There are manufacturers like Schiit that don't provide any ASIO drivers. To test and compare them to anything else I would have to use ASIO4ALL. If I used native drivers for the others, then people would complain that the two were not tested the same.
I believe that the fact that some manufacturers don't provide ASIO driver shouldn't be used as an argument not to use ASIO driver provided by the other manufacturer. I think all product should be used according to the manufacturers instructions, so use the driver if one has been provided or go without it if not.
We are a science and objective forum. Let's see the objective data that ASIO4ALL does something to the bits. I will then use that evidence to get Audio Precision to support WASAPI. Without it, they tell me to use ASIO4ALL and it is hard for me to argue otherwise if the measurement are the same and they don't have to do extra development.
If I remember correctly ASIO4ALL is an ASIO wrapper for a kernel streaming, so it basically provides ASIO command set which are then translated and passed to WDM audio driver. I don't see how that could affect say linearity of the DAC.
I believe usage of manufacturer provided ASIO driver is also advised by companies who developed players (JRriver included).
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Output_Modes
Choosing the Audio Output Mode
On OS X MC uses
Core Audio to access your audio device, which provides bit-perfect playback, and requires no configuration. On Windows, Media Center will typically choose the best Output Mode available for your device, based on the drivers installed. If given the choice between multiple modes or drivers, choose the best output for your hardware in this order:
1) If your hardware has a native, well-behaved, ASIO driver, use ASIO.
2) Otherwise, on Windows Vista, Windows 7, or newer, use WASAPI
Exclusive Access.
3) Otherwise, use Kernel Streaming if it works.
4) If none of the above are possible, use DirectSound or WaveOut. Neither of these provide hardware direct output, so choose based on performance.
If you have problems, start with DirectSound and get MC working. Once you have audio working and are comfortable using MC, then experiment with other audio output choices.
ASIO
See also:
ASIO
ASIO is a sound card communication system created by Steinberg.
If your soundcard has a native ASIO driver, this is the most direct (and normally best) way to communicate with it.
Please note that ASIO4All is basically Kernel Streaming with an ASIO wrapper. There's no good reason to use ASIO + ASIO4All vs just using Kernel Streaming directly in Media Center.
WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API)
See also:
WASAPI
WASAPI is a hardware communication system in Vista, Windows 7, and newer. When used in
exclusive mode, the Windows system mixer is bypassed, but other applications cannot simultaneously use the audio device.
Kernel Streaming
Kernel Streaming is a hardware direct way to speak directly to a WDM audio driver. It works on XP, so is useful when the above two options are not possible.
