I tried many USB cables, pre-maid (cheap) and was never able to play 384kHz upsampled files without pops and clicks. I had troubles playing 192kHz files with some (printer cables in particular).
However, once I made a USB cable -> all problems disappeared + the sound improvement was quite stunning. The sound appeared more open, defined, with better timing. It also seemed less distorted if that makes sense...
I used twisted pair I pulled out from Cat5E shielded Ethernet cable. Its impedance should be 100 ohms which is very close to what USB should be.
In addition, the I2S cable should be only few cm long.
Also, if you are using the isolated I2S, make sure the external +5V DC to power the isolator chip supply is clean. This is actually quite important (!)
Lucian already mentioned that USB card draws 380mA, which I can confirm - my reading was closer to 400mA at +5.2V DC supply for the WaveIO board.
Nick
However, once I made a USB cable -> all problems disappeared + the sound improvement was quite stunning. The sound appeared more open, defined, with better timing. It also seemed less distorted if that makes sense...
I used twisted pair I pulled out from Cat5E shielded Ethernet cable. Its impedance should be 100 ohms which is very close to what USB should be.
In addition, the I2S cable should be only few cm long.
Also, if you are using the isolated I2S, make sure the external +5V DC to power the isolator chip supply is clean. This is actually quite important (!)
Lucian already mentioned that USB card draws 380mA, which I can confirm - my reading was closer to 400mA at +5.2V DC supply for the WaveIO board.
Nick
Hi Nick, thanks for your informative reply. I didn't know you can get usb plugs for DIY. Normally they are molded to the cable. I will google this, and maybe find a guide on how to make one.
I have 10.5cm long i2s cables. They are connected via a plug at the Wavio end, and screw in connectors at the Buffalo dac end.
The external power supply should be clean, its an LM317 reg, while not the last name in low noise regs, its pretty well known and accepted as a clean supply for audio. I doubt upgrading this is going to help me, or am I wrong?
Hi all,
than you very much for your wishes! It was indeed a beautiful day (with few weather exceptions but who cares?
)
You need to copy the dfucons.exe file from drivers archive to where the driver was installed! From what I recall this is mandatory because dfucons.exe wil need to have access to some of the driver's resources!
If you don't have the latest drivers then just let me know and I'll source a copy of them!
Step by step:
1. Install latest driver (if is not installed yet).
2. copy dfucons.exe from driver's archive to where your driver was installed (usually: C:\Program Files\WaveIO\USBAudio_Driver) or, for some of the DDDAC users:
C:\Program Files\DDDAC\USBAudio_Driver
3. Open a Command Prompt window by running: Windows Start button -> Run -> cmd or simply typing "cmd" @ "search programs and files"
4. in this new window navigate to where dfucons resides:
cd..
cd..
cd program files
cd WaveIO
cd USBAudio_Driver
5. and when there firstly connect your WaveIO any free USB port you have and,
6. Run "dfucons revertfactory" and wait for it.
7. Now you can open TUSBAudio Control Panel and @ "Info" Tab you'll see RevisionID = v3.31
Please ignore Serial Number (0x0330)! It's not needed here!
8. a simpler choice to see the revision ID of your firmware is to input into drfucons this: "dfucons info".
9. To upload the new firmware I recommend to use "TUSBAudioDfu.exe" software found in WaveIO's installation directory.
Please remember, each time you want to flash a new firmware version you need to revert your WaveIO card back to "defaults" by using dfucons.
A second note: all cards that are showing RevisionID = 0x0330 doesn't have DFU feature implemented in it thus are not able to update its firmware through USB. Please contact me for additional support on how to solve this issue!
@ Luke: speaking about drivers, do you ave the latest one (v3.26)? I begin to be out of solutions
Kind regards,
L
than you very much for your wishes! It was indeed a beautiful day (with few weather exceptions but who cares?
)Some details can be found here
You need to copy the dfucons.exe file from drivers archive to where the driver was installed! From what I recall this is mandatory because dfucons.exe wil need to have access to some of the driver's resources!
If you don't have the latest drivers then just let me know and I'll source a copy of them!
Step by step:
1. Install latest driver (if is not installed yet).
2. copy dfucons.exe from driver's archive to where your driver was installed (usually: C:\Program Files\WaveIO\USBAudio_Driver) or, for some of the DDDAC users:
C:\Program Files\DDDAC\USBAudio_Driver
3. Open a Command Prompt window by running: Windows Start button -> Run -> cmd or simply typing "cmd" @ "search programs and files"
4. in this new window navigate to where dfucons resides:
cd..
cd..
cd program files
cd WaveIO
cd USBAudio_Driver
5. and when there firstly connect your WaveIO any free USB port you have and,
6. Run "dfucons revertfactory" and wait for it.
7. Now you can open TUSBAudio Control Panel and @ "Info" Tab you'll see RevisionID = v3.31
Please ignore Serial Number (0x0330)! It's not needed here!
8. a simpler choice to see the revision ID of your firmware is to input into drfucons this: "dfucons info".
9. To upload the new firmware I recommend to use "TUSBAudioDfu.exe" software found in WaveIO's installation directory.
Please remember, each time you want to flash a new firmware version you need to revert your WaveIO card back to "defaults" by using dfucons.
A second note: all cards that are showing RevisionID = 0x0330 doesn't have DFU feature implemented in it thus are not able to update its firmware through USB. Please contact me for additional support on how to solve this issue!
@ Luke: speaking about drivers, do you ave the latest one (v3.26)? I begin to be out of solutions
Kind regards,
L
Sadly, starting back almost one year ago, things with WaveIO's driver packs got *very* complicated to me, especially after I found out that WaveIO's drivers were hacked and used with competing products (here I name few like M2Tech, Gustard and many others based on XMOS chips). Given this, from that moment on, I'll give drivers to anyone who ask them and can prove is a legit WaveIO user / owner.
I'm very upset since I was deceived / stolen by others just because I was so naive and offered for free download on luckit.biz all driver packs I acquired in my life and were made for WaveIO. I took few measures that anyone who will release its driver pack to the crowd without my consent and gets to the hands of chinese/hk/sk copycats will simply lose his/her access to further driver releases. I'm sorry but there's no exception to this measure.
I say all above to let you know that all my efforts and money spent on having latest drivers are NOT SO EASY to be made - especially for a DIYer like me... otherwise competitions would have latest Win drivers too and not seeking to hack mine to sell their products (here I'm NOT speaking about Gustard or M2Tech but many of those who are offering products on eBay / taobao / aliexpress and so on...).
Luke, from now on just give me an email to request drivers and I'll gladly source it to you. To all those of you who are using email addresses that I can recognize, I'll not ask for any additional informations otherwise there will be some questions prior releasing any driver pack(s). Anyway, that will happen once...
Kind regards,
L
P.S. obviously, all this mess (because is simply a mess to me!) will have to end someday.. and I really hope for me (all those of you who own/bought a WaveIO) that end will come next year. We will see...
P.P.S. Thank you Carsten...
@Luke: you have link to your drivers!
On the other hand, has anyone of you already tried the new firmware so far? Besides the 'bumpy' sample rate LED display which i'm not proud off but I'm working on it for better days..., how is the stream on DSD/PCM? Here on my Windows-powered laptop all seems to be okay (with Foobar and 3.26 drivers) but I'm mostly interested in MACs and maybe Linux distros...
Thank you for any input,
L
On the other hand, has anyone of you already tried the new firmware so far? Besides the 'bumpy' sample rate LED display which i'm not proud off but I'm working on it for better days..., how is the stream on DSD/PCM? Here on my Windows-powered laptop all seems to be okay (with Foobar and 3.26 drivers) but I'm mostly interested in MACs and maybe Linux distros...
Thank you for any input,
L
It's a shame. I completely agree with your actual policy. I've always appreciated your efforts and your willingness.
Hi Lucian, thanks for the driver. It made no difference, but its always good to be current
I found my problem, nothing to do with dac or software. It was the PC. When I used another one, the DAC LED locks and plays. In hind site, I should have tried this sooner only its a little inconvenient to do this. At first I doubted that the PC would cause this.
Thanks to all who have offered assistance in resolving my minor little fault. Now I need to decide if it sounds better than the same album on 96khz.
I found my problem, nothing to do with dac or software. It was the PC. When I used another one, the DAC LED locks and plays. In hind site, I should have tried this sooner only its a little inconvenient to do this. At first I doubted that the PC would cause this.
Thanks to all who have offered assistance in resolving my minor little fault. Now I need to decide if it sounds better than the same album on 96khz.
As a suggestion to make things less messy for you with drivers, give each owner of a WaveIO a login to a download location on your website. That way you can restrict access and track who is downloading. That way you only need to publish the driver update here or on your website once.
I will be hoping to do more DSD testing with new firmware this weekend.
Regards,
Steve
DSD testing
Hi Lucian,
OK with the new firmware (6C6) I can play native DSD64 & DSD128 fine through my ESS9018 Buffalo III but not DSD256 - My DAC locks to the signal but the sound is very stuttered. (For this test using the v3.26 drivers on Windows 10 and Foobar).
So you have solved the issue with signals being swapped as reported by NickD but there seems to be an issue at the higher rates. I will be downloading more DSD256 files to confirm and will go through the various DAC configuration parameters to see if I can improve/fix.
Regards,
Steve
Hi Lucian,
OK with the new firmware (6C6) I can play native DSD64 & DSD128 fine through my ESS9018 Buffalo III but not DSD256 - My DAC locks to the signal but the sound is very stuttered. (For this test using the v3.26 drivers on Windows 10 and Foobar).
So you have solved the issue with signals being swapped as reported by NickD but there seems to be an issue at the higher rates. I will be downloading more DSD256 files to confirm and will go through the various DAC configuration parameters to see if I can improve/fix.
Regards,
Steve