HIFACE clicking/white noise on > 96khz on snow leopard

[cbarber]

Love the hiface but can't get it to reliably work with sample rates over 96khz.

 

Using early 2009 mac mini, latest snow leopard, latest m2tech drivers. Same results in straight itunes and also in pure music.

 

To replicate: close all programs, open midi settings, set hiface to 176. When I do this there is constant low volume noise. Then set to 192. When I do that there ate low volume pops ever few seconds. Nothing harmful, just not playable.

 

What's weird is yesterday 192 worked fine and today it doesn't yet notHing had changed in my setup.

 

Others experiencing this?

 

Thanks

 

[cbarber]

Sorry to promote my own post, but wondering if anyone with a HIFACE and a mac can tell me if it works for them on sample rates over 96KHZ.

 

You don't have to have any hi res material to do this, as per above, just close all programs, open audio/midi, select the hiface, and set it to 192KHZ and then 176KHZ and observe if it produces static.

 

Thank you!

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi cbarber - Don't worry about promoting your own posts. It's relaxed around here :~)

 

I just tried a hiFace with 24/176.4 material and had no problems outputting bit perfect audio without any static.

 

[cbarber]

Thanks Chris...

 

Sorry to push a little on this, I want to get the bottom of it:

 

-Are you running snow leopard 10.6.3 with the latest patches?

 

-What type of mac are you using?

 

-How did you do this test: Did you close all programs and just open audio midi, select the hiface, and change the sample rate to see if there was clicking or noise at 176 or 192? When I do that there is clicking and noise, even without any music playback software open. Then when I actually play music at those sample rates there is either white noise or lots of clicking/popping.

 

Appreciate your help testing this~

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I am running a 13" MacBook Pro 10.6.3 with all the updates. I am running this driver for the hiFace http://www.m2tech.biz/public/pdf/Hiface1045106.zip

 

I tried exactly what you suggested above. Close all programs and just open audio midi, select the hiface, and change the sample rate to see if there was clicking or noise at 176 or 192. Then I played 24/176.4 music.

 

 

 

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Boot ROM Version: MBP55.00AC.B03

SMC Version (system): 1.47f2

 

[cbarber]

Thank you so much Chris.

 

I'll do as you did and post my testing info:

 

On a brand new install of 10.6.3 with all patches, I get the above reported behavior. Here are the specs:

 

Model Name: Mac mini

Model Identifier: Macmini3,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Boot ROM Version: MM31.0081.B06

SMC Version (system): 1.35f0

 

Sure hope this can be fixed with a driver update from M2Tech. Love the hiface at sample rates 96 and below.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Did you use the driver I linked to above?

 

[cbarber]

Yes, using same 1045106 driver

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

What cable are you using?

 

I've seen this with certain high and low quality optical cables so I'm interested in what coaxial cable you're using.

 

Also, in the About This Mac >> More Information area under USB is the hiFace sharing the USB bus with some other devices? The Keyboard is the worst to share with.

 

[cbarber]

It's a BNC Hiface and the BNC cable was made for me by Paul at Tube Audio Design. It's about 7 feet.

 

The Hiface is on its own "USB High-Speed Bus." The mini is running headless so there is no keyboard; The USB tree is:

 

USB Bus

IR Receiver (which is turned off)

USB Bus

BRCM2046 Hub

Bluetooch USB Host Controller (Bluetooth is turned off)

USB High-Speed Bus

USB-SPDIF

USB High-Speed Bus

 

 

 

[cbarber]

When pure music switches the sample rate (or when I switch it manually in audio/midi settings with no music playing) there is a sizable pop, like scratching the needle on a record. Do you get that too?

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

No pop here when switching.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

What DAC?

 

[cbarber]

By Tube Audio Design

 

[mgs]

cbarber,

 

Were you able to get rid of this noise? I am also getting it with Pure Music 1.65a when I manually switch between tracks with different sample rates. I thought that the 1.7 version would get rid of it (the user guide lists this as one of the fixes: "Sample rate changes and device reconfiguration are now done partly from a pre-emptive thread, with audio fade to minimize transients when changing tracks manually") but not only did it not get rid of it but it made it worse. It now sounds like a loud LP-like scratch. My DAC is the North Star Design USB DAC32, fed by a headless late-2010 Mac Mini via Wireworld Starlight USB cable, with the library on NAS via wired Ethernet.

 

Any help will be highly appreciated.

 

Michael

 

[sq225917]

Cbarber, I'd try another cable then another dac, maybe they aren't happy with the Hiface, can you gte 96khz+ into your dac any other way to check it does actually work ?

 

[sq225917]

or...... maybe you could benefit from an inline attenuator on the spdif cable to drop the signal level a little, it does run quite hot and some dacs might not like that.