Foobar+asio4all v Media Player Classic+Reclock on XP

[Welder]

All media players sound the same and Win 7 and Vista do the bit perfect bit so why bother?
Okay, got that bit out of the way

For me and I suspect for many others using file based audio, the Dacs, amps and speakers the sound goes through are rarely a problem; you switch them on and they work or they don’t. It’s the computer that gives the problems; this player or that player, this file type or that, kernel streaming or asio, SPDIF or USB, more RAM or more processing power the list just seems to go on and every option seems to have its supporters

Well, I’ve got a XP32bit laptop with 1 gig of RAM and a 1.5 MHz processor; hardly state of the art
However, its quiet and it works and there are a number of audio “experts” who say XP is possibly the best for audio with Windows machines.

Apart from being financially stretched atm, probably a bit tight as well media players that cost money aren’t an option.
This seems to leave asio4all and Reclock combined with the appropriate player.
I also would really like just one media player that plays everything, video and audio, without involving bolt on drivers, kmixer, needing to connect to the internet every 5 mins, tracking and music sales etc etc

Asio4all is great and seems to work well with foobar; a player I’m rather fond of now. Foobar does lots of what I want with low processor use and not a lot of clutter. It isn’t the easiest player to use if you want album art and all the extra info and its low on eye candy compared to J River or Media Monkey for example.
How a player looks isn’t a big issue for me.
What is becoming an issue is that the asio4all and foobar combo won’t do anything above 16/44.1.

Now I know it’s hard to believe but I have found a few 24/96 tracks I actually want to listen to some downloaded and some ripped from vinyl by a mate to 24/96(excellent results I might add).

The only way I’ve found to play higher resolution files and get bit perfect playback with Win XP is using Media Player Classic and Reclock. I’ve been listening to this combination more and more and I’m beginning to think it sounds better than foobar2000 and asio4all. There is a noticeable difference in the transient attack with percussion for example and there seems to be slightly more detail getting through. There also seems to be a different presentation to the sound stage. None of the differences I believe I’m hearing are major by any means but having spent some days now comparing both combinations I’m pretty convinced that the difference is there.

One of the advantages with Reclock, if I’ve understood the blurb is that it reads the output from an audio file rather than reading the format information the file was ripped with. In fact, you get an icon, much like asio4all showing that Reclock is working as the preferred renderer showing the bit rate and frequency it is sending to the Dac.
I’ve never been too sure with asio4all whether or not it pads 16 bit files to 24 if you don’t set it to do otherwise. Afaik asio4all retrieves data at a different point in the audio stack to Reclock and then handles it differently. Perhaps this could account for the difference I believe I can hear. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about how media players handle audio can shed more light on this. Trying to find an understandable explanation of how media players retrieve and process data seems to be difficult. Each player seems to do it differently.
Another advantage to the Reclock MPC combination is that it seems to play everything provded you have downloaded the klite codec pack. I thrown all sorts at it, dodgy dvd copies, file audio, streamed vids and audio, it plays the lot and at an excellent standard. Reclock with dvd is a real eye opener.
MPC has a very small footprint, doesn’t do anything in the background except get on with the task in hand so its processor usage is tiny.
All good then?
Well no……… it’s about as basic as they come. It’s not even a question of a lack of eye candy; it’s just not sweet at all. I found even simple things like creating a play list difficult until I discovered that you can drag and drop to a play list and then save as an individual file. Nothing is user friendly imo and support; forget it, your pretty much on your own.

Despite all its user unfriendliness I think the improvement in sound, the ability to play higher resolution files, the excellent video results and the tweakabiltiy of it if you are prepared to experiment a bit makes all the downside irrelevant.

To my ears it’s the best combo I’ve found including Win7 and WASAPI.
Has anyone else tried this out and what conclusion did they come to?

[Stratmangler]

I've had no problems getting Foobar to play 24/192 files to my EMU0202 ADC/DAC.
This device also has Asio Drivers specific to itself, which i believe is unusual, as not much gear out there does.
To be honest the Asio drivers can cause playback issues - they are certainly more problematic than the standard EMU drivers.

I do not actually use the EMU to play music generally - I have and prefer to use my Squeezebox/Caiman combo. IMO it's the best way (certainly the least amount of agravation) of serving music files up to my audio equipment.

[Welder]

Hi Chris.

Foobar has no problem playing 24/96, it’s the asio4all wrap that causes the problem.
Yep, a Dac with its own asio drivers or similar sorts it out but as you say, they’re not common. The Wavelength Dacs have their own drivers I believe, even get 24/192 out of windows but there aren’t many others that I can think of.

I would certainly consider the Logitech touch option if it had USB output. My Dac is USB only and although the sound is superb this is a limitation. Also, I’m up to my neck in computers and unless the results from the Touch were obviously superior in sound I would in effect just be adding another computer to the list. The Touch on its own (analogue out to Hi Fi) is acceptable I hear but most seem to use it as a server through a Dac to get the best from it.
Given my views on audio above 24/96 (you cant hear the difference between 24/96 and 24/192 unless you’re a bat) there is also the issue that I would be paying for the ability to 24/192 which is just a waste of money imo.
So, for the foreseeable future its get the best I can from what ive got.

[purite audio]

The new M2Tech Young dac ,async USB capable of 24/192.
Keith.

[Welder]

@ Kieth.

What?