Memory playback and user selectable buffer size

[Zaza]

Hi Tom!
I wanted to ask you if you think playing the files from memory can bring a sonic advantage and if you implement it in next release; then I think it would be useful to choose the length of the buffer of the driver you choose, this would give more freedom to "play" to the user.
thank's for your work!

Emanuele

[Tom]

Playing files from memory might bring a certain sonic advantage if the sound playback device used is low quality (e.g. onboard soundcards), but with these kinds of devices a lot of interference is heard anyways and I doubt that not using the harddrive would make a relevant difference here. The same can happen with external USB cards and when unsymmetrical (mono) cables are used (TS, cinch.) It's always best to use symmetrical lines to the speakers, so here's a practical example: An ESI U24XL is one of the good-sounding but low priced devices I use for testing, yet it is prone to interference noise when connected to active studio speakers, especially on laptops. If you use short TRS cables and a little symmetrizer box the interference goes down to inaudible which leaves you with a little bit of natural speaker (amp) hiss.

Another case where memory playback would help is when the harddrive noise is undesirable. But then again, depending on the system, if you load files ahead into memory, then play them from there and not access the harddrive for a while it might go to sleep. It's all for nothing when you have to wake up that sleeping harddrive again (which may block the system) to load the next song, and then the cycle repeats. It's probably best to play music off a large SSD if zero (mechanical) noise/whining is desired.

So as you can see I'd rather go with practical solutions here.

If you want pristine quality get a proper audio interface (anything RME, for example) that has a native ASIO driver and use this for playback in Resonic. Your ears will thank you once you get used to it.

However, yes, I am for more playback device options anyways

[Zaza]

Thanks for the reply! you have been very clear! I'll follow your advice!