Just received: M2Tech Hiface USB interface

[xsajohn]

Perfect! Driver v1.03, Win7 x64, Wasapi, Foobar 1.0

 

[rogerdn]

New driver fixed 174/192 no play....THANKS

 

[Walcascar]

What do you mean, rogerdn, "174/192 no play"? Was is FIXED or it won't play these files? I don't understand... I have HiFace and it's always been able to play 24bit/192KHz files, but I haven't update the driver yet (I'll wait for you to confirm what you mean). Thanks.

 

[sq225917]

He means his bug was fixed and he can now play hires.

 

[rogerdn]

And can now play >96

 

[aubrey]

Background

I have a 2 yr old macbook intel/snow leopard. Earlier I used the Hiface BNC version with an adaptor - no clicks and pops. But I thought the impedance loading thru RCA would work better with my DAC, so switched to RCA. It does seem to sound much better (remember issues from cartridge impedance loading?) now. But I get the clicks and pops.

 

The Fix

On this forum earlier someone (thank you!) had mentioned he found a solution by switching outputs away from M2Tech in system pref>sound>. It actually works for me too - everything becomes a bit cleaner and the clicks and pops go away. This has been a fairly consistent result over 3 days after a full week of frustration..

 

The caveat

However, it only works when AMARRA is switched on . Somehow, AMARRA holds the output thru hiface whilst simultaneously correcting the issue. Even then, however, the period the 'fix' lasts is variable. Have had as little as 10 mins and as much as 4 hours of clean music. Repeating the process when it starts again seems to provide a new temporary fix.

 

Clicks/pops usually start again when a diff res file is played....So switch back to hiface in 'sound' options and then switch away again....

 

Hope this is useful to users with older macbooks like me.

 

Best regards

 

[rn82497]

Getting a bit fed up with this - sometimes its quiet subtle - overtimes intrusive / annoying. Really wish M2Tech would get on a fix it!

 

They seem to have lost interest :-/

 

[audiozorro]

It seems to work perfectly with my Win XP music servers using Media Monkey. On my MacBook Pro with Tiger OS, I hear clicks and pops running iTunes but with Pure Vinyl everything sounds perfect.

 

Fortunately I rarely use iTunes. Probably tomorrow I will checkout how well things work on my Vista computer running XXHighEnd and maybe I will also install J.River MC.

 

[sq225917]

Seems to me like they are trying their best to produce drivers with fixes for all platforms pretty much as fast as they can. Some people might want to take a reality check, they are a tiny company, not some software monster with a million coders.

 

Fixing Apple bugs in not like fixing windows bugs, Apple give you less of a APi to play with.

 

[I. G.]

Still this clicks/pops bug on OS X/specific Apple machines occured first at the end of December, almost 3 months ago. If they haven't found the cause and the solution in 3 months... will they ever?

 

[Snoozer]

...will find a solution for the "click" problem ! Many of us are waiting for a new driver fixing all these problems.

 

My Hiface is unusable in any of my Macs at home (Mac Mini and MacBook) because of this annoying click thing.

 

[Il Mostro]

I am not only experiencing the joy of pops and ticks, but my MBP no longer "sees" any DAC connected via toslink. They were all working perfectly prior to using the HiFace and all are still recognized and functional via USB. I'm stumped.

 

[Mr.C]

OSX will never have a name for your dac via toslink. It is under Built-in Output in Audio Midi Setup. Is that what is missing?

 

[riderforever]

...that due to these various (unexpected?) bugs in both OsX and Windows driver, the Linux users are still without any driver for the hiFace

 

That's really disappointing, I'd like to try the hiFace with my MPD setup but I'm stuck because of that.

 

[Il Mostro]

No, I was not referring to showing the device name -- should have been more clear in my description. Built-in Output is there in Audio Midi Setup and shows as the output when the devices are connected, (also, light is emitted through the cable) but the DACs no longer play through toslink (I have tried several cables). I tried a work-around with another interface, the Spiffy from Tube Audio Design, which is a modified Behringer with USB/SPDIF and optical output. Again, it works fine USB->SPDIF but no-go with the optical output from the Spiffy. This is a drag since I have had good results using toslink with a combination DAC/Headphone amp at the office -- guess I will be USB-ing it for a while.

 

Edit: So I rolled back via Time Machine and then re-installed the HiFace drivers. No fix for the bad vinyl effect, but my toslik is back to normal. Go figure. Damn, those pops & ticks make me love my Oracle/SME IV/Wood Bodied Benz *that* much more :-)

 

[Jim L.]

It is working great with my early 2009 Mac Mini using Itunes or Pure Vinyl. The new update on Pure Vinyl that updates the remote, when selected, does cause clicks. Otherwise occasional clicks at the beginning of tracks. Handily beats out my Focusrite Sapphire LE, FW to Spdif interface, which handily beat out my toslink. A great value!!

 

[audiozorro]

On my Vista computer the Hiface works perfectly running XXHighEnd. However, MediaMonkey on the same Vista computer cannot see the Hiface device which is strange especially since the Hiface device shows up under all other audio properties and the Hiface device works perfectly with MediaMonkey on my XP computer.

 

I also installed J.River Media Center on my Vista computer and the Hiface device worked perfectly using the Direct Sound configuration but the computer crashed (Blue Screen Of Death) when I tried the WASAPI setting.

 

BTW, JRMC is an interesting program that I would definitely use for a home entertainment media center. Computer Videophile anyone?

 

Anyway, so far I am pleased with my purchase of the Hiface that gives me up to 24/192 resolutions using the common USB connection.

 

[Snoozer]

News flash guys !!

 

This is to report that the clicks and pops finally disappeared with that last version of the driver (1.0.46) in both my Macbook and Mac Mini.

 

I have just received the new driver from Marco to test it and did not have any click at all for two hours in a row .... so far so great !!

 

The background of my story is that I could not use the Hiface so far because of the clicks in either of my two Macs.

 

best

Pepe

 

[I. G.]

I hope your case won't be unique... I have a 2007 MacBook Pro.

 

[rn82497]

Fantastic! Great news.

 

I'll pull down and try when I get home later this week. Fingers crossed

 

 

[Merlocpm]

I can confirm as well that the latest driver is working for me on a mac mini with snow leopard

 

[Il Mostro]

The beta version of the new drivers have done the trick on my MBP (mid-2008 purchase with Snow Leopard) -- no more noise problem.

 

[pcfixer]

The 1.046 drivers aren't up yet. Where are you guys getting the beta builds from?

 

[Il Mostro]

1044106-1 was provided by Marco.

 

[ramagochi]

Anybody can send me the new driver (I don't have a Marco reply)

 

To this mail: ramagochi(at)yahoo(dot)es

 

Many thanks