How to stream Idagio from Windows PC to dCS Upsampler

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21

I went through the installation, which said it completed successfully, but there do not seem to be any devices in the new class:

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And there are no new devices in the Sound class.

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Something is missing in my setup: With the dCS USB Audio driver installed, there should be at least a new device.

I’ll have to think about this.

22

Yes, but you have to have the dCS device plugged in to your PC not just have the installed driver. Did you do this?

23

There’s a USB cable running from the Upsampler’s USB2 to my PC running Windows 10 Pro x64.

Is there anything I must set on the Upsampler side? I have used Mosaic->Source to set USB/PC, but when I do, nothing shows in Mosaic or on the PC. And I’ve used Mosaic->Device to select USB Audio Class 2.

24

I also had that with the PC to the DAC. The solution was to unplug everything and then reboot.

25

You have selected the wrong port on the upsampler . It is USB 1 that you want.The driver is for USB class 2 not port 2 . For Idagio you can actually use USB class 1 as well as Idagio does not have a resolution beyond 96KS/s ( in fact is limited to 44.1K).

If you are using USB port 2 that also tells me that you have the wrong USB cable, You must be using USB type A to USB type A as Upsampler USB port 2 is type A ( and is meant for e.g. thumb drives). You need USB type A to USB type B.

26

I had been using USB2 as port and USB Class 2. I changed cables, then used Mosaic for Device->Device USB Audio Class 1. I rebooted the Upsampler and the PC; the Upsampler display showed USB1. But still no good.

I just noticed that Windows Device Manager (C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc) shows, under Sound, video and game controllers: dCS Vivaldi Upsampler Plus USB class 1. That was not the case until now. But the Sound applet (C:\Windows\System32\mmsys.cpl) still shows only “Remote Audio.” And nothing seems to be going from the PC to the Upsampler.

27

OK so it looks as if your machine knows that it is connected to Vivaldi upsampler in Sound, video and game controllers. So why is it not being shown as an option in the sound app? I just checked the path that you posted and that seems to be correct.

You have a Pro version of Win10 and I only have the Home version. Have they disabled USB audio in the Pro version? That sounds doubtful. Right click the little speaker icon in the right hand tray and select “Open Sound Settings”. Is the Vivaldi then shown in the drop down list " Choose Your Output Device" ?

This is now looking like a Windows and not a dCS issue.Something here may be of use even if the article is a couple of years old:

28

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhh: After hours of experimentation, I thought, Why is only Remote Device showing? Maybe due to my always using Remote Desktop Session for the Roon server and for the experiment computer? So I attached monitor, mouse and keyboard to the computer I was using (not my usual Roon server), logged in: I saw a bunch of audio devices, with dCS as default. I played something from YouTube (about the Wilson Audio Alexx V series) and got sound from the video clip through dCS into my speakers.

I could weep.

This discovery means, by the way, that I cannot (easily) play Idagio without a physical login to the regular server computer. Oh well …

For the record: dCS Upsampler running USB Audio Class 2 (I installed the needed driver); USB connection via the leftmost port (called USB1 in the minidisplay) on the Upsampler; Source set to USB/PC.

29

I just remembered that Remote Desktop has options for device usage. So I set the connection (under Local Resources) to “Play on remote computer” for remote audio playback. Now I can pipe Idagio via USB into the Upsampler. (Of course, I won’t be able to hear things through my headphones, since they’re not attached to the destination computer; but I can always create a different Remote Desktop session for playback on source-computer audio if I do want to use my headphones.)

30

So pleased that you managed to get it to work. Funnily it turned out to be something that I would have had no idea about (mind you that goes for most things :wink:).

As I mentioned earlier

Remote computer connections are not available to us humble beings without the Pro or business versions of Win 10 so the solution was outside of my experience.

So, now that you have it how do you find the Idagio experience?

31

I wouldn’t have Windows without Remote Desktop (I used to work for Microsoft). Since I have 2 other computers besides what I’m using now, Remote Desktop is a necessity. (It’s just a matter or money to get Windows Pro.)

I’ve not really listened to Idagio until now. I’ll let you know.

32

Another option to consider. Get Audinate AVIO adapters. 1 USB and 1 AES/EBU. Connect the USB to your windows computer with Idagio, and it will show up as a audio interface (will only do up to 48k, though – which shouldn’t be an issue – but there are more expensive options if you really want >48k). Connect the AES/EBU AVIO output to the AES input on your Bartok. Now you can send digital audio between the two. You could forgo the USB AVIO and use Dante Virtual Soundcard on the Idagio machine as well, but the AVIO will be more reliable.

The AVIO adapters are in the $160USD range each. Connect to your existing home network.

33

I thought I’d document one way to get a USB connection between a Windows 10 Pro computer and dCS Vivaldi Upsampler.

First, why did I embark on this quest? I wanted to try the Idagio service on my stereo system. I ordinarily use Roon to stream music bits via local ethernet from a Windows 10 Pro x64 server to my Upsampler. I don’t know a way to get Roon to stream something like Idagio. I also don’t know a way – other than Roon – to stream something via local ethernet to the Upsampler. So, I thought: Why not a point-to-point connection, like USB?

Next, the steps:

  1. Attach a USB cable (USB 2.0 is fine) between Upsampler and the Windows computer. Upsampler has 2 USB ports, one taking a type-B connector (leftmost USB port on the back, as one faces the Upsampler unit), the other, inner USB port taking a type-A connector. Upsampler calls these ports USB1 and USB2, respectively. (Upsampler comes with a type-A/type-B USB cable.) As far as I can tell, which port one chooses is immaterial: Upsampler will sense into which of its ports a USB cable has been plugged and will then use that port. (If one is using a type-A/type-B cable, I don’t think it matters which end is plugged into the ports, so long as the cable ends fit into the ports.)
  2. In the dCS Mosaic app (running, for example, on an Android phone) —
    a. Click Audio and then choose USB/PC for Source.
    b. There are 2 USB Audio classes available in Upsampler. Because Class 2 offers a higher bit rate, I chose that in Device (still under Audio in Mosaic). Choosing Class 2 entails further action (step 3b) below). (Note: The choice of Class 1 or Class 2 is independent of whether USB1 or USB2 is/will be used for cabling.)
  3. On the Windows system to which the USB cable has been attached —
    a. If USB Audio Class 2 was chosen (step 2b) above)
    i. Log in (with administrator privileges).
    ii. Download the dCS Audio Class driver (see the Upsampler manual for where to find this driver with its installer).
    iii. Install the driver by running the installer program just downloaded (I believe this requires the installing user to have Administrator privileges).
    iv. At the end of installing the driver, the user is asked whether s/he wants to finish at once and then connect the Upsampler. I didn’t really understand what the instructions were getting at here, so I just said Yes.
    b. Whether or not step 3a) was chosen, it may be necessary (or at least wise) to reboot the Windows computer at this point.
  4. Step 3a) is not needed if one has chosen (or will choose) USB Audio Class 1 in dCS Mosaic. (A built-in USB driver will be employed.)
  5. Once the Windows computer is rebooted (if one did that), things are almost set to go.
    a. If one is using a physical login to the Windows computer, Windows key/Settings/System/Sound will bring up the Sound control menu (aka C:\Windows\System32\mmsys.cpl): “Speakers dCS Vivaldi Upsampler Plus” should already be the playback Default Device. If somehow it is not, select Upsampler from the dropdown for playback Default Device. At this point, Upsampler is the audio playback Default Device for this computer and should play — through one’s stereo system via Upsampler! — things like audio from Idagio, audio from Microsoft Edge (eg, YouTube videos) and so forth. I imagine that one could play audio CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray Discs on the Windows computer for sound, but I’ve not essayed that.
    b. If one is using Remote Desktop (C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe) to access the Windows computer that’s going to be sending bits to Upsampler, it’s slightly more complicated —
    i. In establishing the Remote Desktop session, one must click Show Options on the Remote Desktop popup: On the Local Resources tab, choose Configure remote audio settings and then choose Play on remote computer.
    ii. This choice of Remote Desktop options ensures that dCS Vivaldi Upsampler Plus is displayed as the audio playback Default Device for the concerned Windows computer. (If one has not chosen that Remote Desktop option, only Remote Device will be displayed for an audio playback Default Device, and that is useless for purposes of sending bits via USB to Upsampler.)
34

Just a couple of points in line with your numbering:

  1. USB port 2 is really configured for playback of flash drives and low powered HDDs of less than 1TB capacity.

5, Selecting the default playback device ( speakers) in Win 10 will still allow the PC to carry out up or downsampling before the data is sent to your dCS Upampler. So if Windows sound mixer is set ( in Advanced options) to 24/192 everything will be output at 24/192 irrespective of its native resolution. Likewise if it is set to 16/44.1 then any native hi-res file will be downsampled to 16/441. This obviously more or less negates the whole point of the dCS upsampling.

There are only two ways around this. The first is to reconfigure the Windows sound mixer via the Advanced option every time that the native file resolution changes so that they match. The alternative is to run an ASIO ( note ASIO4all etc need to be uninstalled if you are using the dCS USB Class 2 driver) or a WASAPI session which effectively bypasses the Windows mixer. This can easily be done with the Qobuz desktop player. Go to the playbar at the bottom of the screen and click the speakers icon ( it looks a bit like an ipod). With the dCS driver installed you should be offered a choice of dCS sessions. NB: experience has indicated that the WASAPI option for 24/192 may not work so choose ASIO). Other desktop players may not offer this option. The Amazon one does not for example, however media players such as JRiver MC do.

You also need to select the “exclusive” boxes in the advanced options if not using ASIO or WASAPI as otherwise Windows Sounds may be played through your system whilst your are otherwise listening to your music.

35

Very good point. Who wants junk sounds coming through the stereo system?