| Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
July 4, 2009 - 12:09pm
#1
Foobar DVD Audio Decoder...
| Loudspeakers Amplification Digital Sources | |
Analog Sources Accessories Featured | |
Music Columns Retired Columns | |
Show Reports | |
Features Latest News Community | |
Resources Subscriptions |
© 2024 StereophileAVTech Media Americas Inc., USA
All rights reserved
No, there could be a lot of reasons why one doesn't use foobar. One, I already have DVD audio ripping/burning software, much better than what foobar is capable of. And I don't use it as a music player, because it produces a boring, wimpy sound. For certain tasks, it has a really good interface and I love it for that, but it is of limited use to me. DVD-A or no DVD-A.
???
foobar doesn't "produce" sound... the sound is determined by what output protocol one chooses. I use WASAPI with vista, but if one is on XP, ASIO is most certainly the way to go.... if you are using XP/Windows engine for music, of course the sound sucks..but ASIO and WASAPI certainly are amazing)... I use foobar for everything, because there is nothing it does not excel at..
Winamp==bloated and suck
itunes--- go to hell
media monkey-bloated, clunky POS
(WASAPI is a new audio output method introduced in Windows Vista; among other things, it provides an exclusive mode that allows applications to take full control over soundcard's resources (muting any sounds played by other applications) and play unaltered bitstream without passing it through the Windows mixer. )
(ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output), developed by Steinberg, is a cross-platform, multi-channel audio transfer protocol that is being adopted by many of the manufacturers of audio/MIDI sequencing applications. It allows software to have access to the multi-channel capabilities of a wide range of powerful sound cards.
ASIO expands on the basic capabilities of a standard computer sound card, most of which can only provide stereo (two-channel) audio input and output. The ASIO specification defines the interface that manufacturers of professional audio sound cards must use to create an ASIO driver for their hardware. This driver allows the host audio/MIDI application to "see" all of the inputs and outputs available on the sound card. The user can then assign these I/O ports as needed for recording or playback when using an ASIO-compatible software program. This allows the users to record more tracks simultaneously than the previous limitation of two channels imposed by a standard sound card. )
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Bypassing_Windows_Mixer
how were your foobar outputs set up?
what sound card do you have?
foobar also has the lowest footprint in terms of tying up system resources..
I think that's what attracted me to it in the first place. Like I say, it's great for certain things. It will play a lot of different containers, and is very quick and easy to convert files (when I don't care about the quality of the conversion. ie; I'm doing the conversion for someone else!). Sound quality isn't one of them. The sound card and all that doesn't matter, because I tested it alongside many players, on the same system. I've been using Foobar for years in various versions over various systems. It always sounds about the same. Which is flat (but not the good kind of "flat"). For just listening to music on it, I stopped doing that a long time ago. Though I always keep it on my system because like I say, it has its uses. And you can't beat the price!
I don't really understand that, Michigan..
the output protocol is *all* that could possibly matter. IE..the ASIO (or WASAPI on Vista) output option is vastly, I mean, heads and shoulders better than any thing out there... bit perfect, transparent playback, all one could ask for in a player.
I don't know what you use, but if anyone told me they used anything other than ASIO or WASAPI output....(superior in every possible way to directsound/kmixer)I would say without any trace of doubt they are hearing the byproduct of an enormous compromise.
You have this wrong. Under XP at least, even DirectSound can be bit-perfect, although whether one can achieve this is dependent on the specific sound card and its drivers. The test for this is to play a DTS-encoded WAV file, with either the coaxial or toslink S/PDIF output of the sound card going to the input of an HT receiver or pre-pro with DTS decoding. If the sound card output is not bit-perfect, the decoded DTS output will just be noise. If it is bit-perfect, you'll get the desired output.
For bit-perfect output, there is also kernel streaming. This is what I use with WinAmp, via the kernel streaming plug-in by Steve Monks. Regarding foobar, I stopped using it when I found out what a complete asshole the developer is. He refuses to use the Steinberg example code for ASIO initialization, instead patting himself on the back for the allegedly superior technique of saving the CLSID on reboot. Trouble is, this technique causes his software to be the only one that exhibits the mentioned bug with the E-MU 0404 USB. He refuses to fix the bug.
is it free?
is it capable of 192/24 dvd-A 2 channel recording?
Can it make a workable dvd-A 192/24 two channel disc that a DVD-A standalone player (eg-Denon player) will recognize and play in it's native recorded format?
If so, I'll give it a shot.
free-check
192/24--check, provided your sound card is capable.
foobar is primarily a player...
it doesnt create DVD-A files, but will decode DVD-audio discs..play them, whatnot.
if you need to make them, a guy I know, Scott Brown, has written a program to create 2 channel DVD-Audio Discs(also free)
http://24bit.turtleside.com/DVD-Audiofile0.42.1win.zip
you just add the WAV files to the GUI, and click "create iso"... and simply burn the resulting ISO with IMG burn.
also..
http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/
same principle.
all free.
if you tell me exactly what you want to do, I can walk you through it...I make DVD-as all the time.