McIntosh d1100 USB

[joey_corleoni]

Originally Posted by JBT

Besides JRiver and Roon what else is out there?

Oh, many things. I was testing the USB input. Any program will do for basic testing. I tried JRiver and Roon on both Windows and OSX. Additionally, Windows media player, VOX, Quicktime player. Also runeaudio and moode from linux. All had the same issues I described in this thread prior to 1.03.

[JBT]

Originally Posted by joey_corleone

Oh, many things. I was testing the USB input. Any program will do for basic testing. I tried JRiver and Roon on both Windows and OSX. Additionally, Windows media player, VOX, Quicktime player. Also runeaudio and moode from linux. All had the same issues I described in this thread prior to 1.03.

Why does JRiver work?

[joey_corleoni]

Originally Posted by JBT

Why does JRiver work?

Because it has an advanced software setting that can be enabled that allows it to send silence at the beginning of and between tracks. Basically, the software allows the issue to be masked.

[ufguy73]

I know this is an older thread, however, I am interested in the D1100...

Are owners still faced with an either/or situation between muted track intros vs popping?

[joey_corleoni]

Originally Posted by ufguy73

I know this is an older thread, however, I am interested in the D1100...

Are owners still faced with an either/or situation between muted track intros vs popping?

Yes. I manage with USB auto mute off, and a 1 second delay in Roon

[ufguy73]

Originally Posted by joey_corleone

Yes. I manage with USB auto mute off, and a 1 second delay in Roon

Thanks joey - do you still find it an annoyance or are you pretty much over any inconvenience?

Also, does the only workaround necessitate Roon? Or were you already using Roon, anyway, and didn’t investigate other potential fixes?

On a totally separate note, I noticed the higher res formats are only available through the USB input on the D1100? I am totally new to the digital streaming world (ie Amazon Prime, Tidal, etc) and this would be the primary usage of the D1100. In doing reading on various units, technologies, etc. I thought I had come across statements indicating Optical and/or Ethernet connections tended to be higher quality than USB connections in the same unit...

Is this accurate? Are USB connections somehow inherently inferior to other input connections? I won’t be connecting a computer to my Streamer/DAC so I don’t necessarily need to use a UBS connection if other connection types are preferrable.

[joey_corleoni]

Originally Posted by ufguy73

Thanks joey - do you still find it an annoyance or are you pretty much over any inconvenience?

Also, does the only workaround necessitate Roon? Or were you already using Roon, anyway, and didn’t investigate other potential fixes?

On a totally separate note, I noticed the higher res formats are only available through the USB input on the D1100? I am totally new to the digital streaming world (ie Amazon Prime, Tidal, etc) and this would be the primary usage of the D1100. In doing reading on various units, technologies, etc. I thought I had come across statements indicating Optical and/or Ethernet connections tended to be higher quality than USB connections in the same unit...

Is this accurate? Are USB connections somehow inherently inferior to other input connections? I won’t be connecting a computer to my Streamer/DAC so I don’t necessarily need to use a UBS connection if other connection types are preferrable.

I think other people have had success with JRiver too. The secret is being able to configure a delay or silence before the track starts. This allows you to keep auto mute off as to not miss the start of the the track, and also avoid a pop. What you do is mute your preamp, press play, then unmute immediately. You are essentially manually doing the USB auto mute function. Works for me.

I think USB is actually preferred because it is more flexible. For example, you cannot do DSD over optical or coaxial, and d1100 doesn’t have Ethernet. Also coax and optical top out at 32/192 I think.

I use the USB for everything.

[MonstaChuck1]

I just got the 103 firmware installed and am preferring the slight chirp rather than the start of a song rolling up on volume, which at times would happen even during the same album using Roon Nucleus -> D1100. Still, the chirp is a reminder that the USB implantation isn’t perfect, which is a reason I upgraded over my trusty MDA-1000. I also have an Esoteric K-03x CD player / dac. So if I wanted to use the D1100 I actually had it go from Roon Nucleus via USB to the K-03x, then an AES digital XLR connection to the D1100 for decoding. No issues that way, and it’s great for A/B comparison, but I was literally using someone else’s properly functioning USB implementation for a $$ dac featuring USB.

[rob725]

I did not realize this was still an issue as I was considering this vs DA2 in C53, which does not have these issues, at least not connecting to roon bridge running on a pc.

[joey_corleoni]

Originally Posted by MonstaChuck1

I just got the 103 firmware installed and am preferring the slight chirp rather than the start of a song rolling up on volume, which at times would happen even during the same album using Roon Nucleus -> D1100. Still, the chirp is a reminder that the USB implantation isn’t perfect, which is a reason I upgraded over my trusty MDA-1000. I also have an Esoteric K-03x CD player / dac. So if I wanted to use the D1100 I actually had it go from Roon Nucleus via USB to the K-03x, then an AES digital XLR connection to the D1100 for decoding. No issues that way, and it’s great for A/B comparison, but I was literally using someone else’s properly functioning USB implementation for a $$ dac featuring USB.

Interesting and creative solution. Sad though that we are sitting here years later with a $7000 piece of equipment that can’t handle basic USB functionality without issues. Clearly, they don’t care, and won’t properly address it.