Macbook Pro 13" and USB DAC woes.

[YourDoppelganger]

Hi guys,

 

I'm experiencing playback problems when using my Macbook Pro 13" Unibody and my USB DAC (a Meier Audio Cantate 2). I'm experiencing crackles and pops while playing back lossless/lossy files. These crackles and pops are spontaneous, and won't repeat themselves at the same part of a song, leading me to believe that it is not a problem with my song files.

 

I have also plugged my USB DAC into my Asus EEEPC, listened to the same files with Foobar2k + WASAPI, and I have had no problems whatsoever.

 

I'm completely stumped as to what may be causing this.

 

So far, I've tried;

 

Using both USB ports.

Turning off Wifi/Bluetooth.

Disabling sleep/shutting off of harddrive.

Directing system sounds to Inbuilt sound instead of my DAC.

Different software, such as Vox, iTunes, Ayrewave, Play.

Changing of Buffer.

New (and shorter) USB cable.

Updating all software (including MacOS).

Different power cable on the DAC/AMP.

Plugging DAC/AMP and Macbook directly into wall as opposed to a power hub.

 

Any help/suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

[YourDoppelganger]

Anybody?

 

[One and a half]

is rated on USB for 16/48 maximum on USB. This value needs to set in audio Midi (under utilities). Your lossless files need to match this value or lower. Standard CD of 16/44 would be fine to play same for mp3.

 

Your choice of player needs to be able to adjust the amount of memory you use, perhaps some application running int he background is making things dificult. System Activity monitor is a good place to start.

 

 

 

[YourDoppelganger]

Okay, I've checked Audio Midi and it was set to 16/44; I've just set that value to 16/48. I will give it a bit of a listen and report back.

 

Thanks a lot for the help.

 

edit - also, just out of curiosity; why would 16/44 be causing popping and interference?

 

Also, I've been noticing that sometimes the setting reverts back to 16/44. Could this just be a symptom of opening and reopening or switching between different applications?

 

[YourDoppelganger]

Okay, I'm still getting a few pops every now and then. It doesn't appear to be as bad as before, but it's still occurring.

 

By the way, I'm testing this on files that don't present clipping and have been ripped accurately.

 

 

 

[mwheelerk]

You mention it reverting to 16/44.1. I may be stating the obvious but when you use Audio Midi Set Up and make changes you must first close iTunes, make the change in Audio Midi and then reopen iTunes for the change to take effect.

 

I think you mentioned you changed cables. If not, try another cable. In another thread I read of a similar problem and in the end the change in cables did the trick though it could be a combination of things causing the issue.

 

[YourDoppelganger]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

 

I've tried several cables - I also went out and bought a new one - but it didn't appear to make any difference.

 

I've now made sure that I reboot iTunes when changing the setting to 16/48.

 

Like I said, it happens less frequently now, but it still happens every now and then. It's certainly better, just not perfect.

 

What are some other things that you folks do to make sure that you're getting the absolute best quality out of your USB system? Maybe I'm missing something when I set up my system/turn on my Macbook? Are there any settings that you routinely check or amend?

 

Thanks!

 

[realhifi]

Hate to state the obvious but maybe the manufacturer (Meier Audio Cantate 2) can steer you. Sure sounds like their software problem with Macs more than anything else.

Tha said, my Macbook Pro doesn't really dig going out USB all that much either.

 

[flatmap]

Perhaps they have firmware updates or can provide configuration tips for your Mac.

 

FWIW, I've been using a USB DAC with both my iBook and my 2010 MacBook Pro without any spurious noise. It's been plug and play with no special configuration needed. On the software side I've been using Pure Music and iTunes.

 

I do keep my external HDD connected via the Firewire bus -- so except for the internals (mouse, keyboard or whatever) nothing else is using the USB bus at the same time as the DAC.

 

Steve

 

[Mr.C]

It sounds like a similar problem that the first versions of the HiFace driver experienced. The fellows at M2Tech had a heck of a time figuring that out. Does your dac use a custom driver?

 

[YourDoppelganger]

Hi guys,

 

So I've just tested my USB DAC/AMP on a Windows PC. The sound was crystal clear - not a click to be heard - the problem must lie with my Macbook, and I'm beginning to think it's a USB power problem. I know that the Macbook has problems with the USB ports (rear port is considered inferior), but regardless of what port I use, I still encounter the problems; I will say though, the crackling occurs MORE when I use the rear port than it does when I use the front port.

 

Does anyone think it would be possible that a powered USB hub would fix the problem?

 

[bikemig]

A powered usb port might be worth a try. I use an HRT streamer with my 13 inch macbook pro. It flat out does not work with one of the usb ports (the one nearest the front of the computer) and it very occasionally does not work with the one in the rear. Perhaps there is a problem with the usb ports delivering sufficient power for the device.

 

[mwheelerk]

I am not sure at all but aren't some of those ports, and specifically the one on the side, slower speed USB 1.0 ports rather than high speed 2.0 ports? I wonder if that has anything to do with it. I know you can check this under the Apple Logo in the upper left corner>About This Mac>More Info>USB. It will show you the rate of transfer and I know that two ports on my iMac show 480mbs versus 12mbs and 1.5mbs on the other two ports.

 

If so I wonder if that may have an effect on performance?

 

No expert on these things but just wondering.

 

[YourDoppelganger]

My system profiler shows my USB devices like this...

 

http://i.imgur.com/krVtB.png

 

The DAC (the Burr Brown), as you can see, is at 12 Mb/sec, while the Memory Card Reader and the Built-in iSight are the only devices at up to 480 Mb/sec.

 

This is really strange.

 

[Audio_ELF]

AFAIK the BB2702 is a USB1.1 device so 12Mbps is correct.

 

I don't recall if you said: have you tried the DAC on a different computer?

 

Eloise

 

[YourDoppelganger]

Hey Elf,

 

Yes, I have tried the DAC with multiple computers, and it appears to work fine. It works perfectly on my father's Toshiba Satellite laptop, when I play it through Foobar and Wasapi.

 

 

 

[YourDoppelganger]

So I've just tried using a powered USB hub, and there is little to no discernable difference.

 

This is extremely irritating. I'm about to give up, I think.

 

[realhifi]

It is sounding like this is an Apple problem. I'd give them a call and describe your problems.

 

As an aside, I mentioned in my previous post that my USB's weren't great but that is more that was putting it into a USB to SPDIF adaptor. When using a DAC with a USB input the USB outs sound just fine and I have none of the issues you are describing. Sounds like you could simply have a bad one.

 

Even Apple has bad days.

 

[James1776]

Why the devil would apple decide to provide inferior different USB ports on the same machine? Considering what Apple charges for their computers, I would think each sold would be uniform and have gthe latest setups through out????

 

[audioengr]

This is a classic latency problem in the computer due to slow I/O.

 

Sometimes another USB port will solve this. If you have any other USB devices, particularly outboard hard drives, remove them.

 

This is why I recommend Mini. It has very fast USB I/O on all ports.

 

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

 

[YourDoppelganger]

"Why the devil would apple decide to provide inferior different USB ports on the same machine? Considering what Apple charges for their computers, I would think each sold would be uniform and have gthe latest setups through out????"

 

I know. I'm finding it to be absolutely ridiculous that my 300 dollar Asus EEE PC netbook can utilise the DAC perfectly, while my exorbitantly priced Macbook Pro pants and stutters. It's incredibly irritating.

 

[James1776]

The pitiful upgrade path...My iMac came with only 1GB of memory and the max for the machine is only 4. My far older Sony laptop has the same RAM and as much potential memory...

 

I agree about the Asus netbook...I have a two year old machine that came with 1GB of ram max but they released a BIOS change that let me double that! If Asus can let one double ones memory through a software change, why cannot everyone else?

 

[wgscott]

If you can connect via toslink to your laptop, try that, just to see if the problem persists...

 

If the fault lies with the Macbook pro and it is still under warranty, make them fix it or give you a new one.

 

I would be very surprised to hear that one USB port is made deliberately inferior, and on every mac computer I have used (at least ten varieties), they have all been equivalent.