does anyone here know how to disable the windows kernel that handles the sound buss on a laptop so I can send the raw bitstream to my external dac?

I new about Foobar but not about downloading the Kernel disable plugin.  Thanks, that's a big help, Steve.

Actually, I just plugged the usb cable into my laptop, without disabling windows kernal or Kmixer, and voila it worked. The dac is a valab non os plugged into my Select. But now this morning it does not.  Yes I will go to head-fi and see what's wrong.  It was sounding verrrry good though when it worked.    Thanks

The problem with this usb dac is it needs a driver.  Good luck finding that driver.  I understand the Benchmark usb dac is the most user friendly in this regard.  One can download AISO4all but then you can't use Itunes or Windows Media Player.  Still others say to unmap the device. Hmm,  I'll check into that now.