Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 device

[blaubär]

Hi Rolf! I created separate thread viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7160&sid=0853db65e ... 18643ab6d3 for testing cleanness of DAC's output. Your result is not correct it seems to me, please check that thread. I also made Sweep tone files for testing.

Thank you, Dmitry ! Yep, I'll have to update my hardware and then retry.

[tenprotons]

Hello. I finally received my Neutron HiFi DAC V1. It sounds almost the same as the Fiio KA17, but is a bit more stable when connected to a computer. I like the large number of functions, especially the equalizer.
But there is one problem that I have encountered only with hidizs s9 pro and TANCHJIM Space - when turning the music on and off, a click is heard and the first few milliseconds of sound are lost. This is sad, because I did not expect such behavior in a device for this price. Are you working on fixing this?

[dmitrykos]

> when turning the music on and off, a click is heard and the first few milliseconds of sound are lost

DAC V1's firmware is developed activaely and this sort of issue is on software/firmware level. So if anything like this happens, just let know about it and it will be fixed of course. For prompt reaction I also advise to write to support@neutronhifi.com.

@tenprotons have you updated DAC V1 to the latest firmware (it is Firmware 52 now)? Also, what if you do NConfigurator -> Tools -> Factory Reset and try again?

In earlier firmware versions DAC V1 was entering low power mode and it was taking some time to start. Now Low Power mode is off by default.

If you still have this issue then clarify:

1) How fast do you change music on/off state?
2) What software are you using - note that not all software is behaving good. For example Neutron Player will not loose audio data on play/pause by itself but there is software which is simply buggy and truncates data on its own.

I will try to reproduce upon your reply. Of course all such issues can be eliminated if reproduced reliably.

[tenprotons]

Thank you for your reply.
I've updated to firmware version 52, and the situation has improved significantly - now there's no loud click at the beginning and end of music playback. There is a barely audible click, but it does not create such discomfort.
The only problem that remains is the loss of a few milliseconds of sound at the start of playback.

[dmitrykos]

Thank you for your feedback! Most likely you had some older DAC V1 firmware which had issue which was fixed some time ago. Clicks are introduced by ESS DAC audio chip, actually any DAC chip can produce clicks due to internal mode switching (when format changes for example).

DAC V1's firmware does its best to make them practically inaudible. The most reliable workaround is to use some electronic switch on analog line-out but that would decrease SNR and precision, so it was not used in hw design of DAC V1.

> The only problem that remains is the loss of a few milliseconds of sound at the start of playback.

The audio warmup time can truncate few milliseconds of audio data if DAC V1 stayed on pause (no data streaming) for >3 seconds. For example, on Windows, WASAPI holds USB DAC in active state (streaming 0s) while stream is opened, that effectively eliminates any warmup time. But if stream is just created, or format is changed there can be some warmup time due to reactivation of audio modes on DAC chip and etc. I will add into to-do to lower warmup time to the minimal possible level, maybe a new option will be introduced in NConfigurator - "High-performance Mode" which would mean lowest possible warmup time at cost of higher power consumption (due to always active audio components).

[tenprotons]

Thank you. You understand me - I was planning to ask to add such an option to the app
This is a very interesting topic for me - how exactly the device wakes up.