TOPIC:

Hi,

I've read all the entries on the forum & user manual, but can't find clear answers to the following as the user manual is very short on information for the Windows Drivers. So lots of questions....

1. The Windows 10 drivers appear to be customized version of the Thesycon driver - yes?
www.thesycon.de/eng/usb_audiodriver.shtml

2. The Thesycon driver appears to support to the 1526 kHz, but the U-DAC8 only supports to 192 kHZ - correct?

3. Under ASIO Features, the Thesycon driver says "multi-client support (multiple ASIO applications in parallel)"
Yet this thread seems to indicate otherwise
www.minidsp.com/forum/u-dac8/11302-asio-...multi-client-capable
Can you clarify?

4. Where is volume control implemented?
In the DAC unit itself i.e. hardware? or software driver?

5. Programmatic Individual channel volume control?
I can see from the manual and the post here there is individual volume control on each channel.
www.minidsp.com/forum/u-dac8/11758-volume-control
I use EventGhost for my remote control and run external program to to adjust individual channels volumes.
Is there any programmatic interface to adjust the individual volume control on each channel?

I need following software playback chains to be supported on following hardware
Linux Server --> HTPC (Windows 10) --> USB --> U-DAC 8 -->ROTEL RMB-1075 5 Channel Power AMP -> Wharfdales 5 + Sub
a. Kodi -> direct sound (or WASPI)
b. MPC-HC + LAV + MadVR + Reclock -> direct sound (or WASPI)
c. Spotify -> direct sound
d. Netflix -> direct sound

Note: It is my understanding that Spotify and Netflix will not use any other interface other than Direct Sound.
Thus Direct Sound becomes the interface I need to use be default.
The good this is that the Direct Sound interfaces supports Windows APOs.
I want to use the Windows APOs to do a certain amount of sound processing, which are only available if the Direct Sound/WDM interface is selected.
6. Confirm "Direct Sound" interface i.e. WDM supported?
Says yes, here:
www.thesycon.de/eng/usb_audiodriver.shtml

7. Which of the Windows 10 supplied Windows APOs found under Speaker Properties->Enhancements are supported?
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardwar...-object-architecture
a. Base Boost (enabled if small speakers chosen on the Speaker Setup?
b. Virtual Surround?
c. Room Correction?
d. Loudness Equalization?

8. Where is mixing done? Software? Hardware?
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardwar...wdm-audio-components
"The DirectSound system component (Dsound.dll) supports the DirectSound API (see Microsoft Windows SDK documentation). The DirectSound component is a client of the SysAudio driver. If hardware mixing is available, the SysAudio driver connects DirectSound hardware buffers directly to the rendering device. Otherwise, the SysAudio driver connects DirectSound software buffers to the KMixer system driver. For more information, see Rendering Wave Content Using DirectSound Software and Hardware Buffers".

9. Is "on the fly rate changes" supported?
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardwar...-set-format-requests
"The KMixer system driver is designed to preserve the quality of the playback streams that it mixes together. If possible, KMixer automatically adjusts the sample rate of the mixed stream that it outputs through its source (output) pin to match that of the playback stream with the highest sample rate. As playback streams are dynamically connected to and disconnected from KMixer's sink (input) pins, KMixer tries to adjust the sample rate at its source pin accordingly. For more information, see KMixer Behavior.
Of course, KMixer can change the sample rate of the mixed stream only if the downstream filter (whose sink pin connects to KMixer's source pin) is able to handle the new sample rate. The mixed stream from KMixer might feed directly into the sink pin of an audio wave-rendering device, or a GFX filter might be inserted into the stream's data path between KMixer's source pin and the audio device's sink pin."

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardwar...udio/kmixer-behavior
"In the current KMixer implementation, KMixer's handling of the bits-per-sample and number-of-channels settings at its source pin differs from its handling of the sample frequency. Once SysAudio creates a connection between the KMixer source pin and an adapter sink pin, KMixer never modifies the connection's initial bits-per-sample or number-of-channels settings. Ideally, these settings should match the maximum settings in the data streams entering KMixer's sink pins in order to preserve the quality of the audio data. Therefore, the adapter's proprietary data-intersection handler should choose the format with the highest bits-per-sample and number-of-channels values that lies within the intersection of the data ranges for the two pins. Note that a proprietary handler that is written to work this way will not need to be rewritten if in the future KMixer's behavior changes to dynamically adjust the connection's bits-per-sample and number-of-channels settings to accommodate dynamic changes in the KMixer inputs."

Thanks,

Neeto