Hiface Two - sounding terrible on Ubuntu and Mac Mini

[peter.imrich]

Hi there,

this post may be a bit controversial but ..

I am a user of Hiface Two for around 2 years. I was getting tired of this Windows 7 lately and I also happen to be SW developer, thus running Linux would fit me better.

Here you go, I installed Ubuntu 15.10 on my laptop and to my great surprise I noticed the Hiface Two suddenly sounded terrible. I tried to fiddle with ALSA, etc but I just could not fix this. The sound was very harsh and space feel presented by Hiface on Windows was lost. Please note that I was using Hiface for 2 years and there was obviously a big difference.

 

I was really disappointed but I really wanted to get rid of this Windows 7 in my home setup, so I was thinking .. OK, let me treat myself with Mac Mini. And to my great surprise, the same problem was present on Mac Mini (model from summer 2015).

 

Guys, do you have experience with Hiface Two testing this on various platforms?

 

I am not sure what is going on here because I also have HRT Headstreamer and this one also sounds worse on Linux.

 

I know there is no driver needed for linux and USB audio is a standard and whatever but I seriously hear big difference and Windows 7 clearly sounds superior with Hiface and HRT also.

 

Could you share your experience?

 

Thanks,

Peter

[iago]

Ubuntu uses a sound server called PulseAudio for connection to the audio interface. With PulseAudio in place, you have the same issue as within Mac OS/X, you have to switch sample rates whenever you want to playback a different one. The default configuration is 48 kHz and PulseAudio will resample everything to that sample rate, using a rather lossy internal algorithm. This may be the effect you are hearing.

 

To check, play some music directly using ALSA tools and observe if it sounds closer to what you are used to:

 

aplay -l # check audio devices
flac -cd "path/to/a/flac/file" | aplay -D "hw:1,0" # replace hw:1,0 with correct address

If you want to avoid changing the sample rate every time you play back a different source material, you could use a player that directly links to the ALSA driver and uses the output exclusively. It will then adapt the sample rate automatically. Players that support this feature are, for example, Audacious, Clementine Deadbeef, and mpd.

[pipis2010]

Ubuntu uses a sound server called PulseAudio for connection to the audio interface. With PulseAudio in place, you have the same issue as within Mac OS/X, you have to switch sample rates whenever you want to playback a different one. The default configuration is 48 kHz and PulseAudio will resample everything to that sample rate, using a rather lossy internal algorithm. This may be the effect you are hearing.

 

To check, play some music directly using ALSA tools and observe if it sounds closer to what you are used to:

 

aplay -l # check audio devices
flac -cd "path/to/a/flac/file" | aplay -D "hw:1,0" # replace hw:1,0 with correct address

If you want to avoid changing the sample rate every time you play back a different source material, you could use a player that directly links to the ALSA driver and uses the output exclusively. It will then adapt the sample rate automatically. Players that support this feature are, for example, Audacious, Clementine Deadbeef, and mpd.

 

+1 for Deadbeef! Excellent player!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[peter.imrich]

Hi,

I am playing Spotify exlusively. I am sure audiophiles will object here a lot but I prefer convenience.

Any recommendation how to play Spotify reasonably?

 

Thanks,

Peter

[pipis2010]

Hi,

I am playing Spotify exlusively. I am sure audiophiles will object here a lot but I prefer convenience.

Any recommendation how to play Spotify reasonably?

 

Thanks,

Peter

 

Spotify? You dare speak of Spotify in here? Devil!!! Lol!!

I am only kidding, as Spotify rules!! Together with Tidal of course!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[simonhiggs]

Isn't there a firmware update to correct UAC2.0 compliance?

 

There was a link from the 'News Last Minute' section on the M2Tech homepage, but it now redirects to another page.

 

Simon.

 

edit - "Please, send us the serial number of your device (hiFace Two and hiFace Dac). We will arrange to send you the correct firmware update."

[CatManDo]

Checking the firmware version would be the first thing to do. The previous firmware was a mess, it didn't work with Windows 8 either.

 

The firmware upgrade is still available online. I couldn't find it by browsing the homepage but with a Google search.

 

http://www.m2tech.biz/it/firmware_update_xmos.html

 

If the firmware version on your Hiface Two is lower than 661, you have the old one

 

[peter.imrich]

Current version of the software downloadable from M2tech site no longer provides ability to upgrade the firmware. Any idea where the older version can be downloaded from?

[peter.imrich]

ok, after firmware upgrade the sound is better with Ubuntu 15.10 but still quite poor and nowhere near win7 with Spotify client.

I would recommend linux users to check the windows sounds.

 

I am using HIFACE TWO with Exposure 2010S2 Digital-to-Analogue Converter, 2x 3010S2 Mono Power Amplifier and speakers Monitor Audio GOLD 300, so quite good gear to hear the difference.