2. pc-audio
  3. 1278697881

ASIO/ JRiver versus Windows Media

I have both and I think media player has a more forward sound more presence/midrange and ASIO/J River is more laid back in the midrange. I was wondering if you guys have any other observations that could be useful. I dont compress any audio I rip Lossless and I cant just use one or the other depending on the artist and I have found live albums sound better with windows so please leave your thoughts on this or a way around this. Thanks A-gon community!
jayb77

Showing 3 responses by larry_s

larry_s
128 posts
 
Jay, where/what is doing the D/A? I used J River with and without ASIO and there was no discernible difference. I rip .WAV and send PCM out USB to decoding in external DAC (Ayre QB-9). I stuck with ASIO because it removes some layers of software so you have less potential of the bits being changed before outputting to DAC.
larry_s
128 posts
 
Hi Jay,
Since you are just sending PCM to your USB port, if you hear differences it is because one of the players is changing the "bitstream". I've never used WMP or tried to set it up for playback. J. River Media player can be configured to not alter the PCM bitsream.

There's nothing wrong with media players changing the sound (EQ, etc) if that's what sounds best to you. OTOH, some people just want the bits to go from the CD, to a file, then when played, be sent out to a DAC just as though the DAC was getting bits from a CD transport.

larry
larry_s
128 posts
 
Were these tests done with lossless files sending raw PCM out a USB port? I highly doubt it. Assuming the software is configured and executing properly, if the hardware is so cheap to affect the sound you wouldn't be able to use the USB ports for any other device also. Most likely the tests were done with the machines doing D/A. With the machine doing D/A the sky is the limit of possibilities that can affect what's heard.
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