NFB-11 issues? Or am I using it wrong?

[Doku]

I've tried using it on Windows and Mac and I'm having different issues on both of them. 
 
On Windows 10, I'm noticing some popping when playing CD quality audio files. I'm not sure if this is because of my settings in JRiver or what. It's really distracting. I think I sovled this by going to 16-bit 48k? The popping is gone from normal audio stuff like YouTube and applications. I also turned off Exclusive Access. Anyway, still fiddling with it. 
 
On Mac OS X 10.10.2 on my laptop, it just won't stay on at all. I'm pretty sure it's the unit and not the speakers that keeps coming on and off, cause when I look in the audio section of System Preferences, the audio-gd device keeps appearing and disappearing. 
 
Anyway, I'm considering going with optical out from my computer soundcard if this keeps happening.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I've had my ups and downs with the USB on my NFB-15.32, so 95% of the time I use the optical connection.

 

[Doku]

The popping seems to be minimized with 32-bit / 96khz in the Windows settings:
 

 
 
I'm OK with this as long as the popping goes away. I'm still pretty confused why on the Mac it won't even stay on. 

 

[cel4145]

I have my NFB-11 set to default mode of 2 channel, 24 bit, 44.1 kHz with Exclusive Mode, both boxes checked (allow applications and give exclusive priority).

I have Media Monkey and use WASAPI output, configured to exclusive mode.

 

[jodgey4]

Try another USB cable perhaps.

 

[Doku]

So, bumping windows back to to 32-bit 384k and giving JRiver exclusive access, then setting JRiver to use VIA DirectKS and setting the Output format back to 1xDSD native seems to have solved the popping when listening to lower than DSD quality music. 
 
However, these settings make YouTube just flat out not work.  HTML5 crashes twice then goes to the Flash version which won't play any audio until I set Windows down to 192k or less, then it pops. However, it sounds great when using JRiver's fake audio which pipes it through JRiver before going out to the DAC, but there is significant lag, like a quarter second or more. I fiddled with JRiver but I can't get the audio in sync no matter what buffers I mess with. However, YouTube inside of JRiver plays great. 
 
Not a happy camper.  

 

[Doku]

Ok, so the most compatible I can get this is:
 
Windows set to 16-bit/96khz.
JRiver set to Direct Sound.
 
Now I've got no popping on regular computer audio and no popping on 16-bit/44.1. 
 
I'm assuming the sound would be identical to optical instead of USB, so I'm probably going to just switch to optical instead and let the onboard hardware mux and sample the sound to 24-bit/96khz and only fire up the USB when I want to just listen to music for a while. I also hope that if I use optical it will also stop the DAC from going into this sleep mode all the time there's no sound and popping when a sound happens. 

 

[Doku]

Bleh, I'm now getting popping on 24bit /44.1.  

 

[jodgey4]

You're sure you're using the right drivers for your firmware?

 

[Doku]

I just bought it and I downloaded the drivers from here:
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/USB32/USB32EN.htm
 
I'm going to bed and I'll try optical tomorrow. 

 

[jodgey4]

BTW, flash won't work depending on JRiver - because AISO and WASAPI can take full control of a device and block other streams like standard Windows DirectSound. Foobar2000 is an easy way to play around with that stuff. Not the A-GD's fault.
 
A popping/problematic connection could be a number of things - crappy motherboard power, crap USB cable, bad driver installation, OS errors, etc. Try to use a cable <6ft, the shorter the better. Or a broken unit . It happens, as big of A-GD as I am, I know they're not perfect.
 
Optical is a little mushier to my ears, but an easy fix. I'm talking a 2% difference - nearly nothing. Could be purely subjective.

 

[Doku]

So I'm hoping I got this resolved finally. 
 
I plugged the DAC into a front USB instead of a rear and all the popping seems to be gone. 
 
My Motherboard supports high power charging via one of the ports on the back of the motherboard, a feature I use all the time. It looks like the NFB-11 was plugged into the port next to the high power USB port. I doubt USB 3.0 is needed to push the maximum data to the DAC so I'm going to try to isolate the DAC on the USB 2.0 headers on the back of the computer and see if stays fixed. 

 

[cel4145]

Were you using a USB 3.0 port? That could have been the problem as well. Many people have experienced problems with DACs and USB 3.0 ports (for whatever reason). There's no reason to use USB 3.0 ports over 2.0 ports with a USB DAC.

Regardless, good that you found out it's not the NFB-11.

 

[Doku]

Yes, I was using a USB 3.0 port. It's now on a USB 2.0 port away from the high power charging port. So far so good. I haven't tried bumping windows audio back up to high resolution, but JRiver plays in dedicated mode well and all normal activity sounds great. To be fair, it worked fine on front USB 3.0 as well. Not sure. I guess the timing on the port could be screwed up by too much EMF or something. Or maybe there's some dirty power from the high power port. 
 
Anyway, my last complaint is how it turns on and off all the time. I have to wait like half a second for the DAC to start. It's not a big big deal, but the pop of it coming on is irritating. I know it's saving power, but I'd rather it just stay on all the time. 

 

[cel4145]

Anyway, my last complaint is how it turns on and off all the time. I have to wait like half a second for the DAC to start. It's not a big big deal, but the pop of it coming on is irritating. I know it's saving power, but I'd rather it just stay on all the time. 

I leave my NFB-11 on all the time connected to my t-amp which powers my speakers. Mine doesn't switch on and off. Perhaps that's because it's always sensing the amp.