[Red Jacket Mike]

Hello-
I searched for anything close to this topic before starting a new thread; couldn't find anything on Head-Fi or elsewhere, so here goes.
 
I have a 2011 headless Mac Mini, running Audirvana Plus in the iTunes integrated mode.  I am running the latest iTunes, and the latest Mavericks OS (10.9.2).  The Mac Mini sends audio out via USB to my W4S DAC II, then to my amp and headphones.  I control iTunes with the Apple Remote App on my iPhone or iPad.  Everything has been working perfectly..
 
I decided I wanted to add a small monitor to the Mac Mini, for maintenance and other uses; I ended up purchasing a 19" Samsung 720p TV, hoping to connect it using HDMI.  
 
When hooking the TV up, everything went fine; I had a nice clear picture on the screen.  Screen sharing from my laptop also worked much more smoothly, now that the Mac Mini had a screen connected.  
 
The problem was when I tried playing music through my iTunes/Audirvana/W4S setup.  For awhile it worked fine; then I got some stuttering with some tracks, and occasionally iTunes would freeze and I couldn't play anything at all.  I checked all of the audio-midi settings and system prefs for both sound and displays--everything is set up correctly.
 
After shutting down the Mini, disconnecting the HDMI cable, and powering up again, everything works perfectly.  So there is definitely some issue with connecting an HDMI monitor, and using USB audio out.  
 
Does anyone have any suggestions for correcting this?  I'd appreciate any advice-thanks.

 

[Red Jacket Mike]

I'm still wondering about this issue--I've actually discovered that the audio stuttering, crackling, and freezing up will happen not only with Audirvana Plus.  I also use BitPerfect (now 2.0 version), and it happens with that, as well.  It will also happen when running iTunes alone, without another audio player.  But only, of course, when I have the Samsung monitor connected via HDMI.
 
I've unplugged the monitor, and everything is working great, no matter which music player I use.  I'm wondering if using the Mini Display Connector/HDMI adaptor would work.  I guess what I do not want is to have any audio signal present at the HDMI output of the mini--my guess is that is what's causing the problem.  The Mini Display connector must send audio as well, but maybe I'll try it and see.
 
I have my W4S DAC2 selected in system preferences and also in audio/midi settings as the audio output device, but I notice that the Samsung HDMI monitor is also a choice in both locations for sound output.
 
If I can't solve it I will just leave the monitor disconnected and only hook it up when necessary for updates, etc.

 

[Red Jacket Mike]

Well, no replies here, but I've solved it.  Turns out an old version of the W4S DAC2 driver was causing the problems.  It's been updated, and everything is now working perfectly.