TOPIC:

Hi,

I received my DDRC-88D around late August and since then, I have been having TONS of issues with it. I hope @devteam can help direct me to figure out how to get it running with the proper features and with stability.

I am using the DDRC-88D as a digital preamp and digital active crossover. It is being fed by my digital sources (more on that later), and then output to 2 or 3 DACs which feed separate power amps into separate speaker drivers. All of which should be within the capability of the 88D.

I am able to get the basic stuff to work. I am able to setup the input, output, filters, EQs. etc. Music comes out as configures. That seem to work.

However, while it works some times, there are a lot issues with stability.

Random Hang

The unit will randomly "hang". By hang, I mean it will still process input signal and pipe it out. However, it will stop responding to control via USB, and the volume knob will stop functioning. The only way I can get out of the hang is to power cycle the unit.

Input Sync unreliable / do not work, Random signal dropout

The unit will lose sync with the input. it will cut out, and then randomly cut back in. I have tried many sources, a Oppo Bluray player, USB->SPDIF adapter, both of which have stability issue. I have a Auralic Aries streamer, it won't even sync with it at all. As if it cannot lock into the source signal. I have validated that other DACs can lock with the sources with no problem. This is very annoying as I will be playing music and randomly it will get cut off.

Dirac software cannot talk to DDRC88D reliably

Amidst the above issues, I tried to setup Dirac. It was HOPELESS. Firstly, it will recognize the mic (minidsp mic) and then I am able to record one reading. Upon which, it will lose contact with the DDRC-88D, I have to go back, re-recognize the 88D, and then go through the whole re-recognize, record, process 6 times. After spending time doing all that, I tried to download the setting to the 88D, and it complains it cannot talk to the 88D again! I gave up after a couple round of this.

Is there some remedy to the issues above? It is rather frustrating to have to deal with it. I can bear with the occasional hangs, I can deal with not having Dirac (but why am I paying so much more extra for something that doesn't work?) but the random signal dropout is not something that is tolerable.

Really appreciate some help on this.

@jmpsmash

These are very odd and most likely due to something else in the install. The DDRC-88D being used in a lot of studio/professional installs by now without any of these issues. I think that it will easily be solved by our team. Just start a tech support ticket (aka the official way to get support from our team). You can do so from our support portal at support.minidsp.com

devTeam

I figured i will post more details here maybe others have faced similar issue and have a solution.

Hang
This happens mostly randomly. I do notice that perhaps when the USB is plugged in, it happens more often. But it happens even when USB is not plugged in. Like today I came home, no USB connected, turn it on, and then after a few minutes, it hung and I had to power cycle the 88D. Sometimes when it hangs, the front LED goes off momentarily, and then later comes back on again.

Signal Drop
It happens much more often on a cold boot, or when I first sit down for the day to listen to music. More often, when the unit is "warmed up", it doesn't happen for hours. But some times, it will suddenly happen. So it is rather moody. I have tried putting in on it's own away from other units (doesn't help), I have tried leaving it on all the time (doesn't help), I have tried plugging it into a power regenerator to give it clean power (doesn't help), I have tried putting it on top of the power generator so it is warm all the time ("seems" to help a bit on the drop out, but not 100%), I have tried isolating the input wires so no other wires crosses it (doesn't help). I even replaced the input plug for IN1/2 with a RCA plug to avoid another adapter to the source RCA output (doesn't help).

I did noticed that if I use a longer SPDIF cable (just another 2 feet longer than the standard one), the dropout issue gets worse!

I have noticed there is a certain timing pattern with the dropout. One pair of the output (out1/2) drops out in exact 80 seconds intervals. They are connected to my tweeters so I get a dulled sound and some static, at exactly 80 seconds intervals, I have observed and measured this over almost 30 minutes..

Hello jmpsmash,
did you try reloading the DSP program and restoring factory defaults in the plugin (after backing up your settings)? That helped me sometimes to fix sound issues and functionality bugs with DDRC-88D.

I have no SPDIF sync issues even though I use standard RCA cables (not coaxial) on all inputs. Maybe you could try doing the same and see it that makes a difference.

HTH