Win 11 T+A DAC ASIO driver problem

Audio Gear Talk T+A
1

Hello everybody,
I use a HP i9 pc as roon core connected via USB to a T+A DAC. Applying the standard (WASAPI) microsoft driver everything works fine. However in this setting DSD upsampling is limited to DoP128. Upsampling to native DSD 256 or DSD512 (the DAC is able to process this) is only possible using an ASIO driver. Unfortunately - despite of correct installing - WIN11 neither recognizes the T+A firmware driver package including an ASIO driver nor the common ASIO4all driver and automatically continues to use the standard WASAPI driver. Interestingly Roon ā€œseesā€ the new devices with the T+A driver and/or the ASIO driver, but music is extremely distorted. Despite muliple trials the problem is unsolvable for me. So my hope is, that anybody has an idea what I coud do. I am looking forward to your comments.
Greetings!
Oliver

2

ASIO allows for native DSD which your DAC maxes out at 512. WASAPI uses DOP which would explain being limited to 128.

ā€“MD

3

Have you rebooted after applying new driver?
That might help.

ā€“MD

4

I recently used Win 11 as provided on a MeLE low powered machine as an endpoint. It did work with the two DACs it was tested with (Topping and Holo Spring) but was unhappy with both drivers installed. It took some time to get the Spring working and that was after uninstalling the Topping. I think that Win 11 comes with a ā€˜genericā€™ UAC2 driver which can mess things up. I would uninstall any drivers and do a clean install, only plugging the DAC in when prompted during the procedure or after install and a reboot.

1 Like
5

I edited the title, moved the thread, and tag @Larry_HV

6

Thanks a lot for your help. After having implemented your advices, WIN11 recognizes now the T+A Firmware drivers (WASAPI and ASIA). Both devices are accessible and configurable in ROON. Nevertheless music output over the T+A DAC is still extremely distorted. WIN11 ā€œSoundā€ settings should be ok. On this last step some software components seem not to fit perfectly together. Again: with the microsoft standard WASAPI driver everything is fine.

7

Hi Oliver,
which T+A DAC are you using DAC8, DAC8DSD or DAC200 ?
Regards,
Larry

8

Hello Larry,
it is the Amanero Chipset within the MP 3100 HV. After installation of the T+A firmware driver set including WASAPI and ASIO drivers (https://www.ta-hifi.de/wp-content/uploads/TA_2nd_Gen_USB_Audio_Win10.zip) everything sounds fine in ROON as long as the PCM compatibility is preserved. Any upsampling (PCM as well as DSD) leads after a few seconds clear music to heavy sound distortions. Do you have an idea?

9

Hi Oliver,

thanks for the details.
Unfortunately I currently donā€™t have a T+A DAC with Amanero USB receiver here at home, so I canā€™t check this issue immediately but we will investigate this problem next week when we are back at work.

10

Hi Larry,
thank you for your answer. After several unsuccessful trials to get a stable upsampled DSD 256 or even DSD 512 signal via ROON from the new Win11 PC (HP Z2 G5 i9-10900 Mini PC IntelĀ® CoreTM i9 32 GB DDR4-SDRAM 512 GB SSD Windows 11 Pro) to the T+A MP 3100 HV, I finally stopped my experiment and went back to my macmini, although this allows me only DSD 128 upsampling and processing via DoP. Perhaps it would be worth to check the problem in case that I am not the only one who had it. I am convinced that it is a pure driver problem. There must be a conflict between the T+A firmware drivers and the many different drivers hidden in Win 11 OS. I would be happy if you could inform me about your findings.
Greetings
Oliver

11

I have now tested with DAC8DSD (same Amanero chipset and same driver as MP3100HV V1) and two different PCs running WIN11 21H2 and WIN11 22H2 respectively and I was not able to reproduce this problem.
I tested all PCM (up to 384) and all DSD (up to 512) rates. Sound in all cases and with both PCs and was ok. No distortion or other problems observedā€¦

Anyone else encountered playback problems with DAC8DSD or MP3100HV and Windows 11 ?

12

Thank you very much Larry, I am fully aware that in most cases these problems are user dependent. But after one week of deep frustration I returned to my former macOs settig and everything runs well up to DoP128 upsampling which is the limit of the MP under macOs. One last question: I used the https://www.ta-hifi.de/wp-content/uploads/TA_2nd_Gen_USB_Audio_Win10.zip driver package. Was this ok?
Greetings an again many thanks for your support.
Oliver

13

@Oliver_Habler
That driver version is correct, provided you have the MP3100HV Version 1 (with Amanero USB receiver).

If you have a MP3100HV Version 2 model with the new proprietary T+A USB receiver, then you will need this driver: https://www.ta-hifi.de/wp-content/uploads/TA_3rd_Gen_USB_audio_driver.zip

Please note:
Older Version 1 models of the MP3100HV can be upgraded to the new version 2 USB interface by simply exchanging the USB interface board (no soldering required).

14

Thank you very much!
Greetings from Frankfurt!
Oliver