[TG04]

Just posted this plea for help on the Microsoft feedback:
 
Build 14986: this update wipes 3rd party drivers off the computer and I haven't been able to re-install since the system keeps zapping it!  Wouldn't be so bad if Audio 2.0 were perfect but it isn't.  The built-in sound card (Conexant 20671 SmartAudio HD) will not accept the new driver - I suppose it isn't 2.0 compliant - but reinstalling the factory driver was not a problem.
 
For music playback via the USB connector, I am using Chord Mojo which is capable of up 32-768 but this driver can "only" manage 32-384.  Worse, there is some faint ticking noise, it is spurious and sort of like dust-on-the-needle if you can imagine that.  Otherwise, PCM stereo  works great, I even think the sound quality is an improvement over the manufacturer's driver.  
 
Unfortunately, DSD only works if set up to first convert to PCM (32-352.8) but it will not play DSD/DFF/FLAC natively. So that kind of misses the point.  It is, however, possible to "force" output to DoP 2.8 by selecting this option on the DSP panel.  To me, this indicates that there's nothing wrong with my Chord Mojo or its setup.  Selecting DSD on the Options panel doesn't work and as far as I can tell, there's no other way to activate DSD playback(?)
 
I am using J River Media Center as player.  Foobar cannot be made to work with this driver at all with any format source file (at least I can't get it to go). 
 
All feedback much appreciated.
 
Thank you, 
 
TG

 

[LinkError404]

Hi there. I literally made this account to reply to your post. I am having a similar issue where Windows 10 no longer recognizes my Chord Mojo. Are you rolling back the USB drivers to be able to use the Mojo? If i can get it working again, I will help you try to get full functionality back. I bet there is some way to go into the registry and change a value to allow third party drivers. I'll start giving it a go and see what I can do, but your reply will help me in the mean time. 

 

[TG04]

Great, I think I may have found a solution -- Microsoft describes on their website how to perform a Clean Boot and that did the trick for me.  Unfortunately, new tricks are being served up almost every day!  But this is a very good thing to regardless, I think.  Below is a copy of my eport to the support folk at Chord in the UK:
 
Dear Matt and  Edd,
 
After suffering these issues pretty much all of December with increasing frequency and severity, my PC experienced some kind of “healing catharsis” last weekend.  After much Googling I may have found a solution and it is very simple  -- just run the Windows Clean Boot procedure (msconfig) which is really easy to do, takes less than 5 minutes. 
 
While I may not be ready to blow the All Clear signal just yet, after repeating this process 3 times on Christmas Eve my computer remains symptom free four days later.  So it seems the problems did not start with Windows 10 and also were not related to the Mojo. 
 
Now who says there's no Santa Claus?  Bah-humbug, indeed!
 
TG
 
P.S.  In case you want to share this info with others suffering needlessly, I am attaching a link to the Msft inx: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135
 

 

[LinkError404]

Oh awesome - Thank you!. I will give it a try when i get home. I hope it works. I thought my Mojo was broken . I've only had it for 2 months. In the mean time, I'm going to see if I can find a registry setting for allowing third party drivers to remain untouched. 

 

[TG04]

Windows updates keep reverting back to the "official" MSFT drivers, so keep a copy of the Mojo driver download somewhere convenient on you hard drive so you can simply re-install that when & as needed.  You shouldn't need to tamper with the registry (personally, I am deadly afraid of that! ) 

 

[captblaze]

  Just posted this plea for help on the Microsoft feedback:
 
Build 14986: this update wipes 3rd party drivers off the computer and I haven't been able to re-install since the system keeps zapping it!  Wouldn't be so bad if Audio 2.0 were perfect but it isn't.  The built-in sound card (Conexant 20671 SmartAudio HD) will not accept the new driver - I suppose it isn't 2.0 compliant - but reinstalling the factory driver was not a problem.
 
All feedback much appreciated.
 
Thank you, 
 
TG

 
Try build 15007 which is the current insider build, you may be surprised how far along the native USB 2.0 audio support has progressed. cant guarantee that Mojo is included as I don't own or have access to one, but since the build you are using there has been improvement

 

[TG04]

Yes indeed, I am looking forward to the next update but prefer to wait until it hits the "slow" ring, there's just too much pain in the "fast" ring frequent updates -- too boot (!), there were 2 such last week, guess the first wasn't all that good and 15007 has a lot known problems listed.  Glad to hear you had good experience though.  
 
What I ended up doing instead was to delete all 3 line items in the Program Manager that are marked "Chord" in one column or another, restart and -- Poof! -- I am back to the USB Audio 2.0 as provided by MSFT.  This time it works better, there is one problem with the Device Manager though, it only lists 32-bit choices and Tidal requires 16-44.1 (yes, I got an error message to prove it). Another problem is that only WASAPI is available in JRiverMediaCenter, no ASIO.  WASAPI automatically converts all streaming (DSD) content to DXD which may not be a bad thing, but if you paid for DSD you want DSD, am I right?
 
So I re-install the Chord Mojo driver package. Works pretty good too, only issues are I can't get quad-DSD to play natively (i.e. DoP 11.2) and also not DSD64 m.ch. but those are minor concerns for me. Incidentally, I have selected Kernel Streaming (32 bit fixed) as Output Device based on guidelines by Chord (hope I understood that right).
 
Tidal also works but oh-so-slow on loading MQA content (and skipping tracks).  

 

[RMac]

Hey all,
 
It might go without saying, but if your PC has optical or COAX you could use those instead, no driver needed
 
I know, it's like a "duh" answer but just throwing it out there.  I'm using a braided optical cable, no muss no fuss

 

[TG04]

Thank you, that's an interesting idea.  What kind of bit resolutions does the Mojo deliver connected that way?

 

[alanpiga]

Please sugest what to to for a new driver install in a laptop with windows 10 64 bit? I hate dealing with head aches maybe There are secrets somebody know to avoid them?

 

[cossix]

I'm not sure if the Mojo does "native" DSD but I will say that S long as your DAC chip can decode 24/192, you can use DoP and listen to DSD64. Since your Mojo can decode higher than 24/192, it should be able to play DSD128 at least with DoP. And for the record, DoP has ZERO difference than native DSD once it gets decoded. The output is literally the same analog data. So unless you insist on listening above DSD128, you'll be fine using DoP. And just to clarify, DoP doesn't convert or downsample anything, it just uses PCM as a container for the data and then unwraps it downstream. No detail is lost compared to native, it's just a different and more efficient way of doing it

 

[TG04]

Please sugest what to to for a new driver install in a laptop with windows 10 64 bit? I hate dealing with head aches maybe There are secrets somebody know to avoid them?

To get the benefit of USB Audio 2.0 you need to have the Windows 10 Creators Update installed.

1. If your machine was bought new later than March 2017 you should not need to do anything at all. If your machine came with an older version, you need to be sure it has been updated to the the current version.

2. If your DAC is the Chord Mojo, go to the Mojo website and download the latest Win 10 Creators Update driver, follow inx to install. Other manufacturers presumably have their own drivers but the whole point (?) of USB Audio 2.0 is that you should be able to function with the Microsoft provider driver alone.

3. Find the audio driver in the Device Manager, right click on it and chose Update Driver, if the Mojo driver isn't listed, then find it among All Available Drivers (sorted by manufacturer) and install it. If your haven't downloaded a manufacturer's driver, then select Microsoft and pick the USB Audio 2.0 driver.

 

[alanpiga]

TG-04 in your first post you say reinstalling the factory driver was not a problem. Which driver are you talking about?

 

[alanpiga]

I tried to install the USB Audio 2.0 driver to use with my Chord Mojo in my laptop with Windows 10. In the System32/drivers folder there is a line that says something like USB audio 2. Without ever going to the Chord website the laptop recognizes the Mojo but sound is bad. Then since I already have a line for the Mojo in the device manager I try to update driver, take browse to this folder and the result doesn't include the USB Audio 2.0 driver. I installed Chord driver from Win 10 Creators Update and it works. But I wonder why I cannot install the USB Audio 2.0 driver.

 

[alanpiga]

This is the second time I install Chord Mojo driver. I am not sure now, but before drive swap (started laptop from scratch) I used Mojo in the past and each time I wanted to use Mojo I had to go to sound devices and select driver. Isn't that dumb or what? Any way to make it work "plug and play"?