pickyAudiophile
Active Member
Guys, when choosing a DAC device with or without preamp functionality, or a dongle DAC with or without Bluetooth receiver functionality, there is always uncertainty about a certain question regarding that device's "behavior" in a Windows environment. - Android usage is not affected.
Manufacturer's tech desks usually aren't helpful when asked with the intend of purchase.
So it's merely impossible to predict how the situation will look like once received and connected:
I prefer using Windows devices as sources at home.
Music streaming apps offer that functionality of activating "WASAPI Exclusive Mode" in order to align sample rate of DAC device with sample rate of source track to avoid resampling while bypassing operating system's mixer.
BUT, and that is the crux of the matter:
Some devices would still maintain the ability to control volume by using Windows' volume control slider with it's 100 steps. While(!) executing Exclusive Mode properly, which means switching sample rate accordingly between tracks, if different, and suspending any other source of audio while playback lasts. Regardless of connection type, both USB-UAC1/2 and Bluetooth (LDAC via Alternative A2DP tool) ...working properly. With devices like these, I can use the hardware's built-in volume control as kind of preamp gain setting and do the 100 step fine adjustments using Windows. And it allows me to maintain one common level of volume between Windows Direct Sound (apps) and tracks played via Qobuz app in Exclusive Mode. As it should be!
The other kind of devices sadly would give a 100% volume output, impossible to attenuate by operating system control once WASAPI Exclusive Mode gets activated. Of course device's hardware volume control would still work plus tiny in-app volume control slider, but preamp functionality gets lost with these...I would call them "poorly implemented in detail" devices.
---> Any chances to predict before purchase that WASAPI E/Mode volume control behavior?
According to Microsoft's documentation, it's a flaw not a feature with a non-attenuable 100% volume output. The apps' developers like Qobuz or Tidal are not to blame as it seems, since with suggested like 40% of DAC devices out there it actually does work properly. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/coreaudio/exclusive-mode-streams
quote:
BTW Is it about the communication between BT-USB receiver chipset and the DAC chipset where volume attenuation takes place and where it's implemented or where it is neglected to implement?
Manufacturer's tech desks usually aren't helpful when asked with the intend of purchase.
So it's merely impossible to predict how the situation will look like once received and connected:
I prefer using Windows devices as sources at home.
Music streaming apps offer that functionality of activating "WASAPI Exclusive Mode" in order to align sample rate of DAC device with sample rate of source track to avoid resampling while bypassing operating system's mixer.
BUT, and that is the crux of the matter:
Some devices would still maintain the ability to control volume by using Windows' volume control slider with it's 100 steps. While(!) executing Exclusive Mode properly, which means switching sample rate accordingly between tracks, if different, and suspending any other source of audio while playback lasts. Regardless of connection type, both USB-UAC1/2 and Bluetooth (LDAC via Alternative A2DP tool) ...working properly. With devices like these, I can use the hardware's built-in volume control as kind of preamp gain setting and do the 100 step fine adjustments using Windows. And it allows me to maintain one common level of volume between Windows Direct Sound (apps) and tracks played via Qobuz app in Exclusive Mode. As it should be!
The other kind of devices sadly would give a 100% volume output, impossible to attenuate by operating system control once WASAPI Exclusive Mode gets activated. Of course device's hardware volume control would still work plus tiny in-app volume control slider, but preamp functionality gets lost with these...I would call them "poorly implemented in detail" devices.
---> Any chances to predict before purchase that WASAPI E/Mode volume control behavior?
According to Microsoft's documentation, it's a flaw not a feature with a non-attenuable 100% volume output. The apps' developers like Qobuz or Tidal are not to blame as it seems, since with suggested like 40% of DAC devices out there it actually does work properly. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/coreaudio/exclusive-mode-streams
quote:
"As described in Session Volume Controls, WASAPI provides the ISimpleAudioVolume, IChannelAudioVolume, and IAudioStreamVolume interfaces for controlling the volume levels of shared-mode audio streams. However, the controls in these interfaces have no effect on exclusive-mode streams. Instead, applications that manage exclusive-mode streams typically use the IAudioEndpointVolume interface in the EndpointVolume API to control the volume levels of those streams. For information about this interface, see Endpoint Volume Controls."
BTW Is it about the communication between BT-USB receiver chipset and the DAC chipset where volume attenuation takes place and where it's implemented or where it is neglected to implement?
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