Problem with Red Wine Audio AK100-S as stand-alone DAC

[tseipel]

Good morning,

 

I am hoping someone can help me resolve my inability to use my modified Astell & Kern AK100 (Red Wine Audio) RWAK 100-S as a stand-alone DAC. I've reached out to Vinnie at Red Wine Audio, who is out of ideas and suggested I reach out to the community.

 

The signal path I am trying to use is:

 

Latest generation 13" MBP Retina (Yosemite) running J River Media Center 20 -> RWAK 100-S via iRiver-supplied USB cable -> ALO Audio International amplifier -> FitEar ToGo! 334.

 

The Mac and JRMC both "see" the RWAK 100-S (labeled iRiver DAC) and JRMC and iTunes both play tracks without error. However, no sound makes it to the earphones. I have gone into System Preferences and selected the RWAK 100-S as the output. I have also changed the volume settings multiple times at the system and program levels, without any luck. When I use the International as a DAC/amplifier, there is no problem with playback.

 

I would love to use the Wolfson chip in the RWAK 100-S as my primary DAC, rather than the Cirrus chip in the International. As such, any thoughts on how to solve this problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

Best regards,

Tim