[Loquah]

   
yeah i think its software related too. i switched from wasapi push to event as some claim that fixes the issue, but some others claim the problem happens on both types of wasapi . and i realized i may have exaggerated how often it happens. maybe once every few hours or so of continuous listening, maybe even rarer than that. i think i didn't encounter it for 3 days then today happened once. with this kind of low occurrence it's hard to pinpoint the issue, and hard to find info on this as well as many people probably won't even notice.
 
my wasapi buffer is set to 1000ms which is plenty i think. also i have plenty of ram so don't think that's an issue either. most likely wasapi plugin issue, though i seem to remember it happening in spotify which plays through system sounds.

 
Are you doing anything taxing on the computer when it happens? For me it's normally if I'm doing any major file movement or processing (e.g. large scale graphic / image manipulation)

 

[Jd007]

   
Are you doing anything taxing on the computer when it happens? For me it's normally if I'm doing any major file movement or processing (e.g. large scale graphic / image manipulation)

 
no i dont think so, just the usual web browser with some tabs and some background IM apps running. my pc is very powerful as well (OC'd i7) so i dont think cpu is being the bottleneck. the x-sabre is my first usb dac though, and i never experienced this problems before when i used pci/pci-e sound cards (i used coax or optical out of the cards to my dacs before).

 

[Loquah]

   
no i dont think so, just the usual web browser with some tabs and some background IM apps running. my pc is very powerful as well (OC'd i7) so i dont think cpu is being the bottleneck. the x-sabre is my first usb dac though, and i never experienced this problems before when i used pci/pci-e sound cards (i used coax or optical out of the cards to my dacs before).

 
Yeah, I was going to ask next what other USB peripherals you're running in case it's a USB issue.

 

[Jd007]

   
Yeah, I was going to ask next what other USB peripherals you're running in case it's a USB issue.

 
i have a total of 5 devices connected to usb, they are: mouse (my keybaord is using usb to ps2 converter to get nkr), webcam (most of the time off anyway), usb wifi adapter, xbox 360 controller for windows (mostly sits idle), and the x-sabre dac. they are all plugged into the back usb 2.0 ports directly on my motherboard, which has a ton of usb ports to spare (it's a highend board). i also use audioquest usb cable which i dont believe is low quality.

 

[Loquah]

   
i have a total of 5 devices connected to usb, they are: mouse (my keybaord is using usb to ps2 converter to get nkr), webcam (most of the time off anyway), usb wifi adapter, xbox 360 controller for windows (mostly sits idle), and the x-sabre dac. they are all plugged into the back usb 2.0 ports directly on my motherboard, which has a ton of usb ports to spare (it's a highend board). i also use audioquest usb cable which i dont believe is low quality.

 
Nothing there sounds particularly trouble-inducing. Maybe it's just a software issue. Have you tried an alternate player like Winamp or JRiver to see if they're any better?

 

[Jd007]

   
Nothing there sounds particularly trouble-inducing. Maybe it's just a software issue. Have you tried an alternate player like Winamp or JRiver to see if they're any better?

 
yeah i think it's a software issue, but because it only happens every few days in my usage, it's hard to say if a "fix" worked. i have not tried alternative players yet but i will wait and see if it goes away with wasapi event. thanks for your help

 

[Sanlitun]

I've never had any dropouts, the only issue I have is with their ASIO driver letting system sounds and others come through windows mixer. I've never been able to find out if this is by design or error.

 

[holzohr]

Sanlitun, when I remember right from my former USB DAC you can deactivate the Windows system sounds by chosing "no sounds" via system control -> Sound -> Sounds -> Soundschema

 

[Jd007]

  Sanlitun, when I remember right from my former USB DAC you can deactivate the Windows system sounds by chosing "no sounds" via system control -> Sound -> Sounds -> Soundschema

 
I think the point of exclusive mode is that when you play music, all other sounds are blocked, which includes OS sounds as well as all other application sounds (e.g. YouTube video, IM apps). When you stop playing music, other sounds can play again. WASAPI on Windows achieves this, but ASIO does not (on the X-Sabre at least).
 
@Sanlitun: it's not really a dropout, just a small skip/stutter, playback before and after is perfectly fine. If I don't pay attention I probably won't even notice it, and it happens very rarely (once every few days of use for me). And yes I have the same experience with ASIO which is why I also use WASAPI.

 

[holzohr]

I see. I was using the netbook only for streaming music to the USB DAC, with ASIO. System sounds were not needed

 

[Sanlitun]

   
I think the point of exclusive mode is that when you play music, all other sounds are blocked, which includes OS sounds as well as all other application sounds (e.g. YouTube video, IM apps). When you stop playing music, other sounds can play again. WASAPI on Windows achieves this, but ASIO does not (on the X-Sabre at least).
 

 
Yes this is exactly what I mean in that IMHO the ASIO driver should not be letting anything else have access to the sound path or even allow volume adjustment. Back before I had the X-Sabre and I ran Asio4All with my Asus Xonar it would not allow any other sound to interfere.

 

[holzohr]

   
Yes this is exactly what I mean in that IMHO the ASIO driver should not be letting anything else have access to the sound path or even allow volume adjustment. Back before I had the X-Sabre and I ran Asio4All with my Asus Xonar it would not allow any other sound to interfere.

Asus Xonar Essence One? I had that DAC and I have good memories of it.

 

[Loquah]

My X-Sabre is here and I'm very impressed!!
 
The only issue I have now is that I have too much gain on my amplifier and can't use sufficient range on the volume control. 

 
Question: has anyone found any benefits using either WASAPI or ASIO. I seem to be able to use either (I'm not using DSD), but can't tell if either is better. With ASIO I still hear sound from applications other than my player (MediaMonkey) whereas the WASAPI locks out everything else. Not sure if that means WASAPI is truly getting exclusive control and should therefore be better, but would be interested in others' experiences.

 

[Maxvla]

Grats, I use wasapi event. Not sure if it sounds better, but it should be the cleanest path.

 

[Jd007]

  My X-Sabre is here and I'm very impressed!!
 
The only issue I have now is that I have too much gain on my amplifier and can't use sufficient range on the volume control. 

 
Question: has anyone found any benefits using either WASAPI or ASIO. I seem to be able to use either (I'm not using DSD), but can't tell if either is better. With ASIO I still hear sound from applications other than my player (MediaMonkey) whereas the WASAPI locks out everything else. Not sure if that means WASAPI is truly getting exclusive control and should therefore be better, but would be interested in others' experiences.

congrats! may i ask how the x-sabre compares with your AGD 5.2 or 5.32? the 5.32 was on my shortlist of dacs to get.
 
also for gain, are you using the xlr out or the rca? the xlr out is a bit hot so if you want more volume range you should switch to the rca, which is around the common 2Vrms level