[madbird]

  Is anyone having these problems still? I have a TEAC AI-501DA usb dac and it doesn't work more than 1-2 minutes before it cuts out, when play videos in Chrome, Safari or Firefox. Very frustrating, anyone know if there's a solution to the problem?

see post #15

 

[DonWerner]

Me too, I also switched to optical with my Teac AI-501da, and it actually sounds pretty good. Which is suppose to be better though, optical or usb?

 

[madbird]

  Me too, I also switched to optical with my Teac AI-501da, and it actually sounds pretty good. Which is suppose to be better though, optical or usb?

i have no idea.  my ears can't tell the difference. however, the sound was better and the "upconversion" (bit rates, whatever) was higher through usb (it worked for 5 minutes) on this denon pma-50 (i am currently demo-ing.)  
 
i might post some impressions on the entire range of desktop gear i have tried when this usb issue is settled, which would include no technical jargon of any kind.
- audioengine d1
- aune x1
- nad d3020
- teac ai-501

 

[lefever]

Not sure if this is of any help but I am going to post a email I just sent to my Apple Business Team agent to see if I could get a answer from Apple:
 
 
"I wasn’t going to upgrade my 2013/14 Mac Pro as it was running great with OS X Mavericks.
 
I had updated my MacBook Pro, my iMac, and my old 2009 Mac Pro to Yosemite and saw some issues and so kept Mavericks running on the Mac Pro (the newer one).
 
My Audio is all run now on my old Mac Pro and it has USB 2 ports - audio worked fine even with Yosemite.
 
I also listen to audio at times on my new Mac Pro (it is all USB 3)
 
I recently updated my old mac pro, my iMac and my Mac Book Pro to El Capitan and it seemed like everything was working fine.
 
Audio was playing fine on the old Mac Pro (using USB 2 ports to USB 2 compatible devices)
 
 
Soooo….. I updated the new Mac Pro to El Capitan from Mavericks (yes - I skipped Yosemite).
 
Since that upgrade I am having trouble with music playback on the 2013/14 Mac Pro that has the USB 3 ports - even reading my music library from a 5TB external USB 3 connected drive…. the music shows in players like JRiver Media Center but instead of the album art there is a red dot with a white line indicating missing files - no matter how many times I set up the library to read and sync from that external drive.
 
Keep in mind that this was all working fine - no problem with Mavericks on the new Mac Pro with USB3. The only thing that changed was updating to El Capitan.
 
Music will play for 15 seconds or so and then go mute (though the track keep playing) or the files can’t be read, or I will hear music for a few tracks before it goes mute.

This is all extremely frustrating. JRivers was updated to Media Center 21, Audirvana was updated, everything is updated and this musical problem through the USB 3 ports persists.
 
 
To review, running from usb 2 ports on my old MacPro late 2009  (El Capitan, Audirvana, Amara, JRiver Meida Center, into USB Schiit Audio Dac and external Amp to both speakers and headphones…. no problems)  That Mac Pro is pre USB3 and ONLY HAS USB2 ports
 
Running now on my 2011 MacBook Pro 17” (El Capitan using Audirvana into the SAME LH Labs Geek Out V2 USB DAC/Amp to headphones as I run on the New Mac Pro ….. NO PROBLEM - no sound drop out - I just listened to a full album as a test and am now switching around to different albums all on that external 5TB music drive) The Mac Book Pro only has USB2 Ports
 
Running from USB 3 ports on my new 2013/14 Mac Pro (running the same players and set up as the Mac Book Pro and I can not get the audio to stay consistent. Volume drops out, files from the external drive aren’t being connected via USB 3…. although the cache perhaps in the player software indicates they are there but with a red dot in place of the album cover meaning it isn’t connecting —— yet if I click on the file in that external drive finder window, it will open in the player and play - until the audio drops out and i have to either restart the program, un-hook and re-hook up the usb device, or reboot the OS)
 
 
 
MY QUESTIONS
Is Apple aware of a problem with the USB 3 and external Audio devices or external drives hooked into the USB 3 ports either directly or by a hub?
 
If so - is there a fix on the way?
 
If not, how can I return my New 2013/14 Mac Pro to OSX Mavericks? 
(there were no problems with sound when this Mac was running on Mavericks; not for over a year, not with any of the software mentioned and my external music drive — over a year with no audio problems - not until updating to El Capitan 2 weeks ago).
 
Was the problem updating to El Capitan from Mavericks and not going to Yosemite first? Not that it matters now - something has to be done now to fix this. I see problems on the web where others are reporting audio failure in El Capitan too…. And since this sound problem does not reveal itself with the same OS and software on equipment with only USB 2 ports.... but is present on a machine with ONLY usb 3 ports, I am led to wonder if this is not a problem with OS X El Capitan and USB 3.....????
 
If you are not sure how to answer this, can you forward this to a Upper Level Apple Tech for me please? I am currently between freelance jobs and have about a week to look for a fix. Please advise.
 
Thank you,
 
Jeff"
 
TO THE FORUM ----- anyone have anything to add? If I hear back from Apple, I will update.

 

[miceblue]

I have no issues playing audio through the OPPO HA-2, nor Objective DAC, nor JDS Labs C5D, nor LH Labs Geek Out, nor LH Labs Pulse X Infinity with my mid-2012 MacBook Pro Retina Display with USB 3.0 ports.

I too upgraded from Mavericks to El Capitan. All my devices still work just fine even with a clean install of El Capitan too.

I've been using A+ 1.5 and 2.x all this time.

 

[lefever]

Thanks for checking in with that, @miceblue. Maybe I need to reinstall El Capitan? I will ask Apple that when they write me back, Thanks for sharing. Every bit of info helps.

 

[Rearwing]

As i reported earlier I had big problems with distortion, clipping and losing sound, but with every update the audio quality has improved. I use Vox to an iFi iDSD via usb and then to my Marantz amp for my office system and it is now back to normal, or even a little better.
 
I hope that you find a solution soon, I know that I was massively frustrated until it recovered.