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Lynx AES16 - Occasional Jitter issues...


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First of all, I'd like to say thank you to all that have offered input in the past here and helped me out. Lots of great info!

 

Well, I installed a new AES16 card a few weeks ago without a hitch - basically a plug and play installation which I wasn't expecting. I've tried a variety of setting, but keep resetting back to the standard settings if/when I have issues.

 

The card sounds great, but I'm having occasional jitter issues that sound sort of like a skipping record. If I hit pause / play, it usually goes away for a while. I never had any "noticeable" issues with audio from the motherboard or any of my previous DIY PC's.

 

I'm using WASAPI in exclusive mode on Vista 64. Any advice?

 

Here's the rest of the specs on my PC which I have been very pleased with:

HFX Classic - ATX Heatsink Case

ASUS P5Q3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz

BorgFX CPU Deluxe Copper Heatpipe Cooler

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB)

Lynx AES16 PCI Audio Card

HIS Hightech H467P1GP Radeon HD Video Card

Silverstone ST30NF Fanless Power Supply

Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000 RPM SATA Drive for OS

Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA Drive for Storage

2 - Smart Drive 2002C Enclosure

HFX® Safety Control System (Fan + FanAmp)

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit

 

Thanks for the help!

 

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1. Have you tried running the output signal back into the lynx card and watching that input signal in the the Lynx mixer to confirm the drop out? If you do this you can rule out 100% any external equipment issues or confirm. It sounds internal, but just in case. I think you can do this by having output to channel one and two at the same time.

2. What is the player so I can ask about settings if I know it! I am curious about the buffer settings.

3. Have you tried other plugins....again what player.

4. I like the case, but the power supply is pretty poor. From the data it looks like no better than 70%eff and no curve is provided...meaning the cure is nothing to smile about. This is just a comment though.

5. The video card worries me. These things produce a bunch of heat and I don't see a case fan to remove the heat. How are you doing this. This is just a comment though.

 

 

 

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it's not the CD skipping as I have over 3000 ripped to my HD and it does this on occasion with any stored music. Although, it does sound like a poorly ripped CD sometimes - but that's not the case.

1. I'm using a custom single XLR out cable from Redco.com going straight to a MDA1000 DAC. Not sure how to run the output signal back in. Is it a setting or an actual connestion?

2. I'm using WMP11 with music stored in WMA Lossless (don't stone me, it was easy & convenient).

3. I really haven't tried other players as I have been using WMP for about 5 years now with good success.

4. yep, the power supply is small... I bought the 600W big brother version, but it was too big. The case is awesome, but doesn't allow for std. size power supplies. I'm still looking for the perfect / fanless / silent / "External" Power Supply. Any ideas. Do you think the PS is too small? It performed flawless before the Lynx for about 6 months.

5. the video card has a heatsink which keeps it relatively cool. I do have a case fan which does a so/so job and is on a thermostat dial and controls the speed as well.

I'm using the Lynx Driver Version 2.0.16.0

 

Here's the temps right now while running 24/7:

MB - 36C

CPU - 28C

CPU Core 1 - 36C

CPU Core 2 - 34C

HD - 34C

I'm not sure if these numbers are good or bad...

 

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The first thing I would do is rip a CD to WAV and play it through Media Monkey using the built-in wave_out plugin. Put it on repeat for a while to see if you have the playback issues.

 

I'm not saying you should abandon WMP if you like it and it works for you. This test may give us a starting point to work with however.

 

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That's a lot of heat in there! The graphics card is a beast, not to mention the cpu and the motherboard components!

 

Occasional skipping could be down to heat build up, particularly in the northbridge. The ASUS you're using is fitted with heatpipe technology for the chipsets, but these will expect fan assistance to draw away the heat. If things are getting a tad dangerous in there, then the system may be pausing itself fractionally, to allow things to cool down. Have you considered the HFX Borg HBC Heatpipe Northbridge Cooler and/or the HFX HES Rev.2 Heatpipe Extension Kits?

 

I have actually been looking at this very case and I think you may be stretching things a bit far with the cpu and graphics card. Can you run the system without the graphics card installed? Or with the top case removed and a normal fun running gently over the top? If you stop getting drop-outs with better cooling in place then you'll have your answer. If not, then you'll have ruled it out and can move on.

 

My next best guess would be 64 bit driver issues - of which there is much negative stuff on the web :( - the in-built soundcard not being turned off in the bios and/or dodgy memory sticks. Personally, whenever I've seen random glitching problems they've nearly always been heat, memory or driver related.

 

Good luck! And let us know how you get on please!. As I said, this is one PC case I've been definitely interested in so any problems you may have and/or cure might save me a great big headache!

 

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And I can get a great deal on them... but shipping is EXPENSIVE! If you want to round up a bunch of interested parties, I can place a decent size order. I actually have the Black/Silver case which matches all my Rotel Gear Perfectly. However I'm switching to McIntosh stuff and may sell this one and get the all Black version.

 

I built 2 at the beginning of the year - a "Mini" and a "Classic". The mini was a pain - all around and really wasn't practical with sound cards, video cards, etc. If your interested, I can probably shoot you some pics of each or give more details.

 

No back to my problem...

HEAT: if it is a heat issue, can I take the opposite approach and load it up to make it hotter to see if it skips more? The reason I ask is that it's an intermittent issue and may be easier to find the fix if I can narrow down the culprit faster. If so, is there a program or something to use put the system under load?

 

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Well, you could........ but loading it up would be a bit risky if the HFX safety gizmo doesn't kick in in time! Your cpu should be able to do much more simulateously than play back audio so you could try that if you're feeling brave! Paid stuff would be SiSoft Sandra or something similar. If the box is connected to the net then a cheaper way might be to watch a YouTube video at full screen, whilst recoding a video whilst burning a dvd whilst doing an antivirus sweep whilst............... you get the picture!

 

The problem is it still won't tell you where the problem lies, if heat IS your problem! If you take the cover off and all is well then you will still have a working computer and something to go on.

 

If you stress it further and break it.....................

 

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Bobs idea to run the unit open and without the video card, just for these tests.

On #1 You need the OEM plug to do this. If you call Lynx (ask for Paul) he might have you do this, so have it ready. Bassically, you connect the output #1 to your dac and output #2 to say input #3 of the OEM cable. Now in the lynx mixer software you select channel #1(should already be done) and #2 to output and channel #3 to input or record. Im doing this from memory, so its knida hard for me. But this is the basic idea. If you do this correctly you will see the bars light up for the two outputs and the input signal. Now you can play and trouble shoot and watch everthing.

#3 I'm with Chris on this, but I don't know that player:(

#4 I don't think it's the power supply. We ran a 120watt ps and in a small case test and it ran. ps It did not sound good and the ps ran hot! My point about the PS is that the more power you use the worse the eff gets. Again, I could not find the curve for, but the specs kinda infer that it starts out at one eff% with no load and gets lower at full load while never getting lower than 70%. What you want is consistent eff% across the power curve. 80% at all load! Finding this in a fanless is the big task.

 

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Thanks for the help thus far. As Chris suggested, I'm trying out Media Monkey with WAV files and have not heard the issue yet. Like I said it's intermittent so it may be a while.

 

I've gotta run now, but will try again later and report back. Thanks again! Cheers!

 

 

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