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No sound from TOSLINK out with DAC+ DSP Univeral profile

Ben

April 26, 2020 01:55

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Hello everyone,

First off I want to say, I really don't know what I'm doing so please bear with me. Don't know much about audio, electronics, linux, etc. I just wanted to make a simple streamer with both analog and digital outputs and digital input, so the DAC+ DSP board seemed the way to go. I'm using HiFiBerry OS.

Initially both analog and digital output seemed to be working, but of course (predictably) I started clicking around and loaded one of the included DSP profiles (I can't remember which, or neither, it was originally set to). Ever since I have had no digital output on TOSLINK. I tried (re?)loading the included DAC+ DSP Univeral profile, as well as the  "Default" profile suggested on some other threads (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hifiberry/hifiberry-dsp/master/sample_files/xml/dacdsp-default.xml) via dsptoolkit. At one point my speakers emitted a high pitched beep, which didn't seem to do any serious damage, but was a bit disconcerting...

I went through set up again with the fresh image, but it seems like I already pushed the wrong program to the DSP section somehow? Or maybe the problem is unrelated to that? I'm kind of at a loss what to try next troubleshooting wise. RCA output seems to work fine, and the various filter/EQ applied through the GUI take effect. Thank you, and apologies in advance for my ignorance! :-P

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30 comments

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team April 26, 2020 05:00

  Sounds like your using HiFiBerryOS. Just use the profile that's bundles with HiFiBerryOS and enable SPDIF input under "Sources".

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  Ben April 26, 2020 05:25

  Hello, thank you. Yes, I am using HiFiBerryOS, with the bundled DAC+ DSP Universal profile.

  My problem is with the digital output, not input. Digital output worked at first, but not since switching DSP profiles, even after reloading the default bundled one. I'm getting nothing now on the Toslink output to a separate DAC. I have not tested digital input yet, my first priority is to get back to what was working originally! Again, thanks for the help!

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  Ben April 26, 2020 05:48

  Update, I tried optical input from a TV, works fine (through the HiFiBerry DAC to RCA out). It's just the optical out signal from the HiFiBerry DAC/DSP that's causing me problems.

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  Ben April 26, 2020 15:09

  Well, I'm dumb apparently - looks like the problem was with my DAC - it only supports up to 96khz over optical. I tried with a different one and it worked fine. Am I correct that the DSP upsamples everything to 192 internally, so the TOSLINK output is always 192khz regardless of source? How can I change the working sample rate of the the DSP to 96khz? Thanks again!

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  HiFiBerry team April 26, 2020 15:11

  Are you really using the DAC+ DSP UNiversal version 10? This should not upsample to 192kHz, but run at 48kHz

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  Ben April 26, 2020 15:38

  Yes, I was using DAC+ DSP Version 10. I then installed the generic 96khz profile from github, after that it worked with both DACs (yay!) but now *analog* out doesn't seem to work. Switched back to Universal and analog works again, digital doesn't.

  So with my 96khz limited DAC:

  DAC+ DSP Universal V10: only analog out works

  Generic 96khz Profile: only digital out works

  Thanks for all the help (especially on a Sunday!) I really appreciate it. I'm afraid I may be doing something dumb that's making trouble shooting harder, it does seem pretty strange.

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  Ben April 26, 2020 21:16

  One last thing, with the generic96.xml profile, the option to enable optical input is not available ("Optical Input status can't be determined with the current DSP profile"). I'll keep trying things, but there definitely seems to be some weirdness between the provided/bundled DSP profiles and my otherwise normally functioning DAC.

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  HiFiBerry team April 27, 2020 13:43

  Just checked the DAC+ DSP Universal profile with our audio analyzer. It is using 48kHz/24bit output, not 192kHz. What DAC have you connected to the TOSLink output?
  
  It's normal that the 96khz gnereic profile doesn't support the SPDIF input enable functionality, it's simply not integrated in this profile.

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  Ben April 27, 2020 14:39

  "It's normal that the 96khz gnereic profile doesn't support the SPDIF input enable functionality, it's simply not integrated in this profile."

  Thanks, yep I see that now - I cracked open up a few of the project files in SigmaStudio and I see that it's absent in the generic 96kHz profile. I noticed that the DAC+ DSP universal profile is not available as a project file on GitHub however?

  Anyway, after some more poking around I tried the dacdsp-noautomute.xml profile from github - and all the inputs and outputs work now! I have no idea what the automute does or if there's any risks associated with having it off? But, it does seem like something about my DAC and it's TOSLink implementation was likely the source of the strange behavior, causing the HiFiBerry to think SPDIF output should be muted?

  Anyway, thanks for all your help, I'm sure I'll be back when I dive into learning how to do some room correction. Although it looks like with the GUI filter interface hopefully less messing around with loading mysterious DSP profiles will be needed in the future.

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team April 27, 2020 14:44

  Interesting that this works but the Generic profile bundled with HiFiBerryOS doesn't. What DAC do you use that shows this problem?
  
  The auto-mute function was uses to remove some clicks when a source stops/starts playback. This happens with some services like Spotify where the player doesn't support gapless playback. If the profile works for you, that's fine. 
  
  We experimented a lot with different settings and DSP profiles in the past. However, maintaining all these profiles in parallel is just a nightmare, therefore we have decided to focus on a single profile that can be used universally. That doesn't mean the other profile you find on Github are not good. They are just other profiles ;-)

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  Ben April 27, 2020 15:01

  The problem was with my PS Audio Sprout 100 all-in-one. The DAC chip is an ESS 9016 I believe, nothing fancy although I think overall it sounds a little better than the HiFiBerry DAC (The levels are tricky to match - that would be a nice feature in the GUI. I see I can set volume levels for optical vs Raspberry Pi audio input, but not different levels for analog vs digital out. I probably can figure out how to do that through DSP given enough trial and error though! :-P) 

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  Ben April 27, 2020 15:20

  Oops, I rejoiced too soon - optical in doesn't work with the dacdsp-noautomute profile (and I see what the automute is for, got some clicks from the TV, luckily I've switched to testing everything through cheap headphones.) Also it says filters won't work due to no sample rate defined. Is sample rate only specified in the DSP program metadata? I.e., I can just add a tag in the beginning without any change to the DSP program itself? I assumed all else would be equal between the Universal and noautomute versions, but I guess not (as these files from the hifiberry-dsp repo on github are quite a bit older than what's shipping in HiFiBerryOS perhaps?) Guess I'll keep tinkering.

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  HiFiBerry team April 28, 2020 05:49

  Yes, the sample rate only has to be defined in the DSP profile. We use 48kHz by default.

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  Matt May 07, 2020 10:45

  Hi,

  I'm experiencing the same problem. No sound from digital output using Roon as source to my AVR via Optical. I have installed the DAC+ DSP Universal v 10.

  where can I find others profiles? How can I install them? 

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team May 07, 2020 10:49

  You don't need another profile for this. Do you get output on the analog out?

• 0
  
  Matt May 07, 2020 10:54

  Yes, I get audio from RCA

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team May 07, 2020 12:32

  Then it should also work via optical. What DAC/amplifier is connected? Does the output light up red? 

• 0
  
  Matt May 07, 2020 12:37

  Yes I can see the red light through the optical cable. The AVR is a Yamaha RX-V585 (input on Audio 1).

  Is there any commands to check the optical output status?

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  HiFiBerry team May 07, 2020 12:40

  No, there is no command for this. The output is just routed directly to the DAC and SPDIF. Make sure you have selected the correct input. Modern AV reivers usually expect the input from HDMI and you have to configrue it correctly to use Toslink on a specific input. 

• 0
  
  Matt May 07, 2020 12:42

  I already tested all the inputs. Optical is on AUDIO 1. Is very well explained and visible.

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team May 07, 2020 12:48

  Unfortunately I can't say what else might be the problem. I can offer to check the board here. Would you like us to do this?

• 0
  
  Matt May 07, 2020 12:52

  OK I got it working. On the AVR setup menu I had to assign the optical input to a video output even if there's no video input attached. Weird.

• 0
  
  HiFiBerry team May 07, 2020 12:54

  Modern AV receivers are quite flexible, but you need anything else than HDMI it gets more complicated ;-)

• 0
  
  Matt May 07, 2020 13:03

  Yeah actually that's a cool feature, didn't know i could do that. :)

  Room Compensation Done! :D

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  HiFiBerry team May 07, 2020 13:10

  Did you use the RoomEQ feature from HiFiBerryOS? How does it sound?

• 0
  
  Matt May 07, 2020 13:42

  The process, the UI and the Sound Designer are really awesome! My system is already calibrated for Home Cinema. I have 2 subs driven by a MiniDSP calibrated with REW and YPAO to the whole frequency response. However this doesn't sound really great with music that's why I bought the DAC+ DSP. So, I just started listening but from what I can tell right now is that only 1 measurement position is not enough. I already know my room very well and I know that an average from 3 points gives me the best result. I had to disable all the filters below 100Hz to leave my Room EQ intact. I will try the manual REW calibration when I have time.

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  Matt May 07, 2020 14:02

  I think a very nice feature would be something like Auto Volume EQ or Dynamic EQ. 

   

  

  Edited by Matt May 07, 2020 14:03
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  Henio May 09, 2020 07:01

  "We experimented a lot with different settings and DSP profiles in the past. However, maintaining all these profiles in parallel is just a nightmare, therefore we have decided to focus on a single profile that can be used universally."

   

  Where is this current single profile (as xml or dspproj) available for non HifiBerryOS uses?

   

  Regards,

  Tomek

• 1
  
  HiFiBerry team May 09, 2020 17:43

  You can simply use the same profile as we're using with HiFiBerryOS:
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hifiberry/hifiberry-os/master/buildroot/package/dspprofiles/dspdac-10.xml

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  HiFiBerry team May 09, 2020 17:45

  @Matt  This "loudness" is quite nice, but it requires to know what the volume on the listening position is. IT might be possible with measurements but still it's not very easy to implement in a way that it works well for all users.