I have a request to fix an issue I’ve had since the beginning of my time with Audirvana. I have a DDC called “Singxer SU-2” which is connected to the PC via USB and looks just like a DAC to the OS. It uses drivers made by Thesycon. I am assuming all devices which use Thesycon drivers would also encounter this issue.
The device supports audio in 16, 24 and 32 bit. When I select the device in Origin, and if I use either WASAPI or Kernel Streaming, Origin only sends 16 bit audio to the DDC device. If I use ASIO, it sends 32 bit which is correct. Origin is supposed to output audio to the device with the highest bit depth supported, but it is not with Theyscon-based devices (I’m assuming). Now if I delete the driver and just use the built-in Windows driver for the device, it will send 32 bit audio in both WASAPI and Kernel Streaming mode. ASIO is not supported with the Windows drivers.
I really wanted to see this fixed because I do use a VST plugin to apply EQ and volume change so output in at least 24 bit would be good, 32 bit would be ideal, and 32 bit is the way Origin is supposed to work. I also wanted to use the Thesycon driver rather than the Windows driver so I can have the option of ASIO.
I’m not able to upload the actual device driver but I will link it here: Singxer USB Audio Device Driver
It is the top file called “Singxer_USB_Audio_Class2-Driver_v5.58.0.exe”
Thank you for your consideration in fixing this Audirvana issue.
From the Theyscon website: " USB Audio 2.0 Class Driver for Windows 10 and Windows 11"
Thesycon’s USB audio class driver TUSBAudio, supports devices which are compliant to the USB Audio 2.0 or USB Audio 1.0 device class specification. The driver provides an ASIO 2.3.1 compliant software interface and integrates with Windows as a standard WDM/DirectX compatible sound device.
ASIO
ASIO 2.3.1 compliant driver DLL
sample formats (depending on device capabilities): PCM 24 bit, PCM 32 bit
bit-perfect playback and recording through ASIO
playback mix (simultaneous ASIO and WDM playback)
supports both 32-bit and 64-bit ASIO host applications
multi-client support (multiple ASIO applications in parallel)
configuration of ASIO buffer depth via driver control panel
I just noticed that if I play a 24 bit file that Audirvana outputs to the device using 24 bits when using the Thesycon driver - so WASAPI and Kernel Streaming (and maybe ASIO?) seem to be following the bit depth of the source file - which is ok when no additional modifications are being made to the audio, but in my case I am using a VST plugin to make changes including EQ and volume, so being able to output the modified audio stream in 32 bits is beneficial. The ASIO driver only accepts 32 bit audio which explains why Audirvana works correctly and only sends 32 bit audio to it.
For reference, if I use the Thesycon driver and play audio using J River Media Center, J River always outputs 32 bit audio to the device regardless of source file bit depth or mode (WASAPI/KS/ASIO), unless you choose DirectSound which no one should be doing, LOL. This behavior is ideal and correct.
I was hoping this further clarification may be useful. Thank you.
Edit: Then perhaps this is not a Thesycon-specific issue but rather “intended” functionality within Audirvana? I would still like to propose that Audirvana always send audio to the device in the highest bit depth that is supported by that device, or have a control panel option allowing the user to choose what bit depth to use. The Windows driver only accepts 32 bit audio for my device which may explain why Audirvana “correctly” sends 32 bit audio when using the native Windows driver.
The Thesycon driver only is for ASIO. Other Windows interfaces (WASAPI and Kernel Streaming) are completely unrelated to this driver and do not use it.
If you have problems also with WASAPI and Kernel Streaming I would not focus on the Thesyon driver but concentrate on other parts of your system.
Edit:
Thesycon makes the ASIO drivers for 99% of the DAC manufacturers out there and are known as very reliable. As far as I know Audirvana supports the ASIO interface without problems. My Topping D90 DAC (which uses a Thesycon ASIO driver also) works without problems with Audirvana and USB.
If there really was a problem with this driver then this forum (and all other audio forums out there) would report much more problems (because, as said, almost all DACs use Thesycon ASIO drivers for Windows audio).
I also think it is a shame that they are going back to 16 bit when the driver supports this. My ‘trick’ was to activate the software volume control. Then Audirvana will use the higher bit depth.
Thank you @Jacob for the tip - it works! I just enable volume control and leave it at 100%.
I now have a new sound device with a completely different driver and I can confirm that this issue is not driver-related but “intended” behavior of Audirvana. Output bit depth follows source bit depth when applying changes like VST, even when the sound device supports higher bit depth. I would still like to request at least an option to manually set bit depth of output in the sound options.
EDIT: Or even better, if enabling volume control triggers Audirvana to use 32 bit output depth, then enabling ANY of the audio chain controls (processing, upsampling or volume leveling) should also trigger the 32 bit depth in output.
