Can anyone here claim to hear a difference with exclusive mode switched on or off? Having it switched on is a bit of a pain cause it locks your system on to your DAC so it can be bit perfect. Some claim this results in better sound. Problem is i sometimes have to power cycle my stuff to get it to run other player apps. Amazon music has an option now to turn it on and off.
Are you talking WASAPI in exclusive mode or ASIO?
In a good setup, there is no difference between WASAPI in exclusive or shared mode.
I am not familar with ASIO to speak for that.
When your DAC is hooked up via USB, there is no “bit perfect” communication happening. USB can do that, but not in real-time appliations. If any fancy “optimized for audio”-USB-cables achieves low data rate with an external storage device, it is the error correction doing its job.
I’m not sure what the amazon music app is using. but nvm the “bit perfect” thing then. does anyone hear a difference in exclusive mode?
Any difference will be marginal.
Wasapi exclusive mode and ASIO can basically accomplish the same thing, the digital values requested by the player are what gets sent to the DAC on whatever transport you use.
Basically without it, Windows will resample to it’s output, scale to the requested volume and mix the output with other windows sounds. All those things change the original signal, the resampler probably being the worst of it.
Amazon’s implementation doesn’t do this, because though it bypasses the mixer and volume processing, it still resamples to the rate you set in the audio control panel.
Whether I think I can hear a difference doesn’t really matter, it’s whether you think you can. And probably more importantly whether you think the inconvenience is worth the difference.
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Well call me crazy but i think the music sounds better in exclusive mode
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I do to, but my mic doesn’t work in exclusive mode. So I don’t use it that often
You’re crazy! 
If you hear the difference then run with it. There are other ways to get around the inconvenience of direct mode. I think soon you will have 2 dacs, right? An su8 and a Bifrost? Do you have a desktop or laptop with optical out? I gave this response in another thread today that may help you if you are so equipped:
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