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Showing results for tags 'wadia di22'.
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Hello everyone, For the past year I have been experiencing issues with macOS USB Audio implementation. Ocassionally, when using a USB DAC (in this case a Wadia di122) if there is a track change and the sampling rate is different to the previous track or idle state, there is a sudden burst of distorted audio and white noise coming out of the speakers. It sounds very similar to when one does process little--endian data as if it were big-endian data. You somehow hear the music behind that big mask of white static noise. I have to say this does not happen every time the sampling rate switches from one frequency to another but it does happen and when it happens it always follows the same pattern. Originally I thought it was the DAC, so I spoke to the dealer and I was offered a brand new replacement, which I gladly accepted. After a few days the issue appeared again, so I decided to look further into it. Whenever this happens, the DAC shows the correct sampling rate, the music software (roon, audirvana and hqplayer) they all show the right track info, and appear to be playing the track correctly. There are no messages in console and not a single error or warning anywhere in OS. I contacted Wadia (McInstosh Labs) and they pretty much didn’t know what to tell me. They suggested replacing the USB cable (something I had already tried), unplugging all other equipment (tried that too) and as a last resort, up sample everything to 192K or 384k (which didn't work). I have tried many things, reinstalling different macOS versions from El Capitan to Mojave, disk repairs, SMC and NVRAM resets but the issue will eventually occur at some point again. I even tried it on both, my Mac mini 2012 and my MacBook Pro 2015 (Plugged and battery only) and the same thing happened. Then I decided to go the Windows 10 route and I was surprised after weeks of intensive testing no loud bursts of noise were to be heard, (using the Wadia drivers for Windows). I then installed Linux on that old windows laptop and the DAC has had no problems with it for the past month. In the meantime I had also tried with a couple of DACs. An old Arcam rDAC I had lying around had not problems at all but I guess it is due to the fact that it works under the USB 1 protocol. I also had the chance to try with a Rega DAC-R (revised versión) and it did not show the loud white noise issue) but macOS had trouble recognising it under midi settings, had restart and reset SMC so that it would appear listed as a connected audio device. On some internet searches I did, I noticed that there are quite a few USB Audio-related entries about people having sporadic and sometimes weird issues for which there are no proper resolutions yet. Perhaps, in my case, the issue could be solved by having Wadia look at the firmware and see if there is something that needs to be revised in order to make this wonderful sounding DAC more compatible with macOS. I just doubt there is anybody at McIntosh Labs interested in looking into it. Same goes for Apple. I’ve used Apple products for more than a decade and there is certainly a change in the way their products are presented.They are still very functional in many aspects but very mainstreamed in the sense that they might no longer cater for the audiophile end corner of the market. If anybody has had similar experiences with macOS USB audio implementation, please post. Audirvana - Wadia di122 noise.m4a