Bengt Olwig

Hi Eloise, Here some additional information that may be useful. Various software is used for playback (iTunes, Windows Media Player 11, VLC Media Player, etc.) The problems specified don´t seem to relate to the actual player used. The computer used is a Sony Vaio VGN-A497XP laptop with 2 GB RAM and Windows XP PRO fully updated (SP3). The computer is used both for the music playback and other purposes like acoustic measurement, statistic analysis, etc. A reinstallation of OS is not an option due to complexity in software installations already in place.

Based upon Your hints and suggestions I’ve performed a set of tests indicating a Windows malfunction. As always when computers involved there is a wide span of things that may and will go wrong. After various time-consuming software updates and reinstallation of the generic Windows USB Audio Device driver (version 5.1.2535.0) and Realtek High Definition Audio driver (version 5.10.0.5124), a ”Plug and Pray”-situation now is established. Sometimes the USB communication works after PC reboot, sometimes it doesn’t. When playing, the system is randomly plagued by distorsion though and most probably there are some driver conflicts remaining still. I’m most grateful for any suggestions how to proceed to finally get in position to explore the full capabilities of my DAC7.

I’ve recently installed an Audio Research DAC7 into my HiFi-system. When connected to my CD-transport everything works beautifully, but when connecting my Windows XP based computer as source severe distortion occur. The result is similar with both iTunes and Windows Media Player and is unaffected by application volume setting. Anyone have a clue what remedy to pick?