[linux-audio-user] Help setting up linux for high quality music listening via JACK

Andrew Lester martinblank64 at comcast.net
Wed Jun 28 19:01:43 EDT 2006


Mark Knecht wrote:
> On 6/28/06, Andrew Lester <martinblank64 at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Hi, this is my first time on a mailing list, so I hope I'm doing it
>> right. I am new to Linux, coming from windows. I need a low-latency
>> sound interface with no resampling (ex: no software volume control, no
>> software EQ, etc...), just like ASIO in windows. Somebody told me to
>> look into JACK.
>
> Welcome.
>
>>
>> I have an ESI Juli@ sound card, which seems to be supported under Linux.
>> Using ALSA and xmms I can easily hear the sound quality is inferior to
>> that of the sound quality in windows using winamp with an ASIO output
>> plugin (and the official esi drivers). All my music is ripped in FLAC
>> and I am using the Sennheiser HD650 headphones with a WooAudio 3 amp. I
>> have jack installed, as well as jackd, and the jack output plugin for
>> xmms. I have gotten basic sound out of jack by entering "jackd -d alsa"
>> into the konsole and selecting the "jack audio connection kit" as the
>> sound system and using the jack output plugin for xmms.
>
> I use an RME card & external D/A's with Aqualung as a player running
> under Jack. While not necessary at all for pure listening I run my
> HDSP 9652 at 64/2 all day long without xruns.
>
> I highly recommend you checking out Aqualung.
>
> <SNIP>
> And are there any newer music players
>> that support FLAC and JACK output?
>>
>
> Aqualung. Sound quality is very good. All major and most minor file
> formats supported. My collection is FLAC and ogg. Developers are very
> available. Low volume mailing list.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
Thanks for the replies guys. First of all, let me say the ESI Juli@ is 
not a cheap or "medicore" sound card. It is just as good an an E-MU 0404 
or an M-Audio Audiophile 192 and it uses a very good DAC.

You are right, I think the sound quality loss is due to the realtime 
resampling to 48khz. I can start it at 44100Hz (which the sound card is 
capable of), but it won't work with xmms. I hope it works with aqualung, 
which brings me to my next problem, aqualung.

I downloaded the debian package, and it says that I can't install it 
because it relies on libjack 0.80, but that is a very outdated version 
and I have the latest version which is something like 0.101. I get the 
same error when I try to configure the source version. Why is it 
demanding such an outdated version and how can I fix that?



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