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MARANTZ GUIDE TO PC-AUDIO | NA-11S1 | 05.2013 | 5www.marantz.eu

different than it was initially. In addition, there are various interfer-

ence phenomena due to the mixer that allows different programs

to play sound at the same time (mail coming in when you listen

to music for example) and it’s also related to the environment and

highly disturbed electrical computer.

Let’s have a look to the complete chain.

A lot of devices which can have an influence.

Of course: not to forget about the cable between PC and external DAC.

The first 5 boxes represent the PC while the last box is the USB-DAC.



Media

Player

Mixer

Windows

Sounds

Kernel Driver

PCM

streamvia

USB

NA11S1

1. Media player – software running on your computer to play

back the audio files

2. Mixer – this one will add the Windows Sounds to the original

signal (if not by-passed)

3. Kernel – handling all the process to transfer the digital audio

signal

4. Driver – ensures the audio signal will be properly transferred

to the USB output in asynchronous mode (USB-DAC defines the

clock and timing of the audio package sent)

we will need a bit-perfect is a player that will allow send-

ing the complete data bit-to-bit without skipping or modifying any

of the original data. So we will get the integer signal from the

original file. Standard media players such as iTunes and Windows

Media Player do not support bit-perfect transmission. Furthermore,

they have limitations on the playable file formats.

That’s why we recommend players like jRiver Media Center 18 for

PC (MAC is in beta testing phase) and Audirvana (time being Mac

only). Other software media players are available on the market,

but we like to focus on these two for now as they support not only

PCM-Signals but DSD streaming via DoP as well.

For the Bit-Perfect transmission we need to make some setting

on the computer and the Software Player to get everything working

together smoothly. These settings will allow us to bypass the Win-

dows Sound Mixer (see below graphic) and on Mac we will give

the priority to the audio sent to the player over any other sound.

These settings will affect the Audio Output Mode and key tech-

nologies here are Kernel Streaming and WASAPI Event Style,

beside others.

The goal is to use the Bit –Perfect mode also known as “Bit-

transparent” mode. This means that all the data of the audio file

is exactly the same as received in the NA-11S1. Note this is not

possible with any USB-DAC. The DAC, here the NA-11S1, needs to

support this too.

We also need a driver for the NA-11S1 (only for PC)

For a PC, the driver is very important and you need to install it

before connecting your NA-11S1 to your computer. For Mac opera-

tion there is no dedicated driver installation required, at least not

for the NA-11S1. However this might be different for other USB-

DAC devices.

The Driver will allow the NA-11S1 to control the clock, so the

rhythm in which it receives the audio information. This is called

Asynchronous mode and is needed to avoid Jitter, which dete-

riorates the signal quality. It will also give important information to

the PC about the specification of the connected USB-DAC. Once the

driver is installed on the PC the USB-DAC (here NA-11S1) can be

directly selected in the software media player as the output device

(soundcard).

There is a need for a good USB cable to connect the player

to your Computer. It is not recommended to use a cable longer than

5m. And the quality of shielding will also have some influence

on the sound quality. It is recommended to test several cables to

optimise performance.

Audio handling inside a PC

To better understand this, take a look at the audio-handling dia-

gram below – From the Media Player the audio will be send by

Direct Sound, the default setting, through the Mixer, while Kernel

Streaming and Wasapi Event Style bypasses it. The dedicate driver

installed will allow the NA-11S1 to take the lead for the data re-

quest – this is called Asynchronous Mode.



Media

Player

Mixer

Windows

Sounds

Kernel Driver

PCM

streamvia

USB

NA11S1

Direct

Sound

(DS)

Asynchronous

KernelStreaming

(KS)

WasapiEventStyle

Just for the PC environment the Media player, for example JRiver,

default setting is Direct Sound and uses the Mixer. So it is neces-

sary to change the setting to Wasapi “Event Style” streaming.

Wasapi stands for Windows Audio Session Application Program-

ming Interface.

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