Been messing around a lot recently with Windows and foobar settings, got them sort of settled now and sounding good so thought I'd share...
Disclaimer ; I understand very little of the list below and in the main it's been cobbled together from random googled advice and poorly executed listening tests.
Optimized audio set up for Windows 7 64 bit PC with Foobar2000 media player & DAC using WASAPI
WINDOWS
1) To allow exclusive mode operation :
Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>manage audio devices
Double click your device and then in the "advanced" tab select the highest bit rate / sample depth your DAC supports
Tick both boxes under "Exclusive mode"
2) To set foobar with high CPU priority permanently (can be set but not saved in standard task manger) :
Download and install Prio from http://www.prnwatch.com/prio/
Restart PC
Start Foobar
Start task manager (ctrl + alt + del)
Click the "processes" tab then right click on "foobar2000.exe" in the list
Go to "set CPU Priority" and set to high
Further down the same list "save priority" should also be ticked
Shut task manger and foobar and restart PC
Check that settings have saved in task manager next time you run foobar
FOOBAR2000
1)To optimize for WASAPI :
Download and install the WASAPI output component, then;
Menu>file>preferences>playback
Under"replay gain" set both drop down tabs to "none"
Menu>file>preferences>playback>output
On "device" tab select the "WASAPI (event)" option
Slide the "Buffer length" up to around 10000ms
Under "output format" select the bit depth your DAC supports
Menu>file>preferences>advanced>playback
Type in "1000000" for "file buffering up to"(this allows large audio files to be loaded into / played from RAM)
Menu>file>preferences>advanced>playback>WASAPI
Type in "500" for "hardware buffer in MS - event mode"
Tick "high worker process priority"
Menu>file>preferences>advanced>playback>thread priority
Type in "7" for "thread priority"
Tick "use MMCSS"
Type in "pro audio" for "MMCSS mode"
Disclaimer ; I understand very little of the list below and in the main it's been cobbled together from random googled advice and poorly executed listening tests.
Optimized audio set up for Windows 7 64 bit PC with Foobar2000 media player & DAC using WASAPI
WINDOWS
1) To allow exclusive mode operation :
Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>manage audio devices
Double click your device and then in the "advanced" tab select the highest bit rate / sample depth your DAC supports
Tick both boxes under "Exclusive mode"
2) To set foobar with high CPU priority permanently (can be set but not saved in standard task manger) :
Download and install Prio from http://www.prnwatch.com/prio/
Restart PC
Start Foobar
Start task manager (ctrl + alt + del)
Click the "processes" tab then right click on "foobar2000.exe" in the list
Go to "set CPU Priority" and set to high
Further down the same list "save priority" should also be ticked
Shut task manger and foobar and restart PC
Check that settings have saved in task manager next time you run foobar
FOOBAR2000
1)To optimize for WASAPI :
Download and install the WASAPI output component, then;
Menu>file>preferences>playback
Under"replay gain" set both drop down tabs to "none"
Menu>file>preferences>playback>output
On "device" tab select the "WASAPI (event)" option
Slide the "Buffer length" up to around 10000ms
Under "output format" select the bit depth your DAC supports
Menu>file>preferences>advanced>playback
Type in "1000000" for "file buffering up to"(this allows large audio files to be loaded into / played from RAM)
Menu>file>preferences>advanced>playback>WASAPI
Type in "500" for "hardware buffer in MS - event mode"
Tick "high worker process priority"
Menu>file>preferences>advanced>playback>thread priority
Type in "7" for "thread priority"
Tick "use MMCSS"
Type in "pro audio" for "MMCSS mode"
