I changed the source to my laptop - installed the necessary drivers in the OS and Foobar and made the necessary configuration updates and connected the laptop to the EVO TWO with the same USB cable without the AQ filter installed. This configuration byplasses Roon and the UltraRendu - though I did source files both from my NAS and SonicTransporter over the network (wifi) via the laptop.
Same result as with the UltraRendu/Roon combination: signal lock at 176 &192 but no audio. It seems my DAC has developed a problem so I will reach out to Esoteric technical support to pursue my troubleshooting exercise.
Thanks for nothing I guess?
Just kidding. I am very appreciative of your time, effort and recommendations in trying to help me solve my problem.
This is strange, but stillā¦ Do you have the option to factory reset your DAC? It seems funny that it (i suppose?) displays a lock at the sample rates 176.4/192 but does not output soundā¦
Ok massive update. I have found and resolved the problem:
Caused by SUE (Stupid User Error) (I think).
Hereās what I think happenedā¦
When swapping the hiFace EVO 2 and Clock 2 in (story for another day and probably over several beers - suffice it to say the EVO 2 was defective and the WONDERFUL folks at M2Tech (Marco is a sweetheart) sent me a replacement board at no charge for a device I purchased used from a somewhat disreputable dealer in The Netherlands (I am in the US) and the replacement EVO 2 with clock werenāt syncing properly at first so I swapped back and forth several times between the original EVO and the EVO 2 and they suddenly started working - like I said, this one needs a lot of alcohol to recant), I either inadvertently changed the filter settings on the DAC or they just stopped working.
After downloading the D70 service manual I considered an eeprom reset but that seemed risky (this is a hotrodded DAC with silver output trannies and a host of other mods) as Iām not sure I can get good support from Integra (the current US distributors for Esoteric). So I fired up the owners manual and decided to try playing with the filters. First I changed the DACs clock setting from PLL to RAM (noticeable sound improvement at 44.1 anyway) and all of a sudden I had sound at 176.4. BUTā¦ it was simply cycling the buffer between 2 seconds of sound and nasty static - I guess once the buffer loaded it got stuck in some kind of repeating loop. Next I changed the filter to RDOT and set the word length to 96k (highest setting available) - BTW, the manual is cryptic and not terribly helpful describing the process or anticipated outcomes here.
BINGO. Iām looking at a display which reads 176.4 and hearing a native high-res soundtrack.
Thank you to all for your efforts to assist me here.
