[Maxx134]

Unusual review

Oppo HA-1 - Hi-Fi News July 2014  (PDF)


Yes he actually prefers material delivered via S/PDIF instead of USB DAC?

It seems like a typo to me as he refers to the test section which stated opposite.
Looking over to the "Lab Report" section,
It stated USB is better.
Also stated the HA -1 pushed 8.5w (!) before protection set in!

 

[gotoma8]

  Did you know you can log into JRiver Interact, then navigate to either windows/linux/mac client threads and ask any MC19 questions there?    Also for more advanced user, the Computer Audiophile software forum is available for reading on any topic. 

 
If you are a Mac user you would use Core Audio, and 2xDSD in DoP.   See this page for help.

Hi, thank you...I've scoured the JRiver Interact Forum, but still have not found what is recommended for the HA-1, actually there isn't much on the site for the HA-1 in specific.
I have, for now, chose to go with "NONE" as Output Encoding, letting the HA-1 decipher it at bit perfect with no up-sampling.
 
We'll see.  
 
Any JRiver MC19/PC users out there with the HA-1 like to comment?
 
Thanks

 

[Stereolab42]

Output encoding should usually be set to "none".
 
Audio device should be "WASAPI", and set System Volume to "disabled". This gives JRiver exclusive control over Windows sound and gives the Oppo exclusive control over volume, as long as you have a track playing in JRiver.
 
Bitstreaming should be set to "DSD", otherwise JRiver would try to convert all DSD to PCM in software before sending it out over USB, which is not what you want since you own a DAC that can handle DSD itself. (Downside being you can't apply EQ or other software DSP filters, of course.)

 

[gotoma8]

  Output encoding should usually be set to "none".
 
Audio device should be "WASAPI", and set System Volume to "disabled". This gives JRiver exclusive control over Windows sound and gives the Oppo exclusive control over volume, as long as you have a track playing in JRiver.
 
Bitstreaming should be set to "DSD", otherwise JRiver would try to convert all DSD to PCM in software before sending it out over USB, which is not what you want since you own a DAC that can handle DSD itself. (Downside being you can't apply EQ or other software DSP filters, of course.)

Thanks for the advice.  Shouldn't the Audio Device be in ASIO as that's supposedly the latest and purest?  Also, how do you disable system volume and lastly, why can't I get sound from playing other media, like from youtube to go through the HA-1?

 

[HiFiAudio]

  Thanks for the advice.  Shouldn't the Audio Device be in ASIO as that's supposedly the latest and purest?  Also, how do you disable system volume and lastly, why can't I get sound from playing other media, like from youtube to go through the HA-1?

ASIO requires a driver from Oppo Digital.
 
Software Driver for USB Audio DAC:
For Windows computers (XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8): software driver download link. Please unzip the downloaded package and double-click on the "setup.exe" file, then follow the on-screen instructions to finish this installation. Select the HA-1 as your sound output device by setting "Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sound -> Playback" to "OPPO HA-1 USB Audio 2.0 DAC".
 
Instead of scouring the forum, should have just logged on as new user and posted a question in the win mc 19 forum, someone would reply.

 

[gotoma8]

Thanks...I did download the USB Driver from OPPO when I installed and hooked up the HA-1.  Having done so, then, is ASIO audio device recommended over WASAPI?

 

[HiFiAudio]

  Thanks...I did download the USB Driver from OPPO when I installed and hooked up the HA-1.  Having done so, then, is ASIO audio device recommended over WASAPI?

If you want to play native DSD up to DSD256 yes.  Good luck finding DSD256 content.

 

 

[pragu]

Is anyone else having trouble getting output from chrome on a mac? I'm not sure if it's a chrome bug or something wrong with the driver, but they won't play together  

 

[Dixter]

  If you want to play native DSD up to DSD256 yes.  Good luck finding DSD256 content.

 

Over in the ifi micro iDSD forum they are finding out that you can use Jriver to convert MP3 on output to DSD and getting good results...
I tried it today and it does seem to work well with the IDSD...  might try it with the HA-1 and see...

 

[JML]

I almost hate to ask the obvious question, but did you change the basic Sound output settings in System Preferences after connecting the HA-1 for the first time?  If you don't, you won't hear anything from your Mac unless something like Audirvana chooses the Oppo for output.  I forgot to do that at first and wondered why iTunes alone wouldn't play through the Oppo.
 

 

[pragu]

  I almost hate to ask the obvious question, but did you change the basic Sound output settings in System Preferences after connecting the HA-1 for the first time?  If you don't, you won't hear anything from your Mac unless something like Audirvana chooses the Oppo for output.  I forgot to do that at first and wondered why iTunes alone wouldn't play through the Oppo.
 

Oh yeah, I have it set up as a multi-output through the mac's Midi settings, so that I can A/B test the HA-1 and my WA7. Every application seems to work except for Google Chrome (and Chrome Canary).

 

[MattTCG]

  Unusual review
 
Oppo HA-1 - Hi-Fi News July 2014  (PDF)
 
 
Yes he actually prefers material delivered via S/PDIF instead of USB DAC?

 
The guys at Schiit have held this position from the beginning about their dacs. 

 

[drews]

  Audirvana Plus has a manual that goes through all the settings, and there's a forum on their website.  The defaults take care of most of your critical options.  If you're using it in iTunes Integrated mode, it works great.  The only thing you have to "worry about" is SysOptimizer, which can shut down three activities; because I often work with my laptop while listening I do not have it turn off Spotlight indexing, and I found it can't turn off Time Machine (I filed a report on the forum about that). By the way, Audirvana Plus 2.0 is being developed and tested, but there's only one report of it being seen "in the wild."  
 
Here are my settings, not necessarily in order.  Three are not available while Audirvana is playing, but those are set for the defaults on my system.  I have 16 GB of RAM available, and Audirvana wanted to take 13 GB, so I reduced it to 8, which ought to be plenty for the app and not impede work I do while listening.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
For 'Native DSD Capability' you should instead select 'DSD over PCM' if you want the HA-1 to decode DSD files (Audirvana's automatic detection doesn't seem to work for the HA-1).
 
Drew 

 

[JML]

   
For 'Native DSD Capability' you should instead select 'DSD over PCM' if you want the HA-1 to decode DSD files (Audirvana's automatic detection doesn't seem to work for the HA-1).
 
Drew 

Thanks!  I haven't yet downloaded any DSD files.  I appreciate the tip.

 

[Uniquexme]

  Audirvana Plus has a manual that goes through all the settings, and there's a forum on their website.  The defaults take care of most of your critical options.  If you're using it in iTunes Integrated mode, it works great.  The only thing you have to "worry about" is SysOptimizer, which can shut down three activities; because I often work with my laptop while listening I do not have it turn off Spotlight indexing, and I found it can't turn off Time Machine (I filed a report on the forum about that). By the way, Audirvana Plus 2.0 is being developed and tested, but there's only one report of it being seen "in the wild."  
 
Here are my settings, not necessarily in order.  Three are not available while Audirvana is playing, but those are set for the defaults on my system.  I have 16 GB of RAM available, and Audirvana wanted to take 13 GB, so I reduced it to 8, which ought to be plenty for the app and not impede work I do while listening.
 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for the reply. 

 shall compare against mine when i go off work.