Hey everyone, I wanted to check if my system is working correctly when using ASIO and Kernel Streaming modes.
My setup:
I’m on Windows 10.
I use an iFi Zen DAC V2 (recognized as “Plays with Audirvana”) and a FiiO K7. Both devices have the ASIO driver installed, and in the Windows sound settings, I’ve enabled “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” and “Give exclusive mode applications priority”. Using 16 Bits 44.1 kHz.
I mostly use Qobuz (through Audirvana) to play my music.
Context:
When I use WASAPI (exclusive mode), it works as I’d expect. For example, when I’m playing music through Audirvana, Windows can’t produce any other sounds. If I go to YouTube and try to play a video, it either has no sound or just doesn’t load and gives me an audio device error. The Windows volume mixer doesn’t show any activity during this time (volume is at 100%, but no sound is playing). Everything seems fine here.
My question:
With both ASIO and Kernel Streaming, when I play music through Audirvana, Windows can still play YouTube videos with sound. If I’m only using Audirvana for music, the Windows volume mixer doesn’t show any activity (as expected). But as soon as I play something on YouTube, the mixer activates, and the music from Audirvana mixes with the sound from the YouTube video.
Can anyone confirm if this is normal? Specifically, is it expected that with ASIO and Kernel Streaming, the device can still play system sounds in the background while Audirvana (in exclusive mode) is playing music? I’m getting the same result with both the iFi Zen DAC and the FiiO K7.
Thank you so much! I’ve already solved the problem, and it’s related to the sample rate configuration in Windows. Here’s my explanation:
It is not normal for Audirvana to allow other system sounds while playing music in exclusive mode on Windows 10. If this happens, it indicates a configuration issue.
My Solution:
Change the sample rate of the audio device in Windows to a value that is not commonly used (e.g., 384000 Hz). This ensures that Audirvana can properly switch to exclusive mode correctly.
Explanation:
While troubleshooting, I noticed that every time a song changed in Audirvana, the audio device would “disconnect and reconnect” to enter exclusive mode. However, I was using a sample rate of 16-bit, 44.1 kHz in Windows, which is the same sample rate used for most of my music in Audirvana. When Windows and Audirvana use the same sample rate (e.g., 44.1 kHz), Audirvana may not always recognize the need to fully switch to exclusive mode. This allows system sounds to “leak” through, even when Audirvana is supposed to have exclusive control. By changing the sample rate in Windows to a less common value (e.g., 384000 Hz), Audirvana is forced to reset the audio device when switching to exclusive mode, but ensuring proper behavior.
Here’s what happened after the change:
WASAPI: Continued to work as expected, cutting off system sounds when Audirvana was in use.
Kernel Streaming: If system sounds were playing, Audirvana would not allow music playback until the device was free.
ASIO: Windows system sounds were cut off when Audirvana started playing music.
Steps to Fix:
Open Sound Settings in Windows.
Select your audio device and go to Properties.
Under the Advanced tab, change the sample rate to a higher value (e.g., 384000 Hz).
Restart Audirvana and test playback in ASIO or Kernel Streaming mode.
This solution has worked flawlessly for me, and I hope it helps others experiencing the same issue.
Hey everyone, just a quick update! I found that disabling the Windows audio device for my DAC/amp improved ASIO performance significantly. Before doing this, I noticed that the sound quality would change depending on Windows’ audio settings. By disabling the device, ASIO now takes full control, delivering better sound without any interference from Windows settings. Now, my PC only recognizes the DAC through the ASIO driver, ensuring a pure audio signal.
Obviously, this means you can’t use WASAPI or Kernel Streaming, it’s like not having a sound card at all.
If you want to use Kernel Streaming in Windows instead, the best solution is to uninstall the ASIO driver completely, restart your PC, and let Windows install its default drivers. This will also fix issues like pop sounds or annoying noises at the end of each track when switching to the next one.
The reason you can hear system sounds still when using ASIO is because of the way the XMOS USB controller works. If the sample rate of ASIO and WASAPI are the same, the XMOS controller will actually mix the signals using its DSP engine before passing it to the DAC IC itself. I discovered this with not just an iFi Zen AIR, but also a Topping DX1 and Topping DX3 Pro+ which all use an XMOS USB controller with the DSP engine. It seems to be a rather unknown feature of the XMOS controllers as not many people use ASIO, and so it is not limited to Audirvana - foobar2000 will do exactly the same thing.
And that makes perfect sense because my K7 also has the same problem since it uses the XMOS USB controller too. Luckily, there is a way to optimize it.
Update!
It seems like the best way to optimize the audio chain on Windows when using an XMOS-based DAC is to remove the DAC as the default audio device in Windows when entering exclusive mode. To do this, all you need is a secondary audio device (something other than your DAC) and the EarTrumpet app to easily manage and switch between audio devices.
With this setup, you use EarTrumpetto select a non-DAC audio device for general system output, while in Audirvana you still select your DAC as the output device.
I’ve spent quite some time testing different alternatives like:
Muting the DAC volume to 0% before entering exclusive mode.
Uninstalling the manufacturer’s drivers.
Disabling the DAC in Windows (using it via ASIO only… this had been the best option until I discovered the method above, since you could forget about sample rate mismatches and solve the main topic of this thread. However, with this new solution, you can forget about that too and sounds better in my opinion).
Unfortunately, the only issue this solution doesn’t fix is the popping/crackling/low noise when switching tracks while using Kernel Streaming. The only workaround for that is enabling Audirvana’s internal volume control.
A week ago, I got the FiiO K11, which doesn’t use an XMOS chip. It runs with the same driver as my FiiO K7 (which does use XMOS). I’m still experiencing the same issue with the K11, so I no longer think it’s related to the XMOS chip, but rather to the FiiO’s ASIO driver and its implementation with Windows.
