higo

Hi Kurb1980, After extensive research and email exchanges with Audirvana and Benchmark, the problem was finally resolved. Interestingly, the solution to my problem is very simple. In order to take advantage of the DoP feature, the volumn knobs of both (i) the Audio MIDI setup (in the Preference Menu of the Apple OS) and (ii) Audirvana must be set at the maximum level. The DSD music files can now be decoded natively. I am a happy man again. Just wonder whether this requirement is documented anywhere in the manuals of Audirvana or Benchmark. Regards, Higo

Dear kurb1980 and others, Thanks for your reply. Indeed, Benchmark DAC2 should be able to decode DSD natively and the DAC2 display should show DSD (4x & 2x) illuminated. It worked in the past. Now, the Audirvana display panel (right side) still shows that the output signal is DAC: DSD64 but it appears that DAC2 fails to pick it up. Please see the attached photo for the preference setting and display panel of Audirvana. I have tried reboot the DAC2 and the computer but it does not help. I have replace the USB cable but the situation persists (i.e. only hiss sound is generated). Not sure if it is a hardware failure of the DAC2 but the strangest thing is that the DAC2 works flawlessly with PCM music files.

Dear all, I purchased the Benchmark DAC2 and it works fine under my Mac (Lion) -Audirvana (Latest 1.4.6) based system until recently. Specifically, it works flawlessly for PCM playback but not DSD files. For DSD playback, I chose "DSD over PCM standard 1.0" in Audirvana with the Benchmark already set at the USB2.0 mode. With such a setting, Audirvana was capable of recognizing the DSD musuc files so that in the left (Input) side of the Audirvana Player it read "DSDIFF 1 bit/2.8MHz". On the right (Output) side of the Audirvana Player it read "DSD64". However, even though it appears that the DSD music files are "recognized" by Audirvana, the DSD indicator lights on the Benchmark did NOT light up at all. I could only hear "hiss" sound from the speaker. The strangest things are:- 1. I managed to get the DSD playback to work under the same setting in the past. 2. The Benchmark DAC2 - Audirvana combination works flawless for PCM playback (up to 24bit 192kHz). 3. If "Automatic detection" is choosen in Audirvana instead, I got sound for the DSD files but it was converted to PCM and output as 24bit/176kHz only. Is there anything wrong in the setting of the Benchmark or Audirvana (so that "DSD over PCM standard 1.0" is NOT being recognized)? Any other members faced this issue before? Many thanks in advance.

Dear Paul, Thanks for your message. As indicated in my earlier message, I have previously spent hours tagging each and every music file with the album art. To clarify, all the album art is "embedded" with the music file and iTunes is supposed to pick up such embedded data. The problem is that there is a bug in iTune 11 so that I have to manually play one or two music files in a particular album before the embedded album art re-appear again.

Dear Talos2000, I can assure you that you are not alone. I have exactly the same missing artwork problem as you when using iTunes 11. In my case, all my album artwork was "embedded" with each and every song. Further, as in your case, if I do "Get Info" on the first track of any one album, the artwork re-appears. My 17,000 plus songs are stored in a Synology NAS and I am not sure if this is the root of the problem as I spotted from the footer of your message that you are also storing your music files in a Synology NAS.

Dear Valenroy, Thanks for your reply. Allow my ignorance, could you please elaborate as to how to "increase the sampling rate change delay"? Is this a setting in Audirvana or the Benchmark? Thanks very much in advance.

Dear all, I am currently partnering my Benchmark DAC2 with a Macbook Pro (Core 2 Duo, 4G RAM, SSD) through USB. I am using iTune 11 to manage the music library and the playing software is Audrivana Plus 1.4. All is working fine with one small glitch When I switch from a 16/44kHz file to a 1/2.8MHz DSD file, there is a slight "click" sound generated through the speakers. Whilst this is not a big deal, it is kind of annoying. There is no such "click" sound if the switch is from 16/44 file to a 24/96 or 24/192 file. Any Benchmark DAC2 users suffering from this "issue"? I am not sure if this is a problem of Audirvana or the DAC2.

I took the Benchmark back to the shop for checking this evening. The DAC worked flawlessly at the shop with another Windows based player which was compatible with DSD playback. I immediately concluded that this was not a hardware problem of the DAC. Rather, there must be something wrong on the software side. I went home and reinstalled the Apple operating system 10.6.8 and the Audirvana from the ground up. Bingo! It works and finally the DSD light on the Benchmark was on. Now a very happy user of the Benchmark and Audirvana. Many thanks for your time. Thanks for your patience and guidance in the whole matter.

Don't know if this helps. I append below the Debug Info extracted from Audirvana for reference. As indicated above, the Audirvana + Benchmark combination handles 16/44, 24/96 and 24/192 music files flawlessly. The main problem is that I did not get any sound for when DSD music files are played. The DSD lights (2X and 4X buttons) on the Benchmark fail to light up at all. I am not sure if (i) I have a setting issue in respect of Audirvana or (ii) the newly acquired Benchmark is defective:- Audirvana Plus rev. 1.4 debug information: running on Mac OS X 10.6.8 User preferences: Remote control: IR: off, Media Keys: off (with volume control: on) Playlists: Use UTF-8 for all: on Start playback at launch with audio file: on Remember playlist: on Volume knob control in vertical direction Sample rate converter used: iZotope 64bit SRC Polarity inversion: global=off, per track=on Volume control: DAC only Max volume limit = 100.0% SysOptimizer enabled: Spotlight: on TimeMachine: on iDevices USB: on iTunes settings: Completely deactivate iTunes playback: on iTunes volume control: on iTunes play position control: on Audio settings: Use Max I/O buffersize: on Max Mem for audio buffers: 2304MB Max Sample rate limit: None Sample rate switching latency: None Direct Mode audio path Currently playing in Integer Mode: Device: 2ch Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit, 8 bytes per frame @176.4kHz Active Sample Rate: 176.4kHz Hog Mode is on Devices found : 2 List of devices: Device #0: ID 0x104 Built-in Output Manufacturer:Apple Inc. Model UID:AppleHDA:13 UID:AppleHDAEngineOutput:8,0,1,1:0 Device #1: ID 0x106 Benchmark DAC2 USB 2.0 Audio Out Manufacturer:Benchmark DAC2 Model UID:AppleUSBAudioDevice:Benchmark DAC2 USB Audio 2.0 UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:Benchmark DAC2 :Benchmark DAC2 USB Audio 2.0:0000:1 Preferred device: Benchmark DAC2 USB 2.0 Audio Out Model UID:AppleUSBAudioDevice:Benchmark DAC2 USB Audio 2.0 UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:Benchmark DAC2 :Benchmark DAC2 USB Audio 2.0:0000:1 Selected device: ID 0x106 Benchmark DAC2 USB 2.0 Audio Out Manufacturer:Benchmark DAC2 Model UID:AppleUSBAudioDevice:Benchmark DAC2 USB Audio 2.0 UID:AppleUSBAudioEngine:Benchmark DAC2 :Benchmark DAC2 USB Audio 2.0:0000:1 6 available sample rates up to 192000.0Hz 44100.0 48000.0 88200.0 96000.0 176400.0 192000.0 Audio buffer frame size : 512 to 16384 frames Current I/O buffer frame size : 512 Physical (analog) volume control: Yes Virtual (digital) volume control: Yes Preferred stereo channels L:1 R:2 DSD capability: DSD via PCM 1.0 Simple stereo device: yes Channel mapping: L:Stream 0 channel 0 R:Stream 0 channel 1 1 output streams: Stream ID 0x0 2 channels starting at 1 12 virtual formats: Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @44.1kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @44.1kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @48.0kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @48.0kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @88.2kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @88.2kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @96.0kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @96.0kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @176.4kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @176.4kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 32bits little endian Float @192.0kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @192.0kHz 12 physical formats Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @44.1kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @44.1kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @48.0kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @48.0kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @88.2kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @88.2kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @96.0kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @96.0kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @176.4kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @176.4kHz Mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @192.0kHz Non-mixable linear PCM Interleaved 24bits little endian Signed Integer aligned low in 32bit @192.0kHz

Dear all, I attach a screen shot capturing the setting of the Audirvana for your easy of reference. If my Audio System is correct, then there might be something wrong with the newly acquired Benchmark.

Dear C-Hings, Following the good review of the Benchmark DAC2 in this forum, I just bought this little DAC this evening. In terms of the setting up, I first enabled the USB 2.0 mode of the Benchmark. I then plugged the DAC into my MacBook Pro (2010) with Audirvana Plus 1.4 running. The sound generated was very decent and I was able to feed 16/44. 24/96 and 24/192 music files to the Benchmark without any problem. Regarding DSD playback, I went to Preference/Audio System/Native DSD Compatibility/ and chose "DSD over PCM standard 1.0" in Audirvana. With such a setting, Audirvana was capable of recognizing the DSD musuc files so that in the left (Input) side of the Audirvana Player it read "DSDIFF 1 bit/2.8MHz". On the right (Output) side of the Audirvana Player it read DSD64. So far so good, right? Not really! Even though it appears that the DSD music files are "recognized" by Audirvana, the DSD indicator lights on the Benchmark did NOT light up at all. I could only hear "hiss" sound from the speaker. Alternatively, if I went to Preference/Audio System/Native DSD Compatibility and chose "Automatic detection" instead, I got sound but it was output as 24bit/176kHz. Is there anything wrong in the setting of the Benchmark or Audirvana? Many thanks for your advice in advance.

Dear j20056, Thanks for your reply. 1. Same as you, I am a happy user of the "Add files to iTunes" function of Audirvana Plus. 2. I am also tagging all my DSD files with "[DSD64]" in the title of the song. This makes the sorting much easier. 3. Regarding the sampling rate sorting, you can always insert a column call "sampling rate" in the main page of iTunes. In such a way, you can display and sort the sampling of all the songs in ascending or descending order. Many thanks.

Dear Jerry, Thanks for your reply. Your answer is very helpful and I manage to use Audirvana Plus to create proxy files that can be recognized by iTunes. This is a simple and yet very clever solution. Dear Ted_B, Thanks for your reply as well. Unfortunately, my entire DSD collection is in DFF. I might give some thought to your suggestion to use DSF instead in the future.

I am new to the DSD world and I am sorry if my question is too elementary. Up until recently my music library consists of AIFF files. Itunes is the nature choice for managing the 20,000 plus songs. Now I am starting my collection of DFF files and use Audirvana as the player. Of course I can use the playlist mode to organize the DIFF playback through Audirvana. I would like to continue to use itunes organize the DFF files. Is there a way to do so? Many thanks in advance.

Dear all, I am currently partnering a Naim ND5 XS streamer with a Synology NAS. Till a few days ago, the music was streamed from the latest two-bay NAS from Synology (DS712) and I am quite happy about its performance of the NAS and the sound generated from this system. The 712 features a 1.8GHz Atom processor with 1G RAM and it is targeted for the use by small to medium sized enterprise. Convinced that the 712 may be a bit “over-qualified” for the streaming job alone, I recently swapped the 712 with another older model from Synology – DS209. I used the 209 for more than 2 years and it only has a 800MHz processor and 512M RAM. After such a change, the sound generated from my system immediately becomes rather dull and the sound stage shrinks. Given the fact my setup remains essentially the same (i.e. lan cable, router, ND5 XS, amplifier, interconnects and speakers), I am puzzled by this phenomenon as the only variable is the NAS itself together with its stock transformer. Logically, so long as my old NAS or my new one is capable of streaming the raw music data (i.e. without processing, I suppose) through the ethernet port to my Naim for decoding, the sound generated should be the same. Frankly, I did not expect such a vast difference between the new model and its dated sibling, both from the same manufacturer. This really begs the question: does the specification (processing power and RAM size), make or model (e.g. single-bay or multi-bay) of the NAS affect the sound quality generated by a streamer? I would be grateful if any member can share his/her view. Many thanks.