Holo Spring 2 compatibility issues with audio optimized USB cards?

[ferenc]

I was trying to get my Holo Spring 2 KTE to work with all sorts of audio optimized USB cards in different PCs using simple Win10 operating system.

I just could not get it work. The OS and apps can see the Holo, can switch the sampling rate, but when the playback is started the ASIO initialization fails. Using all sorts of applications, like Roon, Hqplayer, Jplay Femto, etc. The Singer SU-1 works like charm I the same PCS and with same audiophile USB cards and I can feed to Holo through its I2S port but the Holo does not work with its USB connection. I tried batteries, dual head cables, USB filtering, all the different PCIe slots, different cables, power supplies, internal Molex and external LPS, but nothing helped. 

 

It was mentioned by Magna Hifi that there is probably an issue with the XMOS U216 chip which is used by the Holo Spring 2. 

 

Any advise would be great. 

 

 

[Miska]

I'm using it from normal USB3 port of ASUS motherboard over standard USB3 cable and it works without problems up to DSD1024 and highest PCM rates using my custom Linux builds. It also works fine up to the highest rates from USB3 port of my Gigabyte Z170 chipset motherboard using the official ASIO driver under Windows 10.

 

Have you tried sticking to 705.6/768k PCM and DSD512? Because going beyond that is not very straightforward anymore.

 

I have ordered a new Gigabyte Z390 AORUS MASTER motherboard and i7-8086K CPU and will try to see if it works fine from the DAC-UP port of the motherboard. I'll report the results once I have the machine up and running (Ubuntu Server 18.04 with my custom kernel and HQPlayer Embedded).

 

[ferenc]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

I'm using it from normal USB3 port of ASUS motherboard over standard USB3 cable and it works without problems up to DSD1024 and highest PCM rates using my custom Linux builds. It also works fine up to the highest rates from USB3 port of my Gigabyte Z170 chipset motherboard using the official ASIO driver under Windows 10.

 

Have you tried sticking to 705.6/768k PCM and DSD512? Because going beyond that is not very straightforward anymore.

 

I have ordered a new Gigabyte Z390 AORUS MASTER motherboard and i7-8086K CPU and will try to see if it works fine from the DAC-UP port of the motherboard. I'll report the results once I have the machine up and running (Ubuntu Server 18.04 with my custom kernel and HQPlayer Embedded).

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried PP v2, Jcat Femto lately but other cards earlier, in an HP z6 workstation, my own ASUS P10-W / Xeon 1235L CPU and only windows 10 yet, not Linux of any kind. It just does not work in any combination unfortunately not even with 44,1k/16 bit. 

[bibo01]

You can try removing all other ASIO drivers, if you have them in your PC, and reinstall Holo's.

[ferenc]

6 hours ago, bibo01 said:

You can try removing all other ASIO drivers, if you have them in your PC, and reinstall Holo's.

 

Thx for the suggestion, I tried it, did not help unfortunately. 

[ferenc]

I did not mention it, the Holo Spring 2 works as WASAPI device with any of the audio optimized USB cards with TCXO or OCXO clocks,  the ASIO driver not.

So I am pretty sure now there is a problem with the Holo 4.55 driver.

[Miska]

9 hours ago, ferenc said:

I did not mention it, the Holo Spring 2 works as WASAPI device with any of the audio optimized USB cards with TCXO or OCXO clocks,  the ASIO driver not.

So I am pretty sure now there is a problem with the Holo 4.55 driver.

 

Did you use same output format with both WASAPI and ASIO?

 

[ferenc]

3 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Did you use same output format with both WASAPI and ASIO?

 

I am sorry but what do you mean on the output format? Sampling rate?

[ferenc]

16 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Did you use same output format with both WASAPI and ASIO?

 

 

It was 44,1 kHz in both cases. Nothing fancy.

[Miska]

59 minutes ago, ferenc said:

It was 44,1 kHz in both cases. Nothing fancy.

 

Strange... Only reason I can think of would be that Windows keeps loading it's own UAC2 driver instead of the Holo driver.

 

Just in case, go to Device Manager, right-click the Spring and select Properties. From Driver tab check if vendor is Microsoft (wrong), or something else? Should be either Holo Audio or Thesycon.

 

[ferenc]

8 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Strange... Only reason I can think of would be that Windows keeps loading it's own UAC2 driver instead of the Holo driver.

 

Just in case, go to Device Manager, right-click the Spring and select Properties. From Driver tab check if vendor is Microsoft (wrong), or something else? Should be either Holo Audio or Thesycon.

 

 

I checked it and it says Holo Audio. Thanks for the suggestion. 

[ferenc]

I just got the info from Magna HiFi that Holo Spring 2 needs a firmware upgrade to work with those mentioned USB cards properly and they are now working on it. 

[ferenc]

While I am waiting for the promised Holo firmware upgrade to solve this issue, I tried it with Audiolinux and JPlay Femto USB card. 

 

It works absolutely fine, using my audio PC as Roon Bridge under Audiolinux. 

Strange but I am really happy with it. 

[Account Closed]

The new firmware is out. Check the Kitsune website.

[ferenc]

On 7/16/2019 at 2:06 AM, bobflood said:

The new firmware is out. Check the Kitsune website.

Thanks, downloaded and installed it. 

Works fine now. 

 

Even using with Audiolinux where it was working properly with the old firmware ( I realized the problem only in Windows earlier) sounds somehow with more air, more weight. 

Good.