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Baffled and Frustrated: Streaming/DAC Sound Issues

Hoping to find some guidance here regarding a significant noise issue. Running Quboz through Roon. Relevant Gear is an Auralic Aries G2.1 > Morrow USB cable >Aavik D280 DAC > Wywires Platinum RCA >Anthem STR.  

Previously had some issues with the Aries but that’s hammered out and sounding great.  Now, when running many songs through the DAC, I’m hearing terrible “crunching” distortion.  There’s very little consistency in the problem (loud Pink Floyd sounds great, loud Motley Crue sounds like garbage) except most hard rock/metal, which i started putting on per Morrow Audio’s recommendation for burning in their USB cable, is always terrible.  Volume is irrelevant, I’m getting the noise at sub-30db. The 4 DAC settings: upsampling/ non upsampling/fast/slow don’t change anything. USB cable isn’t likely the problem, it sounds great from streamer to amp without the DAC.   I’m running out of settings to change around.  Anyone have an educated guess or experience with either the output settings from the Aries or D280 setup that can provide any guidance?  Dealer wasn’t very helpful.

 

Thanks much,

Peter

128x128brewerslaw
curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,155 posts
 

@brewerslaw 

I’ve had some of the same issues. I chalked it up to not everything you stream is of the highest quality. Who is your streaming service?

vthokie83
636 posts
 

Swap out some cables to try to find the culprit, whether new cable or try changing topologies (USB, Co-ax, optical).....hopefully that will help you narrow it down. The Morrow cables in general are excellent cables, so the quality should not be the issue.....unless it's damaged. The Reference USB is a very good cable that I used for quite a while, though I've since switched to a Supra Excalibur USB cable that I prefer.

zgas-music
78 posts
 

My streaming system is Tidal thru Roon to an Anthem STR. I’ve found there are some files Tidal sends across (and Qobuz before) that just sound bad; often when the file label says it’s been remastered. Never a problem with the 1700 CDs I imported locally to stream thru Roon. 

 

Maybe you’re just getting mangled content sometimes?  Do the same tracks always sound bad?  Or do they sound good one day and bad then next?

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,229 posts
 

@brewerslaw

I have experience with Auralic (Aries G1) and Roon

I would check the following -

  1. make sure Device Setup in Roon has: Fixed volume; Sample rate that corresponds to your DAC; DSP disabled; Do not enable upsampling; Clock priority default
  2. Auralic settings have: upsampling disabled; proper sampling rate set that corresponds to your DAC in the Auralic set up for DAC and streaming services n
  3. no speaker placement/room correction in Auralic;
  4. make sure your ethernet connection to Auralic is solid. Wifi or wired needs to be solid.

Also worth trying the Auralic’s Lightning DS without Roon.

If you continue to experience issues, swap to a different type of connection between Auralic and DAC. If issues persist your streamer or dac don’t gel or one or both of these components are faulty.

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

@tony1954 

Well, Tony after this thread has been up 3 days, it would appear no-one else understands these systems either.  Indeed others are saying they have the same kind of issues.

Hence my sage and practical advice.  Clear thinking.  If not from a master digital engineer, of which there seem to be none who can solve this.

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