VB+EAPO+Peace problems

[Cincyret]

I have a Topping EX5 DAC. I can play music files (Flac, DSD, and Streaming [Qobuz]) from Audirvana to EX5 to Stereo Receiver & Speakers. I installed VB + VB Cable + EAPO + Peace.
In VB, set A1 to "Topping USB Audio Device" and Hardware Input 2 to "WDM: Virtual Audio Cable".
In EAPO Configuator Playback I choose: (1) Output A1 - Voicemeeter, (2) Cable Input (Virtual Cable), and (3) Speakers - Topping USB.
In EAPO Configurator Capture I choose both Voicemeter Output and Cable Output
All five (5) choices show APO Installed and changing the default in Windows Sound Settings changes the default in EAPO Configurator.
In Windows Task Manager - Equalizer APO Voicemeeter Client shows up.
In EAPO Configuration Editor the config.txt file includes 1 peace.txt (see below).
In PEACE the configuration is Equalizer Default (all zeros & peace.txt is blank) and the speakers (?) is set to All Devices.

Sorry for so much info. (1st time posting).

Problem 1: In Win Sound Settings: Speakers [Topping] and Cable Input [VB Virtual] play test sounds [Properties...Advanced], but Voicemeeter Input does not. Why?
Problem 2: If Win Playback is Speakers, the sound is clean, but if playback is Cable Input I hear faint, intermittant crackles. ????
Problem 3: With Win Playback set to VB Virtual and Speakers (Topping) disabled, the following happens:
The PEACE pre-amp slider controls the volume for Chrome browser (Youtube videos), but for Audirvana (or Qobuz) it does not (no change in volume).
This probably has something to do with Windows Sound Mixer showing the Chrome App, but not Audirvana or Qobuz.
I need PEACE (VB+EAPO+PEACE) to work with Audirvana and or Qobuz (or another Windows Music Player [???])

Why am I doing this? I have on order an expensive headphone and I wanted to use some of the PEQ's listed. But no EQ is better than Problem 2, and Problem 3 means I can't use EQ and play music!

Any help, guidence, or links would be appreciated! I have spent a few hours internet browsing & watching videos with no success.

Thanks in advance,
John

 

[Berwhale]

Welcome to ASR!

I don't have VB installed at the moment and I haven't played with it for a while, but from memory...

Problem 1. Voicemeeter Input is an input to the mixer. You won't hear anything unless the output of the mixer (e.g. A1) is connected to something (e.g. ASIO interface of EX5).

I can't answer problems 2 & 3 as i'm not certain you have VB setup correctly. I also think you can unistall VB Cable as this functionality is already included in Banana and having additional devices installed is complicating the matter.

P.S. I received my own EX5 today. I like it a lot, it's much neater than my x50 stack, the volume control is less fiddly and it has no issue driving all of headphones to extremely loud levels.

 

[Berwhale]

OK, I installed VB. After a little tinkering, I have VB + eAPO + PEACE working with these settings...

Windows Sound Output: VoiceMeeter Input

VB: A1 Hardware Out = ASIO: Topping USB Device (I have the latest ASIO drivers installed)
VB: Voicemeeter VAIO - Ensure A1 is enabled (should be on by default)

eAPO Configurator: APO installed on Output A1:VoiceMeeter *only* (I got distorted audio if APO was installed on Speakers:TOPPING USB DAC as well).

In VB, you should see the 'A' lit up and when you click on it, you should see eAPO as the BUS INSERT...

I think i'm hearing the odd glitch with the audio, so some further tweaking may be required (the glitch is very infrequent, it's nothing like the garbled noise I got with APO installed on two devices)

More tips on fixing audio issues with VB here: Quick Tips: Stutters, Crackling Sound, Robot Voice | VOICEMEETER by VB-AUDIO

 

[Cincyret]

Thanks so much! But....
I was never able to get Voicemeeter to ouput sound to EAPO/PEACE that I could control with the Pre-Amp DB slider in PEACE. However, I figure I don't need Voicemeeter at all (I only use a mic for REW, and I don't mix). So I uninstalled everything (except the most current Topping driver) & installed only EAPO & PEACE. Fine... YouTube videos play with sound & the PEACE DB slider controls volume.
My next problem: As I said, I use either the Qobuz App or Audirvana to play music. Audirvana seems to want either ASIO or WASAPI Exclusive - I.E. the PEACE DB slider doesn't work. Qobuz offers me three choices (1) DirectSound [PEACE slider works] (2) WASAPI [PEACE slider works] (3) WASAPI Exclusive [PEACE doen't work].

All of this leads me to believe that I need a Music Player [what is the correct term?] different from Audirvana. But I want one that will allow me to import [or manually input] several different PEQs ( Speakers, and a few Headphone ones). The new music player would:
A) Play both my music files (Hires Flac & 1 or 2 DSD) and Qobuz
B) Allow me to choose and add various PEQs
C) It doesn't need to switch between speakers & headphones as I'll do this at the DAC
I have used Jriver Music Center in the past. The quality if great, but it is too complicated (old dog-new tricks) for me. On this site (ASR) I've seen many reccomendations for Foobar 2000, but I'm not sure about item (B) above.

Any recommendations?
Thanks again, John

 

[Cincyret]

OK... This is what I've come up with.
To Recap: I wanted an EQ program that (a) would allow me to enter PEQs, (b) work with Audirvana 3.5.46 [AV], and (c) be Windows 10 compatible.
It seems that things called VST3 plugins (???) are the answer. I tried the following three:
1) MathAudio Headphone EQ
2) Voxengo GlissEQ
3) Fabfilter pro Q3
I can confirm that all plug into AV. I am trying each with my old HP (Sennheiser RS 185) using PEQs found on line.
My observations so far:
These filters only apply to AV, not system wide (at least in my setup). This is good for me as I only want them for music thru AV.
Changing to another PEQ is slightly clunky - several button pushes, but AV does allow me to see and change filters while music is playing.
AV remembers the last filter setting, so in my setup (speakers & HP connected to the same DAC) I have to remember to change the filter when switching between speakers & HP.
I should be ready when my new HP arrive on Saturday!
Thanks, John