Play DSD on M1 Max

@OffRode

??? You should know better than this… see my reply to @FabsEscalona … wow… :roll_eyes:
:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

@FabsEscalona … Also, Blackhole is going to create problems, because it is competing with Audirvana for low-level control of the audio system…
:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

It’s just how DoP 1.1 rolls on any system… macOS only allows DSDxxx via DoP… :wink:

Yeah I get it, I misunderstood that his DAC is dsd512 max, I thought it was dsd256. Is it a K3 or a KA3? OP says one thing and debug says otherwise. My bad, hopefully your expertise will help him get it fixed soon. Maybe the usb cable length? Faulty ground plane? :man_shrugging:t2:

Check yourself before you wreck yourself :wink:

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@OffRode

DSD256 via DoP 1.1 requires a PCM carrier signal sample-rate of 705.6kHz… The debug information does not reflect this capability in this DAC…

Beyond this there are a couple of other factors that may interfere with Audirvana, that compete for control of Core Audio functions… These being “Blackhole” and his use of:

@OffRode

The DoP 1.1 PCM signal carrier sample-rate for DSD512 is 1411.2kHz

:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

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It’s the KA3 I don’t know if the debug name is the complete one but it is a KA3.

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Thanks I’ll try to erase the teams and blackhole audio settings.

I can’t see the user manual but the product marketing specs. show this box capable of 768kHz PCM… So there is an obvious disconnect here as compared to the debug info… You know that a Multi-output device clocks to a Master Clock and this clock must be the clock of the lowest sample-rate device… Blackhole is playing into this as well.
:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

From the KA3 Fiio FAQ’s:

5. About the support of DSD files in KA3

  1. To play DSD files on the Android devices, please use an APP which supports DSD files (e,g, "FiiO Music APP) and enable the Exclusive USB Audio Access Mode. The DSD output option should be set to DoP or Native. DSD512 is only supported in Native mode.
  2. To play DSD files on the iOS devices,please use an APP which supports DSD files (e,g, "FiiO Music APP) and set DSD output option to DOP.

Note: iOS devices cannot support DSD512 currently.
3. To play DSD tracks on the computer, please use the software which supports DSD files (e.g. “Foobar 2000”) and install the relevant application plug-ins correctly. (How to play DSD files when use the FiiO DAC for Windows computer? https://forum.fiio.com/note/showNoteContent.do?id=202105281106126083841)
4. Swithcing tracks with different sampling rates will cause relatively obvious impulsing sound which is a normal phenomenon. It is recommended classify music files well.

Are there any firmware updates available for the KA3 device or drivers needed? For Mac? Now that the golden one is properly on the case I will defer to his expertise as he’s the king of dsd on the Mac m1👍🏻

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There you go, that’s the ticket :see_no_evil::speak_no_evil::hear_no_evil:

This is good advice to check for new firmware in addition to keeping your Audirvana playback platform free of potential audio software conflicts… :sunglasses: :+1:

Since you have a KA3 that debug is identifying as a K3, the first thing I would suspect is incorrect/outdated firmware, so as others have advised, please check that.

Yes, I can happily play DSD on my M1 Max MacBook Pro. A directly connected DAC is limited by MacOS to using DoP, so for your KA3 that would be DSD256 as the maximum. If you stream via UPnP to a Win or Linux device and connect the DAC to that, then you can play DSD “natively” (as some refer to it), thus DSD512 would be your maximum rate.

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There is no limitation in using DoP 1.1 for playing native ‘raw’ DSDxxx, on an Apple Mac/macOS platform… The raw DSDxxx signal is embedded in the PCMxxx carrier signal and is subsequently extracted from the PCMxxx carrier by the DoP 1.1 processing of the DAC topology that delivers the “native” 1-bit signal to the digital to analog output circuit(s).

:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

I’ve just hooked up a 768k PCM-capable DAC directly to my M1 Max MacBook Pro, and as I recalled, the highest DSD rate available is DSD256, since this is DoP. A 768k PCM DAC capable of playing DSD “natively” on MacOS (for which a custom driver is needed - the MacOS built-in USB driver won’t do it) would have a maximum rate of DSD512. This is because in DoP the protocol marker and other overheads use up half the bits sent to the DAC.

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I just found the spec sheet for the Fiio KA3 and it’s maximum PCM sample-rate support is 768kHz… This is very typical these days… 705.6kHz is the DoP 1.1 PCM carrier Fs for DSD256 (11.2MZ), for DSD512 (22.4MHz) the DoP 1.1 carrier Fs is 1411.2kHz … Personally, speaking, anything beyond DSD128 (5.6MHZ) delivers very diminishing returns if any, and there is so little natively recorded DSD256 and DSD512 content that it is inconsequential in the big picture…

There are no custom drivers for DSD playback on Apple macOS platforms… DoP 1.1 is the transport mechanism…
:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

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@Jud
Using MAC by DoP the DSD drops by half.
I’m now using a DAC that goes up to DSD512, on MAC only DSD256.
I’ve owned countless DACs and they all do the same thing.
The only exception I’ve seen so far is the @Agoldnear DAC, I don’t know why.

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Then your DAC is not supporting PCM 1411.2kHz… it does support 705.6kHz which is the DoP 1.1 carrier for DSD256…
:notes: :eye: :headphones: :eye: :notes:

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Because he is exceptional. :slightly_smiling_face:

I think you’ll see from his last couple of messages that he actually agrees.

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