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[VinBob]

Hello All,

I am using the latest JRiver MC 21 build on my Windows 10 machine which also has all its updates applied. I am using an iFI Audio Micro iDAC2 which is capable of playing just about anything out there - however, not so the case with my setup. I can play anything upto 24/96 but anything above, and JRiver complains that it cannot play it and proposes that I adjust the DSP settings to 24/96 which defeats the purpose of playing back a 24/192 or DSD/SACD audio which I was hoping to now enjoy with the new purchase of my DAC.

For what its worth, it is not an issue with the DAC as I when I use it on my Mac Pro using Audirvana+, it will play anything I throw at it. I have tried switching between the WASAPI, ASIO, Kernel Streaming and Direct Sound modes and nothing seems to work. It seems that there is maybe some handshaking issues going on between the PC and JRiver preventing it from playing anything above 24/96.

Would appreciate any guidance or help on this as I have to believe its some setting somewhere that needs to be adjusted - the funny thing is, I never experienced any of these issues with my previous M2TECH DAC!!!  ?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Vin.

[dtc]

Do you have the iFI usb driver installed? Without it you would be limited to 24/96.  Apple does not need the driver.

[VinBob]

Do you have the iFI usb driver installed? Without it you would be limited to 24/96.  Apple does not need the driver.

Yes, I do have it installed. I also uninstalled and reinstalled just in case, but made no difference...

[dtc]

Are you using WASAI or ASIO? I would also suggest setting Exclusive mode in both the WASAPI setup and in the Windows setup for the device. After changing the Windows settings you should reboot the system. You may have done these already, just checking. As you said, this should just work.

[VinBob]

Are you using WASAI or ASIO? I would also suggest setting Exclusive mode in both the WASAPI setup and in the Windows setup for the device. After changing the Windows settings you should reboot the system. You may have done these already, just checking. As you said, this should just work.

Thanks Dtc.

I have tried WASAPI and ASIO drivers from within JRiver MC 21 but I am thinking now if its something in the Windows setup for the device which is preventing JRiver going into any of the higher modes?? Where would I find that exactly as any Windows related settings I have seen didn't mention or allow for using the WASAPI or ASIO settings. I will check again as soon as I am in front of the computer and appreciate the feedback and help...

[dtc]

The Windows settings are in Control Panel - Sound. Then select your device and Properties and Advanced. There are two option boxes to check, allowing exclusive access. You might also check the Enhancement options and turn them off if they are on.

[Arindelle]

The Windows settings are in Control Panel - Sound. Then select your device and Properties and Advanced. There are two option boxes to check, allowing exclusive access. You might also check the Enhancement options and turn them off if they are on.

yes .. this is where I would look first.   Otherwise via USB 96khz is going to be limited to 96khz and under. I'd also check that the volume is set to 100% in the level tab under properties.

[dtc]

Also, if you change the Windows exclusive options you should reboot to be sure the change takes effect.

[VinBob]

Hello All and thanks for your input and help on all this - It is now finally all working!!! 

I ended up having to reinstall the driver as I was no longer seeing ASIO or WASAPI devices to choose from - very odd... ? - I followed your tips above as well as the setup config provided by iFI Audio whom BTW, are excellent to deal with and make a really nice product!

One remaining question I do have, is when playing a 16bit 44.1Khz FLAC file, I notice it reads the following in DSP Studio:

Source 44.1 kHz 16bit 2ch and Internal 44.1 kHz 64bit 2ch - Is this correct and why the 64bit for internal? Also when I look at the Audio path, it says 'no changes are being made' but the Output reads: 44.1 kHz 32bit 2ch using ASIO (direct connection) - again, why 32bit and not 16bit which is what the file is encoded to?

Also, I noticed Mixing has JRSS mixing (recommended) enabled - should I disable this as I don't believe I need any mixing of sorts?

Again, appreciate the eduction and help and I am a lot happier now to be playing audio again... 

Cheers,
Vin.

[VinBob]

Hello All and thanks for your input and help on all this - It is now finally all working!!! 

I ended up having to reinstall the driver as I was no longer seeing ASIO or WASAPI devices to choose from - very odd... ? - I followed your tips above as well as the setup config provided by iFI Audio whom BTW, are excellent to deal with and make a really nice product!

One remaining question I do have, is when playing a 16bit 44.1Khz FLAC file, I notice it reads the following in DSP Studio:

Source 44.1 kHz 16bit 2ch and Internal 44.1 kHz 64bit 2ch - Is this correct and why the 64bit for internal? Also when I look at the Audio path, it says 'no changes are being made' but the Output reads: 44.1 kHz 32bit 2ch using ASIO (direct connection) - again, why 32bit and not 16bit which is what the file is encoded to?

Also, I noticed Mixing has JRSS mixing (recommended) enabled - should I disable this as I don't believe I need any mixing of sorts?

Again, appreciate the eduction and help and I am a lot happier now to be playing audio again... 

Cheers,
Vin.

Sorry, one more to add to the above: When configuring the 'Device Settings' section, can someone please explain the two options as follows:

1) Device uses only most significant 24-bits (Lynx, etc) - unchecked
2) DSD bitstream in DoP format - checked

I don't believe unchecking/checking item 2 above made a difference - do I maybe need to restart JRiver for changes to take effect?

Cheers,
V.

[VinBob]

Bump on the last couple of postings... 

Would appreciate any feedback/comments... Thanks!

Cheers,
V.

[BryanC]

Higher bit-depths are just padded with zeros so it won't have any impact on sound. MC uses 64-bit internally to give 'headroom' for DSP and volume adjustments. The 32-bit output was probably selected automatically since it is the highest your hardware supports.

The last two questions are dependent on your hardware, but it's likely that both should be unchecked.

[dtc]

The DSD bitstream in DoP option makes a difference if you are using an ASIO driver. ASIO supports both native DSD and DoP formats. You need to check or uncheck depending on what the DAC is expecting. Native DSD is not supported by WASAPI, so WASAPI does DoP automatically. I believe iFI uses DoP, so you need to specify that when using ASIO.

I believe the most significant bit option relates to some older hardware that was picky about getting a 24 bit or 32 bit signal. I do not think it is needed for most current DACs.

[dtc]

If you are sure you do not need any mixing, you can just set the Channel option to have output the same as input. If you are just using 2 channel output, you can set the output channels to 2 and down mixing will only be done if the track has more than 2 channels. Setting it to 2 just insures if you have a stray non 2 channel track it will play as 2 channel. If it is 2 channel in and 2 channel out, no mixing happens. If everything is 2 channel, setting Output same as Input or 2 channel should give the same results.

[VinBob]

Clarification on this is much appreciated! Thanks all...