ODAC - general and technical discussions - Page 9

swalter · 4th January 2013, 03:10 PM

Below has just been posted as review on my web page, thought I share it here as well

Stefan

Quote:

Bought at the end of the year, super packaging, fast delivery, very nice contact with Head n Hifi staff.
Tested on two different devices with different software configurations:
#1: regular HTPC, intel USB controler.
"bit perfect" playback (mpd configured to bypass the sound software layer) > no problem (16 and 24bit)
Software mixer (e.g. re-sampling of the audio flux to 16bit/44.1kHz). > no problem
#2: Raspberry PI
"bit perfect" playback > the output sound is sizzling, it seems that the PI's USB controller can't handle the ODAC (same result in 16 and 24 bit)
Software mixer > no problem
In all the cases where no problem was encountered the sound quality is great, I can hardly tell the difference between the ODAC and my DACMagic.
Set up with a Rasberry PI, as I can tell I didn't yet manage to use the full 24bit capabilities of the ODAC in this setup, but the output sound is still actual "CD quality" (e.g. 16bit 44.1kHz) with software re-sampling.

captain pugwash · 4th January 2013, 08:57 PM

Been using the odac for about a month now and very impressed! I use it with Foobar and wasapi on a Win7 PC. With Foobar (preferences - output - output format) and the odac (control panel - sound - properties - advanced) both set to 24 bit (or any other combination for that matter), the Windows volume still works, I had expected this not to be the case as wasapi by passes the windows controller, has anyone else experience of this?

TheShaman · 14th January 2013, 04:33 PM

Got the extra panel today. Thanks for the great service, Stefan! Appreciated!!

bart_dood · 14th January 2013, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swalter

Below has just been posted as review on my web page, thought I share it here as well

Stefan

Hi, Do you have any info on connecting the ODAC to the raspberry pi? I would like to do this using XMBC or perhaps wheezy. I couldn't find the post you quoted.

Thanks!

swalter · 14th January 2013, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bart_dood

Hi, Do you have any info on connecting the ODAC to the raspberry pi? I would like to do this using XMBC or perhaps wheezy. I couldn't find the post you quoted.

Thanks!

Hi, the quote above is copied from my website and was posted as review from one of my customers.
From his experience the Pi is not able to handle the ODAC with bit perfect output settings.
16bit CD quality seems to work fine with it.

Best Regards, Stefan

darksky · 30th January 2013, 10:18 AM

I want to share my experience with odac. I bought odac to drive my power amp and floorstanding speakers. I have tested it with my notebook and brother's. Everything was working OK and sound was very good, compared to notebook integrated crap sound. I decided to connect odac to my girlfriend HP notebook. The sound was very distorted. I didn't understand why.... I have done a lot of google search to find out, why it sounds so bad. The problem was here:
What Is the AMD USB Filter Driver? | Tech Tips - Salon.com
Maybe this information willl help for others, who has notebooks with amd chipsets and has distorted sound with odac. Usually amd usb filter is installed when you buy new notebook with factory installed OS and drivers, and you won't have problems with odac, but I always do clean install to get rid rubbish software which installed by manufacturer. So don' forget to install amd usb filter if you also do clean instal.

miero · 13th February 2013, 07:00 AM

The notebook issue can be caused by its switched power supply. I tried USB DAC with ASUS low-end notebook and then connected to desktop speakers. The interference was so high that it was not pleasant to listen to anything. I've tried to replaced power supply with the one from old Thinkpad and the distortion has disappeared.

darksky · 13th February 2013, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miero

The notebook issue can be caused by its switched power supply. I tried USB DAC with ASUS low-end notebook and then connected to desktop speakers. The interference was so high that it was not pleasant to listen to anything. I've tried to replaced power supply with the one from old Thinkpad and the distortion has disappeared.

If it's your reply to my post, I don't agree with you. The problem is only amd chipset, which manage all usb hubs in computer. I also must say that amd usb filter driver still didn't solve completely the problem. After installing driver, distortions became much lower, but I can still hear some. Maybe the newest version can solve the problem, but HP support gives only one old version and you can't download the latest driver neither from amd webpage or from other laptop manufacturer, because driver is individually written only for concrete model. My suggestion is to forget any usb dac, if you need to install amd usb filter driver. Before buying usb dac, I'm recommending to check your laptop model support webpage and search for amd usb filter driver. If you found such, don't buy usb dac, if you don't want surprises. In such situation maybe firewire, spdif will be better connection choice.
I'm not the only one

:
USB Audio problem HP 6735s laptop - Page 2 - HP Support Forum - 21803

JZatopa · 13th April 2013, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJNUBZ

I have somehow blown out my odac. It looks like the part labeled fb102 has burnt out. Could someone tell me what this piece is?

Fraggler did you find a fix?

I replaced fb102 and it didn't fix anything. I also noticed that ESD1 and ESD2 are missing from my board. The replacement I just got has something in both of them. Any ideas what they are? could I just short them and see if I get anything?

runeks · 24th September 2013, 03:28 PM

I just received my ODAC in the mail and I've been testing it against an internal Terratec Aureon 7.1-Space sound card in my PC, connected to a NAD C 352 amplifier with a pair of B&W DM603S2 speakers. I can't hear a difference. Not that I necessarily expected to; one of the reasons I bought the ODAC is to avoid the loud sound output by the analog out of my sound card when my computer is turned off. Also, it makes me able to have devices without a sound card output sound to my stereo.

One thing that disappointed me though was the noise floor. It's exactly the same as that of my internal sound card.

When nothing is playing on the ODAC, it's silent. Probably because it's not outputting anything. But when I play a WAV file with silence in it, its noise floor goes up to exactly that of the internal sound card. The noise floor of the internal sound card is the same whether I play anything on it or not though.

Interestingly, when I connect the ODAC to my Raspberry Pi, the noise floor disappears almost completely. So as far as I can deduce, noise is being transferred from my PC over the USB cable to the ODAC.

14th January 2013, 04:33 PM	#83
TheShaman diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2007	Got the extra panel today. Thanks for the great service, Stefan! Appreciated!! __________________ "You have a hierarchy: a mathematician, a physicist (which is a failed mathematician), and an engineer (which is a failed physicist)." - Andrew Jones

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4th January 2013, 08:57 PM	#82
captain pugwash diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Stevenage, Hertfordshire	Been using the odac for about a month now and very impressed! I use it with Foobar and wasapi on a Win7 PC. With Foobar (preferences - output - output format) and the odac (control panel - sound - properties - advanced) both set to 24 bit (or any other combination for that matter), the Windows volume still works, I had expected this not to be the case as wasapi by passes the windows controller, has anyone else experience of this?

30th January 2013, 10:18 AM	#86
darksky diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2011	I want to share my experience with odac. I bought odac to drive my power amp and floorstanding speakers. I have tested it with my notebook and brother's. Everything was working OK and sound was very good, compared to notebook integrated crap sound. I decided to connect odac to my girlfriend HP notebook. The sound was very distorted. I didn't understand why.... I have done a lot of google search to find out, why it sounds so bad. The problem was here: What Is the AMD USB Filter Driver? \| Tech Tips - Salon.com Maybe this information willl help for others, who has notebooks with amd chipsets and has distorted sound with odac. Usually amd usb filter is installed when you buy new notebook with factory installed OS and drivers, and you won't have problems with odac, but I always do clean install to get rid rubbish software which installed by manufacturer. So don' forget to install amd usb filter if you also do clean instal.

13th February 2013, 07:00 AM	#87
miero diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Prague	The notebook issue can be caused by its switched power supply. I tried USB DAC with ASUS low-end notebook and then connected to desktop speakers. The interference was so high that it was not pleasant to listen to anything. I've tried to replaced power supply with the one from old Thinkpad and the distortion has disappeared.

24th September 2013, 03:28 PM	#90
runeks diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2011	I just received my ODAC in the mail and I've been testing it against an internal Terratec Aureon 7.1-Space sound card in my PC, connected to a NAD C 352 amplifier with a pair of B&W DM603S2 speakers. I can't hear a difference. Not that I necessarily expected to; one of the reasons I bought the ODAC is to avoid the loud sound output by the analog out of my sound card when my computer is turned off. Also, it makes me able to have devices without a sound card output sound to my stereo. One thing that disappointed me though was the noise floor. It's exactly the same as that of my internal sound card. When nothing is playing on the ODAC, it's silent. Probably because it's not outputting anything. But when I play a WAV file with silence in it, its noise floor goes up to exactly that of the internal sound card. The noise floor of the internal sound card is the same whether I play anything on it or not though. Interestingly, when I connect the ODAC to my Raspberry Pi, the noise floor disappears almost completely. So as far as I can deduce, noise is being transferred from my PC over the USB cable to the ODAC.