Improve Windows audio sound quality? Verify how to use JRIVER players
notebook-laptopKen Fujimoto's Digital Audio LABORATORY
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In this series, the impact of Windows's "kernel mixer" that has been featured many times in the past.Kernel mixer is a Windows internal mixer, and the official name of Microsoft has been changed to "audio engine", but it is often called kernel mixer in Japan and abroad.The problem of this kernel mixer is that the sound quality changes when you pass it, and it is a part that people who want to listen to the sound as good as possible.
Windowsの音質問題について、JRiver Media Centerで回避できるという方法を検証To avoid this, there are ASIO drivers and Wasapi exclusive modes, but many applications, including iTunes and Windows Media Player, go through kernel mixer.In such a situation, I found information on the Internet that "there seems to be a method that can bypass kernel mixer", so I tried it.It uses a playback software called JRIVER Media Center, but I report it in detail that I have examined the specific method and what benefits it is.
Is it possible to solve sound quality problems other than conventional methods, such as Wasapi exclusive?
I think some people don't know much about kernel mixer, so in brief explanations, when handling the sound on Windows, each software is handed over the audio signal to the audio interface function through the sound driver.There is.There are multiple sound drivers, such as MME, DirectSoud, Wasapi (shared), Wasapi (excretion), ASIO, etc., which are standard, which are standard MME, DirectSound, and Wasapi., Windows Media Player and Groove Music, and browsers such as iTunes, Spotify, and IE, Edge, and Chrome have made sounds through them.
On the Windows sound setting screen, there is an output device setting, but all applications that change the sound of the sound with this setting can be considered to make sound using MME, DirectSound, and Wasapi (shared).Almost all of the general software is so.Then, if you go through this, it will be a form going through the kernel mixer and the sound deteriorates.But why is Microsoft doing something to deteriorate the sound?
Windowsのサウンド設定内にある、出力デバイスの設定In Windows, there are cases where sounds come out from multiple applications at the same time, and simply mixing the sound with additional sounds may overdo the limit and cause digital noise.Therefore, if a certain volume exceeds a certain volume, the limiter works in the kernel mixer, and by using a buffer, it predicts in advance that it exceeds the rigid value, and starts applying a limiter as soon as possible.There is.
For this reason, even if a loud sound is produced at the same time from multiple applications, it can be produced with a beautiful sound without cracking.That is one of the important roles of kernel mixer.This excessive volume is judged not only when the sound from multiple applications is at the same time, but also for a single application alone.For example, songs on general CDs are produced by raising the sound pressure in Maximizer, so if you sound this, you will immediately get stuck on the limiter of the kernel mixer.
Many people have the above -mentioned kernel mixer to deteriorate the sound quality, because this limiter works, and noise is entered or the sound is compressed.I don't think it's bothered, but it's not convinced that as an audio fan, you'll be tampered with sound.For this reason, it is common sense for PC audio fans to use ASIO drivers and Wasapi (excretion, etc.) without passing a kernel mixer.
Verify the method of "ASIO driver output in Spotify"
Under such circumstances, I found "How to output Spotify with ASIO driver" online, and wondered what this would be and examined.This is a very unique method that uses JRIVER Media Center, which can be used not only for Spotify but also in all applications that use Windows sound settings.
The JRIVER Media Center, which is distributed as a shareware, was previously introduced in the HPL2 article as a player software that can be used by the VST plugin, but I never knew that it had such a function.As far as the articles on the Internet, etc., the nuances seemed to be able to bypass kernel mixer as shown in the figure.
JRiver Media Centerを使うとカーネルミキサーを回避できる?To explain the method, first install the JRIVER Media Center, start up, and select the tool menu option.Open "General" on the left side and check the "WDM driver" in "function".Then, a sound driver called "JRIVER Media Center" is generated, so select this in the Windows sound setting.By doing so, all signals in the sound output by each application will be sent to JRIVER Media Center once.
JRiver Media Centerのオプションで設定「WDMドライバー」にチェックを入れるWindowsのサウンド設定でJRiver Media Centerを選ぶOn the other hand, JRIVER MEDIA CENTER can be selected not only for MME, DirectSound, but also as ASIO and Wasapi (excretion) as an audio output destination, so if you select an ASIO driver here, as a result, as a result, without going through the kerne mixer.The hypothesis is that you can output audio.Until now, Windows Media Player, Groove Music, iTunes, and Spotify were essential to go through a kernel mixer, so if this was true, it would be a breakthrough means.
JRiver Media CenterではASIOドライバを選択After trying this, it seems that the sound of Groove Music, a Windows 10 standard player software, is sent to the JRIVER Media Center, and the small spectrum analyzer of JRIVER Media Center is moving.And above all, there is a sound from the output destination of the ASIO driver set in the JRIVER Media Center.
JRiver Media CenterのスペクトラムアナライザHere, I tried the DSP studio of JRIVER Media Center while streaming from Spotify.
JRiver Media CenterのDSPスタジオUsing this function, for example, when the equalizer is moved, the sound from Spotify changes clearly, and the sound field changes when the room correction is used.In addition, the "effect" item can be adjusted in real time, such as being reverted, so that SPOTIFY cannot be adjusted alone.
イコライザーを動かすと、音が明らかに変化ルーム補正リバーブNext is the theme of this time, "Is it possible to avoid kernel mixer?"The output destination from the JRIVER Media Center is set to S/PDIF of UR816C, the USB-C audio interface of Steinberg, which was introduced the other day.I put the optical output from the S/PDIF in the UA-101 input in the Roland audio interface, 44..It was confirmed that it could be locked at 1kHz and it could be received reliably.Therefore, I decided to record the signal received in the UA-101 S/PDIF input in Sound Forge.
パソコンをUSBオーディオインターフェイスのUR816Cと接続Here, if the WAV file played in the Groove Music and the WAV file of the recorded audio signal are fully matched, the bit perfect can be realized, proving that the kernel mixer has been avoided.I compared it using the software WaveCompare developed by EFU to see if the bit perfect was realized.However, unfortunately it didn't seem to match at all.
WaveCompareでの比較結果Check that the settings are incorrect or the volume settings are incorrect, so that all volume is maximized, and the volume of the JRIVER MEDIA CENTER cannot be tamed.I repeated the experiment many times, but the result was the same.
Therefore, we set up a flag that is only one sample for the head of the song played by Groove Music, so that it can be compared with the sound captured by Sound Forge, and one phase inverted.
曲の頭にフラグを立てるSound Forgeでキャプチャした音と比較できるようにした片方の位相を反転させて重ねたThis should tell the difference, but it seems that there is a small noise.When I expanded it, I found a familiar difference.In other words, it is the behavior when the limiter by the kernel mixer works, and the limiter is operating and the sound is changing at the peak.
小さなノイズに見える部分リミッターが効いた時と同様の差分が表示されたSo, I took a lot of time experimenting, but the result was that I couldn't avoid kernel mixers after the output of ASIO via Jriver Media Center.However, as mentioned above, it is not wasteful because it can be used as an effect, and it is very good as a player software in the first place, so it is not a tool that can solve the kernel mixer problem.After all, I have no choice but to expect a drastic solution for Microsoft, but as far as I can see, it is a shame that it seems to be difficult.
