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Post by rogersch on Dec 28, 2014 10:26:04 GMT -5
Got mine to finally play 24/192 via USB.. I did: 1) Removed all of the drivers 2) Removed the HDMI connection from the HTPC and replaced with a DVI output that has a DVI to HDMI converter on the XMC-1 input side. 3) Reinstalled the Drivers 4) Used the USB STream input on the XMC-1, not the HDMI input with audio configured to USB (this will down mix to 16 Bit still) For additonal info, i'm using a Paul Pang USB card in this HTPC for the audio connection. Keep in mind that via USB you have only HD stereo. So no multichannel HD audio |
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Post by ejn1111 on Dec 29, 2014 16:03:38 GMT -5
Got mine to finally play 24/192 via USB.. I did: 1) Removed all of the drivers 2) Removed the HDMI connection from the HTPC and replaced with a DVI output that has a DVI to HDMI converter on the XMC-1 input side. 3) Reinstalled the Drivers 4) Used the USB STream input on the XMC-1, not the HDMI input with audio configured to USB (this will down mix to 16 Bit still) For additonal info, i'm using a Paul Pang USB card in this HTPC for the audio connection. Keep in mind that via USB you have only HD stereo. So no multichannel HD audio Got it. Thanks Rogersch. Btw, got the bug and built 2 Ncore400 monoblocks a couple a weeks ago. Really enjoying them so far  |
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Post by rogersch on Dec 29, 2014 16:24:35 GMT -5
Keep in mind that via USB you have only HD stereo. So no multichannel HD audio Got it. Thanks Rogersch. Btw, got the bug and built 2 Ncore400 monoblocks a couple a weeks ago. Really enjoying them so far Very nice. |
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Post by PGT on Jan 4, 2015 13:53:26 GMT -5
Is there a standard firmware page to check on the website? Either I'm blind, or its not easy to find. It would be awesome if we'd get some sort of notification either in the XMC itself (like every other product out there these days), email, etc. Worst case, I can set a Chrome app to check the update webpage for changes. - Sometimes the terseness of my reply can't be blamed on my phone.  |
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Post by Thunderduck on Jan 4, 2015 14:36:07 GMT -5
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Post by foggy1956 on Jan 4, 2015 14:40:09 GMT -5
Is there a standard firmware page to check on the website? Either I'm blind, or its not easy to find. It would be awesome if we'd get some sort of notification either in the XMC itself (like every other product out there these days), email, etc. Worst case, I can set a Chrome app to check the update webpage for changes. - Sometimes the terseness of my reply can't be blamed on my phone. Xmc-1 resources page, listed under software updates |
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Post by PGT on Jan 4, 2015 14:45:54 GMT -5
Oh, on the Product page. Odd....I wouldn't think to look there but at a Help page or similar. - Sometimes the terseness of my reply can't be blamed on my phone. |
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morfious
Minor Hero
Putting the XMC-1 through its paces
Posts: 75 
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Post by morfious on Jan 6, 2015 11:15:48 GMT -5
Hello everyone. I'm predominantly a mac guy since 2005. As such, I have 2 different mac laptops at my disposal. A mid 2005 macbook with a core 2 processor that runs windows 7 in Boot camp. I also have a newer early 2011 macbook pro which is running windows 7 via VMware. I am having issues getting the USB stream to work correctly on the mac side?!? I used the newer macbook pro running a VMWare virtual machine to update the XMC-1 Streaming firmware. I was able to erase the old firmware and I have confirmed that the new firmware installed without any problems. After install I have verified that “PID_0004&REV_0102” are shown as the installed firmware version on the windows program. I then downloaded and installed the "Unified USB Drivers v1.11a". I fired up VLC and some test flac files and things seem to work fine. Bitrates up to 192 play and display fine on the XMC-1. I also confirmed that things work as they are supposed to on the older macbook running boot camp.
Status update:
1) 2011 Macbook Pro running windows 7 VMware Virtual machine plays flac files fine up to 192, proper display shown on XMC-1.
2) 2005 Macbook running windows 7 in bootcamp plays flac files fine up to 192, proper display shown on XMC-1.
When I try to get things working on the mac side it seems that the XMC-1 will only play up to 48 Khz.
I installed Audirvana Plus on both machines and changed the settings in the MIDI Audio setup. However, I am unable to select anything higher than 48 Khz on the mac. If I select the internal output I can select up to 96 Khz. These are the same machines that were just playing 192K flac files on the windows side of things.
I have searched, but not found any information that may give me some idea on what is happening. I thought things wer just supposed to work properly on the mac side of things.
Any suggestions or information on how to get this working on the mac side would be appreciated. I am currently looking for options to get hi-rez audio streaming to my living room. Thanks for looking.
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Post by solidstate on Jan 13, 2015 21:30:57 GMT -5
Just got around to doing this firmware update in anticipation for my mic arrival not that it would matter. I'm having troubles updating the USB firmware in the XMC-1. The issue seems to be with the flashing program that simply hangs on both my notebook and desktop workstation. Both machines are Windows 7 x64. I don't even get to see the FWupdate.exe application. It appears as a running process but that's it. Also I can't close the process and have to reboot in order to close it.
At a loss...
I removed any USB drivers I had on the system from other devices and even went as far as to set the environment var to devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and entered device manager with Show Hidden Devices and removed any greyed out old devices.
Does this FPGA programing app support 64 bit windows properly?
I noticed it has a driver directory with an install inf file. I tried the flash until with no drivers installed, with the older USB drivers as well. I rolled back after installing those as I created a restore point prior thank god.
I can though play audio through it but not high sample rate material.
Should I install the drivers included with the package?
The included "test" driver dates to 2008 but the flash program was compiled in 2012.
At a total loss here.
I don't even seen a bin/rom in the package or any binaries for the flash program to flash...
PS I see the hex file now
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Post by rocky500 on Jan 14, 2015 9:21:59 GMT -5
Just got around to doing this firmware update in anticipation for my mic arrival not that it would matter. I'm having troubles updating the USB firmware in the XMC-1. The issue seems to be with the flashing program that simply hangs on both my notebook and desktop workstation. Both machines are Windows 7 x64. I don't even get to see the FWupdate.exe application. It appears as a running process but that's it. Also I can't close the process and have to reboot in order to close it. At a loss... I removed any USB drivers I had on the system from other devices and even went as far as to set the environment var to devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and entered device manager with Show Hidden Devices and removed any greyed out old devices. Does this FPGA programing app support 64 bit windows properly? I noticed it has a driver directory with an install inf file. I tried the flash until with no drivers installed, with the older USB drivers as well. I rolled back after installing those as I created a restore point prior thank god. I can though play audio through it but not high sample rate material. Should I install the drivers included with the package? The included "test" driver dates to 2008 but the flash program was compiled in 2012. At a total loss here. I don't even seen a bin/rom in the package or any binaries for the flash program to flash... PS I see the hex file now Did you unzip the entire contents to a folder on your PC before running it?Forget what I wrote as I looked back into this thread and I see you are very good with PC's. |
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Post by ÈlTwo on Jan 14, 2015 11:48:43 GMT -5
solidstate,
I did mine from a laptop running 64 bit Win7, and didn't have an issue. It seems like we're going to get different results with different manufacturers' PC hardware. My laptop is a slightly older HP, I didn't even think of trying one of my desktop PCs. Although, in theory, it shouldn't make a difference, who is the manufacturer of your notebook?
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Post by solidstate on Jan 14, 2015 13:53:43 GMT -5
solidstate, I did mine from a laptop running 64 bit Win7, and didn't have an issue. It seems like we're going to get different results with different manufacturers' PC hardware. My laptop is a slightly older HP, I didn't even think of trying one of my desktop PCs. Although, in theory, it shouldn't make a difference, who is the manufacturer of your notebook? Asus M50vm and it's an older notebook as well. I disabled AV (actually uninstalled Eset NOD32) and I do not have any person firewall enabled. I also tried to run the flashing exe on my desktop though I didn't have the XMC-1 attached and the same result. App hang with no UI. |
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KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 10,275
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Post by KeithL on Jan 14, 2015 14:20:07 GMT -5
The firmware updater itself does not rely on any drivers being installed - or not. However, when you're trying to do the update, Windows may pause while attempting to install drivers, which may then fail. If so, then you may have better luck if you wait for it to either succeed or fail rather than trying to work while Windows is trying to figure things out. Windows absolutely DOES act differently on certain brands of machines - for example, driver signature enforcement usually seems to be on by default on Asus 64 bit machines running Windows 7, but off by default on most other brands. I don't know whether this is Windows reacting to the different hardware, or whether certain vendors have made different install choices. We were able to get the update to work with most laptops we tried - but you may have to try several times before the program works right. (On some machines it seems to work right most of the time while, on others, it only works right one out of every two or three tries - there doesn't seem to be a pattern that we can discern.) You could try things like using Safe Mode, or even disconnecting from the Internet.... The best advice I can offer is to keep trying (and remember that, once it is successful, you won't have to do it ever again)  |
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Post by solidstate on Jan 17, 2015 19:58:10 GMT -5
Well I found a PC that the flashing program works on and all is well! It flashed no problem and now it works with the new driver and at 192 kHz.
YAY
BTW thanks for your help and advice Keith.
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Post by michaelhifi on Jan 19, 2015 11:22:26 GMT -5
I assummed that I have the correct driver running in that Jriver shows XMC-SPDIF even though I'm using USB (or was). It is the C-media driver, this I confirmed.
Been so busy with other aspects, mainly, using the Oppo as the streamer that I haven't tried getting 24 bit audio to play.
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Post by solidstate on Jan 19, 2015 21:20:32 GMT -5
I assummed that I have the correct driver running in that Jriver shows XMC-SPDIF even though I'm using USB (or was). It is the C-media driver, this I confirmed. Been so busy with other aspects, mainly, using the Oppo as the streamer that I haven't tried getting 24 bit audio to play. I tested it with XMplay with a bunch of various samples at different bitrates and all played flawlessly. I really like the sound of this DSD1793 implementation and I'd sure like to see a stand alone smaller chassis DAC using it from Emotiva in the "Fusion" label to match those zone amps. It would be great if it had RS232 to control the amp and Ethernet for IP control and streaming via DLNA/Airplay and perhaps even DANTE. It would be great to have Dante as your local playback software sees the device as a local audio device despite the fact it's an IP endpoint. It can also address multiply channels beyond stereo bidirectionally in a 64x64 chan count. In certain audio applications like JRiver you can use those extra outputs as zones and discretely route playback to them. Dante virtual soundcard. www.audinate.com/sites/default/files/datasheets/Dante_Virtual_Soundcard_17-december-2014.pdfwww.audinate.com/products/software/dante-virtual-soundcard |
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Post by solidstate on Jan 19, 2015 21:35:12 GMT -5
I would be great to see an Emotiva product in this list! www.audinate.com/products/dante-enabledI think you can even whitebox the driver and brand it. Dirac being a pro room correction system unfound on most AVRs/Proc would be inline with using Dante for audio streaming as it has similar professional roots! |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Feb 13, 2015 23:31:46 GMT -5
I tried loading the driver on 2 different win 8.1 laptops with the same result: unknown error. SPDIF Audio Out Driver: Microsoft 8/22/2013 version 6.3.9600.16384 Sound Controller: C-Media Inc. 7/21/2014 version 8.1.12.4 Has anybody gotten the CMEDIA drivers to load on Windows 8.1 64-bit?I'm having the exact same problemNever mind. I did it the old way and installed them manually. My god, this sounds amazing! |
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Post by khollister on Feb 16, 2015 13:35:24 GMT -5
I have been having issues with the USB input with my Mac Mini - every so often, the Mac seems to think the DAC only supports 44 & 48k and it usually takes rebooting the XMC to bring it back. I also had an issue with the XMC reporting the word length as 17 bits (!?) on the info screen, even though the Mac SW thought it was sending out 16 or 24 bits. It took a reset on the XMC to clear that. It has gotten to the point that I have gone back to optical. I have a Auralic Aries coming, so I guess I'll see how that fares with the USB input (the Aries supports class 2 USB DAC's, so the XMC should work). Of course the Aries has S/PDIF and AES/EBU as well.
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morfious
Minor Hero
Putting the XMC-1 through its paces
Posts: 75
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Post by morfious on Feb 17, 2015 16:04:01 GMT -5
I have been having issues with the USB input with my Mac Mini - every so often, the Mac seems to think the DAC only supports 44 & 48k and it usually takes rebooting the XMC to bring it back. I also had an issue with the XMC reporting the word length as 17 bits (!?) on the info screen, even though the Mac SW thought it was sending out 16 or 24 bits. It took a reset on the XMC to clear that. It has gotten to the point that I have gone back to optical. I have a Auralic Aries coming, so I guess I'll see how that fares with the USB input (the Aries supports class 2 USB DAC's, so the XMC should work). Of course the Aries has S/PDIF and AES/EBU as well. I have also had issues where the MAC thought that it could only output 44 or 48K. As stated a reboot usually fixes the issue. It seems to be more stable on the windows side. |
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