[floresjc]

I have an Insight DAC from 2009, and I know it doesn't have the high rez toggle switch that some of the newer AVA dacs do. What happens if I try and put 24 bit, 96khz files through it? Will they only play at redbook resolution? Will they not play at all? Will it jack up the dac?

[modular747]

Won't play.  No damage.

[avahifi]

The Insight DAC was the best version of the Philips 4X oversampling chip set we produced.

However it was designed for standard Redbook 44/16 or DVD audio 46/16 compatibility only.

It cannot decode or play higher bit rate files.  It simply will have no output.

You will need our newer Vision DAC series to play back everything up to and including 192/24 material.  Your Insight DAC can be upgraded with the complete new internal Vision DAC circuit board set for $849, $250 less than the price of a new one.

Frank Van Alstine

[floresjc]

Thanks for the info. I played the 24 bit 96khz files from the optical output on my PC, and the DAC did just fine playing them back. Kinda confused now. They shouldn't have worked at all. Not a big deal, was just curious before I hit play.

[JerryM]

Thanks for the info. I played the 24 bit 96khz files from the optical output on my PC, and the DAC did just fine playing them back. Kinda confused now. They shouldn't have worked at all. Not a big deal, was just curious before I hit play.

That is a head scratcher.    It would suggest that your source was not sending a 24/96 bit rate.

[srb]

I played the 24 bit 96khz files from the optical output on my PC, and the DAC did just fine playing them back. Kinda confused now.

What playback software are you using on the PC?  If you're (a) using iTunes or (b) using a different software player that has the ability to select ASIO, WASAPI or Kernel Streaming drivers (such as foobar or JRiver), but isn't configured to use one of those drivers, then your output will go through the internal Windows K-Mixer which will downsample them.

Steve

[floresjc]

I have a Windows 7 PC using Foobar audio player. Foobar is set up to use the primary sound driver. I don't have a soundcard (other than the one built into the MB), but I only use the optical out to my AVA dac. There are no other audio systems connected to the DAC.

[floresjc]

So if I go into Foobar and set the playback output from "Primary Driver" to "Realtek Optical" will it bypass the downmixer? Or do I need to go grab the WASAPI component?

[floresjc]

I guess, this is for my own knowledge. I don't need to play high rez files, nearly all of my collection is Redbook. But with the windows mixer, I'm concerned that I don't fully understand what's happening to the audio signal as it goes from foobar to the output and what is hitting the DAC. The best situation for me would be that, for Redbook, what hits the mixer and what comes out of the mixer are the same thing essentially (and Frank's DAC is doing the magic). If only high rez is messed with in the mixer, that's fine with me.

[srb]

To insure bit perfect output even from Redbook files, download the WASAPI driver (Windows Vista and later) from http://www.foobar2000.org/components/author/Peter (bottom of page) and install through Preferences > Components.  Then under Preferences > Playback > Output you should see several WASAPI choices.

The ones you want should read something like:

WASAPI (push): Digital S/PDIF Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
WASAPI (event): Digital S/PDIF Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Not all hardware supports the 'event' mode, but that would be the first choice if it does, otherwise the 'push' mode will be fine.

Steve

[Tom Alverson]

Thanks for the info. I played the 24 bit 96khz files from the optical output on my PC, and the DAC did just fine playing them back. Kinda confused now. They shouldn't have worked at all. Not a big deal, was just curious before I hit play.

Windows knows the max bitrate and bit depth your device will handle and will downsample on the fly so you can hear them.  Also your player (like Jriver) can do this processing as well.  Not sure what if any benefit you get from the "hi-rez" files when played back this way.

[floresjc]

I enabled the WASAPI component in Foobar, and was able to get the proper response (DAC won't decode the bit perfect high rez file). I also found out in my research, foobar has another component (SoX) which does real time downsampling, so I can feed the high rez files at Redbook resolution to the AVA DAC or (what I actually did) convert the high rez files into Redbook files so no on the fly conversion is needed.

[floresjc]

Also, the AVA DAC and my PC work just fine with the "event" mode. I only have problems if I set the default buffer time to greater than 50ms. Which is ok, default is 25ms.