web site may get you a software fix if there is a known problem.

If all that checks out it could be the cable, maybe it's damaged and not working 100% or perhaps it's an incompatibility between the software your running and the soundcard, i would suggest using windows media player and play a cd from your pc using the toslink output to your DAC if you still get the problem i would say it's hardware either the cable of the soundcard itself, if not then definately a software compatibility problem.

Finaly the settings, most people don't realise but you can alter the sample rate and bit depth which the soundcard can recognise and output, go to (start) then (control panel) then (sound) then highlight the digital output which you use and click on (properties) then play around till you get it right.

[lovejoy]

The major problem with Spotify is that it only has support for the default Windows audio drivers, currently there is no ASIO or WASAPI support which is a real downer. I did some fiddling with this myself and only ever managed to make it sound worse. My one tip is to make sure you've got 'Hardware Acceleration' switched on in the preferences. This improves things.

Lots of people crying out for ASIO/WASAPI support here, but it seems to be falling on deaf ears:

http://getsatisfaction.com/spotify/topics/why_only_default_sound_card_on_windows

So currently, not a lot you can do about it.

[WAD62]

I know there are some clever computer people out tere so this ones for you :)

My mini pc in the living room has an optical output ... Unfortunatly it is problematic in as much as i get clicks and pops through the speakers I anyone walks around or even moves slightly ...
To solve this I use a creative soundbaster 24bit live external soundcard thing ... It's the one thats white all over and has 2 grey control wheels ...
I take a USB cable from the mini pc into it and a coax cable from it into my dac - the dac has no USB
I use windows 7, have never installed any drivers, I have a shortcut to "sound" from the control panel on the desktop that allows me to switch between USB out for sound and hdmi output for sound to come out the tv (we watch a lot of 4od and iplayer and the sound from the tv is adiquate for the most part)

I'm wondering how I cam improve the sound without sacrificing function

I used asio and foobar on vista to good effect ... But this is for spotify etc ... And foobar had it's own settings for asio ... Can these better audio drivers be used for spotify?
If so which ones?
If not is there other ways I can tweak the sound quality without extra hardware?

At some stage I will swap out the creative thing for possibly a hiface or this new musical fidelity thing ... Or maybe one of the cheaper options mentioned here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?p=183367#post183367 like the muse thing ...
When I do that will I need to change loads of settings again?
Or are these things plug and play like the Beresford is?

I love windows 7 to use... But I really haven't got to grips with the audio side of it yet ...
Any thoughts anyone?

Hi Hamish,

Sorry if I'm repeating anyone here, I've been on hols in Spain for a bit...

I've got a couple of the creative 5.1 live soundcards, you should definitely install the windows 7 drivers for it, otherwise you'll end up going through the generic windows composite USB audio driver, which I think upsamples to 48K for compatibility reasons.

Download the windows 7 drivers from the creative website, look for legacy device support. Is your version of windows 7 32 or 64 bit?

Once the drivers are installed, just plug in the Creative and it will automatically become the primary sound card. The configuration settings will all be available via the control panel audio device configuration, oh and turn off that CMSS surround sound emulation, it seems to be set on as default :steam:

You'll also have the opportunity to select the desired output sample frequency, apparently it's best to go for vanilla 16/44.1 with the creative, although it can upsample to 24/96, but I doubt very well...it's only a £30 device after all...

You're crackling issue may not be solved, but worth a shot ;)

If you get stuck give me a shout as I already have the drivers

Edit; P.S. and also set your windows sound scheme to silent as this can sometimes interfere with the sound signal and cause 48k resampling too...oh and volume to 100% and all that good stuff

Try this link for the windows 7 drivers (it's not exactly the same device as ours but the driver is a generic Soundblaster USB Windows 7 one);
http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=206&prodID=10702&prodName=Live!%2024-bit%20External&subCatName=Live!&CatName=Sound+Blaster&VARSET=prodfaq:PRODFAQ_10702,VARSET=CategoryID:1

[Rare Bird]

Anyone know where i can buy a full installation for XP Home edition, i have a product code on the tower... code cwont work with Pro version.

[Ali Tait]

Andre, I got one of these a few weeks ago when I flattened my old laptop. Worked just fine-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180605885215&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

[WAD62]

Anyone know where i can buy a full installation for XP Home edition, i have a product code on the tower... code cwont work with Pro version.

I think you'll struggle to buy it now Andre, as they've been hell bent on shoving Vista down everyone's throat...and now 7!

Best bet is to find someone with an installation disk and copy it, unfortunately I have everything but 'XP home edition'.

In theory if you have a licence key MS should 'support' you, but it would probably take a week of phone calls...:(

[WAD62]

Andre, I got one of these a few weeks ago when I flattened my old laptop. Worked just fine-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180605885215&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Good call Ali...