PCMusicGuy
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2006
- Messages
- 1,222
A few months back I researched how to get my existing 2.1 setup (bookshelves, a separate power amp, and a dedicated powered subwoofer) to work on my laptop at the office. My goal was to use all components, have the bass properly redirected, and not spend more than about $100.
Well, I achieved my goal. I bought the X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB for about $50, and after a few hours fighting driver issues, I got it working. As it turns out, the morons at Creative have drivers you can download off the 5.1 Pro USB page that will not install. Not the old drivers, the current drivers, or the beta. My understanding is the the product number SB1095, specifically, is missing from all of their installers. You must use the Creative Software AutoUpdate or resort to 3rd party drivers like PAX. Still, with that minor hassle resolved, I was able to get everything hooked up, configured and playing great.
Fast foward to today: If I am using the laptop only for playing music, it works great using DirectSound as the output. With the heavy multitasking that my job requires, however, the DPC latency is all over the place, and the sound skips, tears, and distorts like crazy. I did experience this with the built in IDT HD Audio and started using WASAPI for all of my music listening. That worked great and never had a hiccup with the music. As it turns out the X-Fi will not work with WASAPI at all, nor with any other ASIO or Kernel Streaming methods because it is locked to 48kHz and my library of music is all 44.1kHz. Foobar gives me an unsupported format error no matter what bit depth, buffer size, or dithering option I choose. DirectSound is the ONLY thing that works and it severely sucks due to DPC latency issues with Windows 7 and this Dell E6510. So other than switching back to XP, I think I'm screwed. I'll have to keep listening to my headphones on the built in IDT using WASAPI and when I want to crank up the 2.1 setup, I'll need to stop using my laptop for anything other than music.
If anyone has any suggestions that I might be able to try I'm all ears. I've pretty much exhausted my abilities of internet searching in hopes of a solution.
Well, I achieved my goal. I bought the X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB for about $50, and after a few hours fighting driver issues, I got it working. As it turns out, the morons at Creative have drivers you can download off the 5.1 Pro USB page that will not install. Not the old drivers, the current drivers, or the beta. My understanding is the the product number SB1095, specifically, is missing from all of their installers. You must use the Creative Software AutoUpdate or resort to 3rd party drivers like PAX. Still, with that minor hassle resolved, I was able to get everything hooked up, configured and playing great.
Fast foward to today: If I am using the laptop only for playing music, it works great using DirectSound as the output. With the heavy multitasking that my job requires, however, the DPC latency is all over the place, and the sound skips, tears, and distorts like crazy. I did experience this with the built in IDT HD Audio and started using WASAPI for all of my music listening. That worked great and never had a hiccup with the music. As it turns out the X-Fi will not work with WASAPI at all, nor with any other ASIO or Kernel Streaming methods because it is locked to 48kHz and my library of music is all 44.1kHz. Foobar gives me an unsupported format error no matter what bit depth, buffer size, or dithering option I choose. DirectSound is the ONLY thing that works and it severely sucks due to DPC latency issues with Windows 7 and this Dell E6510. So other than switching back to XP, I think I'm screwed. I'll have to keep listening to my headphones on the built in IDT using WASAPI and when I want to crank up the 2.1 setup, I'll need to stop using my laptop for anything other than music.
If anyone has any suggestions that I might be able to try I'm all ears. I've pretty much exhausted my abilities of internet searching in hopes of a solution.