[dougigs]

I can't get kernel streaming on Foobar 2000 to recognize my HagUSB. Has anyone had luck with this?

I'm using a 0.8 version of Foobar as an output driver for ITunes (Yes, I know there are newer versions of Foobar, but as an ITunes output engine you have to use an 0.8.x). Selecting the Kernel Streaming output, I get this on the console:

ERROR (foo_out_ks) : KS output error: error opening device.

Any advice?

[Jon L]

KS does not work with HagUSB.  Neither does Asio dll Foobar plugin.  The only way to get bit-perfect digital output from HagUSB is to use ASIO4ALL, which is definitely worth tracking down for HagUSB!

[dougigs]

Ok, that's useful advice, thanks. I downloaded asio4all v.2.7 and installed it. Foobar doesn't give me an option for asio4all in its Output menu. If I'm reading the manual correctly, that seems to be normal. So how should I set the Foobar output if I want it to go through asio4all? To DirectSound? To Wave?

When I bring up the asio4all offline menu (i.e. the desktop icon), it recognizes the HAGDAC just fine and says ASIO Prepared / 44100Hz -- so far so good. When I play Foobar (using DirectSound output), it does give sound -- but the Windows Wave volume control operates on the audio, which would seem to mean that I'm not really listening to an ASIO stream.

So, in short (since the manual is very unclear on this):

a) How do I set it up on Foobar;
b) How do I know if it's working?

Thanks
Doug

[Jon L]

Make sure you have ASIO dll installed anyway in Foobar.  Under Foobar output options, you should still choose ASIO, then under ASIO sub-window, you can choose ASIO4ALL  instead of your soundcard/"USB device." 

Then you choose HagUSB in ASIO4ALL's separate window.  It will show up as "USB device." 

One thing to keep in mind.  ASIO4ALL does not like to have multiple devices "active."  So activate HagUSB, but disable all other devices you see on ASIO4ALL window.

[dougigs]

Many thanks, Jon, that finally worked (eventually --- see notes below -- we should get an FAQ on this or get Jim to put it in his instructions). I could actually hear the improvement! And I don't usually claim to hear things -- the difference between Radio Shack zip wire and $600 interconnects is inaudible to me.

The tricky thing was that I had to set Foobar to output 32 bits, and asio4all to force WDM Driver to 16 Bit. Did you have to do the same thing?

Also, in the ASIO4ALL selection in the Foobar Output menu, I had to remove all other "Devices" except ASIO4ALL. I had an old ASIO driver for a Maya EX USB card appearing as an option there, and it seemed to be messing with my output, causing very audible distortion. Removing it did the trick -- so not only does ASIO4ALL need to have only 1 output option in its own menu, but the same applies for the Foobar Output menu.

Just for reference, here are the settings that worked for me:

IN FOOBAR

Playback Menu:
Output data format: 16 Bit padded to 32 bit
No dithering (though it doesn't seem to hurt)
DSP Manager: Nothing selected (i.e., no need for resampler... and implementing volume control seems silly when we're doing all this work to bypass a software volume control so we can use an honest-to-gawd potentiometer).
Output Menu:
Output method: ASIO (dll version)
Device: ASIO4ALL v2
Thread priority: Time critical
Buffer size: 20
Shift Output channels: 0
Use Direct Input Monitor: Doesn't matter

IN ASIO4ALL DESKTOP MENU

WDM Device List: USB Audio DAC / Out: 2x 32-48kHz, 16Bits (both green)
ASIO Buffer Size: Maximum (2048 Samples)
Latency Compensation: 32 Samples (probably doesn't matter)
Use Hardware Buffer: No
Always Resample: No
Force WDM Driver to 16 Bit: Yes

[dougigs]

Maybe I spoke too soon.

The settings above work great for using Foobar itself, but now the ITunes Passthrough (in Multi-Plugin) doesn't produce audio... no error messages, everything looks happy, but no sound.

Could it be the bit length? When I set it at 16-bit fixed point, it gives me an "unsupported output data format" error. When I use any 32-bit width (fixed or padded) I get no sound at all.

I'm at a complete loss. Very frustrating.

[Loftprojection]

Don't despair dougigs, I've neve been able to have mine working!  I was happy to read your thread and instructions.  I did everything identical to your config and it's always the same, I have nothing going out to the device, the sound goes to my laptop speakers as soon as I try to send Foobar output to Asio.  The only way I'm able to have the HagUSB working is through Directsound or waveout, which doesn't bypass the Windows Kmixer.  It does sound decent though so I don't know how much the improvement is when you finally figure out a way to output through Asio!  haha  My problem seems to be related to a config in Windows because in waveout, the device is called "USB Audio DAC" but in Asio4all it's called "Peripherique audio USB".  I have a French Windows! 

Anyway, hope you find out the right config.  I have to admit it is frustrating but can't really blame the HagUSB product itself, it's the computer audio config part that is the issue.

Cheers.

[Jon L]

That's just strange.  I never tried iTunes or Multi plugin with HagUSB, so who knows. 

Even with Foobar and ASIO->ASIO4ALL, I never had to set ASIO4ALL to force WDM driver to 16 bits.  I think I just set the Foobar bit length to 16 bits (could have been 24?) and HagUSB worked fine with ASIO4ALL.

Make sure HagUSB is receiving straight 44.1kHz, as I never did get any other kHz to work with it.  It's possible your output to HagUSB is not 44.1kHz b/c of K-mixer or iTunes resampling to 48kHz. 

It's worth trying a Foobar resampler and set it to 44.1kHz and see if THAT works.

[dougigs]

It's perplexing. If I just want to use Foobar -->> ASIO.dll -->> ASIO4ALL, then it plays fine through the HAGUSB with any kind of 32-bit output (fixed or padded), no need for resampling or forced 16-bit.

But if I try ITunes -->> Multi-Plugin -->> Foobar -->> ASIO.dll -->> ASIO4ALL, I get nothing...

The odd thing is that my DAC seems to be recognizing the output - - i.e., as long as I'm using 32 bits in the above configuration, the "error" flag on my DAC's receiver chip goes low (it's tied to an LED), indicating that it's happily recognizing SPDIF inputs. So both the HAGUSB and the DAC are recognizing that ASIO4ALL is giving them SPDIF, but the data is in a format that can't be processed. And this only happens when I'm going out through ITunes.

I just hope somebody better versed in ITunes data formats will find this thread and shine some light. Otherwise, maybe I'll just learn to love the FOOBAR interface (p.s. any way to get it to read Lossless files these days?)

[shokunin]

Which version of itunes are you using I had the iTune 6.0.4 -> Multi Pluging - Foobar - ASIO.dll and all was fine, I think when I stupidly hit yes to upgrade to 6.0.5 I now hear clicking noises every few seconds, so I'll have to see what has happened.  I'll check later what I have set up when I get back into my office..

Computer - > Hag USB - > Lavry DA-10

Glenn

[shokunin]

Rebooted my system, made sure everything looked okay and now I'm not getting the clicks I was hearing before.

iTunes 6.0.5
Multi-Plugin http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=32733&highlight=foobar+multi
Foobar 0.8.3
ASIO (DLL)

what do you see in your foobar console when you select a title in iTunes? You're not trying to play apple lossless through Foobar right....?

[dougigs]

Thanks for sharing that, shokunin.

My Foobar console and ASIO4ALL menu show exactly the same things. I wonder if you can let me know what your Foobar settings are, though I suspect they're the same as mine.

I'm playing either AAC or WAV files... I do have some Lossless files  but I've been keeping them out of the playlist for these tests.

My ITunes is 6.0.4.2 -- I've been avoiding the latest upgrade. Same Foobar and ASIO4ALL as you. I should note that the Foobar playthrough works just fine with DirectSound or Wave output; it's just the ASIO interface that's not working.

I think I might take advantage of this latest ITunes upgrade to simply de-install and reinstall everything and see if it works again. I'm encouraged to hear that it works for you.

[dougigs]

On further thought, it strikes me that the problem could reside in my choice of ASIO.dll driver for Foobar.. I forget where I downloaded mine, but I'm not sure if it's the right one for Foobar 0.8.3. Could you possibly point me to a link for the dll download you used?

Thanks.

[shokunin]

Details details    I'm either using the last otachan release .51? or the .47a release, which can all be downloaded here...

http://personales.ya.com/angel49/foobar2000_otachan/