USB Soundcards - faint popping/clicks


I am currently using a G4 iBook 933 MHz and have my new Waveterminal U24 connected to a DAC and Headphone Amplifier. The sound is really fantastic. I do notice every minute or so, I get a very faint pop or click sound. Sometimes I go longer without hearing it, but it occurs often enough that I notice it. I have tried to research this and there seems to be an opinion that this is just a USB audio problem and nothing can be done. I have experimented with settings. I have more than enough RAM than I know what to do with. I am using iTunes and so there really aren't any settings to adjust there except turning off all of the enhancements.

Anyway, anybody have any suggestions for USB audio pops?
dshea_32665

Showing 5 responses by dshea_32665

Thanks for the info. I am actually using iTunes and I don't have the ability to adjust the buffer, at least I haven't seen it anywhere. My hard drive is almost maxed out and somebody suggested maybe I need to clear more space for the computer to use its virtual memory. I am still pretty far under my maximum RAM memory, but if the computer uses the hard drive for buffering/caching, could this be the issue?

When I used my Transit I didn't notice any of these faint clicks, however, the sound was not as detailed. I also had the ability to control latency with that driver. The ESI Waveterminal card I am using now, does not have any controls for latency on the Mac.
Daniel,

Wow thanks for the information. I have my audio collection on a firewire drive anyway, I will just clear a bunch of files from the hard drive.

Is there a way to clean up fragmantation on a hard drive? Is there a good utiltiy for this? Or, if I get rid of the extra files will I be fine then?
Thanks
Hbrandt:

What settings do you use in the control panel?

Also how much RAM do you have?

I have determined this is not an iTunes issue. No pops coming from the headphone jack, nor when I use my Transit (it has a driver). Could the Waveterminal be drawing more power or making more demands from the system than the Transit?

I might try and do the following. Any Mac users think this would be of benefit?

http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_tracking_big_cats/index.html

Thanks,
Thanks onhwy61. Unfortunately, there aren't any drivers for Mac OS X, they say just plug and play.

dshea
Problem fixed. I recorded into the unit for the first time. This process must have reset a driver or something. The unit was restored to its original settings before I download the problem unneeded driver.

Pops are gone and I am happy.

dshea