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How do I optimize J.River with quality sound card

I've been doing a bunch of reading on this site and it's been very informative. I'm trying to wade into the PC audio arena and I would like to do so initially on a small budget.

I currently have a two channel setup with a Rotel CD/integrated amp and Linn speakers. I do not have a stand alone DAC and I would like to set up my PC using a quality sound card initially. I read a good article in the Absolute Sound on the subject and the author used an Echo/Mia Midi soundcard and Foobar2000.

I purchased an Echo Gina sound card which has an internal PCI card with a breakout cable to an external box. The external box has a DAC and both analog and digital I/O connections.

After messing around with Foobar, I find the user interface a little lacking. I think J.River is easier to use and I would like to use that as my software.

So, the question is what steps must I take to use J.River and bypass the KMixer in WinXP. Most of the other posts on this subject reference setup with USB DACs. I may go that route one day, but not yet.

Thanks to all in advance. This is a great site.
bmdduck

Showing 2 responses by seekburk

seekburk
126 posts
 
Bmdduck, I don't know how old your Echo Gina is but there are new driver updates for these soundcards as of 2007. I have the Echo Layla 24(2003) version and just upgraded my driver yesterday and the sound quality improved quite a bit. The first thing i noticed was overall volume which didn't impress me but then it was seconds later that i realized i was also hearing more dimensionality and seperation too. Highly recommended to download the newer driver which you can find on the Echo website very easily. In fact here is a link- you are going to want the 7.3 at the bottom of the page if you don't already have it:

http://www.echoaudio.com/Downloads/Drivers.php
seekburk
126 posts
 
I just wanted to add that things were sounding great for me and then i realized i was running in direct sound as someone else mentioned they were doing in this thread. I then switched over to ASIO sound(which my sound card has installed) and the sound even improved further. I am so happy with this Media Jukebox thus far which i just downloaded yesterday!
It really is a quantum leap forward for me over using the WMP 9 that i have been using all of these years.
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