Need Help With Built In Realtek Card...

[ddgtr]

Hello,

I really need some help with the soundcard in my computer. It is an HP machine, Intel dual core processor, 1gb ram, 400gb hard drive and below are the specifications for my Realtek soundcard, which came built into the computer:

Audio Driver Version: 5.10.0.5502

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c

Audio Controller: HD Audio

Audio Codec: ALC885

I am trying to send out a "bit perfect output", over to my DAC (digital to analog converter) then to my preamp and amp in order to achieve high quality sound. I would like for my DAC wich is a Bryston BDA-1 model to do all the upsampling. My music is in FLAC format, both 16/44, 16/48 and 24/96 format. This is where my problem comes in, and I cannot solve it by myself therefore I would really appreciate some advice:

In the Realtek "Settings" for spdif out I have four sampling choices: 44.1, 48, 96 and 192khz. I can select one, but the soundcard will lock it in and output everything in that format.

But when I play for example a file at 48khz, then one at 96khz I would like the soundcard to automatically output the song in its original format as opposed to having a single locked sampling frequency.

I use Foobar2000 to play my files, and it is outputting the right format to the card. Also, my DAC shows what sampling frequency it is receiving...

I also was able to play the DTS test file successfully (at 16/44 as per instructions), which means that I have bit perfect capabilities; however, this "locked" sampling rate bothers me as I have worked really hard to built my system and this is the last obstacle...

System: Foobar2000 to Bryston BDA-1 DAC to Odyssey Candela tube preamp to dbx 223XL crossover to Velodyne CT150 sub and Pass Labs x250.5 amp to Monitor Audio GR20 speakers.

Thank you very much in advance,
Danny

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello,

I really need some help with the soundcard in my computer. It is an HP machine, Intel dual core processor, 1gb ram, 400gb hard drive and below are the specifications for my Realtek soundcard, which came built into the computer:

Audio Driver Version: 5.10.0.5502

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c

Audio Controller: HD Audio

Audio Codec: ALC885

I am trying to send out a "bit perfect output", over to my DAC (digital to analog converter) then to my preamp and amp in order to achieve high quality sound. I would like for my DAC wich is a Bryston BDA-1 model to do all the upsampling. My music is in FLAC format, both 16/44, 16/48 and 24/96 format. This is where my problem comes in, and I cannot solve it by myself therefore I would really appreciate some advice:

In the Realtek "Settings" for spdif out I have four sampling choices: 44.1, 48, 96 and 192khz. I can select one, but the soundcard will lock it in and output everything in that format.

But when I play for example a file at 48khz, then one at 96khz I would like the soundcard to automatically output the song in its original format as opposed to having a single locked sampling frequency.

I use Foobar2000 to play my files, and it is outputting the right format to the card. Also, my DAC shows what sampling frequency it is receiving...

I also was able to play the DTS test file successfully (at 16/44 as per instructions), which means that I have bit perfect capabilities; however, this "locked" sampling rate bothers me as I have worked really hard to built my system and this is the last obstacle...

System: Foobar2000 to Bryston BDA-1 DAC to Odyssey Candela tube preamp to dbx 223XL crossover to Velodyne CT150 sub and Pass Labs x250.5 amp to Monitor Audio GR20 speakers.

Thank you very much in advance,
Danny

I think you are tossing at windmills. A careful study published in AES just over a year ago showed that listeners can not hear the difference in sampling rates above 44.1, so it really does not matter what sampling rate your card locks in. I would just output at 44.1 and be happy.

 

[ddgtr]

Thanks for the reply, TLS!

I fully understand and agree with you that there may not be audible differences in sound at the above 44.1 khz sampling rates. I am however trying to get my system dialed in just right. It is my only hobby, and like many other audio enthusiasts I am doing a lot of "unnecessary" upgrades, purchases and so on.

For me, this sound card question I posted here is also a means to learn more about my HTPC and how to configure it, since my computer skills are way below average.

I was hoping I could get an answer to this question though...

Regards,
Danny

 

[MDS]

My machine has a RealTek chip but I actually use an Audigy 2 ZS so I could be wrong but I don't think the RealTek chips resample everything to a single rate like the older SoundBlaster and some other cards do. Those cards were based on a chip that processes everything at 48 kHz so regardless of what sample rate it can accept as input, it would resample to 48 kHz, do any processing it had to do, and then resample again to output the audio at the rate you chose.

Are you sure if you play a 96 kHz stream with the setting at 192 kHz that the output is 192 kHz? If so then it is automatically upsampling and I'd expect there to be a setting to turn on and off upsampling.

More likely that setting is not 'locking' the sample rate to whatever you set it to but setting the maximum rate it can output. If the input sampling rate is lower than the maximum rate, it should just pass unchanged but if it is higher then it would be downsampled.

 

[ddgtr]

Thank you, MDS!

Yes, according to the display on my Bryston dac, if I play say a 48 or 96 khz stream with the 192 khz setting enabled, the Bryston shows it is receiving a 192 khz stream.

I do trust the Bryston to display the proper incoming settings, since I tried it via usb and it shows the correct sampling rates.

In the Realtek manager window, a smaller bluish color one, there is no setting to turn off upsampling. I tried to look into the XP's device driver settings but at a first glance could not find anything that would allow me to turn it off...

But I am pretty sure it "locks" the sample rate, since it is outputting the lower rates at the max selected rate and it won't pass it unchanged. For example, it will output a 44.1 at a higher rate if I select that rate...

I might be missing a settings box or window somewhere, but the only thing I found in Control Panel under Realtek was that limited "spdif out settings" box which only allows me to select one of the four sampling rates.

Any suggestions?

Thank you,
Danny

 

[Adam]

Hi, Danny. I finally got a chance to check my Realtek control panel. The first thing that came to mind was to upgrade your driver, and that might be a good plan based on the following.

Like MDS, I use a separate soundcard, so this might not work for you. My Realtek audio has an HDMI output, so it's a bit different. My control panel has a place to check which sampling rates are supported by my receiver, has checkboxes for all of those sampling rates, and allows me to check multiple boxes. I'm using the 6.0.1.5657 version of the driver, but I think that there are newer ones (which I don't download because I don't use that audio device).

There is another tab for setting the rate when running in "shared mode." That appears to set one single rate to be used, which sounds like what you have happening. I haven't looked into what "shared mode" means.

 

[Joeford]

Use WASAPI

If you are on Vista or Win7 grab the WASAPI component for foobar to play at the original sample rate. The plugin doesn't work with XP.

I found updating the drivers made the problem worse in XP as the newer drivers removed the ability to go to 44.1 kHz.