Benefits of DirectSound?

[TimmyGUNZ]

I'm running Windows XP on a brand new, top of the line Dell. I find that my audio files don't get nearly as loud as I'd like them to using the direct sound plugin; only with the Waveout plugin do they get the level I'd like.

My question is:

1. What are the benefits of DirectSound over Waveout?

2. Is there a way to get better volume out of the DirectSound output (aside from using the volume bar...no matter how high it is, it's still not good enough.)

I'm using Winamp2. (Winamp3 is way too buggy for my tastes.)

1)

Q: What's the difference between DirectSound and waveOut ?
A: Short version: you should use waveOut on win95/98/me/nt4 and DirectSound on win2k/xp/<insert name of future windows OS here>.
Long version:
waveOut is old, outdated API (Application Programming Interface) for playing digital sounds in 32bit Windows OS's. Old OS's (all win9x and nt4) have good waveOut implementation; you should use waveOut output on those for best performance. waveOut features are limited; it doesn't even natively support mixing multiple streams. It appears that waveOut is provided in win2k/xp only for compatibility with old software - win2k/xp waveOut implementation is rather bad, it doesn't use any kind of hardware acceleration; all mixing is performed by software (may interrupt sound when CPU usage is high).
DirectSound is the new "modern" sound playback API, built into all recent versions of 32bit Windows OS's, available as redistributable for older ones (though nt4 directsound is badly broken from my experience). DirectSound natively supports mixing multiple streams, independent volume control, hardware acceleration layer & hardware emulation layer (features which aren't supported by hardware are emulated by software, so the programmer doesn't have to worry if his new l33t code will work right on old sb16). DirectSound should be generally fine to use everywhere except for nt4, as long as you have latest DirectX version for your OS and proper soundcard drivers installed. DirectSound is preferred over waveOut on win2k/xp, because their DirectSound implementation is relatively good (eats less CPU than waveOut and is free of win2k/xp waveOut implementation glitches). DirectSound was originally designed to let games utilize hardware acceleration available on your system without having to touch low-level hardware functions directly (like any other component of DirectX).


2) Turn up the system volume. Make sure you have he latest version of Winamp (2.81)

[TimmyGUNZ]

Thanks very much for the quick reply. Were exactly can I find the option to turn the system volume up? Are you talking about my overall volume on the volume control panel, or is there a place in Winamp to do this?

What if I enable the EQ, and use the preamp? Does that distort quality at all?

Yeah. That

The Winamp EQ preamp will too, but it can disort a little.