Mac OS Sierra and DAC problems?

[RunHomeSlow]

5 hours ago, stephenjl said:

I use an Audio Research DAC 8. It has had its firmware upgraded to work with new Macs. I use a 2011 Mac Mini. Yesterday installed High Sierra. Killed my music. the ARC DAC 8 is not recognised at all. Nothing. Zip. Donut. Total fail from Apple. 

Anyone got any ways to make my music play again?

thanks

 

Have you check in Audio Midi settings in Utilites Folder in your Applicatiosn if your DAC is selected there for Audio Output...

I'm sure you already tried to unplug the DAC, Restart MAC, plug again the DAC...

[RunHomeSlow]

5 hours ago, stephenjl said:

I use an Audio Research DAC 8. It has had its firmware upgraded to work with new Macs. I use a 2011 Mac Mini. Yesterday installed High Sierra. Killed my music. the ARC DAC 8 is not recognised at all. Nothing. Zip. Donut. Total fail from Apple. 

Anyone got any ways to make my music play again?

thanks

 

2011 Mac Mini is consider a new MAC ? you did the 10.13.2 High Sierra update too?

[mjb]

1 hour ago, RunHomeSlow said:

 

2011 Mac Mini is consider a new MAC ? you did the 10.13.2 High Sierra update too?

Sadly, a 2011 Mac mini is often faster that a 2014 one.  I hope Apple refresh the current models soon. 

[mjb]

I’m usually extremely pro Apple, but I have to admit High Sierra has been a bit of a problem. Having said that, there have been two updates already which both address “USB Audio issues”, so hopefully they are trying to make good - at least in that area. I am thinking of running the OS off a SD card so I can quickly change back to a previous version if an update breaks something, there’s also a thread here somewhere about how doing so also improves the sound - which would be a bonus. It’s worth a try anyway. If you continue to have problems, please give Apple feedback, otherwise they’ll not investigate (I know, wishful thinking).

[stephenjl]

5 hours ago, RunHomeSlow said:

 

Have you check in Audio Midi settings in Utilites Folder in your Applicatiosn if your DAC is selected there for Audio Output...

I'm sure you already tried to unplug the DAC, Restart MAC, plug again the DAC...

thanks for your reply. yes, I've tried everything you suggested. My DAC doesn't even show up in the Audio Midi app....

[AudioDoctor]

Which version of High Sierra are you on?

[phosphorein]

5 hours ago, stephenjl said:

thanks for your reply. yes, I've tried everything you suggested. My DAC doesn't even show up in the Audio Midi app....

 

Did you unplug all USB cables, power off the DAC as well as the Mac? Then as RunHomeSlow suggested: restart the Mac, power on the DAC and then attach the USB cable. Macs can be tetchy with USB, especially when they enter deep sleep mode. You can also use USB prober to examine attached devices. This is a utility that ships with the OS.

[Indydan]

I feel bad for those of you who are having problems with Mac computers used as music players. I started this thread because, I used a Mac Mini, and I was very concerned about this. I stopped updating the OS on my Mac Mini long ago to make sure to prevent problems.

 

I was a bit worried about upgrading my DAC, and about keeping the Mac Mini as my music player. I finally decided to get a network player with built in DAC. No more worries, no more hassles! The Mac Mini is now only used as a upnp storage device on my network. 

 

Now that I have experienced a true network player, I won't be going back to a computer in my audio system. Granted, the player I bought (Naim ND5 XS) was much more expensive than a Mac Mini. But, it is a much better player with a great internal DAC (it's DAC is much better than the Rega DAC-R I was using with the Mac Mini), as well as the Naim app for iPad control. Overall, this is a much better solution for me. 

[stephenjl]

6 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

Which version of High Sierra are you on?

10.13.2

[stephenjl]

7 hours ago, phosphorein said:

 

Did you unplug all USB cables, power off the DAC as well as the Mac? Then as RunHomeSlow suggested: restart the Mac, power on the DAC and then attach the USB cable. Macs can be tetchy with USB, especially when they enter deep sleep mode. You can also use USB prober to examine attached devices. This is a utility that ships with the OS.

thanks for your advice. I really appreciate. it. I followed your steps but sadly my DAC still not working. Interesting I can see it on the "System Report". Under the USB 2.0 Bus it lists "USB DAC 2.0" and recognises it as an Audio Research DAC. Still not showing up in the Audio MIDI Setup.

[AudioDoctor]

11 hours ago, stephenjl said:

thanks for your advice. I really appreciate. it. I followed your steps but sadly my DAC still not working. Interesting I can see it on the "System Report". Under the USB 2.0 Bus it lists "USB DAC 2.0" and recognises it as an Audio Research DAC. Still not showing up in the Audio MIDI Setup.

 

That is very strange.

[AudioDoctor]

It is a pain in the ass, but a clean and fresh install of 10.13.2 may fix it.

[afgverhart]

14 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

It is a pain in the ass, but a clean and fresh install of 10.13.2 may fix it.

If you are willing to try this, maybe first try this on an SD card to see if it really fixes the issue. Or alternatively, install an older version of Mac OS on the SD card that you know worked before. That worked for me.

[phosphorein]

14 hours ago, stephenjl said:

thanks for your advice. I really appreciate. it. I followed your steps but sadly my DAC still not working. Interesting I can see it on the "System Report". Under the USB 2.0 Bus it lists "USB DAC 2.0" and recognises it as an Audio Research DAC. Still not showing up in the Audio MIDI Setup.

 

My experience is that this behavior suggests that there is a driver conflict between the AR Dac and OS X, since the usb device is recognized by the OS. Have you contacted the manufacturer? I've seen similar behavior with pro audio interfaces that weren't usb class compliant when Sierra was introduced.

[stephenjl]

1 hour ago, phosphorein said:

 

My experience is that this behavior suggests that there is a driver conflict between the AR Dac and OS X, since the usb device is recognized by the OS. Have you contacted the manufacturer? I've seen similar behavior with pro audio interfaces that weren't usb class compliant when Sierra was introduced.

Thanks. I've sent an email to Audio Research. Sadly in the past they have been unhelpful with Mac related issues.

[stephenjl]

4 hours ago, afgverhart said:

If you are willing to try this, maybe first try this on an SD card to see if it really fixes the issue. Or alternatively, install an older version of Mac OS on the SD card that you know worked before. That worked for me.

thanks

[stephenjl]

4 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

It is a pain in the ass, but a clean and fresh install of 10.13.2 may fix it.

thanks

[kamotepie]

I can confirm that High Sierra has solved the issue for me. I'll check which release I have. But this has been a lesson for me never to update without partitioning. ? DAC is now functioning properly.

[stephenjl]

3 minutes ago, kamotepie said:

I can confirm that High Sierra has solved the issue for me. I'll check which release I have. But this has been a lesson for me never to update without partitioning. ? DAC is now functioning properly.

which DAC do you use?

[kamotepie]

Just now, stephenjl said:

which DAC do you use?

I have tried a Hugo 2, an Xduuo XD-05, and Fiio Q1 mk1 plugged into. All working perfectly fine ? but if you will update to High Sierra, always partition to check if it works with your DAC.

[mattjtaylor2809]

Hi All,

 

After all the drop outs & issues with my USB headphone amp/DAC I actually went out & bought a brand new Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital DAC & now I can't play a dam thing!

It's really frustrating as I can see my DAC in the sound preferences & Audio MIDI set up but every time I go to play something it jumps back to internal speakers with "crap" quality sound or now....doesn't play at all.

Roon thinks it's playing & it all looks normal but I have no sound.....I'm on 10.13.6

Apple....please help or it maybe a a switch to a PC!!

[avta]

A few thoughts. I notice you have not upgraded to the current version of Mac OS. I'm a long time Mac user and use my iMac as source for all my listening. I've not run into any problems keeping the OS up to date. I've used a number of dac's without issue. Are you using usb into the dac? I noticed in scanning the manual for your dac that there is a software update. Have you applied that? 

[Taz777]

On 10/18/2018 at 9:49 AM, mattjtaylor2809 said:

Hi All,

 

After all the drop outs & issues with my USB headphone amp/DAC I actually went out & bought a brand new Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital DAC & now I can't play a dam thing!

It's really frustrating as I can see my DAC in the sound preferences & Audio MIDI set up but every time I go to play something it jumps back to internal speakers with "crap" quality sound or now....doesn't play at all.

Roon thinks it's playing & it all looks normal but I have no sound.....I'm on 10.13.6

Apple....please help or it maybe a a switch to a PC!!

Have you made your new DAC your default output device? You can do this in Audio MIDI Setup. One other place to check is the volume control. Here you can select your output device.

 

Finally, if you’re using iTunes then you can select your DAC as an output device from within iTunes.

 

I would also go through the Test Speakers in Audio MIDI Setup to see if your Mac is talking to your DAC and if the DAC is producing a sound.

[stephenjl]

4 hours ago, Taz777 said:

Finally, if you’re using iTunes then you can select your DAC as an output device from within iTunes.

 

How do you make the DAC the output device from with iTunes? 

I still can't play music through my Audio Research DAC8 using High Sierra.

I'm holding my breath for the new Mac Mini and hoping it works......

[Taz777]

14 hours ago, stephenjl said:

How do you make the DAC the output device from with iTunes? 

I still can't play music through my Audio Research DAC8 using High Sierra.

I'm holding my breath for the new Mac Mini and hoping it works......

 

My mistake - you cannot select your DAC through iTunes. My active speakers are also Bluetooth compatible so at one point I connected my Mac to them via Bluetooth and they showed up under the Airplay speakers list.

 

If these screenshots are of any help...

 

Here is my Audio MIDI Setup that shows my DAC (a Topping D50). Notice how the Use This Device For Sound Output is enabled - your built-in output is the default output so you have to manually make your DAC you default output device in Audio MIDI Setup by right-clicking on your DAC and selecting the Use This Device For Sound Output option.

 

 

Next, here is my Speaker/Volume configuration which is at the top-right of your desktop where your Clock is:

 

 

That's all I had to do to get iTunes to play through my DAC.