Question

Hello all, I am having crackling and popping issues with my Fiio E10k DAC with studio one 3. I have been working for hours trying to find a combination of sample rates, latency amounts, etc. I could use some guidance desperately. I am mostly using a Midi piano to record with Presence XT (only USB midi data, no audio recording). I am using Windows 10 i7 with 8GB ram. I need clarification on:

1. Difference between device block size, latency in vs out (I know it means delay), hardware buffer, and bit depth.

2. How to properly configure Fiio driver (here), such that it talks to the ASIO4ALL v2.4 properly.

The DAC shows up on the WDM Device List, but I am confused on the setting.

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

ASIO4ALL wraps the WDM Driver into a format that can be used with ASIO applications. This has its drawbacks as you are witnessing as WDM Audio is meant for on-board audio or for devices that do not have their own drivers. The Windows Driver Model (WDM) hosts the interface instead. For Home Theater solutions that want to use ASIO for media play back should use a Media Player (not a DAW) that is designed for this purpose, like FooBar2000 is a high end media player that is capable of hosting different codecs like ASIO is a good example.

Unlike a Media player, Studio One (for Windows) is a professional Digital Audio Workstation that uses ASIO devices for low latency audio recording / playback. Using it as a Media Player with a WDM Audio device with ASIO4ALL may experience issues as you are seeing. There is an exchange of information between the DAC you are using, it's handshake with the WDM Driver from Microsoft, and then a handshake to ASIO4ALL to get it to be seen in Studio One.

There is a better solution. Please consider investing in a device that was designed to be used with an ASIO Driver developed for that interface PreSonus makes USB Audio, FireWire and Thunderbolt solutions that will provide you the solution using ASIO drivers developed to get the true audio performance you're seeking.