Sonore exD DAC arrived tonight...hooked up via USB.
PCM files play at 24/192.
DSD files "play" but without any audio output. The song loads in buffer then plays (you can see the play bar moving and the seconds ticking up/down). In DSP Studio under Output Format, it says "Not available while bitstreaming" and the internal says "bitstreaming" and the source says 176.4/24 2 channel. All that is as expected...just no audio coming out.
When I click a PCM song, it automatically adjusts to the proper playback.
Any suggestions on what to try next? I'm hoping it is a simple "unclick the mute button" type deal, right?
Thanks,
John
EDIT: I can also turn off bitstreaming and play the DFF file just fine...it coverts to PCM and plays back nicely, confirming the files are good.
EDIT 2: I can get some stuttering/hissy/static music to play...and played with the output rates (taking them all the way up to 384 and down to 176.4 then back to 192.
EDIT 3: I turned the DAC completely off and then back on...it worked smoothly on DSD for the first 3:45 of the song, then it went back to scratchy static. Hmmm....progress of some kind.
EDIT 4: At 11:20 PM, playback is now smooth without clicks/pops...I fiddled around and then for no apparent reason it started working fine. I would describe it as if some capacitors needed to warm up to play right...and once they did, all was fine. Perhaps something got loose during shipping? I'll explore that later...for now it's working fine!
Initial comments: DSD has greater depth and air (I found myself closing my eyes and picturing a much larger stage), it sounds better when you turn it up...nothing harsh, just more detail (I suspect I'll play DSD louder than PCM), and the cymbals sound more natural...softer, with huge decay.
So the bottom line is the Sonore exD plays DSD on a Mac via JRiver and it sounds great!
Best,
John