Is there anyway you guys could do a WASAPI mode so it bypasses windows direct sound / windows mixer. I am comparing wasapi on roon right now to direct sound on plex in windows 11 and there is a pretty clear resolution/clarity bump with wasapi.
Thanks!
The difference you are perceiving might be just down to a difference in volume. It is a very common fallacy to perceive one speaker as “better” than another, even if the only difference between them is volume.
Plexamp tends to be quieter due to how its loudness matching is working.
Try this:
You are totally right. Plex is quieter that is why I make sure its volume matched when I am A-Bing with a sound meter. Even with that roon sounds better, its more clear, there is more microdetail and ambient cues of a room can be more easily heard. Dynamics are also better.
Is a wasapi mode not possible for plex at sometime in the future?
Did you make the configuration changes I mentioned above?
Yes I am on windows 11 so i insured no dsp was applied. I am using an audio gd di20he with amanero driver.
My volume is hardware controlled with my external usb + amp so I can’t lower roon’s volume.
When I click limiter option in plexamp nothing happens.
The settings usually only take effect when you stop and restart playback.
(stop by long press on Pause.)
Ok I did it. I think it may have improved the sound but I will keep listening and report back. thx
Upon further testing it seems roon still sounds better. More clarity, microdynamics and detail. Please feel free to test this yourself and compare the two (anyone who has both).
The issue is I don’t know if roon sounds better because of wasapi mode or just because of the way their software tech works.
you can disable/enable wasapi exclusive in roon and compare that way
the windows audio limiter is another thing to avoid, i think either by a small reduction in volume or by applying negative preamp gain with a program such as Equalizer APO (some details here)
Plexamp on Mac currently supports auto sample rate switching, as does Plexamp headless on a Raspberry Pi (with direct ALSA output) … both are very good options
So running roon out of direct mode is not as good as direct mode where it bypasses windows. Roon out of direct mode is similar to plexamp but in direct mode it just gives you that 1 level of up in sound quality as I described previously.
Please try it yourself and compare.
if i apply a small negative preamp gain in windows to avoid the windows limiter, i can’t reliably hear a difference between that and wasapi exclusive + the same negative gain (for volume matching purposes)
i do agree that wasapi exclusive would be a nice future addition to Plexamp on windows (the devs have not ruled it out) … if only to make optimization a little easier for folks who really want to pursue it
(most would not hear a difference, and they’d more likely be annoyed when exclusive mode doesn’t share their audio device with other apps etc.)
May I ask what audio gear are you using right now? amp, dac, headphones/speakers?
I guess it can be bypassed… how can a Windows player in 2023 not have exclusive audio?
Indeed. Rather than make excuses of why its not needed lets all do some testing with hifi gear and if we agree it is better than lets make it happen.
With a discrete sound card and headphone amplifier you can clearly distinguish the difference between having exclusive audio or not. We need this most basic feature should at least be an optional item.
This is an issue that has been discussed for years, and it is impossible to understand why a perfect audio output solution is only adapted for other desktop systems and ignored for windows systems.
You can always try to exclude the Windows Mixer ''enhancements" 
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