DC-1 Not playing nice with JRiver Media Center 19

[vinylfreak]

Ok , I need some help here......
I just got a brand new DC-1 DAC on Wednesday.
This separate DAC thing is new to me so , bear with me here. Total Noob.
I currently have a HTPC which outputs into a Onkyo 818 that I use as a Pre-Pro which is driven by my Sherbourn PA 5-200 amp.
I use JRiver Media Center as my front end to play my digital music files.
Initially I hooked up the DC-1 with a optical connection coming off of my Asus Xonar Essance STX sound card. It is a Pcie card in my HTPC. My initial opinion was the DC-1 sounded very good, much better detail and separation in the music I was playing.At this time the Asus card was still the primary sound device on the PC. It was just feeding the audio signal into the DC-1. In JRiver MC I went back and forth between ASIO and WASAPI mode. It sounded to me like ASIO mode sounded the best. Both modes worked fine with the optical connection.

Fast forward to today.....
I picked up a brand new USB 2 cable so I could test and compare the sound quality , using the USB connection on the DC-1.
I'm running Windows 8. I downloaded the drivers for the DC-1 and they installed fine. I reconfigured the Sound Device in Windows so that the DC-1 was the default sound card. I fired up JRiver MC and first selected the DC-1 in ASIO mode and it would not work. No audio ....nothing. Here is the error screen JRiver threw up every time I tried to play a file. I tried several.


Next I tried to use the DC-1 in WASAPI mode in JRiver. Nothing again...no audio just another error window.


I am really not a newbie to JRiver I have been using it for almost two years. In the past I always used my Xonar card as my sound device. It always worked like a charm.
With the DC-1 connected through USB I also played files through Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center and it played fine. The audio came through loud and clear. The sound quality wasn't what I was use to compared to JRiver though.

In an effort to trouble shoot this I completely uninstalled and re-installed the DC-1 USB drivers and also JRiver Media Center. I still had the same result. No audio from the DC-1 in USB mode in either ASIO or WASAPI mode using JRiver.
As a last ditch effort I installed a third party ASIO driver called ASIO 4 All. When I used the ASIO 4 All driver in JRiver I finally got sound output out of the DC-1. To my ears it sounded Far Better than the DC-1 optically connected to my Xonar sound card in my HTPC.

My concern and question is this. This isn't normal behavior right? The DC-1 should work in WASAPI mode and its "own" ASIO mode within JRiver Media Center. I was hoping that there were some other Forum members out there who are currently using the DC-1 and JRMC together , successfully. I'm hoping this is just user error on my part and that I just don't have JRMC configured properly or something. On the other hand I also want to rule out the fact that I might have a defective DC-1.I would greatly appreciate any and all thoughts, on what might be going on here. Thanks!

[Chuck Elliot]

JRiver Media Center 19 is still in BETA.

I'd go back to 18 and see if you still have the same problems.

[jlafrenz]

Have you gone into the menu of the DC-1 to ensure that you have USB 2.0 selected?

I use foobar2000 and the only plugin I really had trouble with was ASIO using ASIO4ALL. It would work with some tracks, but not other and wasn't always consistent. I really didn't have any issues with WASAPI though.

[GreenKiwi]

I'd test with another app, to see if its an app issue or something with the DC-1

[vinylfreak]

Aug 23, 2013 21:45:03 GMT -5 Chuck Elliot said:

JRiver Media Center 19 is still in BETA.

I'd go back to 18 and see if you still have the same problems.

OK
I went back to JRMC 18.


Unfortunately , I got the same results. ASIO mode only works if I use the third party ASIO4ALL drivers.
When selecting the DC-1 ASIO driver or WASAPI mode I get nothing.
In JRMC 18 when I select the DC-1 ASIO mode it just stalls and never opens the file or gives me an error window.
When I choose WASAPI mode I get this error window again.


Back to the drawing board. But thanks, it was worth a shot.

[vinylfreak]

Aug 23, 2013 21:48:33 GMT -5 jlafrenz said:

Have you gone into the menu of the DC-1 to ensure that you have USB 2.0 selected?

I use foobar2000 and the only plugin I really had trouble with was ASIO using ASIO4ALL. It would work with some tracks, but not other and wasn't always consistent. I really didn't have any issues with WASAPI though.

I did check and the DC-1 does have USB 2.0 selected.

I will give foobar2000 a try , I have never used it.

Does it automatically use the default Windows sound device or are they select-able?

[pedrocols]

For foobar you need to go to go to preferences and select the audio output device

[Chuck Elliot]

Go to the control panel for the device and see if all the formats are supported.

Example:



Also with WASAPI be sure check open device for exclusive access under the Output mode settings of JRMC.

[vinylfreak]

Aug 23, 2013 22:43:15 GMT -5 Chuck Elliot said:

Go to the control panel for the device and see if all the formats are supported.

Example:



Also with WASAPI be sure check open device for exclusive access under the Output mode settings of JRMC.

Here are my settings for my device, the DC-1.


Then here are my WASAPI settings within JRMC.



Still nothing......

[Chuck Elliot]

Ok, you don't even have the Supported Formats tab!

I have no idea!!!!!!!!! Drivers can be such a PITA and is why I stick with TOSLink.

Sorry I couldn't help!

[vinylfreak]

OK......
I installed Foobar 2000 and selected the DC-1 as the sound device and I have files playing.
Is there a panel in Foobar 2000 that tells me what playback mode is being used? ASIO or WASAPI or something else?
I must say the UI in Foobar is pretty basic . On the surface I prefer JRMC. The sound quality on my end is much better through JRMC using the ASIO4All driver. I just don't understand why the DC-1 isn't outputting in WASAPI mode within JRMC. The error window that is being displayed says the DC-1 dosent support 192kHz 24 bit, when it clearly does.

[garbulky]

Increase buffer size to 2000 ms. How long is your USB cable? A short one is better. Have you tried an old one?
WASAPI event and WASAPI push work differently. There is an option to select between the two but it's not obvious on J-river. Try switching between them.
On windows control panel, go to sound and select no sounds for system sounds. On vista and wasapi whenever windows makes a system sound it tries to restart wasapi leading to a failure.
On Windows 8 you may need to actually download the asus xonar essence driver's from asus as the windows 8 drivers may not be properly functioning.

[vinylfreak]

Aug 23, 2013 23:03:18 GMT -5 Chuck Elliot said:

Ok, you don't even have the Supported Formats tab!

I have no idea!!!!!!!!! Drivers can be such a PITA and is why I stick with TOSLink.

Sorry I couldn't help!

Hey! I appreciate the effort.
I don't think the supported format tabs like your example only show up in a HDMI or Toslink connection.
With the 2 channel DC-1 the panel looks different. you only have a choice of resolution.
Thanks again!

[jlafrenz]

Aug 23, 2013 23:08:32 GMT -5 vinylfreak said:

OK......
I installed Foobar 2000 and selected the DC-1 as the sound device and I have files playing.
Is there a panel in Foobar 2000 that tells me what playback mode is being used? ASIO or WASAPI or something else?
I must say the UI in Foobar is pretty basic . On the surface I prefer JRMC. The sound quality on my end is much better through JRMC using the ASIO4All driver. I just don't understand why the DC-1 isn't outputting in WASAPI mode within JRMC. The error window that is being displayed says the DC-1 dosent support 192kHz 24 bit, when it clearly does.

View Attachment

File
Preferences
Playback
Output
Drop down under devices

If you are using ASIO you must configure it first under ASIO virtual devices and then add new.

Make sure that you download the ASIO plugin for foobar. If you use WASAPI, then you will need to download that plugin too.

[vinylfreak]

Aug 23, 2013 23:20:52 GMT -5 jlafrenz said:

Aug 23, 2013 23:08:32 GMT -5 vinylfreak said:

OK......
I installed Foobar 2000 and selected the DC-1 as the sound device and I have files playing.
Is there a panel in Foobar 2000 that tells me what playback mode is being used? ASIO or WASAPI or something else?
I must say the UI in Foobar is pretty basic . On the surface I prefer JRMC. The sound quality on my end is much better through JRMC using the ASIO4All driver. I just don't understand why the DC-1 isn't outputting in WASAPI mode within JRMC. The error window that is being displayed says the DC-1 dosent support 192kHz 24 bit, when it clearly does.

File
Preferences
Playback
Output
Drop down under devices

If you are using ASIO you must configure it first under ASIO virtual devices and then add new.

Make sure that you download the ASIO plugin for foobar. If you use WASAPI, then you will need to download that plugin too.

Thanks , I will have to try this tomorrow ,after I get home from work.

[emovac]

Did you enter the serial number. If I remember correctly, some of the features are limited on the 30 day trial version.

[klinemj]

I had this issue...it's just a setting within JRiver...when my brain wakes up, I will remember it and let you know.

Mark

[klinemj]

I recall now...starting with jriver 18, event style is default. Select "disable event style" and see if that helps. It worked for me to fix the issue that jriver is saying your hardware doesn't support the mode you are using. WASAPI works fine w/event style disabled but I got your message when it was on.

Mark

[garbulky]

Aug 23, 2013 22:58:54 GMT -5 vinylfreak said:

Aug 23, 2013 22:43:15 GMT -5 Chuck Elliot said:

Go to the control panel for the device and see if all the formats are supported.

Example:



Also with WASAPI be sure check open device for exclusive access under the Output mode settings of JRMC.

Here are my settings for my device, the DC-1.
View Attachment

Then here are my WASAPI settings within JRMC.

View Attachment

Still nothing......

See where it says 100ms under buffering? Increase to 2000.
Also in a separate attempt if that doesn't work, try disabling the event style.

[Deleted]

Aug 23, 2013 23:03:18 GMT -5 Chuck Elliot said:

Ok, you don't even have the Supported Formats tab!

I have no idea!!!!!!!!! Drivers can be such a PITA and is why I stick with TOSLink.

Sorry I couldn't help!

Here's a big plus one on that front!! Further, when people say they hear a "far better" difference with USB, which does benefit from higher sample rates, I am still sceptical at best. But as we know, that is a totally different discussion, not to mention being up to OUR "ears", as the OP rightly mentioned.

Whenever additional drivers/software are necessary for devices to work at all, not to mention optimally, it makes me cringe. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good drivers and software out there, but like you, I choose the mindless route, if it's available, and it hasn't failed me yet. I have the XDA-1 (volume set to max) connected via optical from a Xonar, and from XLR out, I go to the TC Level Pilot (so far, great little trick) then to the Airmotiv 6's. FANTASTIC!!