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RME ADI-2 DAC starts sounding distorted after a couple hours of play. Please help!

Slyceth

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I got 2 LS50 Meta's and a SB-2000 Pro, hooked up to an Audiophonics MPA-S250NC XLR and RME ADI-2 DAC, and watching video it starts getting distorted after a couple hours of playing. It used to be fine for months, and then it happened once a week ago, then another 3 days ago, and today it happened twice in one day. Is it because I leave both equipment on at night? I get it fixed by turning the RME ADI-2 DAC off and back on with the remote, so I assume the fault lies in the DAC.

Somebody please advice me on this, here is a video of the sound after it gets distorted. Is it the DAC or might it be the amp?:

I already tried changing USB ports, it's hooked up to my PC (5000 series Ryzen, 3000 series Geforce GPU)

https://streamable.com/0gdh8y
 

Jim Matthews

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I suspect you have a sharp DA filter set. That sounds like ringing to me.

It's been nearly 2 years since I sold mine but I found a gentler "Slow" filter preset to reduce hash as shown in your video.

Page 20 of the manual cryptically mentions this. Adjusting this single filter made all the difference for me.

Section 31 (technical background) illuminates the curves as does Amir's comprehensive review.

https://rme-audio.de/downloads/adi2dac_e.pdf
 

Matias

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AnalogSteph

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I would suspect USB connection issues, not exactly a first for Ryzen systems. 550 and 570 series chipsets made headlines recently, for example. Update BIOS and load defaults, update Ryzen chipset drivers, disable PCIe 4.0 in UEFI (PCIe = gen3), also try disabling global C-state. Some folks also found a link to Infinity Fabric supply, VDDG, this may need to be increased. Definitely have a look at DPC latency in operation.

It may be worth cross-checking with SPDIF if the board has such an output.
 

Takanaka

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I would suspect USB connection issues, not exactly a first for Ryzen systems. 550 and 570 series chipsets made headlines recently, for example. Update BIOS and load defaults, update Ryzen chipset drivers, disable PCIe 4.0 in UEFI (PCIe = gen3), also try disabling global C-state. Some folks also found a link to Infinity Fabric supply, VDDG, this may need to be increased. Definitely have a look at DPC latency in operation.

It may be worth cross-checking with SPDIF if the board has such an output.
He could check if his board already has AGESA 1.2.0.1 patch A available to flash which I can confirm fixes USB problems with several X570 and B550 boards.

Never heard this specific issue though, sounds like a hardware defect but I would try updating to the latest firmware and factory resetting the unit first, maybe try to swap the cables or even the power supply as well.

If he has active speakers he might want to try to hook them up to the RME as standalone unit.
 

Matias

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I've updated my firmware immediately after you commented this. Everything was back to normal for the weeek until 1 minute ago when it happened again. I also heared a random spark noise from the right speaker that worried me..
There is an even newer version since my last post. Try updating it too for peace of mind, and if not solved, better check your installation, try to isolate components and see under which condition it works and which does not.
 
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