TOPIC:

I have been using my SHD's analog outs for about a month with no issues. I was able to use the plugin and Dirac to get my crossover and room correction set up nicely. However, I recently obtained a new DAC (PS Audio DirectStream DAC) and want to use it with the SHD. The SHD does not appear to be sending a signal out of either of the coax Digital Outs (1&2 or 3&4). The PS Audio DAC does not see any signal coming into the coax in. I have tried other digital sources with the PS Audio DAC's coax input and they work fine, which makes me think the problem is with the SHD. Any suggestions? I have read the manual and searched the forums but I don't see anything on this specific issue.

Thanks!

This is a long shot but you haven't muted the outputs to try to stop it sending anything to the analogue outputs have you?

If you look in the plugin do you see the input and output signal bars moving?

Ultrasonic wrote:

This is a long shot but you haven't muted the outputs to try to stop it sending anything to the analogue outputs have you?

If you look in the plugin do you see the input and output signal bars moving?

Nope, nothing is muted in the plugin. That was the first thing I checked.

Well, the next step should be obvious. Try another DAC on the SHD outputs.

Dave.

eurobonds wrote:

Ultrasonic wrote:

This is a long shot but you haven't muted the outputs to try to stop it sending anything to the analogue outputs have you?

If you look in the plugin do you see the input and output signal bars moving?

Nope, nothing is muted in the plugin. That was the first thing I checked.

What's the answer to my question about the input and output signal bars moving?

Ultrasonic wrote:

eurobonds wrote:

Ultrasonic wrote:

This is a long shot but you haven't muted the outputs to try to stop it sending anything to the analogue outputs have you?

If you look in the plugin do you see the input and output signal bars moving?

Nope, nothing is muted in the plugin. That was the first thing I checked.

What's the answer to my question about the input and output signal bars moving?

All the bars are moving. Thanks!

dreite wrote:

Well, the next step should be obvious. Try another DAC on the SHD outputs.

Dave.

Unfortunately I don’t have another DAC.

eurobonds wrote:

All the bars are moving. Thanks!

I can't think of anything obvious you can be doing wrong then I'm afraid.

eurobonds wrote:

dreite wrote:

Well, the next step should be obvious. Try another DAC on the SHD outputs.

Dave.

Unfortunately I don’t have another DAC.

It's good to have a cheap DAC sitting around for situations like this. Maybe a Topping D30 or something.
If you don't have an oscilloscope (which I assume you don't) you can't do much troubleshooting.

Dave.

I do not have any experience with separate DACs. Do they have an option to set up the digital signal frequency and bit depth? Maybe it currently does not understand the 96kHz/24bit , that the SHD sends AFAIK.

gbr wrote:

I do not have any experience with separate DACs. Do they have an option to set up the digital signal frequency and bit depth? Maybe it currently does not understand the 96kHz/24bit , that the SHD sends AFAIK.

Every DAC I've used automatically deals with a range of input signal types rather than the user needing to check this. The DAC in question should handle the 24/96 output of the SHD OK.

please ask the PS Audio guys, too.

I had one of their preamps in testing, and the digital signal was "stuttering", had dropouts.
The same source feeded to a cheap Yamaha receiver amp had no issues!
The 24/96 signal may be missunderstood by the "highend" PS Audio device.
I don't trust the PS Audio devices now.

Trust the SHD.

rangerbauer wrote:

please ask the PS Audio guys, too.

I had one of their preamps in testing, and the digital signal was "stuttering", had dropouts.
The same source feeded to a cheap Yamaha receiver amp had no issues!
The 24/96 signal may be missunderstood by the "highend" PS Audio device.
I don't trust the PS Audio devices now.

Trust the SHD.

Another member of this forum is having the dropouts when feeding the SHD Studio to a Holo Spring DAC so I don't think we can just "Trust the SHD" and assume that it is the DAC that is the problem.

www.minidsp.com/forum/shd-series/17895-s...em-first-steps#51636

We know that the SHD Studio works fine with some DACs and we know that the DACs exhibiting the stuttering work fine when fed by equipment other than the SHD Studio. So, more testing is required to see what is at play here. Unfortunately the other poster did not seem to be receiving any help from miniDSP or Holo. Maybe as more DACs are found to suffer the stuttering when fed by the SHD Studio, miniDSP will agree to investigate further, perhaps in conjunction with some of the DAC manufacturers.

I was considering purchasing an SHD Studio but will not do so until this issue is resolved (I own a Holo Spring DAC).

@Eurobonds can update but FYI, this case is closed.. The device was either muted or maybe loaded with a wrong configuration.
See attached screenshot (muted).



@DSK, so far of all the customers we have worldwide, we're only aware of one DAC that has an issue. We're investigating but haven't been able to get a hold of this customer's dac now to figure out the issue having never seen this before..

When you mention, some DACs have issue with the SHD Studio, feel free to share with us which other DACS and we can take it from there? We're always happy to see what's the problem.

@devteam ... Hi and thank you for your response. In the other thread I suggested to the SHD Studio owner that he try to get hold of another SHD Studio and/or another Holo Spring DAC to see if the problem is repeatable on different samples or there is something wrong with one of his units only. However, I don't know where he resides and whether this is possible for him to do.

No, I didn't say "some DACs have issue with the SHD Studio". What I actually said was "the SHD Studio works fine with some DACs". This is quite different and simply means that not all DACs have been tested with the SHD Studio but we do know that at least one DAC (Holo Spring) has a problem.

However, instead of saying "[as] more DACs are found to suffer the stuttering when fed by the SHD Studio" I should have said "[if] more DACs are found to suffer the stuttering when fed by the SHD Studio". I didn't mean to imply that I expect more DACs to be discovered to have problems with the SHD Studio and apologise for my poor wording.

I am actually hopeful that the Studio/Spring issue can be diagnosed and resolved as I own a Spring DAC and would like to have the option to use a Studio in my 2-channel system if I decide to adopt room correction. This was what led me to come to the miniDSP forum and start reading up on the SHD Studio.

I'm also hopeful that we will see the ROON Ready certification formally awarded to the SHD/Studio/Power soon as this will provide reassurance to those who already use ROON or would like to be able to in future.