MQA crackling when in Exclusive mode on Audioengine D1

[h3ndrix (Frank Lenz)]

Running a Audioengine D1 and using Tidal MQA through Roon. When ever the D1 is in non-exclusive mode, there is no cracking, when in in Exclusive mode there are pops and crackles.

Running the D1 on Tidal’s native software has no crackle.
Using a Focusrite ad/da converter has no crackle.

Thoughts?

[john (John Iburg)]

Hello @h3ndrix,

There is a known issue with the Audioengine D1 where it will begin to make “crackling” or “popping” sounds when playing high resolution audio to the device. This behavior is not limited to Roon, a quick google search of “Audioengine D1 crackling” will show numerous results for this behavior.

When using the Tidal application, make sure that “Use Exclusive Mode” is enabled by clicking on the “More Settings” button in the audio preferences.

Some methods that we have seen reports of working for Roon users are

1. Decreasing the WASAPI buffer size for the device. You can try this by going to the “Device Setup” screen for the D1, and clicking the “Show Advanced” dropdown. Make sure to save the settings before leaving the screen.
2. Toggling “Event Driven” mode. Try using the D1 with “Event Driven” mode enabled and disabled and see if it makes a difference.
3. Remove other devices from the computers USB ports, or get a separate powered USB hub for the device.

-John

[h3ndrix (Frank Lenz)]

John!

Thanks for your help. I was figuring it was the D1 itself. The things are pretty finicky. Adjusting the buffer size to 5ms has done the trick, thank you!

What is the default buffer size of WASAPI?

Thanks again, John.

[john (John Iburg)]

Hello @h3ndrix,

The “default” buffer size for WASAPI is 100ms.

-John