Why does my DAC mute or click when the track or sample rate changes?
Short answer
A brief mute when the sample rate changes is deliberate: for Hugo (2014) and Hugo 2 (2018) Watts said it stops stale buffered data playing at the wrong rate Head-Fi, May 2014Head-Fi, Jan 2018. His fix is on the player side: pad track changes with silence (JRiver) or a re-sync delay (Roon), or stop the track before starting the next Head-Fi, Feb 2020Head-Fi, Jun 2022. He says the clicks cannot damage the M Scaler or DAC Head-Fi, Aug 2021, and sample rate changes cannot damage TT2 Head-Fi, May 2019.
Practical answer
Watts describes two things. A short mute when the sample rate changes is something he built in on purpose Head-Fi, May 2014Head-Fi, Jan 2018. A click at a rate change, he said in 2021, "depends upon the app's treatment of sample rate changes", and his fix is to have the app send digital silence between tracks, or to stop one track before starting the next Head-Fi, Aug 2021Head-Fi, Jun 2022.
What to do (his suggestions)
- JRiver: in June 2022, in the M Scaler thread, he gave these settings (tools > options > settings): set "play silence @ startup for hardware sync: 5 sec", set "switch tracks standard gap", and make sure "do not play silence" is unchecked. He said he never had issues with SR or track changes with them Head-Fi, Jun 2022.
- Roon: he points to adding a delay so that zero is sent out at sample rate changes Head-Fi, Jun 2022, which he calls the re-sync or resync delay Head-Fi, Feb 2020Head-Fi, Nov 2023.
- Any app: he said changing track on the fly is the worst case for apps that do not insert silence; stopping the track, then starting the new one, avoids it Head-Fi, Aug 2021Head-Fi, Jun 2022.
- Pad track changes: in February 2020 he recommended padding track changes and said he uses 5 seconds, as he likes a decent pause between tracks anyway Head-Fi, Feb 2020.
- DSD: in May 2022 he said changing DSD tracks on the fly can sometimes give pops from the source, and that this is less likely with native mode via ASIO Head-Fi, May 2022.
Why it happens (his explanation)
In 2014 he said some operating systems and software do not handle sample rate changes gracefully: the computer's buffer still holds data, which the media player flushes out at the wrong rate Head-Fi, May 2014. In 2022 he gave the same cause for the M Scaler's internal memory Head-Fi, Jun 2022. In 2023 he said USB issues the rate change command while data is still in the source and M Scaler buffers, and a delay flushes them with digital 0 Head-Fi, Nov 2023.
By product
- Hugo (2014): a built-in mute whenever data or sample rate changes, costing about half a second in all Head-Fi, May 2014.
- Hugo 2 (2017 to 2018): in 2017 he said an app starting a new file has to tell Hugo 2 the sample rate, or the DAC continues at the previous rate Head-Fi, Aug 2017. In January 2018 he said an earlier problem had been fixed "well over a year ago": a 44.1k, no rate, 44.1k sequence from an app is no longer treated as a rate change, so the mute is enforced only on a net change such as 44.1k to 96k, and tracks at one rate should not mute. He added that the issue had earlier been worked around by forcing a 1 second initial silence, which JRiver allows Head-Fi, Jan 2018. The same day he said some DLNA apps still pause on each track even though Poly supports gapless playback Head-Fi, Jan 2018.
- Qutest (January 2018): on DoP DSD dropouts, he said faulty data no longer creates a hard mute, though you may hear a tiny tick, and that DSD changes do not create clicks and pops Head-Fi, Jan 2018.
- Hugo TT 2 (2019 to 2020): the 2020 padding advice above was given for TT2 with an M Scaler, which he said use different sample rate status protocols Head-Fi, Feb 2020. In 2019 he said sample rate changes cannot possibly damage TT2 Head-Fi, May 2019.
- Hugo M Scaler (2021 to 2022): the JRiver and Roon advice above. In 2021 he said that with digital silence inserted at the rate change it will not click, that his JRiver never clicks, and that the clicks cannot damage the M Scaler or the DAC Head-Fi, Aug 2021Head-Fi, Jun 2022.
- DAVE with M Scaler (November 2023): for a Lumin U2 streamer feeding an M Scaler, he said a Roon resync delay fixes the issue. He also suggested the Lumin's optical output, which limits you to 192k, saying SPDIF generally avoids these clicks because there are no USB commands to change clocks and no internal buffers; he added that he got no clicks on USB either Head-Fi, Nov 2023.
- Mojo 2 (February 2022): a different problem. He said he did not write the USB firmware and could not give a firm opinion; relaying Chord support, he said it appears to be a USB sync issue: noise after sync is lost (pulling the cable, say) lasts until a re-sync, such as stopping and restarting the track. Chord also suggests setting the source to exclusive mode, and he closes any source app before shutting down the DAC Head-Fi, Feb 2022.
What he has not said. The archive has no statement from him listing which apps insert silence by default, or on settings for other models. Beyond the 5 seconds he uses Head-Fi, Feb 2020Head-Fi, Jun 2022 and the 1 second initial silence he described as the earlier workaround Head-Fi, Jan 2018, he gave no recommended delay length. For clicks that persist after adding silence, the archive has no further steps from him.
Quotes
“it's a good idea to pad track changes with silence (JRiver) or re-sync delay (Roon).”2020-02-25 Head-Fi, Feb 2020
“if you stop the track then go to the next one, then that also fixes it too.”2022-06-23 Head-Fi, Jun 2022
“The mute is only enforced if a nett sample rate change actually happens”2018-01-11 Head-Fi, Jan 2018
“The clicks can't damage the M scaler or the DAC, so don't worry about that”2021-08-08 Head-Fi, Aug 2021
“if you change tracks on the fly with DSD, you can sometimes get pops from the source, and it's less likely with native mode via ASIO.”2022-05-14 Head-Fi, May 2022
Dated positions
| When | Products | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2014-05 | Hugo (original) | Hugo has a deliberate mute whenever data or sample rate changes, because some operating systems and software flush stale buffer data at the wrong rate; the mute costs about half a second. Head-Fi, May 2014 |
| 2017-08 to 2018-01 | Hugo 2 | Hugo 2 mutes only on a net sample rate change; a 44.1k to no-rate to 44.1k sequence from an app no longer forces a mute, so tracks at one rate should not mute. The earlier workaround was a 1 second initial silence in JRiver. Head-Fi, Aug 2017Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| 2018-01 | Qutest | On DoP DSD dropouts, faulty data no longer causes a hard mute, though a tiny tick may occur; DSD changes do not create clicks and pops. Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| 2019-05 to 2020-02 | Hugo TT2, Hugo M Scaler | Pad track changes with silence in JRiver or a re-sync delay in Roon; he uses 5 seconds. Sample rate changes cannot damage TT2. Head-Fi, Feb 2020Head-Fi, May 2019 |
| 2021-08 to 2022-06 | Hugo M Scaler | Rate-change clicks depend on the app, are avoided by inserting digital silence or stopping the track before starting the next, and cannot damage the M Scaler or DAC. Head-Fi, Aug 2021Head-Fi, Jun 2022Head-Fi, Jun 2022 |
| 2022-05 | Playback software (JRiver, Foobar, Roon) | Changing DSD tracks on the fly can sometimes give pops from the source; this is less likely with native mode via ASIO. Head-Fi, May 2022 |
| 2023-11 | DAVE, Hugo M Scaler | For a Lumin U2 into an M Scaler, a Roon resync delay flushes the buffers with digital zero; optical output avoids USB rate-change commands but limits the rate to 192k. Head-Fi, Nov 2023 |
| 2022-02 | Mojo 2 | He said he could not give a firm opinion as he did not write the USB firmware; relaying Chord support, he said the noise appears to be a USB sync issue: once sync is lost it continues until a re-sync such as stopping and restarting the track. Chord suggests exclusive mode, and he closes the source app before shutting down the DAC. Head-Fi, Feb 2022 |
Caveats and open points
- All evidence is from Head-Fi posts; no transcript or article passage in the archive addresses track-change mutes.
- Several statements are made in a different product's thread (the 2023 Roon advice is in the DAVE thread and concerns a Lumin U2 feeding an M Scaler; the 2020 padding advice is in the TT2 thread and concerns TT2 with M Scaler); the answer reports each in the product context he gave.
- Head-Fi, Feb 2020 and Head-Fi, May 2019 have estimated dates from post IDs.
- The Hugo mute (2014) applied to data or rate changes generally; by 2018 he said Hugo 2 mutes only on a net rate change. He does not say whether the 2018 logic applies to other models.
- He does not say which player apps insert silence by default.
Topics: Dropouts, clicks and lock problems, Playback software, drivers and bit-perfect setup