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[jrodude]

Hi, this is my first post on the forum.

I use an Aesthetix Romulus, with Audioquest Diamond USB 2.0 cable.  I had been using an HP laptop with Windows 7 and USB 2.0 ports to play the music to the Romulus via the Diamond USB cable.  Everything worked well and I had no problems playing  the audio files through the laptop using USB to the Romulus.

I recently bought a new HP laptop which has Windows 8.1 and USB 3.0 ports. I hooked up the Romulus using the Diamond USB 2.0 cable into the laptop's USB 3.0 port.  The laptop recognizes the Romulus as an audio device.

When I open an audio file through JRiver 19 all I get is short intermittent bursts of sound (each maybe a second long) in succession.  J River shows the time on the audio file moving (the song moves forward) but all I get are the short bursts of sound over and over.  I would almost describe it as a click, click, click, but it's actually a burst of sound from the song that's trying to play.  It's like someone was hitting the play and pause buttons over and over.  

I've tried different configurations for the audio device but the same problem persists whatever configuration I choose.  I think it has to be an audio or USB driver issue, but I'm not sure how to fix the problem.  I know that Microsoft has native USB 3.0 drivers in Windows 8.1 so I can't update the Intel USB host controller.  

I thought that USB 3.0 was supposed to be backward compatible with USB 2.0. I called both Aesthetix and Audioquest and they assure me that both the device and the cable should work with USB 3.0.

Hope someone has suggestions for a fix.  Thanks in advance for suggestions and assistance.  Regards.

[jmone]

Try increasing the buffer under --> Tools --> Audio --> Device Settings --> Buffering

[jrodude]

I tried that already, both 250 ms and 500 ms, but neither work.  No luck with either.  Thanks.

[jmone]

Hi - sorry for the quick post (was running to lunch) and welcome to the forum.  Have you had a look at the wiki on this - http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Setup (and some of the links).

I found with my new DAC the USB2 and USB3 ports behaved differently, at first the USB2 ports were "better" interms of buffering / pops / hisses etc, then I installed the mfr USB3 drivers (not the std MS ones) and the USB3 ports are now better behaved.

[JimH]

USB driver is a good guess, but try decreasing the buffer to 50ms.

[connersw]

Not to sound too elementary, but I didn't read it mentioned:  are you using the push button on the back for Class 2 Audio?  If so, did you install the Aesthetix driver?  Windows does not support 24-bit/192kHz natively.  For the life of me, I couldn't find the download link on their website though.  Did a CD come with the unit?

If you already installed it, I would try uninstalling and reinstalling that driver first. 

Other trouble shooting steps that I would try in order:
Use the push button to use Class 1 Audio only.
Try a cheap printer USB cable instead of the Audioquest cable. 
If you can get either of those to work, we can trouble shoot more from there.

If nothing, as jmone mentioned, try to find the manufacturer's USB 3.0 drivers and install them instead of the default Windows' ones.

[jrodude]

Hi everyone, and thanks to all those who replied. I was able to resolve the issue.

I had previously downloaded the driver for the Aesthetix Romulus (Thesycon Streamlength 1.26 driver) and installed it as per the instructions.  However, as suggested, I tried uninstalling and re-installing the Thesycon driver (making sure the Class 2 button was pressed).  After re-installation of the driver, the problem disappeared and I can now listen to music through the 2 channel audio system using the USB cable and laptop.

The setup file for the Streamlength driver has to be installed using Windows 7 compatibility mode.  It won't install under Windows 8.1.

The Aesthetix website does not have the Thesycon driver. The Thesycon driver (and instructions on how to install it) can be found at the Ayre website (www.ayre.com/usb.adc-windows-8.htm).  I did make sure to  push down the Class 2 button in the back of the Romulus.  

Thanks for helping out with my issue.  If anyone is using the Romulus and wants assistance, I'd be glad to help out.  

Regards,
James