Monday, February 20, 2012

StealthAudioPlayer: Work In Progress

EDIT: deleted the plus files with standalone executables and added a new version.
This is a new version of StealthAudioPlayer. It addresses 2 requests I received from you: ASIO channels remapping and high resolution files (192/24) playback
EDIT: sharing again the plus version StealthAudioPlayer_0.2.2_plus1.zip
New [ASIO channels] mapping section in the ini file to allow ASIO channels customization.
Default setting:
[ASIO Channels]
ASIO_1=1
ASIO_2=2
ASIO_3=3
ASIO_4=4
For example if you need to use your 3 and 4 ASIO channels instead of the default 1 and 2 you may want to setup this section as follows:
[ASIO Channels]
ASIO_1=0
ASIO_2=0
ASIO_3=1
ASIO_4=2
Let me know if it works for you.

91 comments:

  1. I´ve just tried several hig resolution files (up to 192khz) and SAP works SUPERB... Thanks A LOT for your time and effort... Hail Andy!

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  2. I forgot to say I´ve tested not only WAVs, but FLACs and AIFFs... All formats work great... Thanks again :-)

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  3. Good! Thank you for your feedback!

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  4. Andy, by the way: what about the N_Setting? Should I left it in 1? Is there any SQ improvement setting it to 0? Thanks in advance!

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  5. The original/default setting is 1. You can try other values to hear if it makes any SQ difference to you or maybe you like it better. I'd rather not discuss it, it's a matter of personal taste. And please don't ask me what this setting does.

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  6. Will try other settings just to fool around... Only 1 and 0 are the options?... By the way, as I posted earlier I tested SAP with high resolution files and worked OK, but I forgot to say I was testing in ASIO... Then I tried WASAPI and had problems (decoding issues, I think)... Just to give you feedback... PD: A little donation on its way :-)

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  7. not only 0 and 1, any positive integer number:). even huge ones like 192000*60.
    Yes WASAPI I was concerned about. Do you have problems with wav files or with flac and aiffs? Does it play from the second try?
    Can you give the link to the files you try?

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  8. In WASAPI (192/24)plays with no problems, but through the ASIO error

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  9. I've got really weird issue with mp3. When playback ends I hear part of the song for a second.
    To reproduce this:
    1) Find 'Tribal Ink - Try To Be Me (Demo)'
    2) Load into player and pause it
    3) Open playlist and set track position at 6615524
    4) Click on pause again & hear from the chorus.
    I've also tried converted wav file and didn't has this bug.

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  10. Forgot to mention, that I'm using WinXP.

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  11. Thank you Andy for the ASIO channel selection. I was able to get sound out to my Prism Sound Orpheus' 4 analog channel pairs (ie 8 outputs), and 1 digital channel pair (ie 2 more outputs).

    However, sound seems to come out at normal speed, but sound quality is totally wrong, you can hear it's a violin playing, but it sounds like a very very bad recording, worse than AM radio.

    I am not sure whether it's because Orpheus has a total of 5 pairs of output (ie 10 channels) so I added two more lines in the INI file. I will find time to use my other DAC which is EMU 0404USB and report back.

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    Replies
    1. Dear Andy,

      The new "plus one" version no longer has the above problem. Thanks!

      Best,
      Peter

      Delete
  12. SAP won't play hi resolution audio if your sound device(driver) does not support it!

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  13. Hi, Andy.
    Мy DAC EMU 0404USB. I'm using Win 7. Do not plays 192/24, if the Asio. In WASAPI (192/24)plays with no problems.Before the SAP used Foobar2000 + Asio, 192/24 tracks played. There is a driver support 192/24. The reason is not in the drivers.
    P.S. Thanks for your player, the sound is excellent. back to foobar2000 does not want to. But I would like to enjoy all the benefits of SAP. I mean the support of 192/24 + Asio

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  14. I've just tried EMU 0202USB, it plays 192/24 in WASAPI, ASIO4All and "ASIO E-MU 0202 | USB". All 3 worked for me.
    Make sure you set the correct "SelectedDriver".

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  15. "SelectedDriver" true. In all modes plays up to 96/24. Sampling frequencies 176.4 and 192.0 can not play.

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  16. Interesting! Is it possible for you to try your EMU and SAP on another PC? Thanks.

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  17. Wasapi not working at all :(
    (in any format)

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  18. New update is uploaded, please try it.

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  19. Thank you Andy!
    Now all is working fine.

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  20. Thank you for your wonderful player! It sounds way better than any other free windows audio players I've ever used.

    But I've found a problem in playing some folders with many files(a folder that contains about 80~100 files for example). In these situations, StealthAudioPlayer won't start playing. (without any warningmessage or sth.) Could you please fix this problem for the users like me?

    Thanks again and good luck.

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  21. ASIO remap success. Thank you very much Andy. We all love you.

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  22. @AnonymousFeb 28, 2012 07:12 AM

    I assume you don't have enough amount of RAM.
    My record is 15-2o files on Win7 Pro X64 with 8Gb RAM

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  23. Andy ,good day!.Mÿ Win7x64 at playing of files of APE does not work through a jmac codec..whether it is possible as that to correct, thank you beforehand!!!

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  24. Andy, what do you think about Kernel Streaming?
    I know that not all cards support it (especially with Vista/7) but it sounds really better than ASIO emulators. Can't even imagine how beautiful SAP would play if you'll add this output.

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  25. @Serg, make sure you have Java installed and add this line to "StealthAudioPlayer.ini" right after [Converters]
    ape=java -jar Codecs\jmac\distributables\jmac.jar d %1 temp.wav

    @Alte, Wasapi is more than enough especially on W7/Vista and sounds (IMO) slightly better than KS :)

    D.

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  26. Hi Andy
    I'm a chinese,I'm very bad at English and I don't know can you understand me,I downlard "alac_decoder.exe" and I put it into "Codecs",but it don't work,can you tell me why.
    Thank you very much for this great player

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  27. Andy... This new version is giving me headaches with many 24/96 wav files.
    I´ll upload one of these files and share the link for you to test it.
    It produces an annoying (kind of)static sound and seconds later, BSOD.
    This didn´t happen with last (plus) version.
    Thanks in advance.

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  28. hstht,
    Extension 'm4a' is used for both lossless (without quality loss) & lossy (with)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lossless
    alac_decoder.exe works only with lossless m4a files (they're big, around 30 mb).
    If you don't have such files just open StealthAudioPlayer.ini and change used codec:
    m4a=Codecs\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe -i %1 temp.wav
    Alternatively you can change (rename) extension of your m4a-files to .aac or .mp4

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  29. Hi Andy,
    when using SAP with standard setting and WASAPI sometimes the play command does not work when another file is currently played. The temp.wav remains with 0K in size and isn't deleted. Special problem here or do you know about that?

    Thanks, Christoph

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  30. gonzalito,

    I've tried your file on my side and it worked fine, no problems at all. I uploaded the plus1 version again, but the exe file in 2.2.3 and the plus1 are binary identical. Could you please compare ini files as well if you have different folders for 2.2 and 2.3 versions.

    Thanks
    Andy

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  31. Christoph,

    How frequently does it happen? I see this misbehavior every once in a while but did not have time to hunt it down yet.

    Andy

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  32. Andy,
    I uninstalled the 0.2.3 version and installed it again, but this time I chose ASIO and everything´s fine now... Then I tried WASAPI again, and the problem (decoding issue I guess) was back...

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  33. I forgot to tell you that once I´ve had a similar problem (stutter-static) with JRiver the solution was set on "Present 24-bit data in a 32-bit package" output mode setting. This is an interaction, I suppose, with my particular DAC.

    By the way, I really prefer WASAPI sound; less "hot" and less "agressive".

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  34. Andy,
    the problem happens quite often. More or less every second play command isn't executed.
    Here's what I've figured out so far:
    - it has nothing to do with the virus protection software I'm using
    - it has to with file formats: no problems at all with mp3; only happens with flac files
    - does not depend on special files; the same file sometimes work and sometime not
    - the problem also happens if no other file is being played

    Let me know if I could help with further testing!

    Regards from Cologne,
    Christoph

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  35. What is your decoder setting for flac?

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  36. Andy,
    I did some additional testing.
    It seams that in case the problem occurs, the flac.exe is started by SAP but some milliseconds later flac.exe is closed without having decoded anything. Only temp.wav has been created with 0kb. Sysinternals Process Monitor showed also that the command line parameters for flac.exe given by SAP are correct. Maybe flac.exe crashes because of SAP is accessing temp.wav too early?

    Christoph

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  37. Thanks! That's very good input:) I will take a look.

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    Replies
    1. Andy,
      did you already have the change to have a look on this problem?

      Delete
    2. Not yet... Thanks for reminding :)

      Delete
  38. For tta files, I put 'tta=Codecs\tta.exe -d %1 temp.wav' in Converters but didn't work

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  39. how about
    tta=Codecs\tta.exe %1 temp.wav

    anyway try to run tta.exe in console and see the cmd line parameters

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  40. Andy, can you please add support for LAME? It decodes far better than sox but little incompatible with yours player.
    I've tried to decode with no success (file simply didn't created) using this line:
    lame.exe --decode %1 temp.wav
    Then I've tried to use brackets for file:
    lame.exe --decode "%1" temp.wav
    This time wav-file has been created but SAP was unable to read it as its name contained space at the beginning (" temp.wav"). I didn't found a way to fix it so I ask you to provide support for this name or give me some suggestion.

    Thanks
    Jeene

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  41. Nevermind, I've found something better :)
    mpg123 (http://www.mpg123.de/download/win32/mpg123-1.13.4-x86.zip) works properly & decodes with great quality
    mp3=Codecs\mpg123.exe -w temp.wav %1%

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  42. whats the advantage using this decoder ,compared to sox?

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  43. @Ron Fibers
    For me wav-files produced by this decoder sounds better. For the same reason I've also replaced sox for ogg & aac/mp4/ [lossy] m4a with FAAD2 & oggdec (both can be found @ rarewares).
    aac=Codecs\faad.exe -o temp.wav %1
    ogg=Codecs\oggdec.exe -w temp.wav %1

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  44. sorry does not work (mpg123),it creates a temp_wav with 0 kb,and then does not play it.
    i copied all files from the zip ,into the codecs folder(they are installed in the right position)
    When i switch back to sox everything is normal again.
    ----------------
    settings
    asio enabled=1 (edirol ua25ex)
    n setting=1
    [MMTask]
    Enabled=1
    TaskProfile=Pro Audio
    AllowVirtualLock=1
    FillValue=-1

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  45. Ron.

    try the following:
    #mp3=Codecs\sox\sox.exe %1 temp.wav
    mp3=Codecs\mpg123\mpg123.exe -w temp.wav %1

    make sure the path to mp123.exe is correct and all dlls are beside the exe file.

    It might not start playback immediately waiting until an entire mp3 file is converted and loaded into memory. Please give it more time to start playing.

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  46. @Andy

    Many Thanks for that great audio-player.

    -----

    I was interested to integrate an upsampling process into SAPs playback.

    For the first time I used Sox decoding/upsampling capabilities e.g. for mp3

    >
    mp3=Codecs\sox\sox.exe %1 -b 24 temp.wav rate -v -M 88.2k
    <

    but was less satisfied with the Sox upsampled sound.


    Actual I'm using, again for mp3-files, mpg123.exe, which is a high-quality and very fast mp3-decoder, and ssrc.exe for upsampling.

    As I found no way to perform both required commands in 'stealthaudioplayer.ini' and to be more flexible for upsampling other file-types I generated two batch files.

    In 'stealthaudioplayer.ini' I use

    mp3=R:\StealthAudioPlayer\Codecs\mp3_decode.bat %1

    for mp3-decoding with 'mp3_decode.bat' which contains:

    >
    @echo off
    R:\StealthAudioPlayer\Codecs\mpg123\mpg123.exe -q -w R:\StealthAudioPlayer\wave-temp.wav %1
    call R:\StealthAudioPlayer\Codecs\ssrc_upsample.bat
    del R:\StealthAudioPlayer\wave-temp.wav
    exit
    <

    and for the ssrc-upsampling with 'ssrc_upsample.bat'

    >
    @echo off
    R:\StealthAudioPlayer\Codecs\SSRC\ssrc.exe --rate 88200 R:\StealthAudioPlayer\wave-temp.wav R:\StealthAudioPlayer\temp.wav
    <

    which is working and the upsampled sound is more to my taste.

    Perhaps this decoding and upsampling could be done in a more elegant way, as I'm not an advanced batch-programmer.

    ps: I have installed StealthAudioPlayer on a 1GB Ram-Disk, so all processing is done in Ram.

    regards

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  47. Nice job! Thanks for sharing.

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  48. hi andy i am getting error:-
    converter didnt create temp.wave !

    i have done everything you said.Please help me.

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  49. Try "temp.wav" instead of "temp.wavE"

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  50. Found some bug (Win7 x64, 8GB ram)
    When using
    flac=Codecs\sox\sox.exe %1 -b 32 temp.wav rate -v -s 176.4k vol 0.2
    (or with "wv=") separate tracks plays normal.
    But when using single image file (with cue track list), "next track" function is broken. It just make "fast forward" in the same track, and not all tracks can be played (just one as example).
    Sometime it can't plays at all, just StealthAudioPlayer.exe in memory with 0% CPU usage.
    Without using additional parameters (like "vol", "rate"), sox decoder works great with flac and wv image files.

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  51. Hi,

    You found a way to control volume. Interesting!

    As for the bug, please try to wait until decoding is finished (sox.exe exits) and then skip to the next track.

    Thanks
    Andy

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    Replies
    1. Sox exits, and after that 400MB 16/44.1 flac file becomes 5GB temp.wav and DISAPPEARS from SAP's folder. Second track starts playing, I try "next track", and it works as "fast forward". For a second try of "next track" SAP makes "stop" and exits.
      I also try to play it without using "next track" function, and SAP makes "stop" in the middle of third track.

      Delete
    2. Ok. I will have a look.
      I'm wondering if this happens if you first convert the file with sox and then play the converted 5GB wav file with SAP.

      Delete
    3. All the same. And other players also can play only 7 mins of this wav file. Trying "-t wavpcm" (unofficial wav standard in sox) and the same. Looks like sox problem.

      Delete
  52. Hello Andy,

    Would you consider adding UPNP plugin ?
    It would allow your player as a minimalist renderer from a foobar server.

    Keep on and best regards,
    Jean

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  53. Hi,
    I'm getting distorted playback at times with a DAC called the 'ODAC'. My previous DAC (Musiland 02 USB) was fine.
    Is there a setting I could tinker with, that might be beneficial?

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  54. I have read that you should change the

    BufferSizeInMilliseconds

    value to something bigger.

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  55. Dear Andy,

    Thank you for the player, it is amazing...
    The sound is spacious and juicy.
    The best player so far I have used.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I use your player directly with wav from ramdrive it sounds fantastic !
    Could it be possible also to define bitrate used with asio driver ?

    Does it exist a beter ini documentation with all the ini settings and some explanations ?

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  57. The key feature of my player is to avoid any modification to the bitstream. It does not support changing bit rate.
    Ini file settings are described in the Readme.txt. You may find additional info in the comments on this blog.

    Thanks
    Andy

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  58. Andy,
    is it possible to avoid log file creation. E.g. with undocumented setting in StealthAudioPlayer.ini or similar way?

    Thanks, Christoph

    ReplyDelete
  59. Hi Christoph,

    No option to turn the logging off. I will add this in the next version.

    Thanks
    Andrey

    ReplyDelete
  60. Player does not work with Sound Blaster X-FI Hd. X-Fi does not allow 44.1 hz playback, only multiples of 48.

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  61. Hello Andy

    I've just been referred to your site and am ready to download your Player for the very first time! But I'm wondering what a "Plus 1" is and why it is important. Should I be downloading that version or another version? [Please don't be offended if I've missed something about a Plus terminology that everybody else already knows].

    Thank you for having this forum and for your software - I'm looking forward to checking it out.

    Nate

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  62. Hi Nate,

    Please use 0.2.3 version.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  63. Hi Andy,

    Thanks for the great free player. I have recently changed from musiland monitor 02 to Audioquest Dragonfly dac but the program no longer works for it. I have reinstalling stealth, changing the .ini, but nothing works can you help?

    WASAPI Error playing file:

    0x8889008
    AUDCLNT_E_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT
    Line Number = 782
    HnsRequestedDuration = 304649
    WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE:
    wFormatTag = 65534
    wBitsPerSample = 16
    nChannels = 2
    dwChannelMask = 3
    nSamplesPerSec = 44100
    nBlockAlign = 4
    wValidBitsPerSample = 16
    nAvgBytesPerSec = 176400
    cdSize = 22

    Any help would be appreciated, Thanks.

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  64. Hi Andy,

    First of all thanks a lot for this fantastic player. This brings digital music to life, as if it was the good old analog days.

    I have enjoyed your player for a week now and have found all the decoders for the different file types I have.

    My music collection is all tagged with ReplayGain fields. Would it be possible to make your player ReplayGain-compliant, or could this be done in the decoder chain.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Okay, now I think I have a solution for decoding flac files with ReplayGain. Try to replace the flac decoding parameter in the StealthAudioPlayer.ini with this:

    flac=Codecs\flac.exe -d -c --apply-replaygain-which-is-not-lossless=0tLn1 -f -o temp.wav %1

    This works for my flac files with ReplayGain values in the tag.

    ReplyDelete
  66. My only WASAPI interface is via USB. If I forget and try to use SAP after I've unplugged it or undocked my tablet from the docking station with that USB port, it picks up the default internal speakers device and sets it as the WASAPI default. But the speakers can't play WASAPI.

    When I reconnect, it finds the WASAPI interface again, but doesn't select it for WASAPI output. I must go find the ini file and manually fix it.

    I know, don't try to use SAP with the USB disconnected... But I forget... Is there some trick to fix this?

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  67. BTW, This comment process totally didn't work for me in Chrome - Publish just redrew the blank form (as far as I can tell). Seems to work in Firefox...

    ReplyDelete
  68. I moderate comments. Not all of them go through. Can't promise that I can fix it anytime soon.

    ReplyDelete
  69. I can not install the player - issues Wasapi Error Playing File.
    Is maiko wasapi compatible with asynchronous DAC?
    My setup: Notebook Asus, Win8.1 x64, Arcam rDac(asynchronous)

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  70. its horrorable to install the player or get flac to play.?? Sorry its a good idee bud not usable

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  71. How do I install it? When I click on the zip file it just takes me top a directory with many entries.

    Thank you

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  72. Just double click on the "StealthAudioPlayer.exe"

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  73. Please walk me through the process of setting up playback of
    .wma files.

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  74. I came across something odd, I suppose.
    One of my music folders has this character ( • ) in it, and causes a system beep when I play songs in that folder.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Hi!

    Nice work man, best I've come across! How does DSP work in detail, because I've been comparing different files, in naming them with zeros, like "0.wav" and I can hear difference (I have a good ear). Also, like playbacking dir from the c drive, not fr a folder, is beneficial to the quality. Can someone explain this to me? Andy?

    Thx, Oliver

    ReplyDelete
  76. Impressive how well this works. My FiiO control panel shows 96000 Hz right away. Sound quality is fantastic. I couldn't get Winamp to cooperate with 24bit files, I gave up. The only down side for me with this solution is I can't seem to play a folder, only single tracks. Bummer.

    ReplyDelete
  77. What windows version are you using?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Windows 10 X64 version 1903, build 18362.295. I appreciate such a quick response, let me know if you need any other information.

      Delete
    2. Have you tried Selecting "StealthAudioPlayer Play" from a folder context menu?

      Delete
    3. Unfortunately that option does not appear in my system. I have the regular items, but Stealth is not an option :(

      Delete
    4. Did you run StealthAudioPlayer_install.bat?

      Delete
  78. Hi, Andy! I would like to make notes on some issues too. After selecting an entire folder in context menu to play, it often doesn't start from the first track and it even randomly skips playing some tracks during later playback and it plays them only when I execute the backwards command. This does not happen when selecting tracks one-by-one. What could be the problem? Can it be fixed trough memory management?

    Also, I would like to know if there is a way to manually replace the version of the flac decoder and would it make any difference, cause you're using 1.2.1 version of flac?

    I noticed that gapless playback also depends on various things cause on some new HDDs sleep mode is now automatic, regardless to windows power settings, and this effects your player (but not the others). Could this be enhanced too through some buffer maybe?

    Will there be a x64 version of the player or at least will it be made to support the x64 ASIO drivers of my card?

    Are you planning on making a new updated version of SAP? I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate it.

    I'm using the latest build of Win 10 x64. Thank you in advance!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello!

      Thank you for your feedback! It's been awhile since I looked into this project. It didn't work for me on win 10 last time I tried. It's good to be proved otherwise. Great to know that it is still used. Unfortunately I can't promise anything soon. As for flac, I think it could be configured to use more recent version. I'll let you know when I get a chance.

      Best

      Delete
    2. works very well on windows 10 x64,i have no issues.i use edirol audio interface usb dac.i still use this for my flac files and albumplayer ( http://albumplayer.ru/english.html )

      Delete