How do I bypass KMixer in Windows XP

Another alternative is to upgrade to Vista SP2, use the WASAPI plugin with Foobar or J.River and be done with it. You can get up to 24/192 output if your Dac is capable and you use the SPDIF output of the PC.

Ok, well I finally got this to work and, more importantly, I think I understand how it works. For some reason, I had to reboot several times before foobar worked.

Since the solution disables the sound controller in windows, making all features (including recording and windows sounds) unavailable except for playback, this is overkill for me. I am sticking with ASIO. I can detect no audible difference between using ASIO and by disabling the sound controller in windows when using foobar, and I can still use the other features of my soundcard.

Basis the "What's This" explanation of the choices under Audio device driver:

Option 1: "Do not use audio features on this device" :
Prevents your programs from using this device driver. The driver remains on your disk, but it is no longer loaded into memory when you start your computer.

Option 2: "Do not map through this device"
Prevents your programs from using this device driver. Unless one of your programs specifically requests it, this device will not be used".

My interpretation (and I do not play a microsoft vista design engineer in real life or on TV):
Selecting 1 renders the device generically unavailable. However by selecting 2 as well a program can force mounting of the driver.

Newbie question: Why disable kmixer?