Making music sound better (ASIO, WASAPI, Kernel streaming)

I informed myself a lot on basically all different music-players, that are currently available. Result was, that none of those players actually can make music sound better than it sounds with a different one, except there is one thing, that is not player specific, and that is the method, of how the audio-data gets transferred towards your soundcard. Normally, the audio-signal has to pass several different stations in Windows, but with each of the methods, called "WASAPI" , "ASIO" or "Kernel streaming" , it is possible to directly push the audio-signal towards the soundcard, without any stations in between. This difference really can be heared, on my system, I heared it even without a headset, and I don't use the normal Direct Sound method anymore. Look for plugins for the music-player you use, usually they should be available, if not, switch the player, it's really worth it.

Only disadvantage: With the audio-signal being pushed directly towards the soundcard, you won't hear any sound from different applications anymore, because those don't get passed and the signals don't get mixed, it's really direct, "bit-exact" transfer, so if you need the sound from various programs simultaniously, you'll have to switch back towards Direct Sound. However, those are two or three clicks probably, definitely not enough, to make me stop listening to music in noticably better quality.

this could actually be of help.. i;ll check it out.. winamp and VLC for video.

I use it in Foobar2000, a player that you actually maybe would love. It's superlow on resources and can basically look like everything, do everything... if you're good with script-language . I switched away from WinAMP, because it isn't developed anymore, and once you've seen the possibilites with Foobar, you actually don't want to look back. WinAMP has it's charm, no question, but in Foobar, you i. e. can batch-rename 100k of files, without the program crashing,.

This topic needs a push. Seriously people, you spend hundreds of $ on music equipment, addons using the functions I listed (ASIO, WASAPI, kernel streaming) enhance it by at least 10-30%, so if you spend 1000$ on your soundsystem, those addons are worth 100-300$. Those addons are standard for audio-professionals since 30y already, but it's not long ago, since they became available for audio-player-software. What I wrote in the first posts was probably not understandable for most, but the above is very clear. A 10-30% better audio experience for 5-10 minutes of work! Understand this, and also post a "read it" , "thx", "tried it  or whatever you like in this thread, so that other people become aware of it, and don't forget to tell your friends, that also have a computer       .

Best audio quality = High quality source. Good recorded music (mp3,ogg,flac etc)

Good quality DAC with low sound/noise ratio (Digital Analogue Converter plus good amp ) (I mainly use the  FiiO X1 Portable High Resolution Lossless Music.Sansa clip + are cheaper and are good quality. https://gadgets.ndtv.com/tv/reviews/fiio-x1-review-high-resolution-audio-for-everyone-672277



I also use Foobar (good features plus low resource) when I'm on windows with a external usb DAC (with Asio.Which is essentially a low latency driver more suited for real time recording https://www.asio4all.com/) But having the DAC (sound card) external of the computer will reduce electrical interference.


And some decent headphones or speakers. Open headphones are sonically better but allow  sound in and out ( Fo those that live in a noise/Air polluted cities). Grado SR125i look "different" but have a clean sound.



And of course music that is musical.

note*- Also beware of fake advertising trying to sell certain audio equipment on the grounds of High resolution. ALL human ears have a certain frequency range that they can detect.To get a better understanding of what is or in not possible, the below link is a very relevant place to start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear

Do you ever heard about AIMP player.
the man who created this pleyar is a participant in the creation of Winamp.
actually this player reproduces audio quality and convert it automatically in 24-bit sound

I recommend you to try and you'll see the diffrence in the sound! good luck

here's the link you need
https://www.aimp2.us/

I've been using winamp with dfx enhancer for years. tried loads of other players during that time.. nothing else comes close...

thanks for sharing