Pops and cracks on external DAC

ccrys

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Feb 14, 2025
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I connected exterrnal DAC Fiio M17 with USB or coaxial.

Every time when I play/pause/next track from Tidal or another source, I hear pops and cracks sound.

I tried set fade in fade out effect in the audio settings.

This also happens when the WiiM wakes up from standby or goes to sleep.

I have latest update on Ultra and Fiio.

If I use internal DAC there is no problem.
 
Same issue here. DAC SMSL SU-1 Connected via. USB. Pop during transitions of tracks in Qobuz and between sources.
 
Did you try to set fixed output resolution via the WiiM Home App?

The pops may be the result of resolution changes that the DAC cannot handle properly.
 
Not yet.

If I press play/pause the same track is considering resolution change?
 
I don't see one for USB output. I do see fixed option for spdif and coax
There isn’t that option for usb as I understand that usb audio isn’t the same format as that output for the other two.
 
There isn’t that option for usb as I understand that usb audio isn’t the same format as that output for the other two.
USB is package transfer, while the SPDIF is bit stream. Both can change resolution between tracks. In USB audio this is part of the information in the packages. In SPDIF it has to be deducted from the stream.

If the DAC has issues with starting a stream when it has stopped or changed, this may result in the popping.

I think to remember that this was the reason WiiM implemented the fixed resolution option. Before that they only had the max resolution.

Please note that the terminology used by @WiiM Team is wrong! SPDIF is the "protocol" used on both electrical and optical interfaces. The connections are RCA/Coax and Toslink.
 
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I connected exterrnal DAC Fiio M17 with USB or coaxial.

Every time when I play/pause/next track from Tidal or another source, I hear pops and cracks sound.

I tried set fade in fade out effect in the audio settings.

This also happens when the WiiM wakes up from standby or goes to sleep.

I have latest update on Ultra and Fiio.

If I use internal DAC there is no problem.
Is your ultra connected to the network through WIFI to Ethernet? I had the same issues until I switched to Ethernet if that helps.
 
Did you try to set fixed output resolution via the WiiM Home App?

The pops may be the result of resolution changes that the DAC cannot handle properly.
I set it and now it's ok, no crack sounds.
Only when I turn on and off TV there is a hiss sound.
 
That used to happen in my system using optical out with a generic cable that was the length I needed. I switched to a Ludic Orpheus optical cable and I don't get the clicks anymore. It's so weird. But I would only get these clicks when I played music that would wake my active speakers from standby mode... it was a replicable thing that happened every time, though. So it was odd when it stopped

I had the max S/PDIF output to match my active speakers max input from the beginning - with both cables.
 
Same issue here, Ultra + Fiio K7 - this setting fixed click popping sounds between tracks, especially when tracks have a different sample rate and/or bit depth.

Just a delay over 100ms fixed the issue.
Hope this helps?

Delay setting will be the same for optical and coax output, once set by user.
 

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