Static occurs whilst playing .dsf files (DSD256) from w11 over USB cable to DAC

[Kelly]

The static stops when I stop playing, and resumes as soon as I hit PLAY. When the track has a quiet beginning the static is very evident, a bit like a “cracked or dirty LP vinyl”.

I have tried a cheap much shorter USB cable, same static. I can borrow a very good quality 1.5m USB cable on Wednesday to try.

Any other ideas?

All settings are at default values.

I am very pleased that TuneBrowser plays DSD files immediately at 1st try!

Thanks Tiki, I am looking forward to explorer and understanding TuneBrowser ASAP.

[Tiki]

I thought I should look into USB cables first too.

“Static” I understood to mean noise like scratch noise, and while you don’t have to use an expensive USB cable to counteract that, it is better to choose a good quality one.

[Kelly]

Also, it is important to note that there is no static when playing lesser quality music files, even 24bit 192khz .flac files play beautifully with the same long 5m (17 feet) AudioQuest ‘Forest’ USB cable.

I fear that the noise could be inherent in using a notebook-computer to run TuneBrowser? They are notoriously “noisy” devices (as a generalisation). My music player hardware is a Microsoft “Surface Book 2”, about four years old. I have tried removing the AC supply so that runs on internal battery, but it makes no difference. The computer, DAC and AMP are all running off a good quality APC UPS which I trust is cleaning up our very dirty AC 220v input.

My external DAC is apparently opto-isolated so it should be stopping as much as that technique can:

PS Audio “PerfectWave DirectStream DAC MK2”. https://www.psaudio.com/products/directstream-dac-mk2

[typo in prior post: explorer should be exploring].

Thanks

[Tiki]

It seems that you are using high quality equipments.

Another point to check may be the Windows power settings. If it is set to a power-saving setting, power may be reduced.

[Kelly]

Thanks for those ideas Tiki.

The planned tests were run today in the local HiFi shop where they kindly allowed me to use my notebook and USB cables (and one of theirs) to play the same track that causes static at my home. The DAC was an EverSolo DMP-A10.

I first checked on the EverSolo website and found an ASIO USB Driver, downloaded, and installed it to my Windows-11 notebook.

I think that I selected the driver from a list of drivers inside TuneBrowser; perhaps if I had restarted TuneBrowser it may have selected it automatically? No matter, it played perfectly with NO STATIC – EXCELLENT. Tried all three USB cables, all very good!

Conclusion: Nothing wrong with TuneBrowser, nor my notebook, nor my USB cables.

It was a very helpful session, and you now have another DAC known to work with DSD256 Tiki :-).

Next: See if PS Audio have released a newer ASIO USB driver, if so, download and install it.

I have recently updated two different firmwares to the DAC so that is all current.

Enough excitement for today, I will continue with this project tomorrow.
Thanks for helping 🙂

[Kelly]

PS: By refering to just one track I will have inadvertently implied that the static is track dependant. No! That track has a long lead-in so is perfect to hear the static. It only comes when PLAY is pressed; and stops if PAUSE is pressed. The static is present on a variety of DSD files (.dsf) including DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256. Static can be heard on all of them whilst PLAYING to the PS-AUDIO DAC.

[Tiki]

時間が経過しましたので、このトピックはクローズさせていただきます。

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