Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Thomas W. Bethel]

I am running Wavelab as my DAW. I have a RME Digi96 PRO card which can run either as a ASIO or a MME-WDM device. We normally run it as a MME-WDM device but recently have been switching over to ASIO. I have done a lot of research on the WWW but cannot find a definitive answer to the question which one is the better format? I hear a difference between the two and the ASIO seems to have more depth and sounds smoother but I cannot directly compare it since I have to go though a setup on the card.

Any thoughts on the differences or which one is truly better for audio? Or what is the real difference is between the two?

Thanks in advance for any input or thoughts.

Also if any one has a really good reference for this comparison could you let me know where on the WWW I might find it.

Thanks,

[carlsaff]

Neither should sound better than the other. One will almost certainly give you lower latency with your soundcard, however. Which driver works best with your card on your system... probably only you will be able to answer that, after much trial and error

On my system, I definitely get the best stability and lowest latency from the ASIO driver. I find that this will generally be the case when using Steinberg apps (I use Nuendo).

[ammitsboel]

I don't think that a forum in denial about differences in the digital domain can help you with this question. I don't know why but it seems like the ones that knows more about this don't post here...? It sure is tempting the thought that it could have something to do with the business??

But then again I'm always prepared to be amazed if a person with a deeper understanding of this should decide to post here. I'm not an engineer and don't know the causes for this so I can only tell from experience by listening which is not exactly what you ask for. But feel free to email me if you have any questions in this regard.

Best regards
Henrik

[jazzius]

Easy to check with a phase invert test....Darius

[zakco]

I'm using Wavelab with a MOTU 424 card and i get much better performance (lower latency and system stability from the ASIO drivers versus the MME). I cannot understand how the two would "sound different" while using the same application and D/A path....AFAIK, the drivers do not do any processing of any kind such as summing/attentuation etc....perhaps someone more knowledgable than I could comment. Or you could perform a null test as suggested by Darius.

-Z-

[J Schroder]

Tom,

FWIW, I also have been puzzled by apparent differences in the sound between ASIO and MME using RME cards.  I can't recall where, but I have seen discussions of this elsewhere on the net.  I do remember reading something about the effects of the Windows K-mixer through which audio signals can be routed by non-ASIO drivers, but I don't know if this happens anymore under XP.

John

[Bill B]

Latency and efficiency are the issues between these drivers, not sound quality.

[bobkatz]

ammitsboel wrote on Tue, 01 November 2005 13:58

I don't think that a forum in denial about differences in the digital domain can help you with this question. I don't know why but it seems like the ones that knows more about this don't post here...? It sure is tempting the thought that it could have something to do with the business??

The hardest thing for many engineers (and non-engineers) to understand that bits are bits and data is data. The clocking is "re-created" every time the data is played back! Look to clocking issues for your sonic differences. The messages have been transmitted properly.

If there were genuine differences in the data, then Excel spreadsheets wouldn't work anymore, and couldn't be transmitted or copied, and the entire world would spin to a stop.

BK

[bobkatz]

carlsaff wrote on Tue, 01 November 2005 13:44

Neither should sound better than the other. One will almost certainly give you lower latency with your soundcard, however. Which driver works best with your card on your system... probably only you will be able to answer that, after much trial and error On my system, I definitely get the best stability and lowest latency from the ASIO driver. I find that this will generally be the case when using Steinberg apps (I use Nuendo).

When I first made the decision between ASIO and MME in feeding and getting out of Wavelab, the first thing I tested was data and bit integrity. MME failed miserably, so I shied away from it like the plague. Maybe this situation has changed, but it seems most of the ASIO driver makers understand that basic audio should not be processed or changed while it's being moved around.

[ammitsboel]

bobkatz wrote on Wed, 02 November 2005 14:55

ammitsboel wrote on Tue, 01 November 2005 13:58 I don't think that a forum in denial about differences in the digital domain can help you with this question. I don't know why but it seems like the ones that knows more about this don't post here...? It sure is tempting the thought that it could have something to do with the business?? The hardest thing for many engineers (and non-engineers) to understand that bits are bits and data is data. The clocking is "re-created" every time the data is played back! Look to clocking issues for your sonic differences. The messages have been transmitted properly. If there were genuine differences in the data, then Excel spreadsheets wouldn't work anymore, and couldn't be transmitted or copied, and the entire world would spin to a stop.

I have and still experience the total opposite of that.
I once believed in this, but don't anymore.

I believe though that quick A/B listening can lead you into that kind of statements. So maybe there actually is a good explanation as to why people often think there is no difference.

[bobkatz]

ammitsboel wrote on Wed, 02 November 2005 12:23

I believe though that quick A/B listening can lead you into that kind of statements. So maybe there actually is a good explanation as to why people often think there is no difference.

For skeptics like Henrik I did a 100th generation DAT copy test on one of the Chesky CDs, way back when, 15 years ago probably. We also transferred from DAT to DAT using a Toslink cable instead of SPDIF and put that on a track. And we still get letters from audiophiles attesting that some people hear differences in these identical tracks. I have far better things to deal with than the lunatic fringe.

But don't drag me further into this argument, I don't want to meet Henrik in a dark alley someday.

BK

[ammitsboel]

bobkatz wrote on Wed, 02 November 2005 18:00

But don't drag me further into this argument, I don't want to meet Henrik in a dark alley someday.

No, I simply wouldn't bother... you would have to be much more interesting for that

No, honestly I'm not at all like that! I'm also not trying to reach the impossible. Instead I try to carefully evaluate my findings so i don't put a limit to what's possible.

Regards
Henrik

[bobkatz]

ammitsboel wrote on Wed, 02 November 2005 13:41

No, honestly I'm not at all like that! I'm also not trying to reach the impossible. Instead I try to carefully evaluate my findings so i don't put a limit to what's possible. Regards Henrik

Sounds like me---but don't forget there are too many stones in the field left to turn without trying to look under every one for worms.

BK

[Fifthcircle]

FWIW, using my RME Digiface (and the 96/8 PAD when I owned it), I found the sound considerably better in ASIO.  It has been awhile since I checked, though.  It was a big enough difference that I wondered if the data integrity was being maintained.  Perhaps it was something else, but I did in fact hear a rather substantial difference.

Plus- in most programs, the monitoring choices in ASIO are better anyways...

--Ben

[Teddy G.]

For what it's worth...

David Hoatson, over at Lynx Studios, just told me(Again. I had asked long ago but forgot) that if latency is not an issue MME is fine.

Good enough for me... as I don't have to worry about  ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- latency......


Teddy G.