[AlbinoBlacMan]

My music streamer II arrived yesterday. So far I've had a love hate relationship with it. I love the sound but hate the fact that sometimes is sounds like a bowl of rice crispies (snap, crackle pop). I turned the Wasapi buffer down and gave it it's own powered USB port replicator and that didn't fix things.
 
So my question is: What are my other options for reasonably priced USB DACs (reasonable being sub $250, less is better). Preferably something not USB powered (something that actually has a plug) and that doesn't have as many issues with weird noises.
 
Chris

 

[dpmalito]

AUNE t1 is a great unit. Also you could spring for a USB power cleaner -> http://www.ifi-audio.com/en/iUSB.html

 

[oscarHiFi]

Quote:

My music streamer II arrived yesterday. So far I've had a love hate relationship with it. I love the sound but hate the fact that sometimes is sounds like a bowl of rice crispies (snap, crackle pop). I turned the Wasapi buffer down and gave it it's own powered USB port replicator and that didn't fix things.
 
So my question is: What are my other options for reasonably priced USB DACs (reasonable being sub $250, less is better). Preferably something not USB powered (something that actually has a plug) and that doesn't have as many issues with weird noises.
 
Chris

Maybe you got a defective one? Ive had my HRT music streamer ii more than a year now and ive never had not one single problem with it. What OS are you using?

 

[j123my]

I also have a problem with my recently-purchased MS II+. When playing music through iTunes or Spotify sometimes it randomly decides to play a very loud noise instead. By loud, I mean REALLY loud (I jumped from my chair a few times when this happened). Once it started the loud hiss, the only way to stop it is to forcefully unplug the USB cable. I know it is not the source, since it behaves the same both with my laptop and desktop. It might also be not my particular MS II+, since I have borrowed a friend's MS II+ and it behaved the same. They would start playing the music nicely at first, but at some random moment later they could start giving out the loud hiss.
 
Has anyone experience this? Could it be a driver/firmware bug?

 

[tim3320070]

Fiio Taishan D03K DAC is more than worth the price- silent and you can switch inputs between coax and toslink.

 

[KewreL]

Quote:

I also have a problem with my recently-purchased MS II+. When playing music through iTunes or Spotify sometimes it randomly decides to play a very loud noise instead. By loud, I mean REALLY loud (I jumped from my chair a few times when this happened). Once it started the loud hiss, the only way to stop it is to forcefully unplug the USB cable. I know it is not the source, since it behaves the same both with my laptop and desktop. It might also be not my particular MS II+, since I have borrowed a friend's MS II+ and it behaved the same. They would start playing the music nicely at first, but at some random moment later they could start giving out the loud hiss.
 
Has anyone experience this? Could it be a driver/firmware bug?

I have the II+ as well, but I've never encountered that problem. Since you tried it with different sources and with another II+ I am at a loss as to what could be the problem. Sounds like some kind of driver problem is the only thing it could be, or some kind of disagreement between the drivers and the OS you're using. That is, if you're using the same OS on both computers.