Re: Apple Music Windows Exclusive Mode
Joanes Badazz
I recently decided to give Apple Music a shot due to getting an iPhone 15 Pro Max soon. I really like the service and with the preview App, I can even stream lossless, which is awesome. But I was wondering if there is a way to force exclusive mode on Windows? Or have something like lossless switcher?
Windows being windows sometimes fucks up and makes the music skip around due to the bit rate and such not matching my windows settings on my Bifrost 2.
Does someone know of a solution for windows or should I just consider getting a cheap mac mini or something for proper streaming.
Thanks!
My genius is almost frightening. accessory from my ifi dongle which turns lightning into type c + type c to female A adapter from my portable blu ray burner = Exclusive mode and glorious Bifrost clicking noises
I have now found out that if I activate the kernel mode and then in Voicemeeter Banana as an output device my Steinberg UR22 with ASIO then I have simultaneously sound from Audirvana Studio 2.0 and the Windows sound.
i get it that exclusive sound increases sound quality but listening to background music while also allow other windows sounds to go through is a huge QoL improvement, why audirvana cant offer exclusive and non exclusive mode like the Qobuz Windows Software??? @Antoine
PowerDVD works only if I connect the DAC through S/PDIF optical, which led me to a recognition that the main cause is that the bit depth in Windows cannot be set to 24 bits, only if using the S/PDIF as it has a maximum bit depth of 24bit.
So my question would be, using a USB cable is it possible to add the option in Windows to select not only 32bit depth as default format but 16 and 24 bits too? I saw that other 32bit DAC has an option to select these too.
It seems like sample rate switching only works in foobar if I use the USB cable, because in foobar you can select 32bit as output data format.
In other applications you cannot choose what output format (bit depth) you want to use, so the application tries to output 16-bit or 24-bit data format (based on the source) however the ADI-2 would like to get 32bit stream and as such exclusive mode (WASAPI) stops working and it just continues to operate in shared mode. Therefore sample rate switching or bit perfect playback does not work.
As soon as I start using the optical cable (S/PDIF) the windows settings on that output allows me to select 16bit and 24bit formats and it looks like this changes how the ADI-2 can cooperate with Windows.
Sample rate switching in
- Qubuz works only with USB connection in WASAPI Exclusive mode, but not with SPDIF
- Tidal works only with SPDIF, but not with USB connection
- Amazon Music Unlimited is not working either way
- iTunes (aka Apple Music) is not working either way
- PowerDVD works only with SPDIF, but not with USB connection
- Foobar works both USB and SPDIF
If spdif output doesnt work how can it be an RME issue.? That would be SW or drivers for your PCs internal soundcard. Either it sends a valid signal or not, which your dac will pick up. Samplerates 32 - 192 for spdif. USB modes are explained back to front on the forum, so dig in!
I have JRiver with asio drivers, super setup. Very smooth SR change. I would never go back to windows drivers again for music playback except occasional Spotify sessions. You know there is a reason hires dacs come with proprietary drivers. If windows could handle this itself you wouldnt need it..
i have problem with MS Teams. I'm working on Teams, but I do not making a lot of calls. I'm able to listening to music when working. But i got a lot of notifications from Teams (necessary) and for every notification other sounds from system are getting lower. It's very annoying when listening to music or watching any kind of webinar. Can i somewhere change it? The same with calls. I just don't want to allow Teams to change my volume.
I've tried to uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device" for my speakers and headphones but didn't work for it.
@Muzykant Did you ever figure this out? Its pretty annoying when you are listening to something and I get a chat notification and it drops the audio from whatever I'm listening to so low that I basically cant hear it. It only applies to notifications I get from Teams and no other Windows 10 notifications. I cant seem to find an option anywhere to change it (in Teams settings or Windows 10).
@Muzykant same problem here. It's only just started doing it (for some reason), but it's really annoying. I have the "When windows detects communication activity" setting in the control panel for "sound" in the "communications" tab set to "Do nothing", which it appears to be ignored by Teams now.
@MuzykantI know this is old, but I think I found a fix that seems to work for. In the MS Teams Settings > Notifications, I changed my notification style to Windows (from 'Teams build-in') and it no longer lowers the volume of my music. Hopefully that helps other people
The rest below is just so no one claim that any of the other settings are the fix. The below settings did not fix the issue - and cover pretty much all setting you would noramlly try in fixing this issue.
And so no one claims that we aren't using the correct settings - here are all the other settings you should use when troubleshooting such a problem. Note that NONE OF THESE fixed the issue:
On Windows computers, the exclusive mode exists for audio devices. When this mode is enabled, some applications can claim exclusive control of your sound playback device. When it comes to Amazon Music, you can find this supported feature called Amazon Music Exclusive Mode.
In this post, we'll start with a brief introduction of what Amazon Music Exclusive Mode is and how it works. If interested, you can learn how to enable or disable it to make a difference with your listening experience.
As Amazon Music says, when Exclusive Mode is enabled, the Amazon Music app will block sounds from other applications while music is playing. This provides a number of sound quality benefits, notably that it allows the Amazon Music to play music in the highest possible quality supported by your playback device.
Amazon Music's Exclusive Mode must the best option for all users to improve the overall music quality of Amazon Music with your audio device. However, as stated when in the Exclusive Mode you exclusive control over your audio device using Amazon Music and it will block sounds from other applications, such as YouTube. For example if you try to watch a YouTube video, you won't be able to continue playing and a message will appear on the screen like this:
For starters, you're supposed to adjust the related settings to allow exclusive mode in the Amazon Music app. So Amazon Music will display the Exclusive Mode toggle later on in the same position where you access your audio devices and volume control.
Now as Amazon Music says the Exclusive Mode toggle is available in the Available Devices list, which you should be familiar with because you can see it anytime you want to adjust the volume. Go ahead.
3. On the right of the Now Playing bar, click the Devices button which you use to access the volume control in the app. And this will open the extended menu of your available devices. And under your audio devices you should see the Exclusive Mode toggle that lets you to enable this feature at any time.
4. Ensure to select your audio device. To enable the exclusive mode for the song you're listening to, just toggle "Exclusive Mode" on. Now you should hear the difference of the music quality.
Note that the in-app volume control is disabled when in Exclusive Mode. To access the volume control again, just disable the exclusive mode, which is pretty straightforward. Or if you're ready to do something else than just listening to Amazon Music with your audio device, you should disable the Amazon Music Exclusive Mode.
You can disable the Exclusive Mode at any time. If you wish to disable the Exclusive Mode for all Amazon Music contents, you can toggle it off but at this time the toggle is still displayed in the Available Devices list. Or if you don't allow the Exclusive Mode anymore, you can disable this feature entirely in Settings until you want to regain it.
3. Toggle the "Exclusive Mode" to disable it for your playback with your audio device. And you access the volume control right after you turn off the Exclusive Mode.
4. Amazon Music will disable the feature immediately for you. You won't see the Exclusive Mode toggle in the Available Devices list that's embedded in the Devices button and regain the volume control.
If you find the Amazon Music Exclusive Mode is not working, please ensure to select the audio device with Exclusive Mode enabled in the Windows PC. If you're not sure, you can check and adjust some advanced settings from here to prepare your audio device for Amazon Music Exclusive Mode.
When in Exclusive Mode, most Prime users will experience the frustration with the shuffle mode, which won't be disabled as you want. Because Amazon Music forces that shuffle-only mode in exchange of the same full catalog for Unlimited subscribers. If you wish to play the on-demand contents on Amazon Music, you have to find your All-Access Playlists made by Amazon Music. But soon you will find the contained items are not expected, even they are provided based on your listening activities. Even worse, you'll also find the download service is limited to these playlists and your Amazon Music purchases, so you'll want to download on-demand contents.
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