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New M8 DAC from SMSL (9018/XMOS)
Nov 20, 2017 at 5:59 PM Post #1,081 of 1,112
DjBobby said:
I had ground loop problems with a bunch of equipment, including Schiit Magni2Uber/Modi2Uber, SMSL Sap II pro, Little Bear P1 etc., yet never with the M8 + P1. Using it only in USB mode with the MB Pro. According to my experience, I would rather start searching for the problem around the headphone amp area than a dac.
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I had a ground loop issue with the P1 but not with the stock power supply.
 
Feb 8, 2018 at 9:02 PM Post #1,083 of 1,112
Hi fellow M8 owners, and anyone else who might be reading this... I've used an M8 since late 2015, and it has been great. When I first installed it, I found a few DSD samples to test, which worked well, but I haven't tested them for a long time, as most of my audio is 44.1kHz mp3 or flac.

I tried them again recently, and got a load of static or white noise. Some of the original audio was still detectable, but almost entirely drowned out by static. I'm pretty sure I hadn't changed my foobar setup, but I had a fiddle after this discovery and have probably made things worse. I've installed up-to-date versions of the ASIOProxy and foo_input_sacd which appear to work slightly differently to before, but the best I can get out of it is static.

The M8 is otherwise functioning as normal, all my non-DSD audio works perfectly. Any ideas what might be going on here? Did Windows 10 get a weird audio update that broke something?
 
Feb 9, 2018 at 7:50 PM Post #1,084 of 1,112
PLazarou said:
Hi fellow M8 owners, and anyone else who might be reading this... I've used an M8 since late 2015, and it has been great. When I first installed it, I found a few DSD samples to test, which worked well, but I haven't tested them for a long time, as most of my audio is 44.1kHz mp3 or flac.

I tried them again recently, and got a load of static or white noise. Some of the original audio was still detectable, but almost entirely drowned out by static. I'm pretty sure I hadn't changed my foobar setup, but I had a fiddle after this discovery and have probably made things worse. I've installed up-to-date versions of the ASIOProxy and foo_input_sacd which appear to work slightly differently to before, but the best I can get out of it is static.

The M8 is otherwise functioning as normal, all my non-DSD audio works perfectly. Any ideas what might be going on here? Did Windows 10 get a weird audio update that broke something?
Click to expand...
Answering my own post... as I've just figured it out. It seems DSD playback only works when the Windows volume is set to almost max. I guess at some point I turned it down and never realised because I rarely use these files. Quite strange... huge amounts of static and then suddenly it all goes away at around 98% volume. I would love to know the technical reason for that.
 
Feb 10, 2018 at 10:17 AM Post #1,085 of 1,112
PLazarou said:
Answering my own post... as I've just figured it out. It seems DSD playback only works when the Windows volume is set to almost max. I guess at some point I turned it down and never realised because I rarely use these files. Quite strange... huge amounts of static and then suddenly it all goes away at around 98% volume. I would love to know the technical reason for that.
Click to expand...

Yes the maximum volume thing is well known amongst M8 owners. I'm constantly using the master volume controls on my computers all day long, and so I would have spotted this issue instantly anyway. Why do I change the volume so much? Because online media channels tend to be normal one moment, and then blow your head off with extreme sound the next. So I tend to keep the volume very low most of the time, to avoid causing damage to my hearing. I think the generation that used to be better educated about sound, have gradually gone in to retirement in the past twenty years or so. So now we have the millennial generation who think it is clever, to have everything compressed to the maximum with a heap of bass frequencies on top, to pound and rip your head off with constantly aggravating noise in your face.

I think most people buy the M8 because they wish to playback DSD files, and at the time I bought mine in September 2015 it was the most bang per buck (or pound in my case!). One of the unexpected additional benefits for me, is coming across a lot of 32-bit audio files and therefore I am able to play those too. I've found that out of all the formats I have played on it, I mostly like vinyl rips the best followed by well made DSD album conversions. However sometimes it can be hard to choose between the two, because they can both have something different and equally good to offer, e.g. Toto IV (1982) [SACD] (2002 Remaster) and Toto (1982) - Toto IV [US Columbia, FC 37728].
 
Feb 10, 2018 at 4:33 PM Post #1,087 of 1,112
Shredder11 said:
Yes the maximum volume thing is well known amongst M8 owners. I'm constantly using the master volume controls on my computers all day long, and so I would have spotted this issue instantly anyway. Why do I change the volume so much? Because online media channels tend to be normal one moment, and then blow your head off with extreme sound the next. So I tend to keep the volume very low most of the time, to avoid causing damage to my hearing. I think the generation that used to be better educated about sound, have gradually gone in to retirement in the past twenty years or so. So now we have the millennial generation who think it is clever, to have everything compressed to the maximum with a heap of bass frequencies on top, to pound and rip your head off with constantly aggravating noise in your face.

I think most people buy the M8 because they wish to playback DSD files, and at the time I bought mine in September 2015 it was the most bang per buck (or pound in my case!). One of the unexpected additional benefits for me, is coming across a lot of 32-bit audio files and therefore I am able to play those too. I've found that out of all the formats I have played on it, I mostly like vinyl rips the best followed by well made DSD album conversions. However sometimes it can be hard to choose between the two, because they can both have something different and equally good to offer, e.g. Toto IV (1982) [SACD] (2002 Remaster) and Toto (1982) - Toto IV [US Columbia, FC 37728].
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Yes I guess it set itself to 100% volume on initial install, and having bought a separate headphone amp at the same time, I was happy to control the volume with that instead. But I'm like you, and become frustrated by the extremely variable volume levels that you get across internet video and audio content, and at some stage I must have decided it was more convenient to have the DAC turned lower, not realising it was effectively disabling the DSD mode.

Anyway, I have a separate question for you, as your M8 is about the same age as mine - how's your display? As mine is almost permanently displaying 'USB', 'FAST', and '44.1kHz', these pixels have faded significantly. As you can see in the photo below, when it displays something else, those rarely-used pixels are way brighter. Hard to show in a photo with the right exposure, but you can probably see how much dimmer the 'USB' is on the screen, as well as a few dimmer pixels in the top right and in the 'DSD64' display.

DSC_0553.jpg
 
Feb 11, 2018 at 4:04 PM Post #1,088 of 1,112
PLazarou said:
Anyway, I have a separate question for you, as your M8 is about the same age as mine - how's your display? As mine is almost permanently displaying 'USB', 'FAST', and '44.1kHz', these pixels have faded significantly. As you can see in the photo below, when it displays something else, those rarely-used pixels are way brighter. Hard to show in a photo with the right exposure, but you can probably see how much dimmer the 'USB' is on the screen, as well as a few dimmer pixels in the top right and in the 'DSD64' display.

Click to expand...

I've not used mine at all for a few months now, due to neighbours making EXTREME noise with hip hop / rap moronic braindead crap muzak. So even listening on headphones is impossible and undesirable. Anyway that said, my M8 display is still in full working order and brightness etc. However I had thought about soldering a small switch or resistor, to prolong the life of the display and only make it visible on demand. I'm no electronics expert unlike my uncle, so I am wary of causing damage.
 
Feb 12, 2018 at 6:58 AM Post #1,089 of 1,112
Shredder11 said:
I've not used mine at all for a few months now, due to neighbours making EXTREME noise with hip hop / rap moronic braindead crap muzak. So even listening on headphones is impossible and undesirable. Anyway that said, my M8 display is still in full working order and brightness etc. However I had thought about soldering a small switch or resistor, to prolong the life of the display and only make it visible on demand. I'm no electronics expert unlike my uncle, so I am wary of causing damage.
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Interesting. Perhaps I leave mine on for too long, burning the display out. But it's possible that your display has faded a bit but you haven't noticed. I didn't notice because it faded so gradually over the course of 2+ years, until one day I happened to play a rare 48kHz track and saw the '8' light up brighter than the rest.
 
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