Hi there,
Since the very beginning of my journey into a DAC I have some issues with the communication between my DAC and Mac Mini (running Audirvana). Although i know how to properly set it up now, i have always been wondering and sometimes trying to get it -better-. Why? Because I like to play with my toys.
My set-up:
Source: Mid 2010 Mac Mini running Ubuntu 24.04 and Audirvana Studio.
DAC: North Star Design USB32 DAC
Amps: Chord Electronics pre-amp (currently out for maintenance, CPA2xxxx or something and poweramp SPM1000b)
Speakers: B&W 803S
Cables: elvenkind of course 
The issue:
Connecting over USB makes Audirvana directly see my DAC as output ‘Northstar’. Good! It plays fine until I play tracks marked as HD in Qobuz. I get only white noise then.
Connecting via optical (yes, the old Mac Mini has a hidden optical in the stereo output) works great and avoids this issues but only if I limit the SPL to 44.1. If I do not do this, tracks marked as HD are silent, no noise as with USB, just silent.
Back the, North Star Design offered drivers to play beyond high quality tracks. However, the drivers became obsolete when new Mac OS arrived. As the company even stopped now, no new drivers can be expected anymore.
So stuck with optical? And why do I need to limit it 44.1?
What could be done to have the USB connection working?
A nice puzzlebox…
