Yulong D100 DAC - static problem

[svyr]

I am assuming that - because when I turned off the Internet completely - the playback lasted longer without clicks...

plenty of people have DPC issues because of their wireless cards, nothing to do with antivirus software or firewalls (although some people did have issues associated with those (e.g. Comodo), but the vendors usually fix them pretty soon).

 

[Syan25]

Yeah - I have to find a way to find out exactly what part of the system is causing the latency spikes - I downloaded the DPC latency checker - but I do not want to go disabling every bloody device...
 
Possibly chipset drivers maybe the ticket but since I don't know specifically which one...that's kind of hard

 

[Syan25]

But even with the Internet off - i still got clicks after 25 mins...so that's only part of the issue

 

[svyr]

Yeah - I have to find a way to find out exactly what part of the system is causing the latency spikes - I downloaded the DPC latency checker - but I do not want to go disabling every bloody device...
 
Possibly chipset drivers maybe the ticket but since I don't know specifically which one...that's kind of hard

don't try to manually pick it (it could also be the intel ata controller drivers, as it's frequently cited as the culprit)

a) update the bios and the drivers to the latest
b) try dpc checker for spikes.
c) if you see red or yellow spikes when it crackles, download win7 sdk and run xperf to profile what is causing the issues. That will point you to the processes or sys files where too much time is spend in DPC calls.

This is probably the fastest way, but it assumes the TRACING features of xperf work on Win XP. (I don't know if they do, but you can certainly install and try it).

 

[Syan25]

Tks - I 've downloaded the checker and the sdk - but haven't had time to use it today. I will try to use it whilst playing the audio tonight and see what happens. Cheers! ON a brief test though - the checker did show yellow spikes and I wasn't even operating any program....

 

[svyr]

Tks - I 've downloaded the checker and the sdk - but haven't had time to use it today. I will try to use it whilst playing the audio tonight and see what happens. Cheers! ON a brief test though - the checker did show yellow spikes and I wasn't even operating any program....

PS if it's the inter storage sys file, then they force the driver to the generic disk controller I think (instead of disabling it).


>the checker did show yellow spikes and I wasn't even operating any program

Part of the reason why I said to update the wireless and internal sound card drivers and the bios. Have you done that? (what used to happen on really old intel or ralink wireless drivers for my old laptop)

 

[Syan25]

Well - all the hardware in this PC was bought and put in a year a go - it is custom build - so I must admit I have only installed some of the latest drivers eg the sound card. But the truth is except for XP itself - everything else was brand new a year ago and very good stuff too....
 
THe only things that are old - are my current wireless keyboard (8 years) and my webcam (4 years) and I have to admit I haven't bothered to update them in years...
 
H

 

[Syan25]

I had a go just now but in the command prompt - under run as owner.... it wouldn't recognize the command xperf 
 
Or any of the other commands that Scott wrote on his blog...
 
Not sure why it wouldn't recognize the command!

 

[svyr]

I had a go just now but in the command prompt - under run as owner.... it wouldn't recognize the command xperf 
 
Or any of the other commands that Scott wrote on his blog...
 
Not sure why it wouldn't recognize the command!

did you install the SDK first ?


>C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Bin\wpt_x64.msi

yours is most likely wpt_x86.msi at the end

oh and it looks like for winxp you might need to manually copy files over http://blogs.msdn.com/b/pigscanfly/archive/2008/02/24/xperf-support-for-xp.aspx

>The next question is this "The xperf tool kit installer doesn't install the tools on XP or WS2003; how do I get the tools on those systems?" The answer is simple: From a Vista or WS2008 installation copy xperf.exe and perfctrl.dll to the target system. This is all xperf needs to support trace control.

Looks like you need to use something like this to get them from the MSI file: http://legroom.net/scripts/download.php?file=uniextract161

xperf.exe can be used on Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 for turning tracing on and of, and merge kernel trace data with user mode traces into a single ETL file. These operations are simply called "trace control". NOte that the '-stackwalk' switch is not supported on XP because its kernel doesn't support capturing the stack on events, this is anew feature in the Vista kernel.

might still be ok, since it doesn't look like that switch is used for getting the DPC data in the article.

 

[Syan25]

Cheers - I will look into it

 

[Syan25]

Hm...still haven't figured out how to do the xperf tool - but I will find the time soon. However, out of interest - I should mention that I was watching the DPC Latency Checker during playback - and after 25 minutes of fine playback - the glitching started and yet - the latency checker showed NO SIGN of latency at all - everything looked totally normal. Clearly it is a latency issue - or in fact is it? What else would cause glitching after a certain amount of perfect playback?
 
H

 

[svyr]

Hm...still haven't figured out how to do the xperf tool - but I will find the time soon. However, out of interest - I should mention that I was watching the DPC Latency Checker during playback - and after 25 minutes of fine playback - the glitching started and yet - the latency checker showed NO SIGN of latency at all - everything looked totally normal. Clearly it is a latency issue - or in fact is it? What else would cause glitching after a certain amount of perfect playback?
 
H

If there are no yellow/red spikes and you looked before they were moved off the DPC checker screen/didn't show up on the max spike label, then in could well not be DPC. You can also use xperf to profile CPU load and RAM usage (and page faults, although I doubt the problem is there) (or you can keep task manager window open in the background, 1 and arrange it by % cpu used, and check the amount of physical RAM left). You could also try a different player or updating your existing one in case it's a bug.

 

[Theogenes]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm having the same issue with my D100. It only happened after I updated my OS to Windows 8. The noise it makes is absolutely horrific-- it's like screaming static, and it's VERY loud. I tend to listen to things at pretty low volumes, and it can still be painfully loud when it happens. I've changed my performance settings per the earlier instructions in this thread, and I bought a powered USB extender from Monoprice about a month ago to see if it would fix the problem. I never hooked it up b/c I got an ODAC in the meantime and never had that happen once. I'll try the USB extender and report back. 
 
In the meantime, if anybody else has figured this out, PLEASE let me know. It's bad enough that I would have to completely stop using the D100 if I can't correct it. Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[Theogenes]

For the benefit of posterity, I'll say that thus far (approx 2 hours of listening straight) the Monoprice cable has resolved the whole Satan's-nails-on-a-chalkboard sounds. Unfortunately, I'm still having sporadic little pauses or sputters, but this is VASTLY better than before. If anybody else is experiencing the same thing, the cable I'm using is an active USB 2.0 extension cable (PID 7533, here). Hope this helps! If I find any other relevant info I'll pass it along. 
 
FYI, my ODAC did not do this, but I still marginally prefer the sound of the D100 (seems as detailed, but slightly warmer and more listenable to my ears), so I'm sticking with my D100 and working on the occasional pauses.