Seems like I did found something on FINDING#1 here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee220332.aspx

Cheers,
Ivo

Peter,

OK, I did a little more investigation on Vista audio and on my particular setup and:
FINDING#1:
I determined that my laptop's internal audio HW (made by IDT) does not rely on Vista's UAA HDaudio.sys driver, but rather than on its own custom WaveRT port driver. What I do not currently understand is which approach (relying on Vista's UAA driver OR design and use of a custom WaveRT port driver via PortCIs.sys) is better in terms of the latency and audio performance. Let us assume there are 2 soundcards in one PC from which one uses HDaudio.sys driver as provided by Vista and another one uses custom design WaveRT driver based on PortCIs.sys driver. So the question is: Which route for the audio signal (let us take digital one) from the application down to the output jack is better?

FINDING#2:
I know that XXHE can use WASAPI (only in Vista) and I use it by choosing Engine#3. So, what I do not currently understand:
 - How is WASAPI connected with audio HW drivers? If my audio HW utilizes a custom WaveRT driver, does it mean XXHE will actually play music via it by the help of WASAPI? Or is WASAPI something that is completely working on its own? You mentioned that XXHE does not make use of WaveRT, but I think that this may be wrong in my setup here. Maybe the attached picture will help.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Ivo

Hi Peter,

Maybe this is not the right place to write about it but I will try:
From this page http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/31/microsoft.technology:
...Unfortunately many audio hardware vendors have not yet supplied WaveRT drivers for their products. Another weakness of WaveRT is that it only works with internal sound devices, not external devices connected by USB or Firewire....

From the above I understand that if external DACs are used (USB or FW) then there is no WaveRT support for them which then means that it is not possible to achieve maximum audio performance via USB and FW from Vista even with WASAPI deployment. If I understand correctly then WASAPI will fall back to 'compatibility mode' if there will not be WaveRT driver for the audio device.

I am currently using a DAC which is connected to my laptop via dock's SPDIF out. The laptop has IDT audio device with IDT and Microsoft drivers, so I am trying to understand if these folks under my hood are WaveRT compatible?

Any comments Peter?

Thank you

Yes, I tried like this F:\folder1\folder2\files and it worked.

The question: why it does not work like F:\folder1\files? The deeper we go into folder structure the more it impacts the SQ, doesn't it? There are resources on web where it is mentioned.

Ivo

Hi Peter,

It's been a while since my last visit and I come with the an error like this when I try to load into XX 3 files from USB stick (drive F:). Actually there is a folder 'muze' under F: where these 3 files reside. I tried playing with MusicRoot, but anytime I got the error below. Even tried 'Copy to XX-drive...' but the same result. Any ideas? Using the latest and greatest XX version. So, my try on playing from USB stick failed.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: Could not get parent path since the given path is a root directory: 'F:\'.
Parameter name: path

Ivo

Actually going through this thread makes me think that this one maybe a good answer to all questions ans concerns (have not tried by myself yet, will report here when done):

http://www.vlite.net/about.html

Has anyone tried it?

I have tried it for XP (for XP it is called nlite) and it is great!

Ivo

In case someone needs it:

http://www.speedyvista.com/services.php

Ed, please do the following also:
1) turn off pagefile
2) set to disable or to manual the majority of your services (be carefull here!!! I have only 36 "STARTED" services out of 146 on my vista home premium)
3) turn off scheduled disk defrag
4) check dma settings for HDD, DMA helps a lot
5) turn off aero or similar UI stuff, stick with default or standard scheme
6) turn off all UI effects
7) turn off update features of all your software (including windows update, it can be turned on manually when needed)
under vista there are still several deeper things to turn off or set to manual (just do not remember all now, take a walk over Control Panel)
9) set to disable in bios and in OS all hardware which you do not need (built in audio, comm ports, etc)
10) turn off HDD indexing stuff, this one is really IS NOT NEEDED

Hei, some news from me:
Tonight I did listen (unattended) to 2 albums (mp3 192 kbps) and did not have any interrupts in music at all with latest XX. Music files sitting on the same drive where XX sits, just different folder.
My XX settings (see also signature):
scheme-2
nothing
high
Next I mention only then if ticked:
Allow Format Change
24 bits
simple search
fast rendering
stop services
100 MB
start Engine3 during conversion
tooltips

Peter,

Well, it seems you are in even worse situation. I have pretty well optimized my laptop and actually I can browse web, copy files from hdd to my usb stick and do similar stuff during playback and I do not hear such clicks at all. Actually I use to do nothing when listening to music, but just giving example of what I can do. And the most interesting is that when I do not do anything just listen I hear short dropouts as I posted earlier, however it is ok with latency and it is ok with HDD (it is fragmented for 1% only!).
Peter: what is your latency as reported by DPC latency checker?

Hei, I also did notice this in my setup, I would even say that gapless playback is gone sometimes.

Cases:
1) Between the 2 tracks there is a short drop out, however it is the same album.
2) At the end of album, dropouts occur in the last tracks only, the first tracks play well.

When I did HDD defrag in my Vista (used alternate software) the dropouts became much smaller. It makes me think this all is connected to the way XX works with files on the HDD. It has become more sensitive to HDD access since y4.

Arvind,

I have HP laptop dv5 model and I have latency for about 50 - 100 mikro seconds. This is great I think. Did use the same latency checker.
In order to get low latency on laptop, you need to stop from running anything that you do not need.

So, last night I did spend experimenting with laptops and their connections to my DAC:
Laptop1 (Dell) connected to my DAC's SPDIF in via docking station using its SPDIF out (coax).
Laptop2 (HP) connected to my DAC's USB in via laptops's USB port (regular USB cable).

So, yes! using Laptop1 I can get Double on 16/44 and my DAC accepts 88. This was not possible using USB. This proves that I can buy dock for Laptop2 and I will be able to utilize Double or even Quad with new methods of up-sampling.
The SQ:
1) Well, so far I just listened over headphones with identical XX configurations on both laptops. The SQ is almost the same via SPDIF or USB, no preference so far. This is running 16/44 with no up-sampling.
2) Then I switched XX on Laptop1 to Double+Arc and actually on my headphones I did not feel big difference if compared to regular 16/44 with no up-sampling. Maybe the sound is a bit wider, but that is all.
I also played a bit with different Q settings on both machines and here is my final verdict so far using headphones:

THE IMPACT ON SQ IS MORE PERCEIVABLE IF OPERATED WITH Q PARAMETERS RATHER THAN WITH UP-SAMPLING METHODS. MEANING HERE THAT I FEEL LARGER CHANGES IN SOUND I HEAR CHANGING Qs RATHER THAN USING UP-SAMPLING WITH ARC.

As I said this is just on headphones so far.
Just before this post I read this one: http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=935.msg7518#msg7518 by Calibrator who has PCM1796. My DAC has PCM1798 which actually is the same dog and I should be feeling huge improvements in SQ. Maybe that will happen when I get my dock purchased and listened over loudspeakers. Let us see, for now this is it.

Forgot to add:

There is no SPDIF out on my laptop. Dock is connected to laptop using HP's proprietary interface I guess. Onlu dock has SPDIF out. It has also other ports as VGA, USB, etc.

Peter,

1) There is no driver for my DAC at all. When I connect it to my laptop it is automatically recognized as USB soundcard. No additional software to install.
2) Yes! For my laptop there is SPDIF out connector on the dock. So, I will connect dock to laptop, then dock to my DAC over SPDIF. Today I will take my work laptop (Dell) home with its dock (it also has SPDIF out) and will test using Foobar if 88 kHz work. There is a resampler inside Foobar which can do 88. If it works, then I will buy dock for my home laptop and use XX with 88 or 176 + Arc and drink shampaign!

That would be great to test my work laptop today using XX, but it seems then I need another license. I guess the demo mode does not allow to use upsampling + Arc?