Itunes... does seem to be the worst offender.
A few posts ago, I was actually trying to defend it, and saying how you need to do this or that. But I'm also experiencing the same issues.
I notice within Foobar/Kodi. I do not experience the same issues as I do within Itunes. I"ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling.
So i have a 5.1 setup in two different rooms. 1 through analog speakers connects. 1 receiver through HDMI... It's been working that way for many years.
I've heard robotic/distorted sound before. But only because of using Equalizer APO. And when that software got mismatched because of a driver. All you had to do was. Turn off the configuration for Output(a1)... then turn it back on again.
Sometimes I wish I had that rocksolid machine back.
I've also heard some small pops and issues before. In the past... I had it my receiver setup WDM as A1. And the local speakers A2 MME. That worked, however I would sometimes get a 'POP' intermittently, once randomly every 20mins. Eventually I learned to switch the arrangement. Both WDM... A1) local speakers... a2) the receiver. No popping. Rocksolid...
But now: I have uninstalled 'Equalizer APO'. I have new and faster motherboard,cpu,graphics card,drives. I even bought a 'Sound-Blaster Z'.
When I first upgraded... The sound was great. But after the latest Windows-Updates with 20H2. I'm having many issues.
What's really great about the sound-blaster-z, is that beemforming microphone. Other than that, is the Soundblaster's outputs better than realtek on my Gigabyte motherboard? hardtosay... Probably not. There is also a digital-IN port. And I thought I was going to use it. The Soundblaster also has 'What U Hear', which I've investigated using as an alternative to Voicemeeter.
Vincent is always talking about 'ASIO' as being the best choice. But I haven't been able to crack using that. Not for lack of trying.
So I have tried these configurations:
Using my standard voicemeeter-banana as above... With WDM outputs. It just fails. Everything sounds robotic. I can set the MAX-Latency to the some of the highest numbers. Set the buffer to 2048... doesn't matter. Everything sounds like Davros (yes the creator of the Daleks).
So one solution is to switch to MME for all outputs. A1 and A2. This works Except for Itunes. But is that desired?
Also I can't go higher than 48000 samples... 24bit.
I've tried all of these:
A1 --- > Realtek (speakers) or A1 ----> Sound Blaster Z (Speakers)
A2 ----> AV Receiver
I've also tried:
A1 --> Av Receiver
A2 --->Realtek (speakers) or A2 ----> Sound Blaster Z (Speakers)
have I tried asio ... I've install a number of different ones.
one that I can't remember at the moment did not allow anything greater than 44.1 samples.
another, you couldn't pick more than one output.
So non-Voicemeeter approach:
my Soundblaster allows this:
1) set the SoundBlaster Z (speakers) as the main sound device....
2) go to recording in sound properties... right-click 'What U Hear' Change Advanced to '24bit 48000 6Channels' <-- highest it allows.
a) Then click on 'Listen to this device' --> output through 'AV Receiver'
But I still get some small popping in Itunes.... This method does not give me the kind-of control I like with voicemeeter though, like I can't see as easily what's going on with the rear-channels.
And GotoMeeting?! Not Zoom. I think Gotomeeting has trouble with multichannel audio. I've heard you might need to change your audio to 2-ch before a meeting.
Foobar sounds great!
Kodi sounds great!
Windows Media player sounds great!
I decided to give the ASIO options another try.
The FLEXASIO seems to be the ticket. It seems to have solved my problems. I'm not done testing as I have to sleep at some point.
I kept testing...
I was able to reduce Voicemeeter latency, buffering, jam the Sample-Rates up to 96K...
everything kept working! I kept checking the sound. But I'll keep testing.
EDIT: HOLD the phone...
The second device is still showing crackling. (at least with Itunes...) I might switch back to my realtek, instead of the soundblaster-z. See if that helps. The soundblaster sometimes does this thing where it throws the sound in different speakers, and I've turned the 'Surround-enhancement'--OFF but it still does it anyway.
Edit:
I think I'm switching to 'Musicbee'...(for organization and layout) I'm tired of Itunes issues.
Latest config: I changed to Exclusive mode... I did switch to my Realtek.
backend = "Windows WASAPI"
[input]
device = "Microphone (Sound Blaster Z)"
[output]
device = "Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)"
suggestedLatencySeconds = 0.05 # 50 ms
# Set the output to WASAPI Exclusive Mode.
wasapiExclusiveMode = true
Edit: Nope... Zoom is broken...too even when stating the microphone. Adding the mic only lasted about 5mins. then went back to distortion.
hmm I got it working again. By swapping the devices. now: [output] device = "3 - AV Receiver (AMD High Definition Audio Device)"
then a2 = realtek (speakers)... still testing. Zoom is working. musicbee is working.
Edit: Nope... that just switched where the crackling goes. Now the AV-Receiver crackles...
Edit: I've turned off FlexASIO and switched back to two WDM Outputs. For some reason at the moment my WDM outputs are working. Perhaps all this fumbling around with different items?
Edit: So why is it working now? I don't have a great conclusion.
I installed FlexASIO, I couldn't make it work in the end and I turned it off.
I installed a VB-Virtual-Audio Cable... But it found it not useful for me. It does not have the capability that 'What U Hear' does. However, is it possible that the 'VB-Virtual Audio Cable' corrected something? Even though I'm not using it.
So right now... I'm running A1-->WDM AV-Receiver and A2--> WDM (Speakers Realtek) @ 96,000hz... 24bit, 5.1CH... I hear no distortions... (Well except ITunes, but I've stopped using it. I switched to Musicbee.) I even flipped on the 'WDM Input Exclusive Mode'. I was able to reduce the 'Buffering' and 'Latency'....Still working.