The best results happen, ime, when a DAC manufacturer offered a dedicated ASIO driver (for Windows based PCs) with their DAC...
For Linux, there are a few tweaks around..but, nothing too conclusive about what's the best thing to do/sounds the best.
Windows Sound Basics - ASIO WASAPI etc
It seems surprisingly hard to get basic information on improving sound from a Windows PC to external DAC.
Specifically I want to bypass the default sample rate set in sound settings and have this passed as per the source. Source could be browser, Tidal app, music player etc
I'd appreciate any help to confirm if the below is on the right track and if there are any good links that I have not found yet.
Seems to be plenty of technical discussions but nothing on the basics to get there.
What I think so far:
- WASAPI, ASIO and a kernel method are the options to bypass windows sample rate
- WASAPI should be standard on any recent windows build and to use it there needs to be a setting in the app. I can find no settings in the Tidal app. Haven't checked browser yet.
- ASIO has to be installed and relies on compatibility with the DAC chip or driver. Unclear how to check compatibility with my old and out of support DAC - Auralic Vega.
PC in this case is an Intel NUC and output to DAC is via USB.
Starting to see why streamers are popular, but even with one of those in the system the NUC will remain for streaming TV and Apple Music and I want this to be good.
In terms of general settings I cam across these sites, but it doesn't cover bypassing windows sample rate.
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-Windows-for-Audio
And these were good to understand WASAPI and ASIO but not how to implement:
ASIO https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/ASIO.htm
WASAPI https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/WASAPI.htm