XDA-2 problems

[reverendd]

First time Emotiva buyer. Have wanted a DAC for a couple of years now. And the value for money factor of the XDA-2 was too good to resist, so I had to order one.

I received my XDA-2 DAC a few days ago, and it seem to be a well built, good sounding piece of equipment.
But there are some episodes of odd behaviour.

I have connected the XDA-2 with XLR to a poweramp, and I am using it as a preamp for my digital sources (2 optical, 2 coax and USB)

First problem:
Sometimes the sound just stops.
According to the display in registers a signal (normally 48khz from apple TV and my STB or 44.1khz from my CD player).
No matter what source I select there is just no sound.
The sollution is to go to standby and back (sometimes I have to do this two times to get the sound back)

Second problem:
Sometimes when I turn the ASRC on there is a "blanket" of distortion/noise that totally overpowers the audio (I can barely hear it in the background).
When I bypass the SRC the noise disappears, when I hit the button again the noise reappears.
The solution for this problem was also going to standby and back again.

An additional issue is that when I connect the trigger output to my poweramp I also experience that there is no sound.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? Or do you have suggestions for what the problem might be?

I have sent an email to support at Emotiva, but I am still waiting for a response. (It has only been 48 hours, so I am not complaining about response time yet)

[Deleted]

Call Emotiva and ask for Keith in Tech Support. If there is anyone on this or any other planet that can solve your issue with the XDA-2 it is Keith (great guy and extremely knowledgeable).

[audiohead]

I am with Chuck on this one give EMO a call they have outstanding service!Your unit may be defective.I have this unit and from day one and it gets used everyday and has performed with out fail.

[AudioHTIT]

Neither my XDA-1 or 2 have experienced any problems let alone something like you describe. Agree that you should call Keith, eMail is not always the best contact method.

[reverendd]

Update!

Thanks for the input guys.

I got a response from Lonnie Vaughn today. From the my description he felt confident that it is a hardware issue.

They offered to send me a new PCB that I can change myself. It is quite expensive to return and ship a new unit to Norway. So I am happy with the sollution.

Thanks to Emotiva for trying to fix the issue!

[Dark Ranger]

Feb 13, 2013 12:14:14 GMT -5 reverendd said:

I got a response from Lonnie Vaughn today.

Lonnie? Never heard of him. Oh, wait. Isn't he the guy who makes coffee and answers the door at Emotiva HQ? Ah, now his name rings a bell.


Kidding aside, it's great to hear that you have a likely solution on the way. I have an XDA-2 and am very happy with it. I wish you could have had the same experience, especially as a first-timer. Know that these issues are not common.

Oh, and reverendd, that guy Lonnie Vaughn...he's actually the VP & CTO for Emotiva.


Good luck with the board swap. Let us know what you think once you've finally listened to the XDA-2 sans problem.

[druu]

reverendd, did you end up resolving the issue with the new board?

I have a brand new XDA-2 and experiencing the exact same issues as your initial post.

[snafujg]

Druu, call Emotiva. There was a bad batch that had hardware issues. It affected a bunch of us that bought theirs around the middle of April timeframe. Emotiva will take care of you.

[druu]

I wish it was that simple.

I'm 13hrs ahead so calling up is quite difficult. I've logged a ticket and currently on a back and forth comms with Keith. No resolution so far, just the usual question and answer business. Each day I have to wait for a reply (usually around 2am) is a day closer to the 30 day return limit.

Not having the best experience unfortunately.

[druu]

Oh btw, mine was shipped middle of June though it could have been a part of that same 'batch'?

Either way it's becoming a regretful purchase, a shame since the unit sounds quite nice when it does work as it should. But facing the 'no sound' issue daily when bringing out of standby isn't something I'm willing to put up with.

[GreenKiwi]

I saw the exact same issues with mine.

No sound and I had to power off before USB worked again.

Switched to the DC-1, which so far, I love.

[snafujg]

Jul 10, 2013 15:19:00 GMT -5 druu said:

I wish it was that simple.

I'm 13hrs ahead so calling up is quite difficult. I've logged a ticket and currently on a back and forth comms with Keith. No resolution so far, just the usual question and answer business. Each day I have to wait for a reply (usually around 2am) is a day closer to the 30 day return limit.

Not having the best experience unfortunately.

Keep with it. Keith is the person you want to work with. Since you've reported it prior to the 30 day trial period being up, they will take care of you. They replaced mine and I've had no problems since.

[tedc]

I am also having the XDA-2 hang problem, driving the USB port with a MacBook Pro. When the computer sleeps, the DAC gets "confused" - it does not respond, play, etc. The only solution has been to disconnect the USB cable, power off the XDA-2 (i.e. not simply standby mode), then start up and reconnect again.

I have also see the XDA-2 exhibit this USB hang problem when I stop playing (I was using iTunes for the test), then trying to start playing again a little later (15 minutes, say). I was working on the computer so know that it did not go to sleep in the interim.

Anyway, I am trying to figure this out as well. Helpful suggestions appreciated.

[GreenKiwi]

I had the exact same problems with my XDA-2. Anytime my computer went to sleep, it effectively took the XDA-2's USB out of commission. Plugging it into a different computer did not cause it to work again, I also noticed that optical stopped working as well. My only solution was to completely turn off the XDA-2 (at the back) and unplug the USB cable and turn it back on again.

It's back at Emotiva now.

(Note, my DC-1 does not exhibit any of these problems.)

[KeithL]

Let me clarify a few things - for everyone.

My background is more with PCs than Mac, but USB is the same for both. Problems with USB devices not being recognized after a computer wakes up from hibernation (or even occasionally when it reboots) are not at all uncommon. With USB hard drives, it's not even especially uncommon to have one just stop being recognized, or even to have one simply not show up when you plug it in. In all these cases, you end up having to unplug and reconnect the drive to get the computer to recognize it. This happens even more often with digital cameras and recorders. The computer is able to sense when something is electrically connected to the USB port (sometimes even if its off), which is why you often have to actually unplug the device rather than simply switch it off and on again.

With a PC, you are having to load a USB driver - provided by us; we don't update it very frequently, and there are no configuration options when you install it, but it is there. With the Mac, the driver comes with the operating system. This has several implications: you can't change the driver; the driver MAY change when you update your Mac O/S; and different Macs probably have different versions of the driver on them. Unfortunately, none of that is under our control. Since different DACs use different drivers (UAC1 or UAC2), the fact that one or another DAC has problems on your Mac probably doesn't "prove" much; at most, if you have trouble with one DAC, it's a bit more likely that you'll also have problems with others.

Now, we have indeed actually had a few defective XDA-2 units - but nothing that constitutes a "pattern" or "a bad batch" - simply a few isolated hardware failures. (There was one batch which had unreliable firmware, but those were strictly limited to units shipped in the first week of production.)

The easiest way to determine whether you probably have a bad XDA-2, or whether it's the computer's fault, is simply to try a different computer; if the XDA-2 has exactly the same problem on another computer then there's a good chance it has a hardware problem; if the problem ONLY happens on one computer, then odds are it's either something set wrong on that computer, or even something a bit off with the computer's USB port (the driver or hardware). Many computer users have found that a certain brand of USB thumb drive, or a certain hard drive, won't work on a particular computer; and, unfortunately, that can happen with a particular DAC as well.

Another thing is that sometimes certain ports or certain cables can cause problems. While cables over six feet, and some "specialty audiophile cables", are specifically known to be problematic, even nice short ordinary cables can sometimes be bad - or a certain one may interact oddly with a certain combination of device and port. Therefore it always makes sense to try a different (and very short) cable - at least for diagnostic purposes. These are all the sort of things we're going to bring up when you call in - and the reason is that we don't want to waste your time (or ours) replacing or fixing a unit that isn't broken, or making you wait for a replacement that isn't going to fix the problem.

We'll certainly be happy to fix or replace your unit once we're both sure there is actually a problem, and it is the XDA-2 that is at fault.


I will also tell you that (as you probably know by now), we are in the process of phasing in a new Help Desk software system. So far I haven't seen any issues or lost information but, if you're at all concerned, save copies of our e-mails with you (that way, if there's any question that you notified us of your problem inside your 30 day return period, you'll have proof - and you won't have to worry about it.)

[tedc]

Thanks, Keith. I have also been emailing with Nick on this one.

Interestingly, Nick reports that he experienced the same halting problem with an iMac he had available. (I will let Nick weigh in, of course.) When the iMac slept, the USB connection was lost. Power off - as distinct from standby - was needed to reset the USB connection between Mac and XDA.

To be clear, I have tested multiple cables with the XDA-2. Also, I have tested the same USB cable I used when the Mac and XDA stopped talking to connect between the Mac and 3 other DACs. The problem did not occur when the test Mac and test USB were connected to the other DACs. This is just FYI for background info.

So, it is a puzzle. Until we can figure out how to get the XDA to play, I can just use another DAC in the interim. I look forward to finding a solution.

As always, thank you.

[tedc]

I spent a bit of time over the weekend trying this particular XDA-2 with a PC laptop (Dell, Win 8). I had to install the unified driver (available at the bottom of the XDA-2 page). Not atypical for Windows, successful installation took 3 tries, but once installed, the PC found the XDA and began streaming music through it without further interaction on my part. For consistency, I used iTunes Match and iTunes. Not the highest fidelity test, but at least the selection of music was the consistent.

I tried several of the steps that caused the XDA and Mac to stop communicating. In all cases, the XDA behaved as it should. Continuous streaming? Check. Stopping streaming then restarting? Check. Waking PC from sleep and restarting streaming? Check.

So, the XDA played nice with the borrowed Win 8 machine but not the Mac. The Dell is returned. Situation back as before.

Still looking forward to a solution to the Mac issue. Thank you!

[garbulky]

Jul 23, 2013 14:05:32 GMT -5 tedc said:

I spent a bit of time over the weekend trying this particular XDA-2 with a PC laptop (Dell, Win 8). I had to install the unified driver (available at the bottom of the XDA-2 page). Not atypical for Windows, successful installation took 3 tries, but once installed, the PC found the XDA and began streaming music through it without further interaction on my part. For consistency, I used iTunes Match and iTunes. Not the highest fidelity test, but at least the selection of music was the consistent.

I tried several of the steps that caused the XDA and Mac to stop communicating. In all cases, the XDA behaved as it should. Continuous streaming? Check. Stopping streaming then restarting? Check. Waking PC from sleep and restarting streaming? Check.

So, the XDA played nice with the borrowed Win 8 machine but not the Mac. The Dell is returned. Situation back as before.

Still looking forward to a solution to the Mac issue. Thank you!

The mac should have no problems with the Spdif output (not USB). You can get to it from your headphone jack and special adapter cable. As for proper USB functioning on a mac I doubt there's going to be any fixes. The mac has its own USB 2 drivers. The only suggestion I can tell is to update your mac software (and drivers) to the latest version and make sure the things are configured right. Also try another USB port.

[GreenKiwi]

I don't think that it is completely a mac issue, as the XDA-2's USB becomes dysfunctional after the connecting device has gone to sleep. It doesn't work again until it has been powered off and unplugged.

But I do agree that a toslink is a work around for the problem (at least to 96KHz).

The Mac being on the lastest OS (or even development OS) doesn't fix the problem. It's some interaction with the USB driver that is causing the USB control chip to have issues and locks up.

So maybe there is an issue with the Mac driver, but it is unlikely that Apple will fix it directly unless someone (CMedia) brings it up with them. It is interesting that the newer CMedia chip in the DC-1 doesn't seem to exhibit the same issues.

[tedc]

Jul 23, 2013 15:01:09 GMT -5 garbulky said:

Jul 23, 2013 14:05:32 GMT -5 tedc said:

I spent a bit of time over the weekend trying this particular XDA-2 with a PC laptop (Dell, Win 8). I had to install the unified driver (available at the bottom of the XDA-2 page). Not atypical for Windows, successful installation took 3 tries, but once installed, the PC found the XDA and began streaming music through it without further interaction on my part. For consistency, I used iTunes Match and iTunes. Not the highest fidelity test, but at least the selection of music was the consistent.

I tried several of the steps that caused the XDA and Mac to stop communicating. In all cases, the XDA behaved as it should. Continuous streaming? Check. Stopping streaming then restarting? Check. Waking PC from sleep and restarting streaming? Check.

So, the XDA played nice with the borrowed Win 8 machine but not the Mac. The Dell is returned. Situation back as before.

Still looking forward to a solution to the Mac issue. Thank you!

The mac should have no problems with the Spdif output (not USB). You can get to it from your headphone jack and special adapter cable. As for proper USB functioning on a mac I doubt there's going to be any fixes. The mac has its own USB 2 drivers. The only suggestion I can tell is to update your mac software (and drivers) to the latest version and make sure the things are configured right. Also try another USB port.