A: Neutron is configured to provide high quality result by default.
There are additional settings though which can increase playback quality in general on all devices:
- Playback -> 64-bit Processing: will improve precision by minimizing the Quantization error during the processing if you are using some DSP effects or Neutron is resampling to the device frequency (resampling will likely happen if device frequency does not match track's frequency).
- Playback -> Resampling -> Audiophile: will improve the quality of the resampling even more although standard mode gives excellent result by default.
If device supports Hi-Res Audio output, e.g. its supports more than one output frequency and bit depth is above 16 bits then check settings of Audio Hardware section:
- Follow Source Frequency: To avoid resampling, e.g. output frequency will match track's frequency.
- Oversample: The opposite to above setting that causes oversampling of the track's frequency to some specified ratio. Oversampling helps to move Quantization error outside the frequency range the human ear could perceive. It also improves the processing precision of DSP core due to increased frequency.
- DSD, DSD over PCM -> PCM to DSD: If device supports native DSD then Neutron can do real-time conversion of PCM to DSD before the output. It is a unique feature and an advanced Oversampling scenario where oversampled PCM is then oversampled more to DSD. This mode allows to bypass the Oversampling filter of the audio DAC chip and you get the same Neutron's quality of sound with any audio DAC chip, more on this here.
- Direct USB Access: If you are using USB DAC then Neutron's USB driver bypasses OS completely and communicates to USB DAC directly. Supported on Android and Windows Win32 platforms. Provides native DSD support to Neutron. Android's USB driver limits format to max 24-bit / 192 kHz but Neutron's USB driver has no limitation and supports all PCM and native DSD formats. It works similarly on Windows Win32 platform but you will also need to install UsbDk driver which is bundled with Neutron's installation package.
- Exclusive Access: Only on Windows platform (UWP or Win32). This option enables exclusive access to the default or selected audio device (see WASAPI Exclusive description in the Internet for better understanding) and allows Neutron to select any supported frequency for the correct functionality of Follow Source Frequency and Oversample settings.
- ASIO device: Only on Windows Win32 platform. Select ASIO device in the Device (Playback) settings group. ASIO driver supports Hi-Res Audio on Windows machine and Neutron can select any supported frequency for the correct functionality of Follow Source Frequency and Oversample settings.