M2Tech HiFace, what's going on?

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi guys & any girls ;)

I have a bit of a problem :rolleyes: Tried out the Hiface today & initially wasn't getting a lock on the DAC, having installed the correct driver I now have a nice lock on the DAC :)

This is the interesting bit though, I can't get any audio out of it? :scratch: It's like there is no longer a digital audio feed on the USB, the reason I say that is because my other USB to S/PDIF converter no longer works either :wah:

I only get sound out of the laptop speakers :mental:

Any ideas or help seriously appreciated. I'll be totally miffed if I can't plug the PC into the hifi :eyebrows:


Thanks in advance :)

[keiths]

Hi Mark,

Is the Hiface selected as the default sound playback device in the sounds and audio devices properties in control panel?

[Reid Malenfant]

I just looked & I'm stuffed if I know? :lol: I can't see anywhere to select it :scratch:

I'm using WinXP by the way ;)

[Welder]

What operating system are you using Mark?
It sounds like you are sending audio through whatever OS audio stack you have rather than through USB to converter.
There should be an option in your sound management to send only system sounds to the onboard speakers and all audio to a specified device.

K, you got XP.

Start here mate as if you were setting up a Dac.
http://www.ayre.com/usb-xp_setup.htm

[Reid Malenfant]

I think that may well be it John, cheers m8 ;) I'll let you know if it's cured a bit later on as the hifi is off right now in case this courier gets here, I have my doubts though (about the courier :eyebrows:).

[Welder]

You may find this helpful. ;)

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/M2Tech-hiFace-Asynchronous-USB-SPDIF-Converter-Review

[Reid Malenfant]

We are hearing zee sounds on the hifi now :eyebrows:

Cheers John & Keith :cool:

[brian2957]

Worrying moment there Mark . First impressions ?

[Reid Malenfant]

There is a problem :eyebrows: It's noisy... Not the HiFace itself, but it obviously draws more power from the USB port as the laptop fan stays on full speed..

Just plugged the old el cheapo back in & the fan slows down to a crawl again & goes quiet ;)


Hmmm :hmm:

[brian2957]

Hope you get it fixed out pronto mate.

[Reid Malenfant]

I don't think there is a lot I can do about it in all honesty :lol: It's not something I considered :doh: Of course if I was using a desk top PC instead of a lappy then there wouldn't be the problem.

While I do have a proper PC I don't use the thing as it takes up too much room in here what with monitors & all :eyebrows:

I'll have a think about it :cool:

[keiths]

Powered USB hub for the HiFace?

[Welder]

You can strip out the laptop Mark.........
The most that the USB port can deliver is 500mA 5V enerally and more usually its 100mA on demand so there is no way that should be firing the fan up on its own.

[Reid Malenfant]

Powered USB hub for the HiFace?
That's a possibility yes ;)

You can strip out the laptop Mark.........
The most that the USB port can deliver is 500mA 5V enerally and more usually its 100mA on demand so there is no way that should be firing the fan up on its own.
I only fully stripped & cleaned it about a month ago John. It had 5 years worth of dust 3/4" thick inside the fan housing :doh: No wonder the poor thing kept overheating & crashing, it hasn't crashed since ;)

[Welder]

Are you using the Hi Face from your CD player to Dac Mark?

I didn't mean a physical clean mate, i meant get all the other stuff off that uses system resources. ;)

[Reid Malenfant]

Are you using the Hi Face from your CD player to Dac Mark?

I didn't mean a physical clean mate, i meant get all the other stuff off that uses system resources. ;)
Oh I see, well no this isn't really in any way a dedicated music server John so it gets used for fleabay, AoS, spotify, etc, etc & at the moment I'm playing some MP3 stuff on WINamp... The HiFace would be spitting it out to the dCS stuff yes, but I have plugged the cheap n cheerful USB - S/PDIF converter back in & the fan is now on slo mo again :eyebrows:

To spin CDs I use the Krell, I wouldn't bother with the laptop drive :exactly:

[Reid Malenfant]

One thing I have just realised that is rather handy now I come to think about it...

The HiFace wouldn't give any digital output until I selected it as the default sound option. Funnily enough this cheapo wouldn't work either after I installed the HiFace drivers. Effectively it means I can now leave it plugged in & just select the HiFace drivers when I want to output to the hifi rather than plugging & unplugging the converter :)

Now that may seem like a bit of faffing about, but it's less work than physically plugging stuff in & unplugging it etc :D

[Welder]

I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to achieve here mate :scratch:


I can’t quite see the point of going to the trouble of asynchronous data transfer for mp3 files streamed from the net.

I think I’ve mentioned the pitfalls of trying to get your file source to make the tea etc elsewhere ;)

[Reid Malenfant]

:lolsign: John, I'm just comparing the HiFace to this cheap & cheerful box is all.

There is no pretending that it's hi end or anything similar for one minute, however, if the HiFace does a better job then I'll keep it. If not it'll no doubt find it's way to someone else on here who may well make much better use of it :)

You know I'm a die hard CD enthusiast, I wouldn't have bought a mech or two for my transport if I ever thought I would be anything other than that ;)


It's just me having a play at the end of the day :cool:

[Welder]

No worries. I was just wondering. :)

[Reid Malenfant]

No worries. I was just wondering. :)
That's all I was doing m8 ;) I'll give it some time tomorrow but I reckon there won't be a lot of difference if any, the source material simply isn't good enough :D

Another thing, I really wanted to try a V-Link... Reason being is because it has a Toslink output & I could then plug it into the Toslink on the DIP48/96 & get much more benefit. That little box makes such a big difference it's quite remarkable :eek:

But I still need to think about what I'm feeding it (once again) at the end of the day :eyebrows:

[Welder]

I would have thought you had enough boxes by now :eek: :lolsign:

Completely the opposite approach to mine :eyebrows:

[brian2957]

Any joy with the Hiface Mark.

[Maximum]

I've recently bought one of those Aqvox USB linear supplies. They cost nearly as much as the Hiface but I'm pretty chuffed with the improvement.

[Reid Malenfant]

Any joy with the Hiface Mark.
Haven't had a chance to sit down with the stereo on yet today :rolleyes: Maybe tomorrow :eyebrows:

[brian2957]

I know the feeling mate . It's blowing a gale up here and I'm the family taxi

when the weather isn't good . Been too busy for music and stuff.

Brian.

[Alex_UK]

There is no pretending that it's hi end or anything similar for one minute, however, if the HiFace does a better job then I'll keep it. If not it'll no doubt find it's way to someone else on here who may well make much better use of it :)

Well, I spotted that Mark wasn't getting the best experience from the Hiface, and pounced. :eyebrows: A deal agreed, and the Hiface is now connected and setup in my system. I'm using XP as Mark was, but I use Foobar as my main playback software so can take advantage of the Kernel Streaming component. So not only am I able to squirt the maximum 24/96 the Caiman can take via Coax SPDIF, use asynchronous data transfer and galvanic isolation, but also bypass the Windows mixer. (ASIO just won't play nicely with my laptop...) So I think that qualifies as "make much better use of it" :) :eyebrows:

Unfortunately I have had little chance to do anything other than install and set it up, but on a few test tracks it sounds good - can't crank it up though, so too early to make any gushing hifi statements! ;) One minor panic when I thought I had the same "fan on all the time" problem on the laptop until I realised it was my wife's Dell where she had left it on a pile of magazines blocking the ventilation holes... :doh:

Any how - thanks Mark for letting me take it off your hands, it should be a big improvement (I hope) over the USB input as I can now try some hi res files, and gives me more options if I change DAC next year to the Rega which I am hoping to do. :)

[Reid Malenfant]

You are most welcome Alex :) Enjoy :D