M2Tech HiFace Mavericks problem

[slartibartfast]

I was looking at the Audiophileo 2 as well, but i could get the Weiss (used) for half the price of the AP2

[slartibartfast]

Another, less expensive, option would be to use an Audiophilleo 2 to input SPDIF into the Hex, which is my current arrangement. I purchased my Hex fully loaded, i.e. larger RCA transformers, AES/EBU Module and USB. I wanted the AES/EBU for future options and the USB as a backup in the event my AP2 ever had issues. You can refer to the Six Moons review of the Hex to get their take on how the AP2 compared to the Hex's USB option, in that review they gave the AP2 a slight edge over USB. The AP2 will also provides integer mode operation as well which the Six Moons review did not utilize, if they had I'd imagine the edge the AP2 held over the USB input would have been even greater.

 

Are you using the AP2 with the Pure Power module?

[BobP63]

Are you using the AP2 with the Pure Power module?

 

No I purchased my AP2 before the Pure Power module was available, I am however using a Aqvox USB linear power supply. The Aqvox was the hot setup before the Pure Power was available; it accomplishes the same goal as the PP just not as elegantly and it's a quarter of the price.

[nieldm]

That's not really an option given many of those affected, myself included, are using Non-M2Tech equipment.

 

It really is an option for M2Tech, within whose gift it is to make such an offer to users of its own products. If they do something like this, they will end up with existing clients using newer versions of their products rather than, as I am sure a significant percentage are doing, shopping around for alternatives. They have limited options to repair their reputation and it could be argued that this makes sound business sense. Sure, they take a one off hit but it may be more sensible to take the hit rather than the not so slow leaking of disaffected clients and a totally shot reputation for customer support.

 

I realise this would be no comfort to users of products that use M2Tech drivers, but responsibility to keep those users happy lies with the product manufacturer and not M2Tech, whose relationship is with the supplier and not the end user. One would assume those conversations are already taking place.

 

No easy solutions here, just varieties of messy.....

[Miska]

Seems to take time for bunch of pro-audio vendors too. I'm still waiting driver update for my Focusrite A/D/A...

[nieldm]

Has anyone heard any more from M2Tech on this?

[Toddc2]

Has anyone heard any more from M2Tech on this?

 

No, but I saw this work around posted on AC. It worked for my Off-Ramp 5 so it *might* work for other devices.

 

Maverick OSX

 

Todd

[Huy Hong]

No, but I saw this work around posted on AC. It worked for my Off-Ramp 5 so work for other devices.

 

Maverick OSX

 

Todd

 

Thanks Todd for the link, fidgeted with this last night and got my M2Tech HiFace working in OSX 10.9 (pretty sure it'll work in 10.9.1 also).

 

Required some .plist modification inside the .kext file to have the drivers register for the HiFace device, but simple enough (similar to what was done to get the Young DAC drivers working on the HiFace).

 

I did the following: (cleaner version here)

 

 

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/Hiface.kext

sudo pkgutil --forget com.m2tech.driver

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

 

# Download and install the Northstar DAC async driver (http://www.northstar.it/drivers/Mavericks_10.9/Northstar1055r4_192Khz.dmg) via Maverick OSX

 

sudo sed -i "" "s/900/37643/g" /System/Library/Extensions/async192.kext/Contents/Info.plist

sudo kextload -b 'com.async.driver.async192'

 

# Restart system

 

Driver should show up as "Young Async USB 44.1Khz-384Khz":

If you want to change the device name to something more appropriate, edit /System/Library/Extensions/async192.kext/Contents/Info.plist and look for "<string>Young Async USB 44.1Khz-384Khz</string>"

Enjoy!

Huy

[slartibartfast]

hm... not working here (got 10.9.1) no driver whatsoever showing up.

anyone else tried this with 10.9.1?

maybe I´m just too dumb...

[nieldm]

Nor here with a HiFace (1), so equally dumb...

[slartibartfast]

tried it with both my Mac Mini and the MBP - no luck...

[Toddc2]

I didn't have to do anything other than update the OS and load the driver. My OR5 was identified correctly (without have to edit any of the files, reboot, etc). Sorry to get your hopes up if this work around didn't work for you.

 

Todd

[leggoslave]

Todd and Huy and I suppose by extension AC and North Star much Thanks..!!

 

async192.kext works on my Eastern Electric Minimax Dac+..Direct & Integer modes are also available as a bonus..wow..

 

Didn't have to do anything much in Terminal although I did remove the old EE Minimax driver and a M2Tech one I had installed in vain..

 

The commands I used for the Minimax were:

 

rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/EEAudioUsb.kext

sudo pkgutil --forget com.veldom.driver

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

 

You might get a "No receipt" for the second line..

 

These were done prior to the install of the North Star driver..

 

The Minimax comes up as Eeaudio USB 44.1Khz-192Khz in Audio Midi Setup..

 

I tried changing the name to EE Mininimax DAC+ in the info.plist file but ended up with a non-responding driver..so repeated the steps above and re-installed..

 

Looking at the info.plist found in /System/Library/Extensions/async192.kext/Contents/Info.plist (Control-click on the async192.kext file > Show Package Contents > Contents > Opened with Xcode); and under IOKitPersonalities it appears that there are a number of Dacs supported.

 

I've included a screenshot for those interested:

 

 

Once again thanks to all, hope this fudge doesn't break copyright but it's been a boon to those of us that have been without USB audio for months now..

 

PS. M2Tech get your act together..

[Toddc2]

Cool, glad it worked for you! And thanks for sharing your step by step instructions.

 

Todd

[Huy Hong]

Went through my above-mentioned steps again on a fresh Mavericks 10.9.1 install on a new Macbook and my HiFace 1 works there as well.

 

Key things you need to do are:

- Remove existing Hiface drivers in /System/Library/Extensions (in my case it was Hiface.kext, in leggoslave's case it was EEAudioUSB.kext)"

- Run "sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions" to tell OSX to invalidate the Extensions folder cache (and have OSX rebuild it on the next boot)

- Install the North Star Driver

- Edit /System/Library/Extensions/async192.kext/Contents/Info.plist and change the "idProduct" value for the "Young Async USB 44.1Khz-384Khz" device to match that of the Hiface, otherwise OSX won't know to attach that driver to the Hiface's product id. The Young device's "idProduct" is 900, the Hiface is 37643. Line 1756 in that plist file.

- Reboot and select the driver in the sound preferences pane

 

Hope this helps.

[Huy Hong]

Also if the Young DAC settings don't work on your HiFace, you can try replacing other devices' "idProducts" with "37643" to see if the drivers will pick up there. At a glance, the "Chord Async USB 44.1Khz-384Khz" is the only other device similarly specced to the HiFace 1 (as is the Young DAC).

 

Haven't tried this so no guarantees.

[Huy Hong]

For those who can't get this to work, you might need to select "Anywhere" in the "Allow apps downloaded from:" cause the .kext driver files from Northstar aren't signed by a verified OSX developer, so OSX might be blocking the driver from initializing during boot.

 

[Naggots]

Went through my above-mentioned steps again on a fresh Mavericks 10.9.1 install on a new Macbook and my HiFace 1 works there as well.

 

Key things you need to do are:

- Remove existing Hiface drivers in /System/Library/Extensions (in my case it was Hiface.kext, in leggoslave's case it was EEAudioUSB.kext)"

- Run "sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions" to tell OSX to invalidate the Extensions folder cache (and have OSX rebuild it on the next boot)

- Install the North Star Driver

- Edit /System/Library/Extensions/async192.kext/Contents/Info.plist and change the "idProduct" value for the "Young Async USB 44.1Khz-384Khz" device to match that of the Hiface, otherwise OSX won't know to attach that driver to the Hiface's product id. The Young device's "idProduct" is 900, the Hiface is 37643. Line 1756 in that plist file.

- Reboot and select the driver in the sound preferences pane

 

Hope this helps.

 

I've tried and tried .....hoping this would work. my "Idproduct" says 37643 but still no go. No Hiface or anything recognised by my Mac. I have an oem battery powered hiface 1 installed in a PDXL2 dac. Its all upto the "non Christian" software guy M2Tech had working over Christmas !!!!!!!

[nieldm]

I am glad someone picked that comment up. I thought, against all my instincts, that I had given MM such a hard time that I would let that blooper pass! Whilst indelicately worded, I am hoping that it was better expressed in his native language which, sadly, I cannot read...

[Naggots]

I am glad someone picked that comment up. I thought, against all my instincts, that I had given MM such a hard time that I would let that blooper pass! Whilst indelicately worded, I am hoping that it was better expressed in his native language which, sadly, I cannot read...

 

I cringe at the fact religion was mentioned at all in a press release!!!!...... I truly hope they get they're act together as they make good products.

[nieldm]

I cringe at the fact religion was mentioned at all in a press release!!!!...... I truly hope they get they're act together as they make good products.

 

Sadly the cemetery has many tombstones of companies with the epitaph "good products, terrible support"; when you are a small company the quality of your support is usually what makes or breaks you. The Ryanairs of this world, who can get away with monumentally crappola service and survive are very few and far between.

 

You can get an inkling from the tone MM takes in his missives, how he is likely to conduct himself in his business. He is almost certainly an outstanding engineer, but I strongly suspect what he needs is a decent CEO before it's too late.

[abolit]

Installed Young driver and my dac (Young & Vaughan) have been recognized by Mavericks but the sound is distorted and crackled when used with Jriver.

[slowmotion]

Tried several times of uninstall / reinstall and finally got HiFace 1 working on 2012 MacBook Air! What a relief... Thanks everyone for the hard work!

 

But then I started to wonder why M2Tech still struggling with the Mavericks if we can do this trick by ourselves...?!

[abolit]

As I mentioned earlier this "trick" driver does not work properly on OS X 10.9.1 (mavericks) The audio coming from both my dacs (Young & Vaughan ) is choppy & distorted.

 

Tried several times of uninstall / reinstall and finally got HiFace 1 working on 2012 MacBook Air! What a relief... Thanks everyone for the hard work!

 

But then I started to wonder why M2Tech still struggling with the Mavericks if we can do this trick by ourselves...?!

[slowmotion]

As I mentioned earlier this "trick" driver does not work properly on OS X 10.9.1 (mavericks) The audio coming from both my dacs (Young & Vaughan ) is choppy & distorted.

 

The choppy sound looks like having some thread priority issues which the audio streaming is blocked when the OS X loading is relatively high.

 

Did you try the r5 driver from North Star yet? The previous tutorial was using r4 driver which the newer r5 (dated 19-Dec-2013) contains some bug fixes.

 

I am listening with r5 driver right now and so far the sound is clean and not choppy anymore.