Tech Correspondent: Pure and Clear Music from your PC for audiophile

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Pure and Clear Music from your PC for audiophile

I listen to music most of the time and crave for the high quality audio. You must have felt it if you have read my post related to the best encoding for high quality audio "FLAC". What I used to experience that when I listen to any audio in my music system the quality is better compared to when I hear the same CD in my PC the sound is not comparable with the music system. I was not convinced as I used to think that I am using good sound card, I checked the sound again using headphone and .... again the same difference in quality.

The reason of this is the operating system Windows XP or Vista. The Operating System handles the audio through a software called Kernel Audio mixer which automatically resample audio files creating output which is different from the studio recording. You may not find any difference if you are using poorly encoded mp3 files. However it is more pronounced if you are using the original audio either in its native format or in FLAC.

If you are also fond of good audio and want to hear the way music was recorded in the studio the you can use ASIO4ALL to work with Kernel Audio Mixer and delivers the clean audio to the sound card. Musicians who use to record their music using PC have been using ASIO since long time.

To get the maximum out of ASIO you need compatible media player, either Foobar2008 or Winamp. Coupled with Foobar it allows hi-quality audiophile type reproduction of lossless music despite what ones soundcard. My personal favorite is Foobar2008 due to its clean interface with lots of option. And above all it is free and is Open Source.

First install Foobar2008, then download Foobar2000 ASIO DLL. Extract it to the component folder of Foobar. Now download the ASIO4ALL. Once installed you will see your audio device in it. If you have more than one device then select the one you intend to use.

Now configure the Foobar to use ASIO4ALL.

Launch Foobar and go to file/ preferences to output.
In dialog box select output (under playback) and then ASIO Virtual Devices before clicking add new button.
In new box that appears audio device etc appears with mapping coordinates-just select one click OK save all then close.

Now fire your Foobar and add files to listen to. You will notice the huge difference. Now sit back and relax and enjoy your favorite songs.