Playback cracking and popping
Jun 11, 2019 at 2:29 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 14
anroj

anroj

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Hi all, I posted about this before but I haven't found a solution to the issue so I thought I would try again. I am getting cracking and popping when I play back DSD512 via I2S on my Audio-GD R8/Gustard U16. Also, 48KHz-based files have a muted, tizzy sound. I am on v1.4PSA on the U16, HQPlayer Desktop 4.0.4 and using Roon to manage playback. I have played with the HQPlayer, filters, and buffer settings and have tried changing the DSD rate to DSD256, which plays without the cracks and pops, but it skips and drops the sound. I have connected the R8 via USB and I am able to play back DSD512, but every now and then the sound drops out for about 2 seconds, and then starts back up. I have also noticed that for some reason if I have to restart my computer, the U16 is no longer the default sound device and I have to "troubleshoot sound problems" to re-enable it to be the default sound device.

Any advice on how to resolve these issues would be greatly appreciated.
 
Jun 12, 2019 at 5:37 AM Post #2 of 14
I don't know how to solve it, but my troubleshooting tips would include:
• try all USB ports on your computer.
• use the shortest USB cable possible - long cables will drop packets (data).
• try using Foobar2000 to play some lossless files, using a moderately large pre-cache size
• make sure your windows hardware settings for sample rate playback (48kHz for example) is the same setting you use in the playback software. Never mismatch sample rates.
 
Jun 12, 2019 at 12:11 PM Post #3 of 14
Do you have the current firmware updated for your DAC? I used to have the AGD R2R-11 and there was popping whenever there was a transition from one song to the other that had different bit rates. AGD released a firm ware to address that issue.
 
Jun 12, 2019 at 7:24 PM Post #4 of 14
GREQ said:
I don't know how to solve it, but my troubleshooting tips would include:
• try all USB ports on your computer.
• use the shortest USB cable possible - long cables will drop packets (data).
• try using Foobar2000 to play some lossless files, using a moderately large pre-cache size
• make sure your windows hardware settings for sample rate playback (48kHz for example) is the same setting you use in the playback software. Never mismatch sample rates.
Click to expand...
Hi Greq, thank you for the troubleshooting suggestions.
- I have tried all of the USB ports on my NUC and that has not done the trick
- I don't have much flexibility in the length of USB cable as my NUC and dac are separated by about 10 feet
- Foobar2000 still produces cracking and popping
- I set my windows HW settings to 48KHz, but for whatever reason, the setting does not stay at that rate and I have to manually change it whenever I restart my DAC. I'm sure there is a permanent way to do that but I'm not sure how to do it.
- At this point, I'm thinking the issue is with the Gustard U16, although I have not seen where anyone else has had my specific issues.
 
Jun 12, 2019 at 7:29 PM Post #5 of 14
Monsterzero said:
Do you have the current firmware updated for your DAC? I used to have the AGD R2R-11 and there was popping whenever there was a transition from one song to the other that had different bit rates. AGD released a firm ware to address that issue.
Click to expand...
Hi Monsterzero, I just got the R8 on May 27th so I'm assuming that it shipped with most recent firmware. How do I find the firmware version?
 
Jun 12, 2019 at 8:21 PM Post #6 of 14
Jun 13, 2019 at 12:31 AM Post #8 of 14
anroj said:
Yes, I downloaded the Amanero driver when I got the R8 set up initially. I am not using the USB so I don't know if the Amanero driver is the issue. I am using the R8 via I2S with my Gustard U16.
Click to expand...
I just read the information regarding the Amanero driver and it says I2S as well. I will uninstall and reinstall and see if that helps.
 
Jun 13, 2019 at 12:48 AM Post #9 of 14
anroj said:
Hi Greq, thank you for the troubleshooting suggestions.
- I have tried all of the USB ports on my NUC and that has not done the trick
- I don't have much flexibility in the length of USB cable as my NUC and dac are separated by about 10 feet
- Foobar2000 still produces cracking and popping
- I set my windows HW settings to 48KHz, but for whatever reason, the setting does not stay at that rate and I have to manually change it whenever I restart my DAC. I'm sure there is a permanent way to do that but I'm not sure how to do it.
- At this point, I'm thinking the issue is with the Gustard U16, although I have not seen where anyone else has had my specific issues.
Click to expand...
10 foot USB cable could legitimately be the problem there. That's definitely on the long side.
 
Jun 13, 2019 at 1:04 AM Post #12 of 14
anroj said:
It works fine on the R8 USB input. Maybe too long for the U16.
Click to expand...
It's not impossible. I think it depends on the kind of USB hardware within the DAC and how it deals with packet loss and caching, but I'm not an expert on the subject.
 
Jun 13, 2019 at 10:09 AM Post #13 of 14
GREQ said:
It's not impossible. I think it depends on the kind of USB hardware within the DAC and how it deals with packet loss and caching, but I'm not an expert on the subject.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestions and advice. I appreciate your help with this. I think it is the U16. I will use the USB input on the R8 until I can get a Singxer SU-6.
 
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