My USB DAC occasionally cuts off the first half-second of audio (Windows 10)

[Kevin.T]

I'm having a weird issue using external USB DACs on my PC (Windows 10): I occasionally get a half-second audio cutoff when starting an audio file. For example: when starting a YouTube video (will miss the first word if it starts right away with dialogue), or starting a song (will miss the first note). It happens maybe 15% of the time when starting an audio file.

- This can happen as I'm going from one file to another. It's not a 'DAC going in standby' thing;
- This has also happened between 16/44.1 files (no bitrate change, which is known to trigger muting relays in DACs: I expect that, but this is not what's happening here);
- In fact, I've had it happen in gapless transitions between two songs on the same album! So even if I don't *manually* launch a file, this can still happen occasionally. (Honestly, this is the most annoying one. I could live with having to rewind a track once in a while, but if you ruin the flow of an album I'm playing, we have a problem.)

Both DACs I've had this happen with are ESS DACs (one being my Modi 3E, which is a very recent design). This never happened with the AKM DACs I've tried on my PC, for some reason.

Can anyone relate to this? I've tried Googling this issue with many different keywords, and it just doesn't come up much. Only time it does is to suggest the DAC is going in standby or the bitrate is changing, but I've already established this is not my case. I've also tried many workarounds in Windows already, but nothing seems to fix this.

Any input is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[msing539]

Does this happen with local files, too, or only streamed audio/websites?

 

[Kevin.T]

Does this happen with local files, too, or only streamed audio/websites?

It happens with local files also, using MusicBee and Foobar2000. In Foobar, I can add 500ms preroll silence to mitigate this very effectively, but the gapless transition thing I mentioned happened while I was playing an album in Foobar.

 

[msing539]

If it happens with both local and streamed files, I'd look to update chipset and usb drivers. Are your usb ports set to always remain on or turn off to save power? Is your computer set to high performance?

Someone else recently had an issue with stuttering playback and it turned out to be ram causing their issue. But doesn't sound like what you're experiencing.

 

[563236]

Do you have open PCI-e slots?

 

[Kevin.T]

If it happens with both local and streamed files, I'd look to update chipset and usb drivers. Are your usb ports set to always remain on or turn off to save power? Is your computer set to high performance?

Someone else recently had an issue with stuttering playback and it turned out to be ram causing their issue. But doesn't sound like what you're experiencing.

I had set all USB ports to not turn off in order to save power, both in Device Manager and Power settings (USB selective suspend = disabled). However, I noticed just now that I had left the power plan in Balanced mode. I just put it in High performance. If it helps, I'll let you know.

I also just went through all chipset and USB devices in Device Manager. When I click 'Update driver', I always get the same same message: "The best drivers for your device are already installed". I'm pretty sure I already installed the latest motherboard drivers directly from the manufacturer, as part of my troubleshooting since I started having this issue.

Do you have open PCI-e slots?

Yes I do. My GPU uses two, but there are still some open. FYI, my motherboard is an Asus ROG Maximus VIII Formula, if that info helps.

 

[563236]

I have a deadline so check back next weekend.

I don't know if this fixes your issue, but something to consider:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/issue-with-dac-and-windows-10.963069/post-17118495

 

[msing539]

I had set all USB ports to not turn off in order to save power, both in Device Manager and Power settings (USB selective suspend = disabled). However, I noticed just now that I had left the power plan in Balanced mode. I just put it in High performance. If it helps, I'll let you know.

I also just went through all chipset and USB devices in Device Manager. When I click 'Update driver', I always get the same same message: "The best drivers for your device are already installed". I'm pretty sure I already installed the latest motherboard drivers directly from the manufacturer, as part of my troubleshooting since I started having this issue.



Yes I do. My GPU uses two, but there are still some open. FYI, my motherboard is an Asus ROG Maximus VIII Formula, if that info helps.

If it's Intel based, I generally use the Intel Driver & Support Assistant. Of course, the manufacturer tests certain driver versions with their hardware but rarely is it the latest, and sometimes there are still issues.

Just create a backup or image first.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

- Make sure that Asmedia USB Host Controller has Microsoft driver, uninstall device and reboot if this not the case.

- Also what output do you use, ASIO, WASAPI, WASAPI Exclusive or DirectSound. WASAPI exclusive is usually the most stable bit perfect pick. ASIO might work even better and allows buffer customization but it can be temperamental with the material over 96Khz.
- And if your DAC comes with proprietary USB drivers, try to install them instead of using generic UAC 2.0, if they are already installed, do the opposite, uninstall and let it switch to generic MS UAC 2.0, it could be more stable if your device vendor supplied drivers are too old.
- Are you using any DSP, upsamplers, turn them all off.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Try this things:
1. On "Advance Power Management" set power on USB ports to always On.
2. Uninstall DAC driver completely, detach DAC, restart Windows, Install DAC driver (or updated one), reconnect DAC. Make sure DAC is default sound device on Sound Properties and make sure it's in exclusive mode.

 

[Kevin.T]

First of all, thank you everyone for the replies.

Little update: the gap in gapless playback might be a software issue after all. It's one album in particular, which happens to be 24/192 FLAC. I ran this album a couple of times in both MusicBee and Foobar, and it only seems to happen in Foobar. I increased the hardware buffer in Foobar settings, and I think it helped? More testing needed to know for sure.

With that said, I'm unfortunately still getting the occasional "first half-second" cutout when launching a track (locally or streaming).

I tried pretty much everything that has been suggested here: updated all chipset and USB drivers (using MyAsus Live Update), went back in Power options to make sure USB ports never go to sleep (always on), completely uninstalled and reinstalled the DAC, made sure all sound processing is off, etc. The only thing I haven't tried is the PCI-e USB expansion card.

My next two options are purchasing a PCI-e expansion card (to see if it's hardware related), and/or doing a clean install of Windows 10 (to see if it's software related).

I'll update this thread when I have new info. Thanks again for the help, it is much appreciated.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

If other 24/192 albums plays fine...then maybe some files of that particular album maybe corrupted.

 

[Kevin.T]

If other 24/192 albums plays fine...then maybe some files of that particular album maybe corrupted.

Well, it plays fine in MusicBee. I only had the gap happen in Foobar. In any case, I think increasing the hardware buffer solved it: in five plays, I've not had it happen once (and it used to happen almost every time, at least once during the playthrough).

Another quick update: since my mobo has optical out, I decided to try the optical input on the DAC, to see if the cutout would stop happening this way. Turns out the cutout happens with optical, too. I think I can rule out USB as being at fault here: not sure investing in a PCI-e expansion card would help now. So it's either software, or it might be the whole motherboard. I'll probably try a clean Windows install soon, and see what happens. Fingers crossed!

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Check if you have Nahimic service running, disable it.

 

[Kevin.T]

Check if you have Nahimic service running, disable it.

This is one thing I'd read about when doing Web searches, before posting this thread. Was REALLY hoping this would be the solution, but it turns out that service is nowhere to be found on my PC.