[gimmeheadroom]

I don’t belive this has been mentioned, excuse me if it has..

Have you noticed if the distortion happens when the music changes sample rates between albums?

I have an older dac, and it cannot handle the shift in samle rates. If I start out playing 44khz tracks it works fine until I try a different sample rate. Sometimes it goes well but often the distortion happens on the first change. Else 2nd or 3rd.

My ‘solution‘ has been to limit roon to always output cd quality

There was a similar annoyance reported by a guy using ifi zenstream. The common denominator is roon.

 

[MP1968]

Pr155a1 is using Qobuz to stream, but isn’t using Roon.

 

[Pr155a1]

The saga continues. Picked up the loan Dac, got it connected tonight and exactly the same issue. I've even rejigged (tidied) my cables to make sure that's not the issue.

I'll buy an RME Dac this week on sale or return, which I'm loathe to do as it go against the grain, unless someone knows of a cheaper dac that can happily play hi res? Or even better, lives near Manchester U.k and is interested in an experiment, good quality coffee and biscuits as payment...

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I don't know if it was discussed but he should make sure that the app is set up correctly and that the audio doesn't go through Windows audio mixer.

 

[Pr155a1]

I'm basically trying everything I can at this stage.

 

[Pr155a1]

I don't know if it was discussed but he should make sure that the app is set up correctly and that the audio doesn't go through Windows audio mixer.

I'm the chap in question and everything from in app latency and sampling rate has been tested and set

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I'm the chap in question and everything from in app latency and sampling rate has been tested and set

Hello

What I meant was, it should be verified that changing the windows settings (bit depth and sample rate for the device) should not affect the bitstream the DI-20HE sees. If it does, then the setup is incorrect and windows is making a mess of the audio.

 

[MP1968]

I'll buy an RME Dac this week on sale or return

I had the RME DAC in my system a few months ago, also on a sale or return basis (from Scan). It has a large array of options to tweak, which I was intrigued by, and basically I wanted to know how close it could come to my R7.

I used the DI20 with both DACs, using different outputs, and basically toggled between the two while listening to my usual test tracks. The RME did come close to the R7, with some EQ adjustments etc, but not enough to warrant keeping it. It was closer than I thought it would be, though.

 

[sajunky]

@MP1968

Audio GD also has also Delta-Sigma DAC on offer. I am sure, the cheapest one $360 would compare well with RME. Not in features, but in sound quality.

 

[MP1968]

I have little huge amount of experience with Innuos products, but Pr155a1's experience triggered a memory in my old brain. A couple of years ago I had a loan of a Innuos ZENith MKIII 1TB (from Elite Audio in Scotland). I had hoped that I'd be able to keep it to replace my Windows music laptop, but it didn't work out that way.

My DAC was the AGD R7 but I didn't have the DI20 (or any other DDC) at the time.

I've tracked back through my emails with Andrew at Elite, and found the following (5July21):

'For some reason music sounds distorted some of the time. It's a bit like listening to music through a cheap radio, a kind of crackling. This applies both to my library on the Zenith hard drive, or streamed music from Qobuz. At the moment this also seems a bit random, and I'm still trying to trace the issue. I never had this problem with my music laptop. I'm going to change cables over this afternoon, and see if that helps'.

Later that day:

'Hi Andrew,

Have spent the last 1.5 hours with the Innuos, and it's been a bit frustrating to put it mildly. This is what I have tried:

Used a different USB cable to connect it to the DAC
Used a different power cable to the Innuos
Used the Innuos power cable but connected it directly to the wall outlet, not to my mains distribution block
The Innuos was on top of my DAC but raised up above it by a good 6-7 cms. But I moved it to its own shelf
Used a different ethernet cable to connect the Innuos to my Netgear switch
Re-checked all the settings in My Innuos

Result: the distortion sometimes is there, and sometimes not. Sometimes the music is distorted from the outset, sometimes the music starts normally but the distortion progressively kicks in after around 30 seconds. It all remains totally random.

At the moment music sounds OK. Don't ask me why.

I need to do other things now, but it seems to be that this isn't as it should be.............

Best wishes
Mark'

And again later that day:

'I have just sat down with the Innuos again. I had left it powered on, in case that helped, and the last time I listened to it the music sounded OK. I opened up iPeng and started a track: all was good. But then I just wanted to check that the volume in iPeng was set at 100%. All I did was move the iPeng volume slider a touch ........ and the distortion immediately kicked in again. Even when I returned the slider to 100% the distortion remained. The only way I could rid of it was to stop the track, turn iPeng off (there's a 'power' button in the bottom left hand corner), and then turn iPeng back on again. I restarted the track: no distortion. I moved the volume slider again: this time no distortion.

This is all a bit random, and I don't think this is what should be happening. I'm not totally convinced that this Zenith is working as it should. The idea was to move from my music laptop to something with a slicker interface. I have never had these problems with my music laptop: it has always worked 100% of the time, and TBH sounds to my ears a little better than the Innuos. In terms of the iPeng interface, it's OK ..... however I don't find that it's as intuitive as either the Qobuz desktop app or Audirvana. This may just be a question of familiarity, of course.

Incidentally, whether iPeng can 'see' the Zenith remains a bit hit and miss, irrespective of the amount of time that the Innuos has been switched on. Sometimes the Zenith appears in iPeng in the bottom lefthand corner, only to then disappear, then reappear, then disappear again. Finally it may recognise the Zenith and firmly lock onto it, but other times I just have to restart the Zenith'.

6Jul21:

'Hi Andrew

Just an addendum to last night’s email. I turned the Zenith off last night, and turned it back on again this morning a good ten minutes before I started listening to music. I started playing a track, and the distortion was there immediately.

I slid the volume control up and down in iPeng, but this made no difference. I turned my DAC off and on again but again the distortion remained.

I have now taken the Zenith out of my system. I have put my music laptop back in, started playing the same track .... and it’s playing perfectly.

Best wishes,
Mark'

In the end Elite took the Zenith back, and I kept my Windows music laptop.

 

[MP1968]

An addendum to my previous post. At the time Elite offered me an Antipodes server to replace the Innuos, but it was considerably more expensive so not possible for me. However I bought a K22 from them a couple of months ago, and it’s been great. I’ve used it with the DI20 and R7, with no issues at all.

The reason for selling the DI20 was partly because Antipodes advised me due to the design of the K22 any DDC in my chain is unnecessary, and also because I basically needed to recoup some money.

 

[OCC7N]

I had the RME DAC in my system a few months ago, also on a sale or return basis (from Scan). It has a large array of options to tweak, which I was intrigued by, and basically I wanted to know how close it could come to my R7.

I used the DI20 with both DACs, using different outputs, and basically toggled between the two while listening to my usual test tracks. The RME did come close to the R7, with some EQ adjustments etc, but not enough to warrant keeping it. It was closer than I thought it would be, though.

I said the same when I was listening and comparing the resolution/details. But suddenly I had a change of feelings between songs on them. AGD is just pure music, more thicker/textured, RME is very static/robotic thinner sounding. I only did the comparison on stock settings(BT,EQ,Loudness OFF, Ref +7, 0dB), because I could never be happy with all the features. The comparison was with headamp/HE9LE, without this amp the RME is not worth the price, it needs an amp no matter what headphones used. Inbuilt preamp is very weak/thin

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I had the RME DAC in my system a few months ago, also on a sale or return basis (from Scan). It has a large array of options to tweak, which I was intrigued by, and basically I wanted to know how close it could come to my R7.

I used the DI20 with both DACs, using different outputs, and basically toggled between the two while listening to my usual test tracks. The RME did come close to the R7, with some EQ adjustments etc, but not enough to warrant keeping it. It was closer than I thought it would be, though.

I also have an RME AKM 2nd edition which I run off a DI-20. It sounds great but it is desktop gear (when it's not sliding around all over the desk). I never considered using it in my 2 channel system.

Audio-gd gear is rack/shelf gear. While the RME feature set is huge, connectivity is poor. I see good reasons to have both but I don't think they're for the same usage scenario.

I agree with @OCC7N that the RME headamp is just kinda meh. Does great with Audeze, not so great with high impedance dynamics.

 

[MP1968]

I had to EQ the RME quite a lot, and spend time with the menus, to get it to approach the R7 level. I didn’t much like the feel of it, as it’s relatively lightweight. And I didn’t use the headphone amp.

I agree with sajunky. There are better AGD ESS DAC options than the RME at more competitive price points, or the maybe the R1 if R2R is preferred.

 

[Pr155a1]

lo

What I meant was, it should be verified that changing the windows settings (bit depth and sample rate for the device) should not affect the bitstream the DI-20HE sees. If it does, then the setup is incorrect and windows is making a mess of the audio.

I have little huge amount of experience with Innuos products, but Pr155a1's experience triggered a memory in my old brain. A couple of years ago I had a loan of a Innuos ZENith MKIII 1TB (from Elite Audio in Scotland). I had hoped that I'd be able to keep it to replace my Windows music laptop, but it didn't work out that way.

My DAC was the AGD R7 but I didn't have the DI20 (or any other DDC) at the time.

I've tracked back through my emails with Andrew at Elite, and found the following (5July21):

'For some reason music sounds distorted some of the time. It's a bit like listening to music through a cheap radio, a kind of crackling. This applies both to my library on the Zenith hard drive, or streamed music from Qobuz. At the moment this also seems a bit random, and I'm still trying to trace the issue. I never had this problem with my music laptop. I'm going to change cables over this afternoon, and see if that helps'.

Later that day:

'Hi Andrew,

Have spent the last 1.5 hours with the Innuos, and it's been a bit frustrating to put it mildly. This is what I have tried:

Used a different USB cable to connect it to the DAC
Used a different power cable to the Innuos
Used the Innuos power cable but connected it directly to the wall outlet, not to my mains distribution block
The Innuos was on top of my DAC but raised up above it by a good 6-7 cms. But I moved it to its own shelf
Used a different ethernet cable to connect the Innuos to my Netgear switch
Re-checked all the settings in My Innuos

Result: the distortion sometimes is there, and sometimes not. Sometimes the music is distorted from the outset, sometimes the music starts normally but the distortion progressively kicks in after around 30 seconds. It all remains totally random.

At the moment music sounds OK. Don't ask me why.

I need to do other things now, but it seems to be that this isn't as it should be.............

Best wishes
Mark'

And again later that day:

'I have just sat down with the Innuos again. I had left it powered on, in case that helped, and the last time I listened to it the music sounded OK. I opened up iPeng and started a track: all was good. But then I just wanted to check that the volume in iPeng was set at 100%. All I did was move the iPeng volume slider a touch ........ and the distortion immediately kicked in again. Even when I returned the slider to 100% the distortion remained. The only way I could rid of it was to stop the track, turn iPeng off (there's a 'power' button in the bottom left hand corner), and then turn iPeng back on again. I restarted the track: no distortion. I moved the volume slider again: this time no distortion.

This is all a bit random, and I don't think this is what should be happening. I'm not totally convinced that this Zenith is working as it should. The idea was to move from my music laptop to something with a slicker interface. I have never had these problems with my music laptop: it has always worked 100% of the time, and TBH sounds to my ears a little better than the Innuos. In terms of the iPeng interface, it's OK ..... however I don't find that it's as intuitive as either the Qobuz desktop app or Audirvana. This may just be a question of familiarity, of course.

Incidentally, whether iPeng can 'see' the Zenith remains a bit hit and miss, irrespective of the amount of time that the Innuos has been switched on. Sometimes the Zenith appears in iPeng in the bottom lefthand corner, only to then disappear, then reappear, then disappear again. Finally it may recognise the Zenith and firmly lock onto it, but other times I just have to restart the Zenith'.

6Jul21:

'Hi Andrew

Just an addendum to last night’s email. I turned the Zenith off last night, and turned it back on again this morning a good ten minutes before I started listening to music. I started playing a track, and the distortion was there immediately.

I slid the volume control up and down in iPeng, but this made no difference. I turned my DAC off and on again but again the distortion remained.

I have now taken the Zenith out of my system. I have put my music laptop back in, started playing the same track .... and it’s playing perfectly.

Best wishes,
Mark'

In the end Elite took the Zenith back, and I kept my Windows music laptop.

I get what your saying and it seems that you maybe had something similar happening. I've been loaned another Spdif converter and it works perfectly as do the other two.
I'll try it with a more modern Dac as soon as I can and see if that solves the problem. If not, maybe it needs the Linux update? Although I'm very nervous about that.
Have you heard anything back from this Kingwa chap yet?