D7 Sidewinder....Initial impressions - Page 42

Quote:

Originally Posted by darinf 

Mine was going distorted on my laptop very often. So often, that I could rarely get through a 4 minute song! Totally unacceptable. However, this has not happened on my desktop computer. So for now, I can just use my desktop. Ultimately when I have more time, I will have to troubleshoot the laptop.

 

I have been using the most recent driver since I thought I had to use that version if I am running Windows 7 64-bit. Maybe I should try the older driver instead.

 

I decided to try uninstalling the 1.48 driver and installing the 1.22 driver.

The 1.22 driver works much better on my laptop. I will see how long it lasts, but for now, I have been playing 192/24 FLAC files over my network without any problems. With the 1.48 driver, the sound would have gone distorted or had drop outs many times by now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darinf 

I decided to try uninstalling the 1.48 driver and installing the 1.22 driver.

 

The 1.22 driver works much better on my laptop. I will see how long it lasts, but for now, I have been playing 192/24 FLAC files over my network without any problems. With the 1.48 driver, the sound would have gone distorted or had drop outs many times by now.

i forgot to ask this before, but did you tried to increase the buffer size on the driver?

darinf , I should of said that I'm using the old driver as the new one failed when I tried to install it.

Under Linux I have no problems at all and my friend under XP SP3 with the latest driver play well also in ASIO with Foobar. Both are old computers with a Core 2 Duo CPU.

No hiss, no drop and no distortion, both D7 are connected on studio monitors.

I just put the Windows 8 Release Preview on my laptop so I had to reinstall the new driver and it seems better now.  The last listening session I had was about an hour and a half and it only went crazy on me once.  Still an annoyance but it's worth it to me.  I think I'll try increasing the buffer as well.  Haven't tried that yet. 

Hello all! I've been digging around all over the place and found some information regarding my issue in this thread but was hoping I could get a bit more information.  Sorry if this information is already available.

I recently got the D7 and am really excited to start using it, but I'm running into some issues.  I have a 2011 macbook air and every time I plug in/power on thae d7, i get an error message.  It is my understanding form this thread that this isnt an issue and I can ignore the error message.  My problem is that I cannot get (either in my sound preferences or Audio MIDI setup) the D7 driver recognized, and so I have no idea how to play music from this thing.  I tried downloading the driver from the ibasso website only to find .exe files.  I'm wondering if there is anything I'm missing.  

As a side note, I'm wondering if I will be able to (once I have the driver set up and recognized on my computer) play music through spotify premium > dac > etc?

Thanks guys! Again I apologize because I'm pretty new to all this stuff

First time posting.

Tested one at the shops. The one at the shop caused an "drawing too much power" error on an "early 2011 MacBook Pro". XMOS USB Audio 2.0 appeared in System Preference after about 10 seconds. No problems with actual usage.

The one I bought didn't exhibit this problem. Perhaps a new firmware or new revision.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Try to use it with a powered USB hub, may be not enough power with the Macbook Air, no drivers required for OSX and Linux.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbattalio 

Hello all! I've been digging around all over the place and found some information regarding my issue in this thread but was hoping I could get a bit more information.  Sorry if this information is already available.

 

I recently got the D7 and am really excited to start using it, but I'm running into some issues.  I have a 2011 macbook air and every time I plug in/power on thae d7, i get an error message.  It is my understanding form this thread that this isnt an issue and I can ignore the error message.  My problem is that I cannot get (either in my sound preferences or Audio MIDI setup) the D7 driver recognized, and so I have no idea how to play music from this thing.  I tried downloading the driver from the ibasso website only to find .exe files.  I'm wondering if there is anything I'm missing.  

 

As a side note, I'm wondering if I will be able to (once I have the driver set up and recognized on my computer) play music through spotify premium > dac > etc?

 

Thanks guys! Again I apologize because I'm pretty new to all this stuff

Thanks for the answers! I was considering a USB hub, but I'd like to avoid it if possible, just because it would be pretty inconvenient while traveling.  Not the end of the world I guess.  It seems strange that the macbook air wouldn't be able to power it, considering it has 3.0 usbs. Granted I'm not sure how much that has to do with anything lol. But you guys are saying that even with the error message, the d7 should be recognized by system preferences after about 10 seconds?  

So I just tried plugging it into my imac which is pretty new, has updated software and should have usb's powerful enough to drive this thing.  Still, I get the same result.  I plug it in, turn it on, get an error message about power, and the thing isn't recognized by system preferences > sound or Audio MIDI.  I also have a powered USB hub I found and it isn't working either.  No error message, the D7 light still turns on so it is being fed power, but it is not being recognized by either the iMac or the air.  Am I missing some sort of step?  I'm simply plugging it in and turning it on, but maybe I've skipped something?

for some reason it is now working, but only now that I've tried the longer usb interconnect.  could it be that the short one was defective?  

Yes its looks like it's defective, it does not matter, enjoy your new DAC :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbattalio 

for some reason it is now working, but only now that I've tried the longer usb interconnect.  could it be that the short one was defective?  

I have had no problems using my D7 with my imac since switching to the longer usb interconnect, and the error message shows up once in a while but has no effect on anything. I have the D7 connected to a Bellari HA540 tube amp via the rca outs and the synergy is simply amazing! For less than $500 I have a dac/tube amp combo that is world-class (we have done some side by side comparisons with much more expensive rigs). FWIW I think the D7 is an excellent and versatile dac, and the amp section is quite capable as well. Have fun with the D7!

I'm really very impressed with the DAC portion of the D7 so far, although I haven't really listened to the amp at all.   D7 >  RSA p-51 Mustang > ultrasone pro 900s sounds amazing.  The most noticeable changes since adding the D7 have been a reduction of sibilance, slight tightening of the bass, and the recessed mids becoming slightly more forward.  Without the D7, I found the sibilance to be so bad it was almost painful at times, especially on certain recordings.  It really has done a great job at smoothing them out, while leaving all the great detail i was accustomed to.  Bass also seems to have become slightly more controlled, and the mids seem slightly less recessed (maybe just that the highs and lows are less out of control).  It seems like all of the weaknesses of the 900s have been minimized by the DAC.  Not to mention there is a definite improvement in soundstage and imaging.  I've also listened to my M-audio AV40s through the DAC and it was a very nice change.  Soundstage become much deeper and wider, and imaging so was MUCH better.  Where before  the av40s gave me a good idea of the general area where each member of a band was positioned or something along those lines.  With the D7 implemented everything has fallen into place.  Now I can distinguish that the singer is more up front, drummer farther back, things of that nature.  

I should  note though that I have been listening to mainly 320kbps through spotify premium, and so I haven't taken full advantage of the 24bit/192khz capabilities.  Can any of you guys recommend a good quality flac recording for me to listen to?

I'm also curious as I have been reading up on this thing and I have't found much information on burn in of the DAC alone, AMP section not included.  I've had my DAC burning in for probably close to 30 hours now and I'm wondering if I should see any more drastic changes?  Is there a DAC burn in time?

The D7 is my first DAC, before I'd been relying on my laptop and iPhone DAC's.  I didn't know what to expect with adding one but I've very pleasantly surprised by how large a difference it has made.  I would highly highly recommend this thing to anyone who wants an affordable and portable DAC.  Can't really speak for the amp though.

Works without any issue on a GoFlex hacked with Archlinux ARM + mpd music server + samba server or NFS server.

Here is the output of alsa-info.sh script: http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=aecfbafb8a702769a429d8d3f4cf568e01dfd16a