iFi Nano DSD + Daphile = DSD Upsampling

[pipis2010]

Hello to all the guys and gals of the iFi/AMR team.

 

I have recently purchased a Nano DSD and am having a small problem with my Daphile setup and playing PCM-To-DSD upsampled files natively through it.

 

 

As you can see from the Advanced Settings in Daphile settings, this is what I have used. Using DoP, I am able to upsample PCM to DSD and play everything (88/96/192) without any problems and/or hiccups/dropouts. The sound is really great, but I also wanted to test with "Native DSD" playback. Thus, the above settings that you can see on the screenshots.

 

Now, everything seems to work and I have tested the above settings with FLAC files of 24/96 and 24/192 and 24/88.2 and they all work marvelously, but I do have one last and very important issue/problem: Every time, I click on next/previous track, or every time I select a different album or a different song to play, I get this loud instantaneous "bang" - it's the exact same noise that we get, when we try to connect a component on an open amplifier and once we start connecting each of the L/R cables it makes this loud bang. I get this loud, instantaneous bang EVERY time I select another track or another album and even during the transition from one track to another (even if I leave the tracks to playback gapless). If I press Play, then Pause and then Play again on a song, it doesn't make this sound-bang.

 

Any ideas on this? I am afraid that it will eventually hurt my speakers and that is why I think I will change back to the "DoP" DSD Playback setting in Daphile (with which I had no problems at all).

 

Just FYI, I am using a DIY Athlon 5350 (2.05 GHz) CPU, 4GB RAM DDR-3, 2.5" External HDD connected via USB 3 port with all my media files, a Paul Pang USB v2 card with an iFi LPS, an Audioquest Jitterbug and a cheap USB cable (actually the short USB cable that came in the box with the Nano DSD unit) between the PPA card and the iFi DSD unit. I don't know if any of these will help you figure out anything more...

 

Can someone help me please? Many thanks in advance!

[AMR/iFi audio]

Hi,

 

We do not support Linux based systems - the options are virtually infinite.

 

We recomend that you try on Windows* with J-River and see if the same issue appears in native DSD.

 

If your system works fine with DoP and only has these clicks on native and your iDSD nano is fine on native DSD under Windows - we suspect the music player does not correctly terminate the DSD Playback and start the next track and actually managed to introduce the equivalent DoP click into native playback. As such, this query would have to go back to the developer of Daphile.

 

(*Alternatively, you can also try iPhone>CCK>nano iDSD and play music through Onkyo HF Player to confirm everything is fine with your hardware chain.)

 

Cheers.

[mansr]

Hi,

 

We do not support Linux based systems - the options are virtually infinite.

 

FWIW, I use an iFi Nano with Linux, and I'm not aware of any driver issues.

 

We recomend that you try on Windows* with J-River and see if the same issue appears in native DSD.

 

If your system works fine with DoP and only has these clicks on native and your iDSD nano is fine on native DSD under Windows - we suspect the music player does not correctly terminate the DSD Playback and start the next track and actually managed to introduce the equivalent DoP click into native playback. As such, this query would have to go back to the developer of Daphile.

 

The pops happen because Daphile does the DSD conversion track by track rather than continuously, and the transitions are not handled properly. If it were up to me, I'd put the DSD conversion last in the chain since that's the only way to get true gapless playback, but I'm not a Daphile developer.

[YashN]

FWIW, I use an iFi Nano with Linux, and I'm not aware of any driver issues.

 

That's because volunteers made the necessary hacks in the kernel as well as ALSA to allow native DSD to work with the iFi and a few other DACs (or XMOS boards and other boards).

 

There is no official support from iFi/AMR for Linux.

[pipis2010]

FWIW, I use an iFi Nano with Linux, and I'm not aware of any driver issues.

 

 

 

The pops happen because Daphile does the DSD conversion track by track rather than continuously, and the transitions are not handled properly. If it were up to me, I'd put the DSD conversion last in the chain since that's the only way to get true gapless playback, but I'm not a Daphile developer.

 

Many thanks mansr for your feedback! I made it through with the latest beta from Kimmo! I dunno if it was a software bug or if indeed my ALSA buffering was too low in ms value, but it did the trick and now I can enjoy again music!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[AMR/iFi audio]

Many thanks mansr for your feedback! I made it through with the latest beta from Kimmo! I dunno if it was a software bug or if indeed my ALSA buffering was too low in ms value, but it did the trick and now I can enjoy again music!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

 

 

Hi,

 

Glad to have tracked it down to the audio software playback program.

 

Cheers.

[mansr]

Many thanks mansr for your feedback! I made it through with the latest beta from Kimmo! I dunno if it was a software bug or if indeed my ALSA buffering was too low in ms value, but it did the trick and now I can enjoy again music!

 

I discussed the problem with Kimmo a while back. Didn't realise the fix/workaround was still only in the beta release.

[AMR/iFi audio]

Hi

 

Glad it was solved - albeit not by much from our end!

 

Feel free to ask Kimmo to contact us and we can talk the technicals with him if he likes: [email protected]

 

Our R&D are always testing on different platforms/programs etc. Plus, we have some customers who are Linux programers who use iFi gear.

 

Cheers.

[mansr]

Hi

 

Glad it was solved - albeit not by much from our end!

 

Feel free to ask Kimmo to contact us and we can talk the technicals with him if he likes: [email protected]

 

Our R&D are always testing on different platforms/programs etc. Plus, we have some customers who are Linux programers who use iFi gear.

 

The issue (assuming we're talking about end-of-track pop) was caused by a buffer being padded with zeros rather than DSD silence. Nothing to do with iFi specifically, but your helpful attitude is of course appreciated.

[pipis2010]

Can I ask the team of AMR/iFi, what sort of computer requirements do I need, especially in terms of CPU+RAM, to be able to upsample to DSD256 with the Nano DSD? Have you ran any tests with specific pc equipment? Until now, I am unable to upsample to DSD256 without constant dropouts and hiccups...

[mansr]

Can I ask the team of AMR/iFi, what sort of computer requirements do I need, especially in terms of CPU+RAM, to be able to upsample to DSD256 with the Nano DSD? Have you ran any tests with specific pc equipment? Until now, I am unable to upsample to DSD256 without constant dropouts and hiccups...

 

The CPU requirements do not depend on the DAC. As I mentioned previously, getting sox built with AVX support would give a speed boost, but you need to badger Kimmo about that.

[pipis2010]

The CPU requirements do not depend on the DAC. As I mentioned previously, getting sox built with AVX support would give a speed boost, but you need to badger Kimmo about that.

 

Thanks dude! I actually sent him a message about this. On the other hand I had the same problem in Windows 7 with JRiver and with a much powerful cpu (Phenom X4) and 8GB Ram, that is why I am asking the iFi team as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[AMR/iFi audio]

Hi,

 

Best you check with Daphile people as what you have seems sufficient.

 

Presently, the 'sweet spot' (price /performance ratio) is an i3 processor with 8GB ram.

 

Cheers.

[pipis2010]

Cheers!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[botrytis]

I know this is an old thread but with the latest BIOS (5.2 Linomcello) for the iFi Nano or micro, Daphile will play DSF files with no problems with Daphile.