[Penne]

Hello, I'm new in this forum and this is my first post.
I would like to know if anyone is experiencing the same issues with the Diablo DAC and USB-AudioPlayerPro.

I tested both with and without the external dac (see below) with a few test tracks

Set-up 1:
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+, OTG cable C/A, USB cable A/B, iFi Purifier3, iFi Diablo, Beyerdynamic t5p

Test track 1: Jennifer Warnes/Way Down Deep (MQA)
The Diablo switches between Green/Magenta for a few seconds, then turn to (constant) Green.
Sound is very noisy!!, like 'shot noise'
UAPP Says: USB DAC 44.1kHz
MQA FLAC 44.1kHz 16bit 709Kbps

Test track 2: Cue/Burnin' (no MQA)
Diablo constant Green
Sound is very noisy!!, like 'shot noise
UAPP Says: USB DAC 44.1kHz
FLAC 44.1kHz 16bit 879Kbps

Test track 3: Bob Dylan/The Man In The Long Black Coat (MQA)
Diablo constant Magenta
The 'shot noise' is gone!
UAPP Says: USB DAC 48kHz
FLAC 96kHz 24bit 1578Kbps

Test track 4: Bettye LaVette/I Hold NO Grudge (MQA)
Diablo constant Magenta
The 'shot noise' is gone!
UAPP Says: USB DAC 48kHz
FLAC 96kHz 24bit 1634Kbps

Changing the set-up to
Set-up 2: Samsung Galaxy Note 10+, USB C/3.5mm, Beyerdynamic t5p

...and running the same Test tracks gives the following:

Test-track 1:
The 'shot noise' is gone!
MQA FLAC 44.1kHz 16bit 709Kbps

Test-track 2:
UAPP Says: USB DAC 44.1kHz
MQA FLAC 44.1kHz 16bit 879Kbps

Test-track 3:
UAPP Says: USB DAC 96kHz
MQA FLAC 96kHz 24bit 1578Kbps

Test-track 4:
The 'shot noise' is gone!
MQA FLAC 96kHz 24bit 1634Kbps

Seems that problem is correlated to the 44.1kHz(??)

Anyone having the same problem?

IFi-support seems to believe the problem is on the UAPP side.
UAPP-support says it's an issue on the Diablo-side...

 

[iFi audio]

IFi-support seems to believe the problem is on the UAPP side.
UAPP-support says it's an issue on the Diablo-side...

If I may suggest something, have you tried playing these files not via UAPP but say from a laptop? This would allow us to see whether this is related to UAPP or iDSD Diablo.

 

[Penne]

I tried without UAPP on my phone, set-up 2 (see above) and playing directly from the Tidal app

 

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

Just to be sure, you have purchased the MQA plug in?

 

[iFi audio]

I tried without UAPP on my phone, set-up 2 (see above) and playing directly from the Tidal app

Our DACs merely work on signal they receive. If with UAPP there were issues, and without UAPP they're gone, this means that the issue is not related to our product but either UAPP or/and your smartphone.

If I were you, I'd connect iDSD Diablo to a laptop, and then I'd listen to files (not streamed music) of sampling rates that caused issues. If these files will work correctly, then the fault isn't in iDSD Diablo but UAPP or your smartphone.

 

[Penne]

Just to be sure, you have purchased the MQA plug in?

Yes.
I have however uninstalled the app and then reinstalled it when I first ran into problems, is there a way to check to see that it is still active? - apart from listening, which clearly isn't possible now with all this noise.

 

[Penne]

Our DACs merely work on signal they receive. If with UAPP there were issues, and without UAPP they're gone, this means that the issue is not related to our product but either UAPP or/and your smartphone.

If I were you, I'd connect iDSD Diablo to a laptop, and then I'd listen to files (not streamed music) of sampling rates that caused issues. If these files will work correctly, then the fault isn't in iDSD Diablo but UAPP or your smartphone.

I will test that tomorrow. Seems its correlated somehow to 44.1kHz, regardless of MQA or not.
Not anyone else here experiencing the same thing?

 

[iFi audio]

Seems its correlated somehow to 44.1kHz

I would say yes, or rather how 44.1kHz is processed.

 

[whitedragem]

i have had issues when digital files (transmitted sampling rates) do not handshake properly.
if the flag that sets the feed is missed sometimes these sorts of issues can happen.
my most recent example of this is when feeding from an android phone to an external DAC/amp, I get a brief static sound and then pop/shot and silence.
if I swing the volume bar on my playback software to ‘full output’, the DAC kicks in properly and decodes well.

sometimes when we install multiple music playback software on an android device, the audio stack gets rewritten, and can lead to these weird sorts of errors.
it looks like an issue with the MQA handler and therefore passing non standard digital stream that the Diablo is seeking.

my experience with the android music apps I use (FiiO and HF Player) is that the Diablo always connects with android mixer on full volume (the way it should be) and I have never had an option for the volume slider to be engaged (in the music software).

if you have installed more than one audio program that takes over at a system level for the audio stack, they could be fighting each other.

i’d suggest using a different audio program on the Note, briefly, so as to show yourself that the phone is fine at passing 44khz...

HF player will bypass the android mixer (likely not work with uapp on the platform), but the free version (no upsampling) will allow pure 44khz output.

its not an Mqa player though.....

 

[Penne]

i have had issues when digital files (transmitted sampling rates) do not handshake properly.
if the flag that sets the feed is missed sometimes these sorts of issues can happen.
my most recent example of this is when feeding from an android phone to an external DAC/amp, I get a brief static sound and then pop/shot and silence.
if I swing the volume bar on my playback software to ‘full output’, the DAC kicks in properly and decodes well.

sometimes when we install multiple music playback software on an android device, the audio stack gets rewritten, and can lead to these weird sorts of errors.
it looks like an issue with the MQA handler and therefore passing non standard digital stream that the Diablo is seeking.

my experience with the android music apps I use (FiiO and HF Player) is that the Diablo always connects with android mixer on full volume (the way it should be) and I have never had an option for the volume slider to be engaged (in the music software).

if you have installed more than one audio program that takes over at a system level for the audio stack, they could be fighting each other.

i’d suggest using a different audio program on the Note, briefly, so as to show yourself that the phone is fine at passing 44khz...

HF player will bypass the android mixer (likely not work with uapp on the platform), but the free version (no upsampling) will allow pure 44khz output.

its not an Mqa player though.....

Just tested with some 44.1kHz files with HF player.
...and it works!!

I think you might be right that there could be a conflict between different audio programs (I have a few...)
I thought that since no one else seemed to have this problem, it would probably not be SW related (and hence a HW problem with my unit). But I guess there could be some conflicts between all audio apps installed.

-any thoughts how to fix this?
(Don't look forward to a total reset of the phone, but reinstalling the UAPP didn't help)

Again, thanks for the explanation

 

[whitedragem]

easy; I simply uninstalled one (of the two audio programs) that took over the android audio control.

for me it was hf player and uapp, and as I’ve paid for hf player (and like its ability to upsample and/or convert to DSD), I simply removed the other.
(not sure if I rebooted, but, )’problem solved’