Noise on DXD WAV tracks

Support
1

In an album with tracks encoded DXD 352.8/24 WAV I am hearing noise on the tracks. Setup is Roon 1.5 (334) -> Chord Hugo 2 DAC/Amp.

The noise does NOT occur when I play these tracks using the MacOS setup Quicktime Player -> MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017) built-in DAC/Amp.

Note: my DXD FLAC tracks play OK with Roon -> Hugo 2, only DXD WAV tracks are a problem.

Here is a track that shows the problem (~1GB download). The noise is noticeable near the beginning between times 0:08 and 0:14. The noise is most noticeable with sensitive earphones but can also be heard with headphones.

(Please send me an email and I will reply with the track URL to avoid auto playback in the browser).

Thanks,
Mike Schuster

2

Thanks for sharing your observation with us, @Michael_D_Schuster!

Can you confirm whether or not this occurs with all Roon endpoints, or just the Chord Hugo 2 DAC/Amp?

Can you share a screenshot of the signal path when playing these files?

Thanks!
Dylan

4

Chord Hugo 2 DAC/Amp is my only Roon endpoint.

Here is the signal path:

21%20PM
Screen Shot 2018-08-11 at 9.40.21 PM.jpg2880×1800 915 KB

5

Update: When I use Built-In Output endpoint I hear no noise. Note that in this case sample rate conversion is enabled unlike bit-perfect (lossless) with Hugo 2.

52%20PM
Screen Shot 2018-08-11 at 10.43.52 PM.jpg2880×1800 920 KB

6

Thanks for the updated info, @Michael_D_Schuster!

I spoke with a member of our technical team who has this device so he could give this a test. He was not able to reproduce by playing DXD content. So we can verify, please download the following DXD track (85.3mb) and test playing it to the device and let us know if you experience the same behavior:

http://www.lindberg.no/hires/test/2L-125_stereo-352k-24b_04.flac

Thanks!
Dylan

7

Hello Dylan,

Sorry I was not clear on my first email.

.FLAC files work fine. DXD FLAC files are OK.

It is .WAV files that have a problem, in particular DXD WAV files.

Please post an email address and I will reply with a link to a DXD WAV file that has the problem (as shown in the screenshots above).

Thanks,
Mike

8

Thanks for the clarification, @Michael_D_Schuster!

Ideally, you can zip up the entire folder and send me private message containing a shared dropbox link. If you don’t have Dropbox or need another way to send the media, just let me know.

Thanks,
Dylan

9

Hi Dylan,

PM sent with link to zip

Thanks,
Mike

10

Hey @Michael_D_Schuster,

I spoke with the tech team about the results of their testing. Using the same device and settings the team was unable to reproduce the noise that you’re hearing on the track. The team has suggested trying out a different USB cable to see if that yields any changes in quality here.

Thanks!
Dylan

11

Hi Dylan,

The noise is subtle. I did not notice it the first few times I played the track.

Please try sensitive earphones.

Listen to the beginning of the track between eight and fourteen seconds (0:08 - 0:14).

Repay the track with the built-in endpoint, you will notice the noise is gone.

Once you recognize the noise it is will be audible with headphones.

Thanks,
Mike

12

Hello @Michael_D_Schuster,

I retried playing the track you’ve provided from my MacBook Pro to the Hugo 2 using a pair of IEMs and did not notice any artifacts during playback. I A/B’ed the .WAV version with a converted .FLAC version, and did not pick up on any differences between the two. Have you tried any other troubleshooting or diagnostics other than comparing Hugo 2 vs System Output and WAV vs FLAC?

-John

13

Hello John,

Thank you for you follow up.

I now own the album in two formats supplied by the label Sono Luminus: DXD WAV and just recently received DSD128. I observe noise on the former for not the latter.

This album is the only one in my library in the DXD WAV format. All others are either FLAC (various resolutions) or DSD (also various resolutions). None of these have a noise problem.

I tried a different USB cable, no change.

I can’t think of anything else to try.

Especially since I now have a working DSD version, I think this case probably should be closed as not reproducible.

Thanks,
Mike