Aurender N100H and Accuphase DC 37: time delay problem

[dado73]

Hello everybody, this is my first post.
I have a question: I've been connecting an Aurender N100H to my DAC Accuphase DC37. In Conductor > Settings > Music Player I have set 5 seconds time delay. I guess that should guarantee 5 seconds from the relay switch-on and the beginning of the song. But in practice it's not like that:

every time the DAC switches to a different sampling rate, the relay switch-on proves to be 5 seconds delayed, but there's no delay from that to the beginning of the song.

Why does that happen ?

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum dado, thank you for joining.

[jdandy]

dado73.......Why do you need five seconds of delay between resolution changes? Perhaps a change to 2 seconds delay will solve the issue.

[dado73]

Actually I've been trying 1,2,3,5,10 seconds. And each time I got a delay between relay switch-off and relay switch-on, with the song beginning at the same moment of switch-on.

[dado73]

Actually I've been trying 1,2,3,5,10 seconds. And each time I got a delay between relay switch-off and relay switch-on, with the song beginning at the same moment of switch-on.

No one can help me about this issue ? .....

[Phil A]

Welcome - have you tried emailing aurender? - support@aurender.com

[dado73]

Yes, this is their answer:

Hello Davide,This is strange, as far as I know the Aurender should be compatible with the Accuphase products without a problem. In fact, a couple of software releases ago, we addressed some problems with the Accuphase DACs, which should be resolved. Have you tried a different USB cable between the two units? I would suggest trying just a standard printer cable that is USB 2.0 certified, as short as possible.

I no longer have the chance to check if that N100H was up to date with the last software release, so not much help....

The only certainties I have is that my Accuphase DC-37 has not such problem with my MAC MINI, and my friend's Luxman DA-06 had not such problem with that N100H.

[jdandy]

Yes, this is their answer:

Hello Davide,This is strange, as far as I know the Aurender should be compatible with the Accuphase products without a problem. In fact, a couple of software releases ago, we addressed some problems with the Accuphase DACs, which should be resolved. Have you tried a different USB cable between the two units? I would suggest trying just a standard printer cable that is USB 2.0 certified, as short as possible.

I no longer have the chance to check if that N100H was up to date with the last software release, so not much help....

The only certainties I have is that my Accuphase DC-37 has not such problem with my MAC MINI, and my friend's Luxman DA-06 had not such problem with that N100H.

dado.......So, you no longer have the Aurender N100H? I don't know why you would comment "so not much help...." when in fact Aurender offered you two bits of advice that evidently you have not tried. If you still have the N100H, what happens when you use no time delay? And while you're at it, try updating the firmware by going to Settings>Versions>System S/W> Check for latest version.

[dado73]

"not much help...." because I cannot try what they suggested anymore. When I tried to set no time delay I simply got no time delay between relay switch-off and switch-on, when changing sampling rate.
Please note that with my current MAC MINI (with Audirvana) everything works correctly. Therefore the cable and the DAC are both ok. I can only suppose that the problem were depending on a missing software update on the Aureder, but that's just my supposition: can I be confident that I will not have problems if I decide to purchase a N100H ?

[jdandy]

dado73.......Now I understand, you were demoing the N100H. I thought you owned it and had it available at this time. I have to assume your Mac-Mini and DAC are getting along just fine. Are you using any kind of time delay between resolution changes with that setup? If not, then I don't understand why you would believe it is necessary to inject a time delay between resolution changes coming from an Aurender N100H.

[dado73]

Yes jdandy,
I'm just using 2 seconds time delay with my current setup based on Mac-Mini, and that works fine...
Now I'm about to buy a used N100H from a private seller. No possibility to make a try because of the distance.... I really hope I do not have to regret it....

[jdandy]

dado73.......Again I ask, why do you need a delay? What happens when you have no delay set?

[dado73]

Because every time the resolution changes, my DAC needs about 1 second to switch an internal relay: without a delay set I will miss the first second of the track.
That's why streamers like the N100H (but also Audirvana) have such a feature.

[dado73]

I have finally purchased a new N100H, the software version is up to date and the relay problem.... is still there :-(
But..... I must say that my former description was not accurate. Actually the delay setting has no effect, I can set no-delay or 5-sec-delay: the N100H always behave as if there's no-delay set, and the track begins immediately before the relay has switched.
How is it possible ? I'm really discouraged....

[jdandy]

dado73.......Tell us how the entire digital system is setup. Are the music files on the Aurender N100H hard drive or are you using the Mac Mini hard drive as a network attached storage device? Explain how everything is connected and where the music files are located. Check your Software Upgrade in Settings to make certain you are using the latest operating system software 5.10.16. Also check in Settings>Versions to see if you have the latest Conductor application version 2.8.8 (1769).

[dado73]

The music files are on the N100H hard drive. The N100H is connected to the DC-37 with an audiophile-grade USB cable. I have also tried to connect it with a standard USB cable. I have upgraded the N100H to the last sw version, and I have just downloaded conductor on my iPad Mini II.

[jdandy]

The music files are on the N100H hard drive. The N100H is connected to the DC-37 with an audiophile-grade USB cable. I have also tried to connect it with a standard USB cable. I have upgraded the N100H to the last sw version, and I have just downloaded conductor on my iPad Mini II.

dado73.......Okay, that all appears to be the standard connections. Have you gone to the Conductor app Setup>Advanced to adjust the time needed by the DAC to adjust to a new sampling rate? Mine is set at 2 seconds with a Wyred 4 Sound DAC2 and the N100H performs perfectly without chopping any part of a song's beginning.

[dado73]

Yes I did. Whatever delay I set the Aurender behaves the same way: music starts immediately and the first second is cut away....

[jdandy]

dado73.......This is a real head peculiar issue. Have you tried using a different USB cable, perhaps a better quality one? Do you have another DAC you can test with?

[dado73]

Yes I have, nothing changes with different cables. I know that the Aurender performs perfectly with other DAC, but as already explained the Mac Mini with Audirvana performs perfectly with my Accuphase DAC.