USB 2.0 DAC audio not working

[stephenjl]

I have an Audio Research DAC connected to my 2018 Mac Mini via USB 2.0 port. It worked perfectly with Mac OS 10.14. I have just upgraded to Big Sur. Sadly there is no audio output now.

The system recognises the DAC as a device for sound output in the System Preferences - Sound window. It is listed as "USB DAC 2.0". I can select it. When I play a music file through the Music App, the file appears to play but there is no sound. In fact if I play any audio on Apple TV or through a clip on safari, there is no sound. I have resent the NVRAM. If I switch to the Mac mini speaker, there is audio. If I then switch back to the USB DAC 2.0, the Music App stops playing and seems to hang.

Interestingly, if I connect my son's Apple Chip MacBook Air (OS Big Sur) to the DAC it works normally ie I can play audio on his Air through the DAC.

Any solutions? Otherwise I'll have to go back to 10.14.

cheers

 

[LeonPro]

I have two Grace Audio Balanced DACs connected to my Intel Mac with Big Sur and have no issues.

Have you tried reinstalling Big Sur to ensure all drivers are loaded properly? If not, downgrade the OS to see if Apple has inadvertently omitted external USB audio drivers for the Mac mini for some reason and then submit a customer support case.

 

[fisherking]

my apogee groove works here without issue. try resetting the smc. and you could, of course, contact audio research as well...

 

[stephenjl]

I have two Grace Audio Balanced DACs connected to my Intel Mac with Big Sur and have no issues.

Have you tried reinstalling Big Sur to ensure all drivers are loaded properly? If not, downgrade the OS to see if Apple has inadvertently omitted external USB audio drivers for the Mac mini for some reason and then submit a customer support case.

Thanks. I've tried the reinstall. Do you know the best way to submit a customer support case?

 

[stephenjl]

my apogee groove works here without issue. try resetting the smc. and you could, of course, contact audio research as well...

I could, of course, contact AR and I already did that. They blame the apple software.

 

[LeonPro]

Thanks. I've tried the reinstall. Do you know the best way to submit a customer support case?

Apple Support

getsupport.apple.com

I would go with Apps & Software > App Store > Mac OS Updates.

 

[fisherking]

I could, of course, contact AR and I already did that. They blame the apple software.

so, what does that mean? will THEY update their drivers (or create drivers) to work with the new OS? that part is on them... & hopefully, they'll step up to the plate.

 

[McScooby]

was chat here, don't know if it makes any sense to you though - https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/audio-research-dac-8-drivers.30440/

 

[Airsculpture]

I have my iMac connected via a HDMI to a Pioneer receiver.

The digital signal received by the receiver is determined by the setting in the Midi settings. I cannot find a way to send the digital signal automatically native to whatever the file format i.e. to send a 24/96 file as 24/96 or a standard lossless file of 16/44 as 16/44.

Whatever the setting in the midi settings governs what is sent to the receiver. If the midi setting is 2 channel 24/96, then everything gets upsampled to that before it gets to the receive, same with any other setting - audio is either upsampled or downsampled or if it’s already say 24/96, it’s sent as is.

Does anyone know how to send the file bit and sample as determined by what the files actually are without this upsampling or downsampling ?

Bitperfect was used previously but it’s a bit flaky and won’t work on Big Sur when I’m using iTunes as it insists on using Music so not tried it as I’m using iTunes.

 

[Arcguy]

I could, of course, contact AR and I already did that. They blame the apple software.

The latest USB card in the DAC8 works with the latest OS as demonstrated by its working with your son's MacBook Air with OS Big Sur. The issue seems to be why your 2018 Mac Mini is having the issue.
AR told me that it may take several restarts of your Mini before all the updates are completed, which was something they saw with one of the older Mac OS updates.

 

[stephenjl]

The latest USB card in the DAC8 works with the latest OS as demonstrated by its working with your son's MacBook Air with OS Big Sur. The issue seems to be why your 2018 Mac Mini is having the issue.
AR told me that it may take several restarts of your Mini before all the updates are completed, which was something they saw with one of the older Mac OS updates.

thanks

 

[fisherking]

have you reset the smc? it might help...

 

[stephenjl]

have you reset the smc? it might help...

thanks. tried that. I think there is a new version of Big Sur. I'll check and install if it's new compared to mine.

 

[Vin84]

I have an Audio Research DAC connected to my 2018 Mac Mini via USB 2.0 port. It worked perfectly with Mac OS 10.14. I have just upgraded to Big Sur. Sadly there is no audio output now.

The system recognises the DAC as a device for sound output in the System Preferences - Sound window. It is listed as "USB DAC 2.0". I can select it. When I play a music file through the Music App, the file appears to play but there is no sound. In fact if I play any audio on Apple TV or through a clip on safari, there is no sound. I have resent the NVRAM. If I switch to the Mac mini speaker, there is audio. If I then switch back to the USB DAC 2.0, the Music App stops playing and seems to hang.

Interestingly, if I connect my son's Apple Chip MacBook Air (OS Big Sur) to the DAC it works normally ie I can play audio on his Air through the DAC.

Any solutions? Otherwise I'll have to go back to 10.14.

cheers

Go to your audio MIDI settings, select the DAC and change the output to 2 channel 24bit, 192 kHz see if that does the trick.

 

[stephenjl]

Go to your audio MIDI settings, select the DAC and change the output to 2 channel 24bit, 192 kHz see if that does the trick.

Thanks. Gave it a go. Interestingly the higher the kHz the worse the problem.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

I had a lot of hardware that wouldn't work on Big Sewer. I always do clean installs, never upgrades, and found B.S. broke everything from my Wacom to my Oce to my Moogerfoogers. So defeated, I clean reinstalled Mojave, where everything worked fine, but then realized I’d let apple destroy a current Final Cut Pro X project by updating it to a new B.S. format not reverse compatible (of course, bc why would you ever…), so to just finish up that project quick I’d briefly update to B.S., complete it, and then get back to Mojave again and never upgrade. But when I updated a fully working Mojave to BS, viola, my wacom, & Oce worked on BS just fine. Somehow updating let working drivers continue to work, where a new install couldn’t get them to work at all.

Weird.