Hi, I purchased my Quad 3 integrated last Tuesday. I first steamed through the Wiim Ultra using wifi and the UPnP protocol. It all worked flawlessly. Before buying the Quad I also connected my MacBook Air (Audirvana Origin 2.6.4) with the Quad’s USB. I wanted to test this beforehand given your experience late december. I used the Quad supplied USB cable. The Quad shows up as a USB playing device at the top of the Audirvana’s Output Devices menu.
As far as I can tell the Quad 3 has no direct UPnP connection like the Wiim Ultra. Connecting the Wiim Ultra with a coaxial cable to the Quad 3 will enable a UPnP portal through the Wiim Ultra, resulting in a limited 24/192 resolution. Connecting your Mac mini through USB should result in a full PCM 24/384 and DSD512 resolution. I will test this ‘ultimate connection’ at my home tomorrow. I will keep you posted!
My advice: use the Quad supplied USB cable and connect your Mac mini USB direct with the Quad 3. Select the Quad 3 as Output Device in Audirvana next to the lock icon. And hold your jaw firmly before it drops to the floor. Happy listening!!!
PS: I bought the Quad Revela 1 as a pure stereo setup. Those require a minimum of 100 hours of playing in. To my ears they were exceptional just out of their box and are improving hour by hour.
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That’s exactly the setup I already have, as per what I described in my post.
It’s the DSP that causes the issues with popping and cracking. There’s no automatic headroom in the DSP when its enabled and I was using fixed output (no DSP volume)
Annoying as Roon has both a clipping indicator and allows attenuation before DSP
I’ve gone back to Roon again as the AV remote is not very good and the Roon interface is just so much better.
This is not true…
I use Studio EQ (with Auto (gain) management enabled), Cross-feed Virtual LR+C, modulate all PCM files to 11.2MHz (DSD256) using the r8Brain modulator with gain reduction of -1dB before modulation, and no Volume DSP.
My system does not exhibit the behavior you describe in your particular scenario.
- macOS 26.2
- Audirvāna Studio v3 Beta
- M2 Max Mac Studio with 64GB RAM (13 GB allocated for playback pre-load memory)
- Music library storage is a locally attached external USB 3.0 SSD
- The DAC is being served via USB 3.0 controller hosted in an external Thunderbolt 3 PCIe chassis with extensive signal and power filtering from an installed ElFidelity PCIe card.
All DAC platforms do not have the same level of headroom… Some have ample headroom for a given playback bit-depth, and some can’t handle the dynamic range of some files, especially 32-bit… Maybe you should try limiting the bit-depth to 24-bit… The theoretical dynamic range of a 24-bit file is 145.75 dBmv and the theoretical dynamic-range of a 32-bit file is 193.75 dBmv… If you are playing 16/44.1kHz files the theoretical dynamic-range is 97.75 dBmv… (Where in LPCM 1-bit = 6dB) All DSP functions add bits to the file being processed.
So, if you drop the output volume by -6dB you will theoretically lose one-bit of dynamic-range… Frequency resolution is a function of the file’s encoded sample-rate.
It’s a 24/96 stream, Qobuz doesn’t stream 32bit and I have no 32bit files or qobuz downloads.
The noise still occurred with auto gain enabled and only a manual setting of -6dB resolved it.
Like I say I’ve gone back to using Roon so it’s moot for now.
Thank you for your reply. I connected the USB cable to my MacBook Air and used Audirvana with the Quad 3 as Output Device. I also heard pops and cracks like you did. I reversed to coax (24/192).
Strangely enough no popping and cracking was heard during the demo at my Quad dealer. I will contact them tomorrow to hopefully solve the issue. It is most probably a setting on the Quad 3.
In between those unwanted artifacts it happened to sound amazing.
Keep you posted.
I think it’s audirvana rather than the DAC. TBF the Quad is really an IAG product and the ESS9038 in the Quad3 is used on other platforms in the group so they know what they’re doing.
Playing exactly the same album on Qobuz via Roon with DSP is absolutely fine.
I am referring to a one-on-one connection with a plain (no add-ons) Audirvana Origin. During the demo at my dealer it worked flawlessly with the right cables. I am going to lend a Audioquest B/C Cinnamon to check how a direct connection will perform. I am also confident it is the cable or Audirvana side of thing. Using the coax route already places a honest Steinway Model D right in my living room.The synergy of the amp and the speakers is out of this earth I am as happy as a small child in a candy shop can ever be. My Quad Revela 1 are playing right now for its breaking in period
What is your musical taste? Mine is predominantly classical with a majority share of 24 bits and DSD source material. I like to curate my collection on musical performance first. Now the actual sonic quality of recordings becomes more and more apparent. Happy times are knocking at my door. Have a nice weekend, with loads of soulful music that grows you.
@thebiglebowski @E.Abrahamse
If this were true, then everybody using a direct Computer → DAC high-speed USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 cable connection would have the behavior you are experiencing and every DAC platform topology employing the ESS chipset would be experiencing the behavior you are experiencing.
The comparison to Roon playback, is not a direct comparison of how the digital-audio signal is handled in the audio-engine(s)… We do know from your description that Roon must be managing the signal dynamic-range for playback in the case of the Quad 3 being a RAAT endpoint, which is a proprietary transmission protocol.
But why just the Quad 3 in this scenario? Especially when my Mac Studio platform playback scenario running Audirvāna Studio v3 Beta (2.99.16) does not produce the behavior you are experiencing…
It is not a given that DAC platform topologies that employ the ESS chipset are designed the same and employ the same DSP architecture topology. As I stated previously, some DAC platforms have more headroom than others, and in the case of the high-performance Audirvāna audio-engine, the output signal may be overloading your DAC platform, especially if you have not managed your gain structure effectively…
Any given DAC topology will handle the digital-audio stream delivered to the USB interface using the asynchronous USB Audio transmission protocol. The digital-audio signal is buffered in the USB interface controller and asynchronously delivered to the DAC platform clocking topology and DSP where the signal flow is managed by the DAC platform design topology to output…
“Popping” and “clicking” is related to sample-rate synchronization and signal over-loading and can be a product of buffer under-runs in the DAC USB interface due to data-flow issues related to latencies in the USB interface packet request/send signaling which precipitate interrupts in the resulting packet flow to the DAC. It is the USB controller in the DAC that tells the USB host controller when to send more packets. (Keep in mind that RAAT is a proprietary signal transmission protocol)
(I will make an educated guess here)… Given that a large group of Audirvāna users, have DAC platforms utilizing the ubiquitous and very popular ESS chipset and are not reporting similar behavior(s), we must consider other potentials beyond the functionality of Audirvana… For whatever reason (Whether this is output-gain related or USB interface related) it appears this DAC platform is having problems handling the basic asynchronous USB signal delivered by Audirvāna in concert with your Mac mini host USB controller.
Note: It appears the Quad 3 platform does not support DSD playback via DoP.
https://www.edn.com/fundamentals-of-usb-audio/
Thank you for your information. As far as I am concerned, there was no pop and click during the demo I received at the dealer, although they used several connected cables from my USB C to the USB B at the back of the Quad 3. To solve all speculation about which issue is the elephant in the room, I today ordered a complete Audioquest Cinnamon USB C→B to resolve any cable related connection problems. And this Monday, I will contact the Dutch distributor of Quad to check any knowledge they have on this topic. I know they themselves use Audirvana with Quad products. Hope my direct USB issue is solved asap,
Because using the Quad 3 with Audirvana using UPnP (24/192) as well as DoP results in my own personal audiophile nirvana . I will keep you posted.
Which I already ordered today. Hope it arrives soon. Fingers crossed.
Dear friends,
Yesterday, I revisited my Audirvana project connecting it through the USB B input of my Quad 3. Same cables salad as before (that is why I ordered a one-piece Audioquest USB C to B Cinnamon cable last Saturday)
I opened Audirvana Origin and started with first stripping all upsampling settings. Just to figure out whether the pops and click originate in Audirvana or are a result of the Quad 3’s workings. To my utter surprise a proper, clean and revealing 3D like sound. No interrupting nasties anymore. Just music on an extremely low noise floor. The instruments pop and singers are right there in my playing room. What’s not to like….
As I am a highly involved perfectionist, I further experimented with upsampling settings and they now happen to work brilliantly. It pays off to sample and hear different types of music in different input and output qualities. It very well pays off. Even low bit rate/MP3 sound a lot better. The higher quality the source material is the more I ascend to at least my personal audiophile nirvana.
I will furthermore experiment with the direct USB connection when my ordered AudioQuest Cinnamon USB C to B cable has arrived and share my subjective and personal experiences with you in due course.
I wish you all a very musically engaging week!
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@Antoine : Can you split this conversation from this thread to a separate one about the quad 3? It doesn’t contribute to the beta feedback. Thnx.
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