Support for 16/20/24-bit SPDIF input and output with up to 192kHz sample rate offers easy connection of PCs to consumer electronic products such as digital decoders and speakers. The ALC888S-VD also features secondary SPDIF-OUT output and converter to transport digital audio output to a High Definition Media Interface (HDMI) transmitter.
Audio Alc888s Drivers For Mac
The ALC888S-VD supports host audio from the Intel chipsets, and also from any other HDA compatible audio controller. With various software utilities like environment sound emulation, multiple-band and independent software equalizer, dynamic range compressor and expander, optional Dolby PCEE program, SRS TruSurround HD, SRS Premium Sound, Fortemedia SAM, Creative Host Audio, Synopsys Sonic Focus, DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC, and DTS Connect licenses, the ALC888S-VD offers the highest sound quality, providing an excellent entertainment package and game experience for PC users.
VMware Tools for Mac OS X does not provide the necessary Audio Driver at the OS X Level however there are third party drivers available on the Internet. I have sound in my Mac OS X Virtual Machines using what I found on Google. (EnsoniqAudioPCI_v1.0.3_Common_Installer.pkg and ReleaseNotes_EnsoniqAudioPCI_v1.0.3.txt) (Note: This is not officially supported and use at your own risk!)
Downgrading the VM isn't necessary. What that process is doing is changing the virtual device from the default hdaudio (RealTek ALC888 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio Codec) to es1371 (Sound Blaster Ensoniq AudioPCI).
The easy way is to change sound.virtualDev = "hdaudio" to "es1371" in the .vmx file, as described in the VMware knowledge base article Enabling Sound Blaster AudioPCI device in VMware Workstation 8.x/9.x and Fusion 4.x/5.x.
This download provides the Realtek* High Definition Audio Driver for the 3.5mm audio jack on the Intel NUC Kit NUC10i7FN, NUC10i5FN and NUC10i3FN. This audio driver is required if you plan to connect a microphone or headset to the audio jack.
It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available. Do not forget to check with our site as often as possible in order to stay updated on the latest drivers, software and games. Please set a system restore point before installing a device driver. This will help if you installed a wrong driver. Problems can arise when your hardware device is too old or not supported any longer.
I have a few questions regarding the various options available for connecting an external DAC to a computer. The first and most common option would be via USB and in that case an item like the Musical Fidelity V-Link is a great, if not essential, little piece of gear. The second option would be via an HDMI output, if the computer/laptop is equipped with this type of connection. Some questions regarding the use of an HDMI connection for digital audio: First are there any DACs, other than those within a A/V receiver/processor equipped with HDMI inputs, which have HDMI digital audio inputs? Are there any way to convert an HDMI to a S/PDIF connection? Second are there any advantages to using an HDMI digital audio output rather than a USB output? The third option would be via a S/PDIF digital audio connection on computers/laptops equipped with such a connection. My desktop computer has a S/PDIF digital audio connection which is built into the motherboard as part of the Realtek ALC888S Audio subsystem. The same question asked above for the HDMI connection also applies here, i.e. are there any advantages to using the S/PDIF digital audio output rather than a USB output? Since there appear to be several ways other than USB to connect a computer/laptop to an external DAC, except for MACs (which seem to live in Appleland all by themselves and have many, many issues regarding audio playback), why is Stereophile's main and only focus on the problematic USB output? I thank you (meaning whoever answers) for your insightful answer.
I haven't measured any HDMI devices but HFN's Paul Miller has and finds it has more - sometimes a lot more - jitter than an S/PDIF connection. The main advantage of HDMI is its video and multichannel audio capabilities. However, it requires handshaking at both ends of the connection, so a standalone HDMI DAC is difficult to implement. THere are HDMI-S/PDIF converters available - see, for example, _id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=5557&seq=1&format=2 - but this still requires the HDMI output be connected to a TV or similar.John AtkinsonEditor, Stereophile Top Log in or register to post comments March 28, 2011 - 3:14pm #4 RGibran Offline Last seen: 1 year 3 months ago Joined: Oct 11 2005 - 5:50pm Charles Hansen of Ayre has stated HDMI is one of the worst protocals for audio, but then again he has that USB dog in the fight.
My comparison of my Macbook Pro using toslink with PureMusic left me preferring the PS3 as a source to my DAC1 in many cases. I understand the toslink output on the Macbook has high jitter but using PureMusic in Memory Mode and Hog Mode does improve/change the sound over iTunes alone but overall the PS3 sounds cleaner. PureMusic without Hog Mode sounds similar to other Mac audio software, Hog Mod definitely adds mid bass warmth, maybe this is an increase in jitter or just a change in jitter spectrum, though Hog Mode in other audio software doesn't seem to have this effect?
The third option would be via a S/PDIF digital audio connection on computers/laptops equipped with such a connection. My desktop computer has a S/PDIF digital audio connection which is built into the motherboard as part of the Realtek ALC888S Audio subsystem. The same question asked above for the HDMI connection also applies here, i.e. are there any advantages to using the S/PDIF digital audio output rather than a USB output?
Since there appear to be several ways other than USB to connect a computer/laptop to an external DAC, except for MACs (which seem to live in Appleland all by themselves and have many, many issues regarding audio playback), why is Stereophile's main and only focus on the problematic USB output?
My opinion is that USB has the potential to do what firewire has done in the professional arena without having to deal with custom and often buggy system drivers. Overall though the Mac is easer to configure and consistently replicate the configuration necessary to setup low jitter and bit perfect audio playback compared to Windows.
I don't understand this response. The Realtek does not have a USB output, it has a S/PDIF digital audio output. I guess the real question should be do S/PDIF digital audio outputs have less jitter, and therefore less problems, than USB digital audio connections? And are the problems with an S/PDIF digital audio connection easier to resolve than the problems of a USB audio connection?
Apologies for the tardy response. In my V-Link review I did compare the jitter rejection of my MacBook's optical S/PDIF output with that via USB and the V-Link. The USB connection was slightly lower jitter overall but the noisefloor was very slightly less clean. I'd go with the V-LInk if only because the MacBook's optical output won't transmit bit-perfect data at 88.2kHz.John AtkinsonEditor, Stereophile Top Log in or register to post comments April 12, 2011 - 2:21pm #14 Ariel Bitran Offline Last seen: 6 years 6 months ago Joined: Jun 1 2007 - 2:14pm To John Atkinson: Review Musical Fidelity V-Link USB original post by forum user dawsonmackay moved from General Rants 'n' RavesI read with intense interest your review in the April 2011 Stereophile and would like to report an anomaly that you may not be aware of. I believe that your Mac mini is outdated for this review. The reason I state this is because I recently made a couple of jumps in the iMac department from a 21inch/3.06 ghz intel i3 processor/DDR2, 12gb, 1067mhz memory to a 27inch/2.93ghz intel i7 quad core processor/DDR3 16gb 1333mhz.I had recently sold my Wadia transport and started using the 21 inch iMac although listening with the stock DDR2 4gb. After reading various reports I installed 8gb of RAM and was amazed to hear so much more music, better bass etc. This led me to dump the 21 inch iMac and buy the top-of-the-line iMac and installed 16gb RAM. The difference was startling and surpassed the Wadia with AES/EBU connection.With this set-up, I can easily discern various USB cables and DACs. When I first started the process, a dealer loaned me the Bel Canto 3.5 with VBS separate power supply and it sounded really bad compared to my Wadia 521. That tipped me off to a problem or what I say, an anomaly, which is, how can a new top-of-the-line DAC sound worse than a two year old DAC? After switching iMacs, I again compared the DACS and the 3.6/VBS stomped the Wadia.Which brings me to you. How can there be no real distinction between a Halide Bridge and a V-Link? May I suggest that you borrow a newer iMac or MacPro? Also, on page 166, you state your associated equipment: " G4 Mac mini running OS 10.5.8." Are you kidding? In the same paragraph you list much newer equipment. I feel that you have done a disservice to your own review by using an inferior piece of equipment.The iterations of Apple Macs are: G4, G5, Intel duo, Intel core duo, Intel i3, Intel i5, Intel i7 and in the Mac Pro line, well we won't go there. Your Mac mini is six iterations behind - close to 12 years of processing power and the current OS is 10.6.7. You don't even state the amount of RAM in your mini but it's probably a DDR, 667mhz with 1 gb RAM. I hope that you will consider doing another review using the correct equipment. Top Log in or register to post comments April 12, 2011 - 4:08pm #15 John Atkinson Offline Last seen: 1 hour 9 min ago Joined: Nov 7 2010 - 3:31pm Re: Musical Fidelity V-Link review dawsonmackay wrote: I read with intense interest your review in the April 2011 Stereophile and would like to report an anomaly that you may not be aware of. I believe that your Mac mini is outdated for this review. Sorry to hear that, though I must admit I am not sure why it should be outdated—at least for music-streaming duties.Quote: How can there be no real distinction between a Halide Bridge and a V-Link?I was under the impression I clearly wrote that I thought the Halide Bridge was slightly better-sounding, though whether that was enough to justify the 3x price is going to be down to the individual user.Quote: on page 166, you state your associated equipment: " G4 Mac mini running OS 10.5.8." Are you kidding?Nope. OS10.5.8 (Leopard) was the last version of OSX to run on a G4 Mac. I bought the Mac mini almost 5 years ago. True, it only has 1GB of RAM but it is only used as a music server and for my music production. I assume you would be horrified to learn that that same Mac mini was used for all the Stereophile and Cantus recordings I have done since I bought it, some of which have been highly praised for their sound quality. Quote: In the same paragraph you list much newer equipment. I feel that you have done a disservice to your own review by using an inferior piece of equipment. . . I hope that you will consider doing another review using the correct equipment.Why? Streaming audio files is not a processor-intensive activity, so I have not yet felt my Mac mini obsolete. Running Pure Music in Memory Play mode on the Mac mini with the V-Link and the Halide doesn't sound any different from running it on my Intel MacBook running OS10.6.7 with 4GB of RAM. And please note that I also use in my computer-audio reviews a recent PC with a dual-core AMD Athlon processor and 4GB RAM running Windows 7 and Foobar 2000. IS that computer also not the "correct equipment"?Look, I am not dissing your opinion or your right to express that opinion, but I do feel your reaction a little extreme.John AtkinsonEditor, Stereophile Top Log in or register to post comments April 12, 2011 - 4:56pm #16 audiodog Offline Last seen: 11 years 10 months ago Joined: Apr 9 2011 - 1:55pm I have a mid 2009 Macbook pro I have a mid 2009 Macbook pro and the optical output transmits 44, 48, 88 and 96khz bit perfect. 2ff7e9595c
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