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Erratic and Jittery Sound and Drop outs using DAC1 via USB on Vista

Erratic and Jittery Sound and Drop outs using DAC1 via USB on Vista

Submitted by 1dackel on Sun, 2012-02-05 12:46

Greetings DACers,

I bought the DAC1 about 6 months ago from Sweetwater and I am smitten with the sound quality to date.  But alas, I now have an issue.  I have recently (several months actually) been having sound glitches, drop-outs, and loss of sound completely.  This occurs when I am streaming internet radio by media player and iTunes, matters not.  I usually tune in via VTuner Radio.  This does not happen when I listen to my CD player via the DAC1.  I am stationed (military) in Germany and am limited to DSL over the telephone system.

What happens: When I stream with my DAC1 via any USB port and subsequently open a browser and surf, the sound is interrupted (drops) when the following happens; scrolling within the web page, moving the page around the screen, opening another browser doesn't help etc.

This does NOT happen when I connect the DAC1 to the integrated soundcard jack and use RCA inputs with the cheap system speakers.  The latter being analogue (me thinks), and the sound through the DAC1 is not of the same quality as via the USB port.

System:  Gateway GT5428 with 2 GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 4350 ATI vdeo card, no other add-on devices, pretty much stock running Vista 32 Bit.  System purchased in 2006 and the only upgrade was the Radeon Graphics card and a GiG more of RAM.  Running an Intel Pentium D935 CPU 3.20GHz. BIOS date is 02/26/2007, Graphics interface is PCI express, RAM is DDR2 2048 MB Freq 333.3, and my 22 inch HP monitor set to 1920 x 1080 60Hz resolution.  I am not running an HDMI cable but a DVI cable to the monitor.

I have checked for all possible driver updates, tweaked Vista as if I was recording music to kill any system robbing processes and noise to no avail.

Today, I changed to the USB cable out to three different cables, no change.  No matter what USB port, front, back, it matters not.  So, here I sit all broken-hearted....you know the rest.

Any help for the stumped civil servant alone over here?????

Thanks for your interest - love the DAC1 and need to move past this!!!

‹ system and sub woofer? DAC1 PRE volume control ›

Possible Solutions

Submitted by michio on Thu, 2012-02-09 11:24.

Hi 1dackel,

Here is a possible solution to your problem.

Are you using a USB mouse? Is it plugged in the same set of USB ports where the DAC1 is plugged into? Do you have other devices plugged into the same USB port along side the DAC1? Are you using a USB hub? If there are multiple USB devices plugged into the same USB control board, you will experience drop out issues. I would try plugging the DAC1 by itself on one USB controller and see if that resolves the issue.

Let me know if this resolves or doesn't resolve your issue.

Thanks,
Michio

Erratic and Jittery Sound Followup

Submitted by 1dackel on Tue, 2012-02-21 12:51.

Hello Michio, Yes, I am using a USB mouse. I can assume it is plugged into the same USB control board. I have 4 USB ports on the rear of the PC and one on the front. I have tried several connection combinations to no avail. I did however reduce the 22" monitor resolution down a little and have noticed some improvement but cannot definitively confirm it is related to my PCI Video card. I still believe this is a USB port conflict of some sort but cannot work around it with the hardware I have. I did see in my local electronics store last week an internal PCI-based USB port. I am wondering if this would take the DAC, or even the Mouse to another control bus. I also found several external USB hubs but am not sure if this would fix anything. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks in advance, Randy.

Hi Randy, An external USB

Submitted by michio on Tue, 2012-02-21 13:59.

Hi Randy,

An external USB hub won't alleviate the issue because all the devices are sharing the same USB controller. If you can, you should get another PCI card with USB that is compatible with Vista 32 bit. You should have this card dedicated only to the DAC1. Let me know if this works out for you.

Thanks,
Michio

No Luck with PCI USB Card

Submitted by 1dackel on Sun, 2012-03-04 10:08.

Hello Michio, I purchased and installed a 3.0 USB PCI Express card and tried various connection scenarios. Currently the DAC is the only device plugged into the card. I still expirence erratic jittery sound and cotouts when working in IE browser while streaming internet radio. I even tried a PS2 roller-ball mouse but no change. I am now convinced this issue resides with the video processing or perhaps paging. I have also considered that maybe the data packets arriving via my DSL connection are too slow for the DAC when browsing AND streaming. I am stumped! My only workaround was to purchase a Squeezebox Touch and run it directly from my wireless Hub. Then from the Touch coxial out to the DAC. The DAC speaker connections are made via XLR balanced cables to my M-Audio active speakers. Obviously there is no more "direct" connection to my PC in this configuration and therefore no sound issues. But, as soon as I switch to the USB input and fire-up streaming music the erratic static and stoppage begin anew. This has beat me down and I hate that. Any other suggestions? I have thought of soliciting help on the AMD Radeon Video Card website forum and hope someone may have had the same issue. Thanks.

Streaming Audio Over DSL

Submitted by JohnSiau on Tue, 2012-03-13 12:56.

Audio may drop out when streaming over DSL (or any other internet connection). The solution is to allow some buffering before playback. Many players have settings for buffering, or you can place them in pause to build up some buffer.

Sorry - No luck Time to try something else

Submitted by 1dackel on Tue, 2012-04-03 13:48.

John, I have been asked several offline questions and I have tried to answer as best I can, The last I received asked if this problem also occurs when listening via USB from a hard drive. That would be yes. This jitter, or drops, seem somehow linked with movment on the sreen, be it YouTube video, window manipulation, scrolling, etc. I still have the same problem and am stumped. I have also tried to pause my player, to buffer so to say, but no change. So, this seems to be no solution and it does not appear to be a DSL issue either. I just don't know, but I wish I had another DAC to compare this issue to but I don't have that kind of coin to float right now. Next recommendation please??? 1dackel.

Turn off System Sounds, Check Power Settings, Check USB Hubs

Submitted by JohnSiau on Tue, 2012-04-03 14:50.

If you are experiencing audio drop-outs while playing from the internal hard drive, then the problem is not related to your internet connection. There are 4 possibilities:

1) It is possible that system sounds are turned on. This can cause a momentary muting, clicking, or beeping while system sound effects are playing. Some windows desktop themes have sounds that play whenever a window is opened or closed. A number of other activities may also generate system sounds (depending on the desktop theme selected). Turn the system sounds off (in Win7, set the "Sound Scheme" to "No Sounds"). Go to Control Panel/All Control Panel Items/Sound and click the "Sounds" tab.

2) Power management may be slowing down the servicing of the USB port. Set the power options to "High Performance". Go to Control Panel/All Control Panel Items/Power Options, and select "High Performance".

3) Other USB devices may be stealing bandwidth from the USB Audio connection. Go to Control Panel/All Control Panel Items/Device Manager. View devices by connection, find Benchmark 1.0 and see if any other devices are sharing the same USB Hub.

4) The DAC1 is defective.

I would suggest connecting your DAC1 to another computer to verify that the DAC1 is not defective. If there is any problem with the DAC1, this is covered by the warranty.