Bug Head Player

[jls001]

Justin: when you run Bug Head, on the second screen, is the ASIO driver of your sound card recognized by Bug Head? Does it show up as a driver in second screen? If it does, click on that driver e.g. "XYZ ASIO".

Please note that it expects an ASIO driver if you're on 64 bit operating system. I've not tried WASAPI on 32 bit OS which some users had reported that they're using on this thread.

If your sound card does not have its own ASIO driver, download ASIO4ALL, install it and it will be detected as a valid driver.

If using ASIO4ALL, do go into " ASIO" button at the bottom of the main Bug Head player window, and tweak two parameters:

1) buffer size - try 512, 1024 or even higher. If the playback has occasional glitches, go to higher buffer value. I've observed that the value required on my computer for smooth playback varies with each Bug Head version! So it needs experimentation. For example with version 5.52 a buffer size of 512 worked well. With current version in using (6.31), nothing less than 2048 works.

2) within the ASIO4ALL settings, there is a menu whose default setting forces 44.1 to 48 kHz. Don't use this forced sample rate change.

Also, if I select Greenx4 like you did, I can't seem to get LPF 201 tap as shown on your screenshot. Also, I can't select Galaxy 37 either. A bit strange. What version are you on? I'm using 6.31.

Please give feedback by checking the above suggestions. We'll try and get you up and running :thumbsup:

 

[jmascreen]

What processor do you have right now? How much RAM?
Both of these factor into what levels you can try.

Your source file is 176.4 kHz so the max you can up sample this is 2x = 352.8kHz if your DAC can support these rates.
If the source was 44.1kHz then you can have the option of upto 8x based on sample rate.
The rest of the settings are dependent on your processor and RAM.

But you really don't need to use the higher settings. Higher doesn't always mean better.
See what works with your computer and experiment.

Thanks Nikhil, its intel i7 2760QM @2.4Hz with 6GB Ram. I tried using the basic with nothing added still not working just 1X..

 

[jls001]

Green x4 sounds crappy, BTW

Throws a wide but vague sound stage.

 

[jmascreen]

Green x4 sounds crappy, BTW

Throws a wide but vague sound stage.

It was just for a test, tried your settings.. NO luck.

 

[Nikhil]

Ok. I think I see the problem. You have activated Phase adjust in Setup.
Try turning Phase Off in your setup

Item 5. Set to "Auto phase adjust:OFF"

Leave the rest as is and see if things run.

 

[jmascreen]

Ok. I think I see the problem. You have activated Phase adjust in Setup.
Try turning Phase Off in your setup

Item 5. Set to "Auto phase adjust:OFF"

Leave the rest as is and see if things run.

No Luck. still the same

 

[jmascreen]

Justin: when you run Bug Head, on the second screen, is the ASIO driver of your sound card recognized by Bug Head? Does it show up as a driver in second screen? If it does, click on that driver e.g. "XYZ ASIO".

Please note that it expects an ASIO driver if you're on 64 bit operating system. I've not tried WASAPI on 32 bit OS which some users had reported that they're using on this thread.

If your sound card does not have its own ASIO driver, download ASIO4ALL, install it and it will be detected as a valid driver.

If using ASIO4ALL, do go into " ASIO" button at the bottom of the main Bug Head player window, and tweak two parameters:

1) buffer size - try 512, 1024 or even higher. If the playback has occasional glitches, go to higher buffer value. I've observed that the value required on my computer for smooth playback varies with each Bug Head version! So it needs experimentation. For example with version 5.52 a buffer size of 512 worked well. With current version in using (6.31), nothing less than 2048 works.

2) within the ASIO4ALL settings, there is a menu whose default setting forces 44.1 to 48 kHz. Don't use this forced sample rate change.

Also, if I select Greenx4 like you did, I can't seem to get LPF 201 tap as shown on your screenshot. Also, I can't select Galaxy 37 either. A bit strange. What version are you on? I'm using 6.31.

Please give feedback by checking the above suggestions. We'll try and get you up and running :thumbsup:

I am using ASIO4ALL and running version is 6.31 and its windows 10 pro 64bit. I am using WASAPI with foobar and its working fine with 32bit. I have captured all details in below screenshot

and the strange about Bug Head is playing with 28 lines in 1X.

 

[Nikhil]

If you are able to play 1x then it's a matter of RAM in my opinion.
If you would like to play the other settings bump up your RAM.

 

[jls001]

Justin, on your WDM devices list I see that you've selected Realtek HD Audio. Is that USB interface on the sound card, or headphone output? Is the Realtek the on board sound card? Will it be possible to try the SPDIF device which is also visible on the WDM list?

Secondly, is there some chance that Realtek HD Audio is somehow restricted to 44.1 kHz somewhere in the sound card settings? This could explain why it's able to play x1 but not higher. To test, try the simplest flavour of x2 and see if that plays.

Also, when you're playing Green x4, after you've set all the config, and click Play, does it go through the various steps of countdown (displayed on Play button), ending with Envalid countdown? In the normal case, you should hear sound when Envalid countdown ends, AND the duration counter should start counting up.

I feel that you should be able to play two lines of Optimisation (as down in your screenshot), without stuttering. 12 lines of Emerald x4 is too ambitious.

To see how much is your resource consumption, open the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and go to the processes screen which shows the processes running, and how much percentage of the total processor and memory are being used at that instant, and by which process. When the countdown starts after you press Play, both processor and memory consumption will be high (as high as the mid 90s) for you since you have only 6 GB, but once playback actually starts, those percentages should come down substantially. More lines of Optimisation will demand more resources so keep things low for now.

 

[jmascreen]

If you are able to play 1x then it's a matter of RAM in my opinion.
If you would like to play the other settings bump up your RAM.

I think its the sound card is the culprit.

 

[jmascreen]

My comments are inline.

Justin, on your WDM devices list I see that you've selected Realtek HD Audio. Is that USB interface on the sound card, or headphone output? I am using it with headphone out, no USB interface

Is the Realtek the on board sound card? Yes its the onboard sound card

Will it be possible to try the SPDIF device which is also visible on the WDM list? I will try it with SPDIF and HDMI

Secondly, is there some chance that Realtek HD Audio is somehow restricted to 44.1 kHz somewhere in the sound card settings? This could explain why it's able to play x1 but not higher. To test, try the simplest flavour of x2 and see if that plays.

Even I think so, the sound card is the culprit but I did a test with JRiver, where I was not able to play a 2.8KH DSD file but after down scaling it to 96000 I was able to play.

Also, when you're playing Green x4, after you've set all the config, and click Play, does it go through the various steps of countdown (displayed on Play button), ending with Envalid countdown? In the normal case, you should hear sound when Envalid countdown ends, AND the duration counter should start counting up.

Yes it does go through all the steps and on the counter start it doesnt move forward

I feel that you should be able to play two lines of Optimisation (as down in your screenshot), without stuttering. 12 lines of Emerald x4 is too ambitious

I am not able to play the BASIC in 2X or 4X.

To see how much is your resource consumption, open the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and go to the processes screen which shows the processes running, and how much percentage of the total processor and memory are being used at that instant, and by which process. When the countdown starts after you press Play, both processor and memory consumption will be high (as high as the mid 90s) for you since you have only 6 GB, but once playback actually starts, those percentages should come down substantially. More lines of Optimisation will demand more resources so keep things low for now.
The resource utilisation is well within the limits Memory of 50% and CPU of 30% at the max.

 

[jmascreen]

Tried playing using SPDIF, not no luck.. however connecting HDMI it worked.. the 2X and the 4X's. But the setup is really complicated, Lappi to TV over HDMI, TV to AVR over optical cables..
Need to check the realtek driver. Seems as Joshua suggested its hard setting output to 44.1

 

[nagurum1974]

Try asio setting config.

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

6.37 released.

An updated version is being released every day!!!!!!

Regards
Rajiv

 

[Kushanava]

downloaded 6.38 ...every day there is a new version...but it doesn't tail which setting was changed...very difficult for the users...

 

[jls001]

Justin, hope you're making positive progress with your Bug Head playback.

You can additionally try ASIO4ALL driver if you're still not successful with the Realtek.

 

[jls001]

I'm having trouble playing smoothly with version 6.39. I read over at the JPlay forum that this version sounds very good. I'm getting stuttering sound despite playing around with ASIO buffer settings. For whatever reason it hogs processor like crazy (Keith are you listening?) I finally gave up and reverted to version 6.31 as I really like the sound of 6.31.

I also experimented further with x4 settings. It's very difficult to choose among x4 settings of Sapphire1, Emerald1 and Snow1. They all sound very good. I like them more than their level 3 flavours which I thought was best sounding some days ago, but I like the lighter and airier presentations of level 1 (compared to level 3) on all these three flavours. Other settings still remain the same as before. Yet to find time and patience to try other x4 settings.

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

6.40 released. It corrects the problems in 6.39.

Sound good.

Regards
Rajiv

 

[jls001]

Thanks for the heads up, Rajiv. Will download and try.

 

[jmascreen]

Justin, hope you're making positive progress with your Bug Head playback.

You can additionally try ASIO4ALL driver if you're still not successful with the Realtek.

NO, just found that it works fine with HDMI. Didnt tried further back to my pioneer BDP 180.