XXHighEnd wont work

[Scroobius]

Hello - As a hifi nut I am very interested to try xxhighend however I cannot get it to work. I currently use foobar on my hp laptop (core duo with Vista) feeding an empirical audio OffRamp Turbo 2 (converts usb to spdif) via a USB output. The spdif output then feeds an Audio Note DAC 2.1.  The OffRamp accepts 16/44.1 or 24/96 as does the DAC. I have no problems with Foobar or other playback software in this setup. DotNet Framework 2.0 is already installed in the o/s and I have installed DotNet Framework 3.0 and ensured that it is activated via control panel.

I followed the install instructions but I cannot get xxhighend to work (in demo). I get error message "ENDPOINT CREATE FAILED : DAC does not accept this byte sequence"  I attach a screenshot of the output and setup. Also each time I start up the software it loses settings.

I would like to see the software working before I commit to purchase

all the best
Paul C

[PeterSt]

Hi Paul,

Sorry you are having problems.
Before we continue, can you please check whether the OffRamp really accepts 16 bits ?
FYI : Re: Engine #3 & Vista: No sound

Note that in the Settings Area the "Dac is" combobox has a "Dac Test" option at the bottom. Please try that and show me the output.

Also, don't forget to put up the Volume Slider (which is unrelated to the error message of course).

About loosing the settings ... there might be a question in the beginning (right after start up). Try to answer it differently than before (yes instead of no etc.).

Edit : I now see that your Sound Device is "Speakers Empirical". This is not right, and you won't be having the drivers installed properly.
OR
Or you didn't make the SPDIF driver the default audio device (which is what Engine3 currently needs -> sorry).

Peter

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter
Definitely the OffRamp accepts 16/44.1 but actually I normally use 24/96. I was trying to keep things simple at 16/44.1 but I will in future use 24/96.

I tried DAC Test and result is screenshot below. To try this I selected DAC Test in the pull down menu then pressed "play".

I do not know how to make spdif the default driver (I do not have spdif ouput on this laptop not sure if this is relevant though) there is nothing in the pull down menu at top of page that shows spdif option and there are no spdif options in control panel.

Settings problems sorted out thanks.

All the best
Paul

[Gerard]

Peter,


Here to the Dac test does not work anymore.... And gives the same error like Clarkit.


 

[PeterSt]

Hmm, I heard it before about the DAC Test not working anymore. Thought it was an accident with "someone", since here it still works.
Must look into that ...

Wait a minute ... Paul, I see that you are (DAC) testing with a 24 bit file. This should always be done with a normal 16/44.1 file.

And Paul, are you saying that it all works now ?

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter - it is still not working. I tried dac test with the 24 bit box unticked and still it does not work pls see attached screen shot. I do not understand spdif set up for my pc is this a problem ?

all the best

Paul

[PeterSt]

No ... you should load a 16/44.1 file in the playlist area, select that for playback, and then run the Dac test ...

But I just found that here it doesn't work either anymore. So never mind.

Furthermore, you should set "At > 16 bits" to 32 bits, not 24. Maybe that helps you for normal playback ?

Peter

[ed linssen]

Hi Paul,

I see you put your "Volumeslider" to -144db. Move the slider to the highest position or at least to -6db, and I think it will work

Succes,

Ed

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter - playlist with 16/44.1 files loaded and dac test run as requested gives result below

Rgds Paul

[PeterSt]

Yep, that's better. Uhhmm
This is what I have too, and this must be since one of the later versions.
Will try to solve that today.

Definitely the OffRamp accepts 16/44.1

Do you have any information on this ?
What I would do (just because my info says it accepts 24 bits only ... ignorant me) is :

1. Set "Dac Is" to 24/96 (with "needs 32 bits").
2. Run a native 24/96 or check "Double" an run a 16/44.1

In this case you will be outputting something the DAC sure is able to understand in theory.

But :

I am near to wanting to bet that this is about the laptop, and it outputting 48K only. You can check this with the device properties (starting at the loudspeaker icon in the taskbar tray), and finding that combobox that shows all the supported formats (note that selecting in there won't change anything).
If so, an 24/48KHz file should work.


By now there are many resons for things not to work, and the first theoretical reason is a wrong driver;
Please note that "Speakers" which pass through SPDIF under Vista are actually XP drivers. You should find an "SPDIF" device in there. As long as that is not there, all is bound to fail. On that matter, keep in mind that Engine3 uses Vista-specific means (WASAPI) *and* in a special way (Exclusive Use only).

Peter

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter
Thanks for your prompt responses much appreciated.

The OffRamp Turbo 2 works OK at 16/44.1 I used to use it in that mode more info on empirical website http://www.empiricalaudio.com/ "computer audio" and then "offramp turbo 2" gives details. BUT I no longer use 16/44.1 and now I only use 24/96. In order that this can work I select 24/96 in Vista in sounds please see below screenshot.

In foobar I use SRC to upsample to 24/96 & Vista then passes this output to the offramp. If in Foobar I turned SRC off then 16/44.1 native files are passed on to Vista which then upsample to 24/96 - that is my understanding.

I will make another post with results of test at 24/96 (but this is what I tried when I first installed xx and it did not work then)

All the best

Paul

[PeterSt]

Hi Paul,

If in Foobar I turned SRC off then 16/44.1 native files are passed on to Vista which then upsample to 24/96 - that is my understanding.

That is correct.

The "Speakers Properties" screen you showed is the one I referred to. The selection you can make (like for 24/96 as the screen shows) does nothing for Exclusive Mode (watch the remark at the top -> "... in shared mode"). It will say though what the native possibilities of the sound device are (with still no guarantee that they will work. But those not listed 100% sure won;t work hehe). So, does that combobox show 16/44.1 as well ?

For your testing, indeed think carefully about the resampling facility from Vista, which makes it very hard to determine what the software actually outputs. For example, try Engine#1 and that will work. But Vista will have resampled to *anything* that works. This is not what Engine#3 will do, because it won't allow "not bit perfect".


I looked at the Empirical website, and *everything* is directing you to 24/96 under the cover of that sounding best (which is non-sense to me, or at least generally that is). Furthermore there is this quote from in there :

For Best PC Audio Quality:
We recommend using Foobar2000 0.8.3 to upsample the data to 24/96 on a PC. You will need a
DAC that will operate in 24/96 mode, such as the P-3A, The Benchmark DAC-1, the
Northstar 192 or the dAck!. If you do not upsample, then set the player to 24/44.1 with the new
firmware version of Off-Ramp. If you have the older m-audio firmware version, then you can set
16/44.1.

Mind the last two sentences ...

Lastly there's this post : Re: 09.U-0a setup with external USB DAC and in there a quote from Steve N : "All of my USB converters do only 24-bit".
I tend to believe that ... 

This doesn't mean that you can't play, but together with the other issues (like the driver) it all becomes a kind of difficult for you.
Anyway I hope you can make something of it !

Best,
Peter

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter - OK thx that is clear so how does xxhigh work ? - if I select 24/96 for the "Dac is" option doesn't xx upsample a 16/44.1 input file to output 24/96 to the DAC ? or does it just pass on the input file without changing (up/downsampling) it ?.

Also many of my files are native 24/96 so I think that they would be passed to off ramp which would then pass them to the DAC untouched.

The drivers  -  apologies I do not understand your comments about spdif. If the output to offramp is via usb from the laptop doesn't xx have to use the offramp drivers. With no spdif outputs on the laptop surely there would not be any spdif drivers loaded in vista.

Apologies if I do not understand.

All the best

Paul

[Scroobius]

Hi Peter,

Success xx now works with Engine 1 & Engine 2 but NOT with Engine 3. Not exactly sure why as I tried engine 2 before and it did not work then.

Your quote "So, does that combobox show 16/44.1 as well ?"  - it shows 24/44.1  24/48  & 24/96  you are correct !!

screenshot showing result of attempt with engine 3 with Primary Sound Driver  -  is there any hope of getting engine3 working ?

All the best

Paul