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Author Topic: [JDS Labs O2+ODAC]:Recommendation?-Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)  (Read 19264 times)

jmone

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I have a Fiio E10 and while I like the price, has given me some problems with part of the Headphone Socket breaking causing a loose connection at times.  So I'm tossing up what alternatives there are that has:
- Headphone Amp and Vol Control
- Line Level out to feed a 2ch Desktop Amp/Speaker combo

I only use this on my Desktop PC for "casual" listening and the Fiio fit the bill nicely (price and features) till it started playing up.  I'm sure there are alternatives but most seem to have analogue out not Line Level - any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks
Nathan
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mwillems

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Re: Recomendations? - Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2014, 04:21:18 pm »

I have a Fiio E10 and while I like the price, has given me some problems with part of the Headphone Socket breaking causing a loose connection at times.  So I'm tossing up what alternatives there are that has:
- Headphone Amp and Vol Control
- Line Level out to feed a 2ch Desktop Amp/Speaker combo

I only use this on my Desktop PC for "casual" listening and the Fiio fit the bill nicely (price and features) till it started playing up.  I'm sure there are alternatives but most seem to have analogue out not Line Level - any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks
Nathan

Not sure you'll want to go back to the same well, but the Fiio e7 and e17 have a cheap line out adapter that can be used to make them a line source.  I've been using a Fiio e17 in my home office with the Fiio line out adapter for a year or so with no complaints.  

Not really the same price range, but at work I'm using one of these: http://www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/

It has a line out and very powerful headphone amp as well.  It's probably the best DAC/headphone amplifier combo I've personally heard.  
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jmone

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Re: Recomendations? - Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2014, 04:50:44 pm »

Thanks for the suggestions.  If I read the specs correctly on the O2, the "limited" is what I would need if I wanted:
- back mounted USB input, and a
- back mounted Line Level Out
- front mounted Headphone and Vol control

My other options are:
- Get another E10
- Just use the MB ports (doing this now)
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mwillems

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Re: Recomendations? - Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2014, 07:37:58 pm »

Thanks for the suggestions.  If I read the specs correctly on the O2, the "limited" is what I would need if I wanted:
- back mounted USB input, and a
- back mounted Line Level Out
- front mounted Headphone and Vol control

I have the regular ODAC/O2 combo, and it has a back-mounted usb port, and a front mounted headphone jack and volume control.  However, the line out is on the front, not the back (the line out is the same 3.5mm jack as the optional analogue input). 

So the regular is 75% of the way there for $70 less :)
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jmone

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Re: Recomendations? - Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2014, 09:19:20 pm »

Spoke to the local Oz distie and they gave me $30 off the limited so it is now on the way (but then blew some of that saving with O'Night Shipping!).  Could not just come at all the cables poking out the front.  :-\

Thanks for the advice and I'm looking forward to the new toy.

FYI - They also have not heard of any probs with the E10 but a quick Google shows others with the same Headphone Socket breaking issue.
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jmone

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Re: Recomendations? - Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2014, 02:03:08 am »

Just got it and 10 Min test with Headphones (Grado Labs SR60)
- USB ports make a difference.  When plugged into a USB3 port I was picking up "static" digital noise during playback and I thought I had a dud.  Even when not playing any content I had an impression that while there was no "static" it was not completely silent either.  Increasing the Buffering from Minimum HW Size it changed from static to a less frequent "ticking" but it was still present... and then ....
-  Changed to a USB2 port and it disappeared completely (even with Minimum HW Size)... Wow, I now know what people mean by the sound floor.  It is clear and silent compared to my E10 and the Soundcard even to my untrained ears.

I'm going to have to retest the Fiio as well now  :-[
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mwillems

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Re: Recomendations? - Replacement for Fiio E10 (DAC & Heaphone Amp)
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2014, 04:21:11 pm »

Just got it and 10 Min test with Headphones (Grado Labs SR60)
- USB ports make a difference.  When plugged into a USB3 port I was picking up "static" digital noise during playback and I thought I had a dud.  Even when not playing any content I had an impression that while there was no "static" it was not completely silent either.  Increasing the Buffering from Minimum HW Size it changed from static to a less frequent "ticking" but it was still present... and then ....
-  Changed to a USB2 port and it disappeared completely (even with Minimum HW Size)... Wow, I now know what people mean by the sound floor.  It is clear and silent compared to my E10 and the Soundcard even to my untrained ears.

I'm going to have to retest the Fiio as well now  :-[

I've heard that USB ports can make a difference, but I've never experienced it myself (except that direct ports seem to work better than USB hubs).  I'll be interested to hear any further impressions.
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jmone

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[JDS Labs O2+ODAC]: First Impressions
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2014, 02:19:39 am »

So after a day later, I'm still really impressed with just how clear it is, and it is not just with high quality sources.  I'm currently listening to a 1Ch 24kHz MP3 streaming radio (as bad as you can get) and the background noise is just silent.  Totally Silent... and this was not the case with the Fiio and Inbuilt sound card.  The best way I can describe it is that it reminds me of the difference between an analogue vs digital recording, with the analogue you get all sorts of little hiss and pop artefacts that are part of the background noise.  I wish I could get RMAA to compare it to the Fiio and Inbuilt Sound Card as I hate the subjective only impressions, I want to see the "facts" to make sure it is not some Halo effect.

The Headphone section is also great and can drive my Grado Labs to much higher SPL.  I like that you have an On/Off switch for the Headphone Amp and the Vol control knob is not "fiddly"

I'm also glad I got the "Limited" as the cable mgt is just better for my setup (See Pic).  It is bigger than the Fiio but not enormous and blends in well.

The build quality looks good (so far)

Nothing to install in Win 8.1 (plug in and WASAPI was available) and no issues with syn etc running it at 96/24.  I'm sure others would want other sample rates like 88.2 and 192 but I'm fine to let MC do the re-sampling.

So far the only downside I can see is the Value for Money argument that while it is clearly better than the Mobo Soundcard is it $400 better.  For me it is a big "Yes".

Let me know if there is anything in particular that you want me to try.

Thanks
Nathan
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mwillems

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Re: [JDS Labs O2+ODAC]: First Impressions
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2014, 07:42:14 am »

So after a day later, I'm still really impressed with just how clear it is, and it is not just with high quality sources.  I'm currently listening to a 1Ch 24kHz MP3 streaming radio (as bad as you can get) and the background noise is just silent.  Totally Silent... and this was not the case with the Fiio and Inbuilt sound card.  The best way I can describe it is that it reminds me of the difference between an analogue vs digital recording, with the analogue you get all sorts of little hiss and pop artefacts that are part of the background noise.  I wish I could get RMAA to compare it to the Fiio and Inbuilt Sound Card as I hate the subjective only impressions, I want to see the "facts" to make sure it is not some Halo effect.

That's been my impression as well.  It's a really excellent little device, very clean, and with gobs of power.  I use mine to drive power-hungry planar magnetic headphones and it can get them quite loud (even though they're so insensitive that they're like little speakers).  I actually (for a little while as an experiment) used an O2 to drive a pair of full sized (but very sensitive) compression drivers I have.  It worked pretty well too!

As for measurements, I'm inclined to trust nwavguy's measurements of the device for two reasons : 1) he gave away the design (he was explicit that he didn't want to make any money off of it), and 2) the limited independent measurements I've done (e.g. output impedance and power output) seem to agree with his measurements.  That said, my O2/ODAC is at work, but I'll bring it home and RMAA it when I think of it (I have a device with a relatively low noise ADC so I might be able to get a good test).

Quote
The Headphone section is also great and can drive my Grado Labs to much higher SPL.  I like that you have an On/Off switch for the Headphone Amp and the Vol control knob is not "fiddly"

I'm also glad I got the "Limited" as the cable mgt is just better for my setup (See Pic).  It is bigger than the Fiio but not enormous and blends in well.

The build quality looks good (so far)

Nothing to install in Win 8.1 (plug in and WASAPI was available) and no issues with syn etc running it at 96/24.  I'm sure others would want other sample rates like 88.2 and 192 but I'm fine to let MC do the re-sampling.

So far the only downside I can see is the Value for Money argument that while it is clearly better than the Mobo Soundcard is it $400 better.  For me it is a big "Yes".

That was my impression too.  It was well worth the money for me (althoughI don't have the limited).  And really, given the very low sensitivity of my work headphones I needed some kind of headphone amp just to use them.  Plugging them into a portable music player or MoBo output was not working.  

I love Grado headphones by the way, my first pair of non-earbud headphones were a pair of hand-me-down Grado SR60's that I wore until they fell apart.  I still keep a pair of Grados for home listening, it's nice to see another Grado fan around  ;D
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jmone

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Yeah the Grado's are my first attempt and a "reasonable" set of cans that don't cost a bomb.  I was arguing at the time with some teenagers who had much more expensive Beats.    ;D

nwavguy also did a review of the Fiio E10 and discuss some of the noises issues with the unit but bottom line was for $80..... it is a easy step up from a MoBo.

I know there are various measurements around but I was hoping to run them on my setup to "see" what I "hear" between the 02+ODAC, Fiio E10, Mobo... but I'm not that keen to get a reasonable ADC for just this.
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jmone

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Did some searching and it seems NwAvGuy has done some comparisons between the ODAC and the Fiio.  My perception is the same regarding the noise floor

Quote
A DAC’s noise floor impacts Dynamic Range (DNR), audible noise, THD+N, and can even exceed jitter-induced distortion. If you have to pick a single number to evaluate real world DAC performance –60 dBFS dynamic range (DNR) is one of the most revealing. The guys in the white lab coats have determined DNR greater than 100 dB results in transparency under realistic conditions. And, if you want to adjust the volume in software, it’s best to have at least 110 dB DNR to keep the noise floor inaudible even if the downstream gain is left cranked way up. Anything beyond 110 dB is past the point of diminishing returns—it looks nice on paper but doesn’t help the sound quality. The ODAC is a very substantial 14 dB better than the FiiO E10.

Measurement                                            ODAC                FiiO E10
Freq. Response 10 hz – 19 Khz 24/44        +/- 0.1 dB A       +/- 0.1 dB A
THD+N 100 hz 0 dBFS                              0.0029% A         0.005% A
THD+N 20 hz –1 dBFS                              0.003% A           0.004% A
THD+N 10 Khz –1 dBFS                            0.003% A           0.004% A
IMD CCIF 19/20 Khz –3 dBFS                    0.0011% A         0.013% B
IMD SMPTE –1 dBFS                                 0.0004% A         0.004% A
Noise A-Weighted dBu 24/44                     --102.8 dBu A     -98.3 dBu C
Dynamic Range –60 dBFS A-Wtd               --111.1 dBr A      -97.6 dBr C
Linearity Error -90 dBFS 24/44                 0.0 dB A             0.0 dB A
Crosstalk 0 dBFS Line Out 100K                --93.5 dB A         N/A
USB Jitter 11025 hz J-test 24/44              Excellent             Very Good
Maximum Output Line Out 100K               2.0 Vrms             1.65 Vrms



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mwillems

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Did some searching and it seems NwAvGuy has done some comparisons between the ODAC and the Fiio.  My perception is the same regarding the noise floor

Measurement                                            ODAC                FiiO E10
Freq. Response 10 hz – 19 Khz 24/44        +/- 0.1 dB A       +/- 0.1 dB A
THD+N 100 hz 0 dBFS                              0.0029% A         0.005% A
THD+N 20 hz –1 dBFS                              0.003% A           0.004% A
THD+N 10 Khz –1 dBFS                            0.003% A           0.004% A
IMD CCIF 19/20 Khz –3 dBFS                    0.0011% A         0.013% B
IMD SMPTE –1 dBFS                                 0.0004% A         0.004% A
Noise A-Weighted dBu 24/44                     --102.8 dBu A     -98.3 dBu C
Dynamic Range –60 dBFS A-Wtd               --111.1 dBr A      -97.6 dBr C
Linearity Error -90 dBFS 24/44                 0.0 dB A             0.0 dB A
Crosstalk 0 dBFS Line Out 100K                --93.5 dB A         N/A
USB Jitter 11025 hz J-test 24/44              Excellent             Very Good
Maximum Output Line Out 100K               2.0 Vrms             1.65 Vrms





That kind of difference is especially relevant with sensitive headphones, and the Grados are relatively sensitive (98dB/1mw).  The neat thing about evaluating measurements on a specific set of headphones is that you can actually calculate how loud the noisefloor "should" be in decibels based on the specs.

For example, nwavguy measured the Noisefloor on the Fiio as -98dB from maximum power, and the Fiio will drive the Grados to about 116dB-ish at full power.  That means the minimum noisefloor on the Fiio will be about 18dB in the Grados ((in a perfect world, if it's working correctly and there's no added noise from a faulty volume dial, USB power, etc.). 

That's fairly quiet, but would likely be audible in headphones in a quiet room, and if there's anything else adding noise it would quickly become very obviously audible.

The ODAC/O2 combo is much quieter than that, even taking into account that the amp stage (the O2) will amplify the noise from the ODAC and (at least notionally) add some of it's own.

By my calculations (based on the published noise specs for the ODAC and O2), the ODAC's noisefloor would be (after going through the amp stage on the low gain setting) about 5dB on the Grados.  That's theoretically audible, but not audible in any normal room with open backed headphones.  The O2 amp stage itself has (on the grados) about a -3dB noisefloor which is not even theoretically audible, so shouldn't add any meaningful noise to the 6dB you're getting from the amplification of the DAC noise. 

Not too shabby!  8)
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jmone

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edit - seem to have worked out the settings causing this Mmmm still fiddling around with various settings etc as I have some problematic high bitrate Multi Channel stuff that has issues switching between tracks and with pops.  Here are the threads on three issues:
- Pop/Click on Track Change
- Adaptive Vol
- Do not play silence (leading and trailing) = Playback to stall

Also, I can not use WASAPI Event Style... (have to "Disable event style (required by older hardware) which is kinda odd I thought) as others posts around the InterWeb indicate WASAPI Event Style should be fine on this device.
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mwillems

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edit - seem to have worked out the settings causing this Mmmm still fiddling around with various settings etc as I have some problematic high bitrate Multi Channel stuff that has issues switching between tracks and with pops.  Here are the threads on three issues:
- Pop/Click on Track Change
- Adaptive Vol
- Do not play silence (leading and trailing) = Playback to stall

Also, I can not use WASAPI Event Style... (have to "Disable event style (required by older hardware) which is kinda odd I thought) as others posts around the InterWeb indicate WASAPI Event Style should be fine on this device.

Interesting; I never use "adaptive volume," "gapped" on track change, or "do not play silence" so my unit may have those problems, but I never noticed.  I'll test on Monday and see if I get something similar. 

I can confirm that I have no problem using WASAPI event style.  What does JRiver see the ODAC as?  Does it say "ODAC" or "USB audio device" ?  I saw someone in a forum who had driver problems where it didn't show "ODAC" and he had some related problems with WASAPI playback.
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jmone

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Thanks for looking at these and yes, it is listed as ODAC [WASAPI].  When I use Event Style it is alot of static with some bits of music.
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jmone

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I've now tried all my USB ports on my ASUS MB:
- ASMedia USB 3 Ports = Static over the top of the music (but nothing when no music is playing)
- Std USB 2 Ports = Fine

I'm going to try a powered HUB as I tend to charge phones, tablets etc of my USB ports and since the ODAC part is powered from the USB port (the PS is only used for the Headphone Amp).
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mwillems

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I've now tried all my USB ports on my ASUS MB:
- ASMedia USB 3 Ports = Static over the top of the music (but nothing when no music is playing)
- Std USB 2 Ports = Fine

I'm going to try a powered HUB as I tend to charge phones, tablets etc of my USB ports and since the ODAC part is powered from the USB port (the PS is only used for the Headphone Amp).

Your USB ports seem to have quite a bit of "personality"  ;D .  So you've gotten event style working on the USB 2 ports, though?  I'll be interested to see how the hub goes for you (I had poor results from a hub myself).
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jmone

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No - no event style on either.  Just added noise on the USB3 ones.  ;D

Edit - to be precise, I should say: WASAPI Exclusive & Event Mode does not work.  Disabling either "Event Style" or "exclusive access" in MC works.
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jmone

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OK - So I got a USB 3 Externally Powered Hub and plugged the ODAC into that, and after Windows did it's install thing found a bunch of stuff:
- WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style Worked!
- Pop/Click on Track Change was (mostly) fixed (needs more testing)
- Adaptive Vol fixed
- Do not play silence (leading and trailing) = Playback to stall fixed

Then in some more testing found:
- Turned off Event Style and all the problems came back (including the static over the top of the music)
- Plugged the ODAC back into a PC USB3 Port and WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style Now Worked!
- Plugged the ODAC back into a PC USB2 Port and WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style produced garbled output as before.

So, my (confused) conclusion is that the 02+ODAC:
- likes WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style
- does not like WASAPI Exclusive + Non-Event Style
- and something in the combination of Windows / ASUS Mobo / ODAC has issues with getting WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style to work

It now works, but I don't really know why  :-\

It also may explain many of the issues with the Fiio as well (will have to retest it).
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frorqf13

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Hi
- Why not to test with ASIO mode for both devices ?? Perfect sound with no hiss and cuts up to 24/96kHz with automatic switching of frequency rate with JRMC17. Runs very well on my configuration (WinXP32) and my FiiO E10.

ODAC and FiiO E10 (and lot of other ones) are based on same USB interface chip TE7022L and ASIO driver for that chip is now very common.
Have a look on website support of FiiO at http://fiio.com.cn/support/download.aspx , or any other website for DAC product based on Tenor TE7022L USB chip (ESI Audio DAC Nano, HA-INFO Phiree D1 dac, TeraDak USB X2 interface.....).

About noise level with FiiO E10, yes i confirm that :
- it depends on USB cable. Use a full shield USB 2.0 cable (shortest length) with ferrite bead. I use a USB 2.0 cable 20 cm length for USB portable HDD.
- Yes, noise level is higher than with others DAC but not on same price range (FiiO E10 was only 450 CNY, 52 EUR)

About your issue with jack connector, FiiO recognized issue and you can get your product replaced within warranty period (according FiiO website), or you can repair it by yourself by open your device and try to replace the jack connector socket.

Rgds
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jmone

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Thanks - I've reseated the back of the E10 Headphone connection (out of wty) and with some more testing of the unit (once I have the ODAC settled in) I'll re-purpose the E10 for a second zone of my HTPC if it is up to scratch.  I too use shielded cables with Ferrite Beads (though my runs are longer at 1m) as when I first got the E10 I was picking up all sorts of EF with cheap cables.
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mwillems

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OK - So I got a USB 3 Externally Powered Hub and plugged the ODAC into that, and after Windows did it's install thing found a bunch of stuff:
- WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style Worked!
- Pop/Click on Track Change was (mostly) fixed (needs more testing)
- Adaptive Vol fixed
- Do not play silence (leading and trailing) = Playback to stall fixed

Then in some more testing found:
- Turned off Event Style and all the problems came back (including the static over the top of the music)
- Plugged the ODAC back into a PC USB3 Port and WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style Now Worked!
- Plugged the ODAC back into a PC USB2 Port and WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style produced garbled output as before.

So, my (confused) conclusion is that the 02+ODAC:
- likes WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style
- does not like WASAPI Exclusive + Non-Event Style
- and something in the combination of Windows / ASUS Mobo / ODAC has issues with getting WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style to work

It now works, but I don't really know why  :-\

It also may explain many of the issues with the Fiio as well (will have to retest it).

Based on those results it sounds like a USB driver/controller issue more than anything else.  The fact that you get vastly different results between types of ports (on both the Fiio and the ODAC), and that installing the hub "fixed" the behavior of the USB-3 ports system-wide strongly suggest that you have borked or flaky USB controllers/drivers.  It sounds like plugging the hub in caused windows to install or reinstall something that solved some of the issues on the USB 3 ports.

The ODAC and the Fiio are USB audio class 1 devices, so they have no driver, they're completely dependent on the windows USB drivers.  You might want to check with your MoBo manufacturer and see if they offer newer or different USB drivers.

Fiio later released an optional ASIO driver, which is a separate kettle of fish, but that might help too (as noted above).
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jmone

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Yup it is definitely something with just this PC (ASUS Mobo) as I tried it on my laptop and no issue with WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style on its USB2 ports.
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jmone

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OK got it all sorted (I think!) with the ODAC after more testing.  
- WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style the output is great (with Event Style disabled I was getting some issues - see above)
- USB Ports make a difference as buffering on USB3 can be "Minimum hardware size" or higher, but with my Mobo's USB2 ports buffering must set to "5ms" or higher else you get garbled output

I then tested the above settings on the Fiio E10 and found that the choice of USB2 or 3 Ports did not make a difference with buffering but it needed to be "10ms" or higher else you get garbled output or I would even get Windows Blue Screening with a "Kernel Security Check Failure" error on lower buffering.

In subjectively testing the two combo DAC/Headphone Amps with my Grado and my impression is:
- The O2+ODAC is noticeably cleaner (lower sound floor) that the E10.  In silent parts of playback it is utterly silent to my ears, while the E10 had the occasional little bits of noise and very quiet but discernible pop/clicks on track changes etc
- The O2+ODAC can drive the Headphones much louder than the E10.

I did also try to compare with the inbuilt sound card but the output level was to low with my cans to provide a similar SPL (which was the reason I got the Fiio in the first place).

Overall (I'm now) comfortable with my setup and that the O2+ODAC is a step up from the Fiio E10.  I'll be redeployingy my E10 to the HTPC to feed an 2ch analogue Zone 2 (outside) from my Receiver (currently using the Mobo port).

Thanks for all the help, advice, and suggestions!

Nathan
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mwillems

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OK got it all sorted (I think!) with the ODAC after more testing.  
- WASAPI Exclusive + Event Style the output is great (with Event Style disabled I was getting some issues - see above)
- USB Ports make a difference as buffering on USB3 can be "Minimum hardware size" or higher, but with my Mobo's USB2 ports buffering must set to "5ms" or higher else you get garbled output

I then tested the above settings on the Fiio E10 and found that the choice of USB2 or 3 Ports did not make a difference with buffering but it needed to be "10ms" or higher else you get garbled output or I would even get Windows Blue Screening with a "Kernel Security Check Failure" error on lower buffering.

In subjectively testing the two combo DAC/Headphone Amps with my Grado and my impression is:
- The O2+ODAC is noticeably cleaner (lower sound floor) that the E10.  In silent parts of playback it is utterly silent to my ears, while the E10 had the occasional little bits of noise and very quiet but discernible pop/clicks on track changes etc
- The O2+ODAC can drive the Headphones much louder than the E10.

I did also try to compare with the inbuilt sound card but the output level was to low with my cans to provide a similar SPL (which was the reason I got the Fiio in the first place).

Overall (I'm now) comfortable with my setup and that the O2+ODAC is a step up from the Fiio E10.  I'll be redeployingy my E10 to the HTPC to feed an 2ch analogue Zone 2 (outside) from my Receiver (currently using the Mobo port).

Thanks for all the help, advice, and suggestions!

Nathan

So I did some testing on my ODAC/O2 at work.  Here are my results (all are with WASAPI output on an i5 Win8 laptop):

1) I couldn't run minimum hardware buffer at all (it would try to playback but nothing would come out).  At a 5ms buffer playback was garbled on any USB ports (USB 2 or 3).  Buffer settings of 10ms or above worked perfectly on all ports (no pops or any difficulty).  

2) Toggling event style and/or exclusive access made no difference whatsoever to my output (10ms or above worked fine, less than that didn't work).

3) I couldn't produce a pop by changing transition settings no matter what I tried.  I iteratively tried all of the transition options at .5ms and at 3s, and I tried transitioning between songs with different sample rates.  The only thing I noticed is that (when changing sample rates) some of the transition effects don't seem to work correctly; that is to say cross-fading doesn't seem to work at all when I'm moving between files with two different sample rates (but works fine otherwise).  That may be because the hardware needs to have a single stable sample rate at any one time, so crossfading two different sample rates would be a bit of a trick.  But, bottom line, I couldn't get it to pop no matter what I did.  To be fair, I'm listening through very insensitive headphones so there may be a pop there, but I just can't hear it; I tried turning up the volume to simulate more sensitive headphones, but still no pop.

So that leads me to conclude that either our ODACs are working very differently, or (more likely) our USB controllers/drivers are working differently.  

Glad you got it all working and are enjoying it!
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6233638

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I have found UAC1 devices to be quite sensitive to buffer size and DPC latency.
UAC2 devices seem to have more robust drivers, and ASIO is often more robust than this.
 
You generally want to use the largest buffer size which works, rather than starting at the minimum and working up, unless latency is critical to your usage.
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jmone

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Thanks for the testing.  I guess it is the usb ports impacting the different required buffer size and in latency. I'll double check with event mode off if buffer size make a difference to the pop and clicks.

And one of the goals is to minimise latency for some testing, hence finding the min buffer size
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frorqf13

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Hi Nathan
as I propose above, if you want to have the minimum latency and cleanest sound, use ASIO.
Why are you focusing on Wasapi Event Style (or not) audio mode ??

ASIO driver for USB Tenor 7022L (USB chip interface) are working well and flawlessly. And you will see that after installing FiiO ASIO driver, it also works well for your ODAC O2 dac.

It really worth to give a try and you will be surprised by the sound.

My 2 cents..
Francois
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jmone

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Hi Francois, I was focusing on WASAPI as one of the design aims that NwAvGuy had for the ODAC was to create a DAC that did not require any additional drivers.  That said happy to test and try ASIO with this unit (I already have the E10 ASIO driver installed but how do you use it for the ODAC)?
Thanks
Nathan
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frorqf13

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if you have ASIO driver for FiiO already installed, you should have nothing to do, except disconnect your E10, and connect on same port your ODAC O2 !

With ASIO driver of FiiO E10, I can also connect HA-INFO Phiree D1 dac with no issue...
Rgds
Francois

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audio PC (XP+Fidelizer) > JRMC17 > ASIO(32b/50ms) > Asus Essence ST (LME49720/LM4562) > Qunex2 > MF M6i > Audioquest Type8 > Triangle Celius202

jmone

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Does not work for me (see pic)
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frorqf13

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Seems that FiiO ASIO driver is locking use only with FiiO devices  :( :(

For your ODAC O2, give a try by
- uninstalling FiiO ASIO driver
- reboot PC
- install another ASIO driver for Tenor 7022L USB chip from :
1.) HA-INFO for U2 interface from http://www.ab-system.hk/index.php?route=product/product&path=73_74&product_id=60 (I use it on my winXP32)
or
2.) Teradak X2 interface from http://www.ab-system.hk/index.php?route=product/product&path=73_88&product_id=62
Each one has different installer depending your OS (XP, X32, X64).
Check installing by getting access to ASIO control panel of your device, by using the small tool ''asioconfig.exe'' (google it). After opening it, close it before launching MC.
Rgds
Francois
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audio PC (XP+Fidelizer) > JRMC17 > ASIO(32b/50ms) > Asus Essence ST (LME49720/LM4562) > Qunex2 > MF M6i > Audioquest Type8 > Triangle Celius202

jmone

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The HA-INFO control panel looks just like the Fiio's one but again the same errors.  I'm on Win8.1 64-Bit and there is no connection to the ODAC that seems to work.  Likewise I can not use the HA-INFO driver with the Fiio either.
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