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[eapfoto]

Hello. I can get PCM bitrates to correctly switch between tracks on my DAC (Marantz HD-DAC1), but for some reason MC31 no longer auto switches to correct bitrates on DSF and DFF tracks (or whatever you call them when using DSD). For example, if I play a DFF64 file, it shows up at the DAC as 176.4, not DSD 2.8 like it used to. And if I try to play DSF64 files I just get an error saying Unsupported. What am I doing wrong to be able to switch seamlessly between PCM and DSD formats with auto bitrate switching. Screenshots attached with current settings. I haven't used MC for a couple months, no system changes or updates, but now it does't work like it used to. Appreciate any help!

[Awesome Donkey]

My guess after looking at your images is it's trying to use the default CoreAudio audio output instead of the HD-DAC1 audio output. Go to MC's Options > Audio > Audio Device and select the HD-DAC1 from the dropdown menu. Then below that make sure DSD bitstreaming is enabled and volume (both system volume and volume in MC) is set to 100% otherwise it could fail to bitstream DSD.

[eapfoto]

Thanks for your help. When I go to Audio Device, everything on that list is followed by the name [Core Audio]. See new pic attached. There doesn't seem to be an option to choose anything without Core Audio. My other DAC also plugged in shows up on that list, the RME-ADI2, but same issue. Is there a way to turn off Core Audio if that is the culprit causing this problem?

Any other thoughts that might help? Thanks again!

[eapfoto]

Thanks for your help. When I go to Audio Device, everything on that list is followed by the name [Core Audio]. See new pic attached. There doesn't seem to be an option to choose anything without Core Audio. My other DAC also plugged in shows up on that list, the RME-ADI2, but same issue. Is there a way to turn off Core Audio if that is the culprit causing this problem? Also, if I have DSP Studio open during playback, down at the bottom of the window it correctly shows Source as 2.8Mhz/64-bit (DSD), but then next to that is shows Internal as 176.4 PCM. Seems like it's recognizing the DSD material, but not passing it through as-is without resampling.

Any other thoughts that might help? Thanks again!

[Awesome Donkey]

CoreAudio is the driver and part of macOS, it can't be turned off. I meant make sure it's not set to the (Default) (CoreAudio) as that can cause issues. But looking at the images it looks like that's fine and set to the HD-DAC1.

How's the HD-DAC1 connected to the Mac? USB? I've looked at the manual and it doesn't mention if the HD-DAC1 supports DSD via DoP, which is required for macOS as native DSD output isn't possible. I'll assume it does, hopefully.

Generally there's a few things required to get DSD playback working on macOS.

1) Open the MIDI Audio Setup app and set the output to your DAC and set it to the highest bit-depth and sample rate. This is required by a lot of DACs to get DSD output working.
2) Make sure DSD bitstreaming is enabled under MC's Options > Audio. This is needed otherwise you'll see this behavior of converting DSD to PCM and outputting that.
3) Make sure both system volume and MC's volume is set to 100% otherwise it won't work or you'll hear just noise.
4) Use USB or DLNA (maybe ethernet too, not sure if that works on macOS). It won't work if it's connected via HDMI though.

If all else fails, you can try unchecking the integer mode option (which is in the second screenshot you posted above).

[eapfoto]

Thanks for all that info! Yes, the DAC supports native DSD, and has worked no problem with other DSD capable audio players. It is connected directly via USB to the Mac. I already had system volume at max and MC volume disabled. Setting MC volume at max gives the same behavior so I figured having it disabled was simpler. I had already poked around in the forums and heard about disabling Integer mode as a possible fix, but that didn't seem to make a difference for me when I tested it earlier today.   

I've now set Midi setup to max, and also set Output Encoding to DSD in DoP, I think that's what you meant by making DSD bistreaming enabled, yes? That does get DSD playback working natively on the DAC, sorry, I should've mentioned I'd tried that earlier. But if I set it that way, all my PCM files seem to get upsampled to DSD instead of playing at their native 24/96, 24/192, etc., bit rates. Is there a set-it and forget-it option where I can just switch between all my various formats without having to dig around in sub-menus and adjust parameters before playing certain types of tracks? I guess I could also go back to just playing DSD with a different program, but it would be nice to launch one app and have everything play as it should. MC is so powerful and has so many features, seems like it can do anything, if a user can just figure it out

Thanks again!

[Awesome Donkey]

No, setting Output Encoding to DSD encodes everything including PCM to DSD and you're even converting DSD to DSD too. All conversions involving DSD is a lossy conversion. So it's best to avoid that unless that's what you want to do.

Anyways you should set Output Encoding back to None in this case. In MC's Options > Audio below the Audio Device section there's a Bitstreaming option, and it should be set to DSD. If it says None then that means DSD bitstreaming isn't enabled and there's your problem. Here's an image with the option highlighted in a red box (taken from Windows but the option is there regardless of OS).

Thanks for all that info! Yes, the DAC supports native DSD

Well, it specifically has to support DoP (DSD-over-PCM) so it works on macOS, besides native DSD which macOS doesn't actually support. It's a bit complicated compared to Windows (and Linux). Since the Output Encoding option for DoP seems to work you can just ignore that part.

[eapfoto]

Thank you. Sorry I didn't understand the first time. Turning DSD bitsreaming on solved the problem, and after testing, all file types now play at the correct bitrate automatically. Really appreciate your help!

[Awesome Donkey]

Excellent, enjoy!