Mini problems with optical SPDIF

[Maurizio]

I don't know if happened after latest update, because I use more Pro than Mini and I had not used Mini from time.
Today i used Mini and I discovered that at 24/192 audio become intermittent. The screen of my DAC flashes with a Wright UNLOCK. If I change resolution to 24/96 all is working.
My DAC reports 96 and the music flows.
Never had before this behavior. At24/192 the Mini reproduced with no problems.
Some other has encountered this failure?
Any help is welcomed

 

[Maurizio]

I do not know what you are saying about cables . After connecting with a pearl optical from audioquest (1.5m), the cheapest of the line, immediately highs became so much better that I did not need to turn the volume down even on treble heavy music that was not so well recorded .

The included one was inferior.

Hi @steadyshot So you really own ears like Paganini's ears. My best compliments, but I'm a poor human so I don't believe in snake oil and sounding cables. May be noisy or not, but nothing more.
As someone told 0 is 0 and 1 is 1

 

[steadyshot]

Hi @steadyshot So you really own ears like Paganini's ears. My best compliments, but I'm a poor human so I don't believe in snake oil and sounding cables. May be noisy or not, but nothing more.
As someone told 0 is 0 and 1 is 1

You seem so absolute like proving a mathematical theorem. That was a 30 euro cable btw.

In any case , I just stated my opinion. You can take it or leave it ( you or anyone in this forum)

 

[Mr Ee]

Hi @steadyshot So you really own ears like Paganini's ears. My best compliments, but I'm a poor human so I don't believe in snake oil and sounding cables. May be noisy or not, but nothing more.
As someone told 0 is 0 and 1 is 1

And yet... (Devil's Advocate) ... it seems your cable unexplainably stopped being able to deliver simple 0 and 1 s consistently, manifesting in a dac lock issue, which is most likely to occur due to bit errors in the sync/preamble section of the subframe.
So, is it possible that steadyshot's other cable can result in fewer bit errors / lower jitter? I'm not discounting it, although I do concede that bit errors are more likely to occur in the preamble, due to the encoding, so if you get a lock you're quite unlikely to see data errors.

Happy listening, at whatever sample rate and with whatever cabling you desire!

 

[Mr Ee]

a curtain is slided away

I've had this happen - when I swapped out a cheap analog interconnect I was using for a digital coax interface for a different cable.
It really was like someone had lifted a veil. (Hope that one makes you giggle too!)

What about differences in sound between a CD and a rip of that CD?
I've not tried it recently, so it could have been due to that cheap analog interconnect , but flac into coax-in of my CD player and playing the CD itself - such a significant difference that my wife asked what had changed from the other room. That was a couple of years ago with more modest amp/speakers than I have now.

 

[Mr Ee]

You can expect better results with a dedicated 75 ohms cable

In my case, the music was ok with the cheap analog, 50 ohm, interconnect, but was distinctly better with a different  analog interconnect.
If the 1s and 0s were gettng there via both cables, why did they sound different? Why did switching to a proper digital, 75 ohm, interconnect make no further difference? In this case I might have expected my positive confirmation bias to want the digital cable to be better / different, but it wasn't.

Rhetorical questions, but enough to make me wonder about the bits is bits argument.
Common sense tells me that coax vs optical should, surely, make no difference for that argument.
But then again, common sense is not so common, and often connot be applied in places that seem to make sense!
(Just look at how many people make an analogy between video pixels / resolution and audio sample rates. More must be better, right.)
I'm very interested in the science behind digital audio, but a little bit of magic never hurt anyone

Happy Sunday too, and happy experimenting!

 

[Maurizio]

For me it is acceptable to hear a slight difference between RCA a.s.o. cables, especially for phono. And I accept that build quality and better mechanical fixing with expensive plugs makes sense. But a better sound, more resolution, better channel separating and all this audiophile speech reaching with an optical, DIGITAL cable? With all due respect: Nonsense. Lines like "a curtain is slided away" make me giggle.
But as I always: It is a personal and subjective choice. But as @Maurizio wrote: 0 or 1 is alway 0 or 1. Better 0? No. Better 1? No. Better and safer connection: Yes.

I totally agree, especially on " all this audiophile speech " & Lines like "a curtain is slided away".
I would like to say that, first of all, I don't think Audiophile is a very positive term. I remember someone here in the community saying "Audiophiles listen to the system; enthusiasts listen to music". I think that's the case, even if we all, probably, fall into the temptation to listen to the system from time to time.
Second thing. The audiophile language, to make a comparison, reminds me of the language of Sommeliers. Have you ever tried to read a wine review? Phrases like " Scent of hawthorn, hay and oats " I have never put anything like this in my mouth. Or again " Red fruits, brambl, fern and caulked " Pitch? If it were true that a wine tastes like pitch, I'd say it sucks.
So does it make sense, even for me, to differentiate between RCA cables, but digital ones???
Happy Sunday everyone

 

[Patricia P]

I have a similar story to tell. My Wiim mini is connected with the oem optical cable, no snags or twist.
Yet I never know if today my hd tracks will play at 48 or 192 kHz, 41 or 176 or no sound at all.
First time it happened I reset the network, laboured over the long password etc.
the effect was zero improvement.

I played the hd track through the dac independent of the wiim. The correct file sample rate appears. Going back to wiim I tested the audio max resolution, it works at 192/24.

It works for two hours then reverts to 44/48.

I think my network is the problem. I’m in the same room as the router, but at 2.4 ghz and with ax interference locally, I wonder if this might have an influence.

 

[Maurizio]

I have a similar story to tell. My Wiim mini is connected with the oem optical cable, no snags or twist.
Yet I never know if today my hd tracks will play at 48 or 192 kHz, 41 or 176 or no sound at all.
First time it happened I reset the network, laboured over the long password etc.
the effect was zero improvement.

I played the hd track through the dac independent of the wiim. The correct file sample rate appears. Going back to wiim I tested the audio max resolution, it works at 192/24.

It works for two hours then reverts to 44/48.

I think my network is the problem. I’m in the same room as the router, but at 2.4 ghz and with ax interference locally, I wonder if this might have an influence.

Have you tried 5GHz? Does it have the same defect?
Have you tried a hard reset of the WiiM? And with an external DAC?

 

[Patricia P]

I will try 5 ghz when I’m back home. The full reset is another option.

I did try another dac with similar results.

The wiim set up at 96 and only had instability at 192/176 so may be the optical cable or the Wi-Fi connection.
As it is stable when limited to 96 this may be an option once the others have been explored.

 

[d6jg]

I will try 5 ghz when I’m back home. The full reset is another option.

I did try another dac with similar results.

The wiim set up at 96 and only had instability at 192/176 so may be the optical cable or the Wi-Fi connection.
As it is stable when limited to 96 this may be an option once the others have been explored.

I know you are familiar with LMS so you’ll know what I mean when I say I had major problems with a DAC/DIGI32 and 24/192 stuff from Qobuz. Both devices only support 2.4ghz wifi. My WiiM Mini connects on 5Ghz and I get none of the issues that I had with the DAC/DIGI32. I do think the WiFi type makes a difference

 

[Maurizio]

I have a similar story to tell. My Wiim mini is connected with the oem optical cable, no snags or twist.
Yet I never know if today my hd tracks will play at 48 or 192 kHz, 41 or 176 or no sound at all.
First time it happened I reset the network, laboured over the long password etc.
the effect was zero improvement.

I played the hd track through the dac independent of the wiim. The correct file sample rate appears. Going back to wiim I tested the audio max resolution, it works at 192/24.

It works for two hours then reverts to 44/48.

I think my network is the problem. I’m in the same room as the router, but at 2.4 ghz and with ax interference locally, I wonder if this might have an influence.

I will try 5 ghz when I’m back home. The full reset is another option.

I did try another dac with similar results.

The wiim set up at 96 and only had instability at 192/176 so may be the optical cable or the Wi-Fi connection.
As it is stable when limited to 96 this may be an option once the others have been explored.

Hi @Patricia P
I have had an issue regarding the Mini and 24/192 connected via optical SPDIF to my Topping D50s.
From one day to the next 24/192 it no longer worked.
The sound was intermittent and the word UNLOCK was flashing on the DAC display. All other resolutions worked normally.
I've tried everything and... nothing.
As a last resort I tried to replace my optical cable with the one supplied with the Mini and....... as if by a miracle everything worked again.
Why? I do not know. My cable was connected tightly; no one has ever touched it since installation; the Mini is in a position that you can't touch it by mistake.
What happened is a mystery, but it happened.
Conclusion, you can try to change the cable too.

 

[Patricia P]

Hi @Patricia P
I have had an issue regarding the Mini and 24/192 connected via optical SPDIF to my Topping D50s.
From one day to the next 24/192 it no longer worked.
The sound was intermittent and the word UNLOCK was flashing on the DAC display. All other resolutions worked normally.
I've tried everything and... nothing.
As a last resort I tried to replace my optical cable with the one supplied with the Mini and....... as if by a miracle everything worked again.
Why? I do not know. My cable was connected tightly; no one has ever touched it since installation; the Mini is in a position that you can't touch it by mistake.
What happened is a mystery, but it happened.
Conclusion, you can try to change the cable too.

I’m using the original optical cable. It must be the Wi-Fi interference in my case

 

[Maurizio]

I’m using the original optical cable. It must be the Wi-Fi interference in my case

@Patricia P In any case I think that is better if you switch to 5 Ghz, because not, or less sensible to interferences.

 

[Patricia P]

I’m away from home now but soon I will check it out

 

[Maurizio]

I’m away from home now but soon I will check it out

@Patricia P

 

[adias]

Mini stopped working at 192kHz. Oem toslink or glass one. It’s a new failure. Latest firmware, great bandwidth.

 

[Brantome]

Mini stopped working at 192kHz. Oem toslink or glass one. It’s a new failure. Latest firmware, great bandwidth.

Which firmware version?

 

[Wiimer]

Mini stopped working at 192kHz. Oem toslink or glass one. It’s a new failure. Latest firmware, great bandwidth.

My Mini is fine with 192. Farm 528043.

 

[Brantome]

Sometimes after an update, the output settings in the Wiim app can be reset - I’d check by doing another sound test in the app with the resolution you want.

 

[adias]

It's a cable connection problem. Theses toslink connectors are very loose.