Connecting 2 USB DACS to the same Windows (10) computer?
May 13, 2019 at 6:56 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

rgs9200m

Headphoneus Supremus
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Can I just connect 2 USB DACs to my Windows 10 computer and simply switch between them in Windows using the Windows Sound dialog box?

(This would be just like when I switch between my Chord DAC and my internal sound card.)

I of course would have the drivers for both DACs.

I read about Jriver zones (since I use Jriver), but just using Windows seems easier. Thank you.
 
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May 14, 2019 at 2:16 PM Post #2 of 4
Can I just connect 2 USB DACs to my Windows 10 computer and simply switch between them in Windows using the Windows Sound dialog box?

(This would be just like when I switch between my Chord DAC and my internal sound card.)

I of course would have the drivers for both DACs.

I read about Jriver zones (since I use Jriver), but just using Windows seems easier. Thank you.

In a music player like JRiver, if you have bit-perfect (exclusive mode) playback set up, you don't need to change the Windows playback device at all. Examples of bit-perfect/exclusive playback are WASAPI Event Style and ASIO.

So I don't see any issue with what you're proposing but I would toggle the audio device in JRiver as opposed to changing the default Windows playback device. The reason for this is to make sure that you always have bit-perfect playback in effect.
 
Jun 10, 2019 at 9:15 AM Post #4 of 4
Windows 10 has made this much easier - you can use the OS to set preferences for apps as to which device they use, even when the app doesnt support changing / remembering a preferred device. I used to use a utility for this purpose before, but now the OS does it really well.
 

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