[Guide] How to Enable Perfect Bitstreaming on foobar2000 using iFi xDSD for Hi-RES music (48/92/192kHz, 24bit, DSD)

It's been one year since I purchased the iFi xDSD and I didn't bother to even setup the WASAPI or ASIO bitstreaming on foobar2000 until recently when I tagged my music and realized I had acquire quite a number of HI-RES 96kHz-192kHz and DSD music thanks to music purchased from site like https://mora.jp/.

Back then, no matter which output I chose (ASIO or WASAPI), I always encounter the error "Unrecoverable playback error" and so I had been using DirectSound which uses Windows audio stack instead of decoding it bitperfect on my iFi xDSD.

iFi does has an instruction on how to setup ASIO, which I didn't aware of until today. https://ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DSD-native-instructions-Foobar-ASIO.pdf

Here's what I did to enable DSD playback output on the iFi xDSD. (confirm to work on Windows 10!)

1. Download iFi Win10 driver from iFi Website here. https://ifi-audio.com/firmware/windows-usb-2-0-drivers/.



I never did this until today since Windows automatically download the driver when I plugged the iFi when I first purchased it. That explains why I never saw the iFi as ASIO playback output until I installed this driver.

2. Download SACD foobar plugin version 0.7.1 here (foo_input_sacd-0.7.1) instead of the latest foo_input_sacd-1.2.3. The latest foo_input_sacd-1.2.3 does not have this proxy, and therefore you won't see the foo_dsd_asio appeared in the ASIO output.

You want to install the ASIOProxyInstall

ASIOProxyInstall missing in the latest foo_input_sacd plugins.

Installing the ASIOProxyInstall will show the foo_dsd_asio in the ASIO drivers.


3. Install foo_out_asio 2.1.2 from foobar2000 official component page here.

4. Open foobar and go to Preferences. Double click the Playback > ASIO and configure the driver as follows.

You have to install ASIOProxyInstall from foo_input_sacd-0.7.1 to show the foo_dsd_asio. Without this DSD output will NOT passthrough to the iFi, instead it will decode as PCM stream instead.

5. Go to SACD plugin and make sure to set ASIO Driver Mode to DSD, not PCM!




6. Search for DSD track in your foobar library with query syntax (%codec% HAS DSD) and play it. You will immediately noticed the kHz LED turned to blue, which means it is passthrough to your iFi!

Search for DSD track in your music library

Example of DSD256 track

LED light indicator meaning from iFi xDSD user manual. Go to https://ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/xDSD_Manual.pdf to see the full manual.

7. Select ASIO: foo_dsd_asio as your playback device, not the ASIO: iFI!

Make sure to select ASIO: foo_dsd_asio as your playback device.

8. Confirm from the iFi Control Panel that it is pass-through as DSD stream.