Windows 10 audio inactivity causing loud "popping" noise in Topping DAC

[peniku8]

I'm very happy with my EX5 and my dad is thrilled about his small stack (D10+L30) and said he wasn't expecting to hear such a difference (he had the cheapest Behringer USB interface before, which would apparently not give him the volume levels he desired).
D10B is shelved for now until I figure out how to use two ASIO devices with REW (not via Java since that's 16bit only).

 

[AnalogSteph]

D10B is shelved for now until I figure out how to use two ASIO devices with REW (not via Java since that's 16bit only).

ASIO4All seems to work both in theory and practice.

 

[maxwsc]

Just letting you know you aren't isolated in this issue, E30 2103 batch here and it's same shit.

 

[peniku8]

ASIO4All seems to work both in theory and practice.

Wierd, I tried ASIO4ALL a while ago but couldn't get it to work. I tried the normal release and tried the beta, but both would not input any sound into REW. I will try again today, maybe I can find the issue.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Hard to tell from a distance, but have a look at the inputs and outputs enabled in ASIO4All again. Make sure to click the wrench button to disable simple view, and expand devices to see what they have to offer in terms of I/O and what's enabled (click to enable / disable outputs). You want one pair of output and one pair of input pins active, and the respective interface and sound device they belong to have to be enabled as well.

 

[peniku8]

I managed to find the issue, which was in the latency/buffer settings. It didn't work with the default settings, but the following worked for me

 

[ninjadip]

I would be looking at USB power save settings instead, possibly in the active power plan.

And yes, marrying a D10B to an L30 requires some creative adapter solutions at the very least. (E.g. one 1/4" stereo to mono splitter per output channel plus cabling to get to RCA.)

I want to thank you so much as this helped my crack problem! I'm on a laptop, and right when I saw usb power save settings it clicked! I turned off all power save settings for the usb device group and my crackling went away

I'm on a topping e30 (USB input) into a NAD C316Bee

 

[beetleburper]

I've got a e50/l50 stack and have this issue tried all kinds of things to fix but couldn't.

Stumbled onto to reddit and found this app that runs in the background keeps your device active so popping doesn't occur http://veg.by/en/projects/soundkeeper/ virtually chews up nothing to run and fixed the issue

 

[peniku8]

I managed to find the issue, which was in the latency/buffer settings. It didn't work with the default settings, but the following worked for me

As a follow-up to this: I'm using FlexASIO now, which works much better for me than the constantly problem-causing ASIO4all. FlexAsio just works.

 

[kswong98]

Just got my hands on Topping DX1 and I'm having the same issue, seems like there's no way to fix this?

edit:
i'm on laptop

i know the issue is something like power surge or some switch, but is the switch in the dac itself or in the system?

 

[peniku8]

Just got my hands on Topping DX1 and I'm having the same issue, seems like there's no way to fix this?

edit:
i'm on laptop

i know the issue is something like power surge or some switch, but is the switch in the dac itself or in the system?

The auto-mute seems to be coded into the firmware, which means there is no way to access or modify it, unless you have good relations to someone who makes that firmware and can send you a modified one.
The only two ways to bypass it seem to be a) always have a near silent audio track playing in the background b) use a balanced connection, which will cancel out the voltage spike.

 

[kswong98]

The auto-mute seems to be coded into the firmware, which means there is no way to access or modify it, unless you have good relations to someone who makes that firmware and can send you a modified one.
The only two ways to bypass it seem to be a) always have a near silent audio track playing in the background b) use a balanced connection, which will cancel out the voltage spike.

welp the dx1 dont have a bal 4.4mm jack...
guess i'll have to resort to Soundkeeper then...

but i'm not sure how the software would affect the overall sound quality

 

[peniku8]

welp the dx1 dont have a bal 4.4mm jack...
guess i'll have to resort to Soundkeeper then...

but i'm not sure how the software would affect the overall sound quality

Sorry I didn't look up that device, the issue occus if you connect the balanced outputs of a Topping DAC to the unbalanced inputs of another device.
Why yours is making that popping sound, no clue. Try disabling USB device sleep in Windows maybe

 

[kswong98]

PDCAP_WAKE_FROM_D0_SUPPORTED

found this in the power data in the device manager

wonder if this can be used in the registry to force it to be awake

 

[Dave Bullet]

Incase this helps others with power save related pops and clicks, these REG commands work to override the power management timers. you'll need to replace the path with the device you want to override. In this case it is the onboard Realtek HD audio (i.e. laptop native)

REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\PowerSettings /v ConservationIdleTime /t REG_BINARY /d 00000000 /f
REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\PowerSettings /v PerformanceIdleTime /t REG_BINARY /d 00000000 /f
REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001\PowerSettings /v IdlePowerState /t REG_BINARY /d 00000000 /f

zeroes means disabled as per:

Audio Device Class Inactivity Timer Implementation - Windows drivers

Audio Device Class Inactivity Timer Implementation

learn.microsoft.com

I have not found a way to make this permanent between reboots. My plan is to run the above as a batch or timed event on startup / sleep resume (don't forget to run as adminstrator)

 

[miv]

Just to report:

I was having a related problem after switching from USB to optical adapter and cable for my Audioengine D1. Popping on start of audio, twice between tracks, and even when clicking the mouse. Beetleburper's suggestion and link above solved the problem completely (Thanks!). I guess Windows really wanted to turn off power to this USB-optical adapter, or possibly to everything (though I disabled USB power saving, to no effect.

As an aside: I switched to optical to fix a relentless ground loop hum issue that forced me to turn my amplifier on and off a couple of dozen times a day. The optical link also seems to have improved the clarity and detail of audio a touch (icepower 50somethingorother amp and small M&K speakers).

A good thing, I guess. On the other hand, the improvement might be in my imagination. And if it isn't, I no longer have as good an excuse to buy a new DAC: it might not be the weakest link......)