Windows - Audio Playback
From Benchmark
Benchmark's Guide for Audio Playback using Windows
A Simple Guide to Configure Your Windows Computer for Optimal Audio Quality
- Follow the guide for your specific operating system
- Follow the appropriate guide to properly configure your media player
Windows Audio Overview
Windows 2000 and XP have very similar audio characteristics. They both have dynamic output sample-rates. That is, both will automatically stream audio at the sample-rate of the audio file being played. This is important when you have audio files with different sample-rates. This avoids sample-rate conversion to a fixed sample-rate set within the operating system, as sample-rate conversion often causes severe distortion.
Windows Vista does not have dynamic output sample-rates. From our tests with a beta version of Vista, the operating system streams audio at the highest sample-rate and word-length possible for the particular audio device. All audio is then sample-rate converted to this sample-rate. Although this sample-rate conversion causes some distortion, the amount of resulting distortion is minimal.
