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Just received: M2Tech Hiface USB interface


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@johnmarsh

 

Yes, I am connecting the HiFace to a USB port that is not shared with any other device. This is confirmed via About This Mac (more info) where the devices on each bus are listed.

 

@Richard

 

Yes, M2Tech has formally acknowledged that they have many Mac users with clicking and popping occurring. Here's a snip from Marco's e-mail to me yesterday which I don't think he would mind me sharing here: "it's a problem of driver. That's better, because it doesn't require products callback for servicing. My programmer suspects that it may be a problem with the timer which handles the operation on USB and the priority of tasks accessing USB. He's working on it right now to solve this problem."

 

They are much earlier in the development process on the Mac drivers, and it may be that their programmer had a lot more experience on all the workarounds needed to get Windows to sound good but not so much experience with Macs which have a highly developed set of Core Audio protocols.

 

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I received mine two days ago. Current set up is

 

Netbook - Windows XP -> J River Juke Box 12 -> Direct Sound -> Hi Face -> DAC - >

 

Question 1 - How do you secure the Hi Face unit to the USB properly. The unit is heavier than normal USB drive plus most Coax cable is pretty stiff putting pressure on the Hi Face and the USB connection. I lifted the Hi Face up about 1/4 " using post it underneath, however the Coax cable can put pressure on the Hi Face to still move sideway. Anything you guys use to tightly secure the unit to the netbook?

 

Question 2 - I am not sure if the J River JukeBox 12 which is a free version supports either kernel streaming or ASIO, I remember trying to download ASIO4ALL once but unsucessful. Any suggestions in trying to get better sound.

 

Aside from that the Hi Face has worked flawlessly, sound better than previously connected to my DAC via the USB port.

 

Any suggestions deeply appreciated.

 

 

mP

 

 

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Windows 7 x64. Tried ASIO4ALL but MC14 doesn't work with HiFace. Others are reporting little success, if at all on x64 on Head-Fi.

 

I did get it working on Windows 7 32bit with ASIO4ALL.

 

It doesn't show up at all as a device in Windows 7 for me so no directsound and I haven't tried KS in Foobar.

 

DIGITAL: Windows 7 x64 JRMC19 >Adnaco S3B fiber over USB (battery power)> Auralic Vega > Tortuga LDR custom LPSU > Zu Union Cubes + Deep Hemp Sub

 

ANALOG: PTP Audio Solid 9 > Audiomods Series V > Audio Technica Art-7 MC > Allnic H1201 > Tortuga LDR > Zu Union Cubes + Deep Hemp Sub

 

ACCESSORIES: PlatterSpeed, BlackCat cables, Antipodes Cables, Huffman Cables, Feickert Protracter, OMA Graphite mat, JRemote

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I am using the HiFace connected to a laptop runing Vista 64 with ASIO4all with out any issues. This set up sounds better on Redbook CD,s than my Naim $8000.00 CD player.

 

System: VIO/HiFace Jrivers 12/ PS DacIII /CJ 17LS pre/ 2500 CJ Amp/ ML Summit/ Dedicated audio room.

 

C.A.P. Pipeline, windows pro 10 > Roon > SOtM USB > Keces power supply > HDplex power supply > 4x2 HD Mini DSP > Ayre DSD QB-9 > Naim CDX > ModWright 9 S.E. Preamp > A21 Parasound Amplifier > Magnepan .7 > Augie's Dipole sub, ML sub, DIY sub > Dedicated room with acoustical treatment.

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A solid six hour trawl through my iTunes library last night, no clicks or pops noticed, my macbook did crash though when I removed the device, which was supposed to have been sorted with the latest driver.

 

MBP>Chevron Audio Sabre UV player/Dac/Meridian Explorer dac>Chevron Audio Paradox Pre>Leema Hydra 2>Leema Xavier speakers.

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1. A big blob of 'blu-tack'.

 

2. Tried mine with MediaMonkey and the kernel streaming plug-in and it sounded really good. Had a session with one over xmas at my son's place so I haven't tried it out in my own system yet, but the initial impressions were that it is a worthy piece of kit. We heard a greater difference at higher resolution than at redbook. The set up was very similar to your own in base kit and the different software wouldn't cost you anything to try out :)

 

Netbook - WinXP - MediaMonkey with kernel streaming plug-in - Co-ax Hi-Face - Tact2.2xp

 

This was compared, at redbook, to an Ear/Yoshino cdp and, as I said, there was very little to choose between them. If anyhting it was down to the sort of presentation we prefered rather than outright sonic quality. The cdp won by the narrowest of margins but both of us would have been more than happy to live with the Hi-Face. My son doesn't have the kit to play hi-res stuff at the moment, (hence trying out the hi-Face), so no direct comparison was possible but it sounded superb playing the BlueCoast collection off my little netbook. I shall be comparing it to my Transporter over the next few days.

 

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Hello all, this is my first post here at CA.

 

I'm very interested in this product but been reading some people have issues with pops and cracks. You could try to measure latency of your PC. Did a post about it on head-fi:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/what-pc-should-i-get-463489/index3.html#post6278157

 

Onkyo ND-S1 ?Reference 5 DSP/CA DacMagic ? SPL Auditor/LD MK IV SE ? balanced KRK RP10s/5[br]Cans: AKG K272 HD, Sennheiser HD555(Cardas), HD600(Cardas), ATH-M50

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No, it isn't. Unmapping removes the device, from the list of such devices, that the OS can use when called upon. If you unmap it then Windows can't use it for system sounds, for instance. But it can still use something else, if you have a something else available, and you have the system set to play sounds - which you shouldn't have!

 

In the broadest sense, asio and wasapi provide a way that the system can talk to a device via a more effiecient means, for our purposes, than normal. Even unmapped, the system still needs to be able to talk to the HiFace. This is done through the HiFace driver in conjunction with their recommended players, plug-ins and/or system settings. If these are set in accordance with M2Tech's recommendations, then unmapping achieves absolutely nothing other than disallowing Windows to use it which, on a properly configured system, it won't be trying to do anyway!

 

If you are trying to find a way, for some reason, of circumventing M2Tech's recommendations then you run the risk of upsetting the system/driver/device apple cart! Their driver has been written to work, (or not if you have a Mac, apparently), under specific conditions, with specified players - you may be able to get it to work outside of its design limits but it's very unlikely that it will then give of its best.

 

And unmapping a device from Windows is a recipe for disaster. If you don't need it then disable it. Telling Windows it's there but it can't use it, which is what unmapping really means, is likely to lead to a Redmond-inspired hissy fit!

 

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Thanks for the explanatin Bob. I currently am using the Hi Face with the J River Jukebox. I just unmapped the Hi Face this morning through the device manager in the Windows XP. Everything is working fine but I did not know if doing so I am bypassing the KMixer or not.

 

Also, I am no longer connecting the Hi Face directly to my USB port on my netbook and instead of using blu-tack to secure it, I use a USB hub to connect to my netbook and the Hi Face connected to my USB hub, no longer putting a strain on my netbook USB port.

 

mP

 

 

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I also use an Audio note Dac and i have an M2tech on the way. This is a loaner from someone and I will try it on my laptop (Xp sp3, ASIO (real one). I use j River media Center 14 and i have read that using Kernel streaming mode is best for this product. My mac still needs work and that will be done in the future.

 

Which settings are you using in Media Monkey?

 

Liz

 

Powerbook G4 15 inch Aluminum, \"Fidela,\" M2tech EVO (BNC)with RF attenuator,dedicated PSU, Stereovox XV Ultra (BNC) Audio Note Dac Kit 2.1 Level B Signature Upgraded to 12AU7 tubes, ARC SP-16L Tube preamp , VAC PA100/100 Tube Amp), Vintage Tubes, Furutech ETP-80, (Alon 2 Mk2, (upgraded tweeters, Usher Woofers), Pangea Power cords, Omega Micro Active Planar PC. Signal Cable Silver Resolution ICs.

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..there are a couple of you out there even remotely interested - the HiFace works great with Wavelab. It works with the standard wdm system drivers but, according to M2Tech, this means that the unit is limited to 24/96 and keeping kmixer quiet becomes a bit hit and miss. So.

 

I took a deep breath and disobeyed my own golden rule and installed Asio4All (A4A)- it works a treat - swallows large lump of humble pie and nearly chokes! (For those of you that don't know, I have a real thing about 3rd Party drivers - I hate 'em!)

 

Anyway, Wavelab set to use A4A and A4A set to use the HiFace. Initial impressions are that the sound is very, very good indeed, especially on high res stuff. I can only test up to 24/96, as it is the highest res I have, but I am most definitely impressed so far.

 

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Hi Guys,

I have been trialling a HiFace all week on the end of my modded Beresford DAC and like a few of you on here I have also been experiencing quite disconcerting clicks and pops every few seconds - I'm running a Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard and playing through iTunes. I set about some troubleshooting:

Killed all unnecessary processes

Tried running the Macbook from the battery

Different audio midi settings

renicing iTunes and coreaudio for higher priority

 

...and many other things. None of which made any difference.

 

I wheeled in my Mac Mini earlier on to see if that exhibited the same problems, and sure enough, it was exactly the same, so I came to the conclusion that either the HiFace was faulty, or there's something going on with the DAC itself.

 

Then it occurred to me. My Beresford is running from my own home built linear power supply. It used to be fed by digital coax cable from a PC running Foobar but when I changed to a Mac running iTunes via optical cable I found that I needed to raise the voltage from 12V to around 12.5 as it all sounded rather flat in comparison to when it was being fed by the PC. This fixed the problem.

 

So it occurred to me - What if I reduce the voltage back to 12V into the Beresford with the HiFace in place.

 

BINGO! This has fixed the problem. Well, I've managed an hour of click free music so far anyway. I have to say that I don't think I could go back to the optical connection on the Mac now, such are the improvements that the HiFace has brought. I intend spending the evening listening to it and will make another post if the clicking returns, but I believe this has done the trick.

 

Another note about power supplies. The HiFace seems quite sensitive to Switch Mode power supplies. I tried running it from a powered USB hub with an SMPS and the clicking was 10 times worse.

 

Rich

 

----[br]Rich[br]

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So if the hiFace is "quite sensitive" to switch mode power adapters then why clicks and pops on battery? Also my "normal" 16/44 USB DAC has no problems form the same USB port.

 

? MBP ? M2Tech hiFace ? Heed Q-PSU/Dactilus 2 ? Heed CanAmp ? Sennheiser HD650

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I should have probably qualified that sentence with 'quite sensitive to SOME'. I noticed a worsening of the problem when I connected my USB hub and also my external hard drive (also with it's own SMPS), and yet I can now run the hiface from the Macbook whilst powering the Macbook with it's own SMPS.

 

 

 

----[br]Rich[br]

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I was just surprised that if the problem is the standard Apple power adapter then why running the laptop on battery doesn't solve the problem. Because unfortunately it doesn't, I've tried, I've plugged even the DAC into a UPS, so the full rig was on battery, no help.

 

? MBP ? M2Tech hiFace ? Heed Q-PSU/Dactilus 2 ? Heed CanAmp ? Sennheiser HD650

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I have just made an experiment: install a dual boot via bootcamp in my Macbook, and then Windows XP+Winamp+Kernel_Stream+Hiface_drivers_for_windows.

 

Do you guys know what happened ? ... no clicks , absolutely nothing, just wonderful music ... I couldn't test the output at 192KHz because my new DAC is not ready yet, but can tell you that at 96KHz the sound is crystal clear.

 

So it seems that the problem resides in the Mac driver of the Hiface, I am sure the M2Tech people will get there and have it working properly soon ...

 

best regards,

Pepe

 

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This is interesting, because I had an email from Marco that is saying that some people got the same clicks and pops when using Bootcamp with Windows, that's why he's sure that the problem is with specific Apple machines. This story is getting stranger and stranger...

 

? MBP ? M2Tech hiFace ? Heed Q-PSU/Dactilus 2 ? Heed CanAmp ? Sennheiser HD650

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I've run at least four USB DACs from my MacBook. The only thing that produces the pops and crackling is the HiFace. The only device that requires its own drivers is the HiFace. It's the driver not the hardware. Period.

 

If M2Tech is saying it's the hardware then their programmer is following the usual pattern of developers who are ignorant about Mac programming. They tell their clients that its not them, it's the Mac hardware. Funny how the multi-thousand dollar audio software used in professional studios running on Macs does not have these problems.

 

M2Tech needs to get a new programmer, because it sounds like the person they've hired has hit a dead end and is giving them the run around.

 

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1. My username is xenophilic, the opposite of xenophobic, and I do not appreciate your derogatory reversal of the meaning.

 

2. M2Tech has very openly acknowledged their ongoing driver problems, and attempts by self-interested dealers to mislead customers on this point are unethical. I received e-mail from Marco at M2Tech on 12/31/09:

 

"Thank you so much for your feedback and suggestions. We're quite sure that it's not a problem of hardware…So it's a problem of driver. That's better, because it doesn't require products callback for servicing. My programmer suspects that it may be a problem with the timer which handles the operation on USB and the priority of tasks accessing USB. He's working on it right now to solve this problem.

 

Happy new year!

 

Marco"

 

3. There is no "cure" or "solution" that applies to the problem in question. Richard, apparently, had messed with the power supply on his DAC and had screwed it up. It's ridiculous to suggest that this has any relevance to the problem other folks are reporting. To be clear, I have no clicks or pops running a USB cable from my MacBook to my PS Audio DL III. I have no clicks or pops running a source through the coaxial input of the DL III. The only clicks and pops come when I put the HiFace into the system. And that is what others are experiencing as well. And what M2Tech has openly acknowledged.

 

4. The clicking and popping is variable in intensity: some songs consistently incite it more than others. This is consistent with a driver issue because a timing issue as M2Tech has suggested will be manifested differently as source material changes.

 

5. I have earlier stated that I have good confidence that M2Tech are working on the driver issue and will find a solution, even if their programmer seems to be more familiar with Windows systems. I appreciate the honesty and the friendly and supportive interactions that have come directly from M2Tech. I also appreciate Richard sharing his experience, although its relevance to others is minimal given what he describes.

 

6. To come back to the red herring Mac Hardware theory. A MacBook notebook is an Intel notebook inside: same CPU, RAM, integrated Intel graphics, SATA hard drive, etc. that would be found in a PC notebook. In fact, the MacBook can easily boot Windows. It's more accurate to think of the two options as Dual Boot Notebooks (sold by Apple) and Windows-only Notebooks (sold by many vendors; yes, setting aside Linux for this discussion). Furthermore, the diversity of hardware among Windows-only Notebooks is far greater than on Macs: if there's a hardware problem in the computer it would show up on the PC notebook at some point since at least some of them will use the same USB bus components as the MacBook, but apparently it doesn't. So, we're back to the driver issue that M2Tech has already confirmed.

 

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Xeno I was just pointing out that M2 Tech never 'stated' that it was a hardware problem, merely that one user had found a solution to his particular problem

I am certainly not trying to 'mislead' anyone, I have had only one customer out over fifty plus sales who has suffered from 'clicking' so the problem is not ime widespread but it is frustrating and M2 Tech are aware of the problem and are working on it.

If you are unhappy with your unit return it to me and I will issue you with a refund.

Keith.

 

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Just got my HiFace 3 days ago ((Fast)4 day turnaround from Tweekgeeks). I agree that it's absolutely worth the $157.

 

I also have no device listed under Win7 (x32) after installing drivers, but works perfect w KS & Foobar et al. Hoping/waiting for Wasapi driver?

 

Blacks & soundstage improved over standard USB.

 

Recommended.

 

PS Audio DirectStream DSD Bridge -> Classe CA-2200 - >B&W 803-D2, Nordost Tyr cabled. Synology NAS, MinimServer, BubbleDS.

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