New USB DAC - Random popping - High DPC - Topping E30

[Sansui1977]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a Topping E30 for its low cost and decent specs. Unfortunately i am discovering that my laptop does not likes DACs and has known high DPC. I may have to return it.

Problem: Due to my computers horrible thermal limiting, there are random times (often during small tasks) that there will be a pop or a choppy hiss. DPC is high.

DAC: New Topping E30 Revision v1.08
PSU: Linear 5v powersupply
Computer: 2019 Dell XPS 7590 - i9, 32gb ram, 1tb SSD, OLED. Using Thunderbolt Dell dock (also tried laptops USB port)
Drivers: 4.86.0 Asio (topping provided drivers)
Purpose: Listenening to music or live streams - Not creating music/djing etc.

Can anyone recommend a solid solution for the occasional choppiness/popping? Are there other drivers I can try? I do not care much about DSD. I've tried different ASIO buffer sizes, audio format (24, 32 bit), etc. One day it's fine for most the day, others it's pretty bad. I've done a bunch of random BCDEDIT/power edit changes - they have helped a little.

 

[Aldoszx]

What do you think about using a Raspberry Pi?
You can separate the "audio chain" from regular working computer.
IMHO, this is the best approach.

If not, you can try reinstalling the computer from scratch and take care to keep it as clean as possible.
It seems you have a lot of "stuff" there so it is hard to tell where is the problem.
Usually, Windows OS must be "cleaned" from time to time if you want to have a good working computer.

Another approach would be to clean it using software tools like CCleaner or other maintenance tools.
But, from my experience, if the OS is compromised somehow, the best option is to have a clean reinstall.

 

[Sansui1977]

Hey Aldo,

Thanks - I was thinking to completely reset the PC but based on info from the net it just seems to be a known problem. I was hoping though that since I wasn't interested in doing live DJing or DAW work I could get a way with a little latency.

I actually do have and use a Raspberry Pi with a HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro. I'm very happy with it, which is why I bought this Topping so I can use it with my computer as well. I love how quiet these dacs are compared to the onboard sound.

Kind of a bummer, the Linear Power Supply that I use for the Raspberry Pi worked with this DAC, it's nice a setup. Any suggested settings I could change?

Thanks

 

[Hemi-Demon]

That seems odd with such a high powered laptop. have you tried using both the USB input and charging the dac with the USB to barrel connector (edit I saw the linear PSU)? Are you using a Shanti, can you confirm that the dac is receiving constant power? In another thread, there was a comment about the barrel size on the e30 being 2.1mm. Additionally what software media player are you using, and do you have the audio settings setup as wasapi shared or asio only? ASIO is only really needed for DSD.

 

[AnalogSteph]

You're going to have issues with lots of sound devices on this machine. I would try successively disabling the higher CPU C-states (package C7, package C6, core C7, core C6) via either BIOS setup or ThrottleStop.
Presonus suggest something similar, just all on/off seems a bit crude though.

Keep an eye on CPU power dissipation via HWMonitor or something, or battery drain e.g. via BatteryInfoView. Disabling higher C-states is likely to have some impact on idle power draw.

 

[Aldoszx]

I don' know if is the same thing on recent Dell laptops (latest Dell I had was over 10 years ago) but is not that simple to change a lot of settings in BIOS. New generation of notebooks have a very limited access to change advanced settings in BIOS.
But it is very unusual those days to have such a problem with latest CPU.

Try a clean reinstall, it should not take long to do it and after that, at least you could eliminate a possible cause and have a clean notebook.

 

[nck045]

Few months ago I also had this problem. I tried using different drivers, changing BIOS settings, power plan adjustments, increasing RAM voltages - basically everything. In the end the only solution that worked was to reinstall Windows. The culprit seems to be some error in the OS driver/system files.

 

[Sansui1977]

That seems odd with such a high powered laptop. have you tried using both the USB input and charging the dac with the USB to barrel connector (edit I saw the linear PSU)? Are you using a Shanti, can you confirm that the dac is receiving constant power? In another thread, there was a comment about the barrel size on the e30 being 2.1mm. Additionally what software media player are you using, and do you have the audio settings setup as wasapi shared or asio only? ASIO is only really needed for DSD.

Yes the laptop is high power but because it is in such a thin enclosure cooling is an issue. Dell shouldn't really sell these i9 in them as they generate way more heat than the laptop can cool. Therefore they heavily throttle (I hit 99C in various cores very often) - The popping happens during this throttling.

Linear PSU is using a 2.1 connector - This is the PSU I am using running a 5.1v: https://www.amazon.com/Linear-Ultra-Low-Regulated-Raspberry-ES9038Q2M/dp/B07T44S4MV

I do not know what Shanti is. I have not measured amperage but the volts is very stable. Requirements of 1 amp is lower than the Raspberry Pi 3 I was running on it, which ran very stable.

Audio settings - This is what I need to look into. I have not changed anything other than buffer size. Should I be using WASAPI? I believe I need to uninstall the Topping drivers then?

You're going to have issues with lots of sound devices on this machine. I would try successively disabling the higher CPU C-states (package C7, package C6, core C7, core C6) via either BIOS setup or ThrottleStop.
Presonus suggest something similar, just all on/off seems a bit crude though.

Keep an eye on CPU power dissipation via HWMonitor or something, or battery drain e.g. via BatteryInfoView. Disabling higher C-states is likely to have some impact on idle power draw.

Sounds like you have been here before

Looking into this now, will reboot shortly and report back. Thanks for the info and the link!

Few months ago I also had this problem. I tried using different drivers, changing BIOS settings, power plan adjustments, increasing RAM voltages - basically everything. In the end the only solution that worked was to reinstall Windows. The culprit seems to be some error in the OS driver/system files.

Thanks for this info, may save me some time. I'll nuke the OS if I have to but its for work and this would be a last resort... Lets hope I can get it at least somewhat stable. But I have feeling some pre-packaged Dell software/driver is screwing it up.

I did try to uninstall all the bloatware/dell software. Ran a Windows 10 Decrap script too.

 

[Aldoszx]

Few months ago I also had this problem. I tried using different drivers, changing BIOS settings, power plan adjustments, increasing RAM voltages - basically everything. In the end the only solution that worked was to reinstall Windows. The culprit seems to be some error in the OS driver/system files.

Agree with that. That's why I am not using Windows for audio purposes.

 

[Aldoszx]

Thanks for this info, may save me some time. I'll nuke the OS if I have to but its for work and this would be a last resort... Lets hope I can get it at least somewhat stable. But I have feeling some pre-packaged Dell software/driver is screwing it up.

I did try to uninstall all the bloatware/dell software. Ran a Windows 10 Decrap script too.

When Windows is bloated and became unstable, you can't do anything to repair it !
There are a lot of variables here: installed software, drivers, registry, corrupted system files and so on.

Don't waste your time, make a backup of your files and do a clean install.
And do not install all crap Dell software !
I can guarantee to you that the notebook will work very well without all that stuff !
For sure, you will spend much less time to reinstall than repair and the result is guaranteed.
Also, be sure that you have the latest bios and drivers updated.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

I agree with, the point of NOT installing all the dell add on software. Also try wasapi event in windows sound settings, if you don't need DSD, it should fix the issue.

 

[Pluto]

Computer: 2019 Dell XPS 7590 - i9, 32gb ram, 1tb SSD, OLED

There is no way that a machine such as this should not be capable of playing audio into a USB DAC without difficulty. LatencyMon contains a useful tool to show the time taken servicing interrupts and this may offer some clues as to where the time is being wasted. Your figure of 3000μS for the kernel mode driver is about 20× higher than mine and your hardware is, in theory, higher performing. Although “everybody knows” that SSDs perform better than spinning rust, is it possible that something is ‘queuing’ to minimize the actual number of physical writes to the drive (for longevity) and this is resulting in the excessive latency?

Can you enlighten us as to your comment…

my laptop does not likes DACs and has known high DPC

known high DPC can only be down to the software configuration (the above comment about SSDs notwithstanding). Dell's hardware is mostly pretty standard and I agree strongly that the best area to pursue is Dell's own stuff that they add to the standard Windows 10 configuration. I would do a full install (i.e. a clean, bare metal install) of Windows 10 1909 and take it from there. Get yourself a non-Dell installation disk so there is no chance that any dodgy Dell stuff has already been added to the spaghetti.

 

[Thalis]

Just to chime in. I had the same problem with my i7 laptop running Win 7. One day the music was choppy, popping etc. Turns out after many years there just so much "dirt" in the registry, unneeded programs starting up and running in the baclground etc. So I just did some housekeeping, installed CCleaner and then followed some tutorials on how to optimise Win 7 for gaming. Latency tests are now all green and I can multitask again whilst playing music.

 

[DeepFried]

perhaps try disabling one device at a time (in device manager) and see if the DPC latency corrects. If its a bad device or driver you should find it that way, WIFI is a prime candidate or anything on the USB bus with regular throughput.

A Linux live USB stick can also help eliminate software issues i.e. if it works fine from Linux then its probably a driver or software, or just something in the OS setup.

Pinning down the cause of high DPC latency can be a bit of detective work.

 

[Sansui1977]

Tried suggested fixes (C-states disabled), still not looking great. Looks like I will need to try to wipe the system. Could try disabling further throttling/boosting. Oddly enough it will play tricks with me, sound fine for hours (or I just do not pay attention) and then randomly starts up again.

Haven't tried WASAPI shared - Tried to look it up and didn't find a good tutorial from a brief search.

There is no way that a machine such as this should not be capable of playing audio into a USB DAC without difficulty. LatencyMon contains a useful tool to show the time taken servicing interrupts and this may offer some clues as to where the time is being wasted. Your figure of 3000μS for the kernel mode driver is about 20× higher than mine and your hardware is, in theory, higher performing. Although “everybody knows” that SSDs perform better than spinning rust, is it possible that something is ‘queuing’ to minimize the actual number of physical writes to the drive (for longevity) and this is resulting in the excessive latency?

Can you enlighten us as to your comment…

known high DPC can only be down to the software configuration (the above comment about SSDs notwithstanding). Dell's hardware is mostly pretty standard and I agree strongly that the best area to pursue is Dell's own stuff that they add to the standard Windows 10 configuration. I would do a full install (i.e. a clean, bare metal install) of Windows 10 1909 and take it from there. Get yourself a non-Dell installation disk so there is no chance that any dodgy Dell stuff has already been added to the spaghetti.

I hear ya, clean bare metal install - especially a machine with these specs. I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger. This is a work laptop, domain joined/special software/handful of VMs etc. It would be a project and if I hit a dead end I will do so. At the moment I am planning on doing it this weekend because all signs point to a full wipe.

Laptop has a few things in configuration that could contribute:

- Wifi/Bluetooth are off (wired)
- One VM in Hyper-V is usually running, simple W10 build, not using a lot of resources, often just idle.
- This computer has the integrated graphics, GTX 1650, and a plugable (display link) USB 3.0 dock sending a 1080 HDMI signal. There is a lot of possibility of latency issues here I suppose. All graphics set to the Intel graphics (I know, just the GTX creates A LOT of heat).
- As you pointed, this computers specs does not have a problem with throughput - I/O - CPU resources etc.
- It's hard to say that throttling or heat is the cause as at the moment even running one VM I'm still staying way under TJ Max

Links of other users complaining of high DPC, often resulting in users returning this model:
(My exact specs, not me) https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/ckrrvj https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-15-7590-DPC-latency/td-p/7471249

Here are the stats from a ~20 minute run:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:20:48 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:
OS version: Windows 10, 10.0, version 2004, build: 19041 (x64)
Hardware: XPS 15 7590, Dell Inc.
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9980HK CPU @ 2.40GHz
Logical processors: 16
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 32495 MB total


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed: 240 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO DPC LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to DPC latency reflects the measured interval in which a DPC could execute in response to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution.

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 1276.30
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 8.550986


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 865.37750
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: ACPI.sys - ACPI Driver for NT, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.007206
Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.012009

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 1833047
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 1
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 3922.38750
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: vmswitch.sys - Microsoft® Network Virtualization Service Provider, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.374192
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.609432

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 5444553
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 10620
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 87
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 15
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: taskmgr.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 475
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 305
Number of processes hit: 24


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 173.17220
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 185.75750
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 1.4e77283
CPU 0 ISR count: 1670648
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 3922.38750
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 112.747848
CPU 0 DPC count: 4911514
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 46.807828
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 865.37750
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.518197
CPU 1 ISR count: 8029
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1316.67250
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 5.556953
CPU 1 DPC count: 174081
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 23.882566
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 239.383333
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.237573
CPU 2 ISR count: 15704
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 976.780833
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 1.894086
CPU 2 DPC count: 80317
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 13.910436
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 14.715833
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.002678
CPU 3 ISR count: 2344
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 177.335833
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.032304
CPU 3 DPC count: 5864
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.932061
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 18.409167
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.033073
CPU 4 ISR count: 30039
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 487.709167
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.21720
CPU 4 DPC count: 48149
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.827311
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 20.418333
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.011651
CPU 5 ISR count: 9508
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 100.860
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.045970
CPU 5 DPC count: 11796
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.907926
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 27.020
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.044223
CPU 6 ISR count: 38941
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 250.806667
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.243860
CPU 6 DPC count: 55625
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 11.505485
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 30.3850
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.002949
CPU 7 ISR count: 2413
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 543.760833
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.017461
CPU 7 DPC count: 3487
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.221388
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 19.190
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.019911
CPU 8 ISR count: 15919
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 484.60
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.110320
CPU 8 DPC count: 24400
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.589512
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 14.128333
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.008760
CPU 9 ISR count: 7164
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 147.353333
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.051781
CPU 9 DPC count: 12059
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 17.047249
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 13.444167
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.021033
CPU 10 ISR count: 17058
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 537.086667
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.195701
CPU 10 DPC count: 29626
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.035576
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 11.154167
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000384
CPU 11 ISR count: 206
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 144.518333
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.005994
CPU 11 DPC count: 1046
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 12 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.171387
CPU 12 ISR highest execution time (µs): 22.7650
CPU 12 ISR total execution time (s): 0.013126
CPU 12 ISR count: 9706
CPU 12 DPC highest execution time (µs): 478.8750
CPU 12 DPC total execution time (s): 0.108757
CPU 12 DPC count: 19329
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 13 Interrupt cycle time (s): 10.012060
CPU 13 ISR highest execution time (µs): 8.615833
CPU 13 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000294
CPU 13 ISR count: 147
CPU 13 DPC highest execution time (µs): 202.486667
CPU 13 DPC total execution time (s): 0.006876
CPU 13 DPC count: 958
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 14 Interrupt cycle time (s): 15.043681
CPU 14 ISR highest execution time (µs): 19.940833
CPU 14 ISR total execution time (s): 0.007204
CPU 14 ISR count: 5044
CPU 14 DPC highest execution time (µs): 167.636667
CPU 14 DPC total execution time (s): 0.342203
CPU 14 DPC count: 62535
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 15 Interrupt cycle time (s): 12.187696
CPU 15 ISR highest execution time (µs): 5.936667
CPU 15 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000360
CPU 15 ISR count: 178
CPU 15 DPC highest execution time (µs): 294.779167
CPU 15 DPC total execution time (s): 0.152145
CPU 15 DPC count: 14489
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You're going to have issues with lots of sound devices on this machine. I would try successively disabling the higher CPU C-states (package C7, package C6, core C7, core C6) via either BIOS setup or ThrottleStop.
Presonus suggest something similar, just all on/off seems a bit crude though.

Keep an eye on CPU power dissipation via HWMonitor or something, or battery drain e.g. via BatteryInfoView. Disabling higher C-states is likely to have some impact on idle power draw.

Luckily my bios has an option to disable C-States. Disabled it and it didn't make things worse, possible better. Numbers are the same :/

 

[Pluto]

Haven't tried WASAPI shared

The use of WASAPI will not change the actual DPC numbers but it might make the audio playback more tolerant of poor performance in this respect, especially if you use fairly large buffers. I don't believe you've said which playback application you are using; it has to support WASAPI but most decent audio players do. In the absence of anything else, I would use Foobar 2000 (for which you will need to download the appropriate WASAPI add-on) which is stable, free and good.

 

[AnalogSteph]

C-States aren't the issue then. Try seitching your power profile to Maximum Performance to see whether that does anything. At this stage I suspect it may not.

Go to LatencyMon's Drivers tab to identify potential time hogs. It only takes one misbehaved driver to ruin your day. Unfortunately it's not always obvious whether it actually is the driver itself that's the issue or whether it's a symptom of something else.

Which BIOS version are you running right now? Is it up to date? Dell released an update for the older 9570 to address DPC latency issues last year, apparently to mixed results.

This system has nVidia Optimus, so I'd try comparing a scenario with either
a) just internal graphics being active
or
b) just nVidia graphics being active.

nVidia drivers have long been known to be problematic anyway. The whole Pascal lineup had issues at one point. It may be worth trying to keep the clocks constant for testing purposes.

Some more things to try out.

 

[Sansui1977]

Thanks for the info - I am using Foobar2000 for flac, but a lot of the time it is just media being played from Chrome - Twitch, YouTube, Comcast Xfinity TV services etc. All afternoon it has been fine...

Pretty sure I am just going to wipe this thing over the weekend

 

[Sansui1977]

C-States aren't the issue then. Try seitching your power profile to Maximum Performance to see whether that does anything. At this stage I suspect it may not.

Go to LatencyMon's Drivers tab to identify potential time hogs. It only takes one misbehaved driver to ruin your day. Unfortunately it's not always obvious whether it actually is the driver itself that's the issue or whether it's a symptom of something else.

Which BIOS version are you running right now? Is it up to date? Dell released an update for the older 9570 to address DPC latency issues last year, apparently to mixed results.

This system has nVidia Optimus, so I'd try comparing a scenario with either
a) just internal graphics being active
or
b) just nVidia graphics being active.

nVidia drivers have long been known to be problematic anyway. The whole Pascal lineup had issues at one point. It may be worth trying to keep the clocks constant for testing purposes.

Some more things to try out.

You are definitely giving great advice! I am on Windows 10 2004 and have to use the new built in graphics application prioritizer.

First I disabled the Intel graphics, caused a huge mess with my displays but the DPC latency really got much better. Couldn't find a way to force using the nVidia graphics via the control panel or bios so I had to re-enable the Intel graphics.

Monitored which apps were using GPU resources, unfortunately system apps (usually in system32) do not allow for graphics prioritization.

Was able to confirm graphics has a lot to do with it based on this test. Also I had that MaXX audio software that was adding bass and other unwanted junk - didnt realize it effected the DAC. Uninstalled, much better.

Here are my settings which helped A LOT. Unfortunettly it seems anything in system32 does not abide by the hand this GUI, so it sill uses the intel graphics.

Never was I able to hit under 100, here is after a seven minutes of writing this post and playing some Steely Dan on 2.82 DSD

Enjoying the good sounds from my recapped 717

 

[AnalogSteph]

Normally you could select the graphics adapter to be used per application in the nVidia control panel app - I haven't had a Win10 machine with Optimus yet though, your Graphics Settings may be the equivalent of that already.

The odd part is that with nVidia graphics active, the system actually ought to be more busy, as PCIe is fired up and used to transfer frame buffer contents from nVidia to Intel graphics (at least that is my understanding of how it should work - my now-dated Latitude E6520 actually seems to be switching between analog video for Intel graphics and TMDS for nVidia, weirdly enough, so they seem to have connections from the panel to both adapters). PCIe also tends to preclude the processor from being able to enter very deep sleep modes, but I mean, you had already tested that.

(BTW, said E6520 generally plays fine, just the WiFi will result in the occasional pop. Not a major issue for either locally stored music - I got a 1 TB SSD for it so it can hold my entire collection - or lossy streams. Battery power consumption when playing music with the screen off is about 5.5 W, for over 12 hours worth of potential play time with the big 9-cell battery. Sandy Bridge was really good back in the day.)