If you are using a newer computer there are more USB 3.0 device plug-ins than USB 2.0. It was my thinking that the USB 3.0 would be backward compatible with USB 2.0. No so with the Directstream DAC and Windows 7. I was going around and round with the driver and J River when a friend ask if I was plugged in to a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0. I was plugged into a 3.0 it worked but it did not work right. I moved to the USB 2.0 and all became right the drivers and the Directstream work as expected.
I knew the Directstream was working as I have a PS Audio Memory Transport and had listen to the plastic CD’s if you recall those.
crhodes said
If you are using a newer computer there are more USB 3.0 device plug-ins than USB 2.0. It was my thinking that the USB 3.0 would be backward compatible with USB 2.0. No so with the Directstream DAC and Windows 7. I was going around and round with the driver and J River when a friend ask if I was plugged in to a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0. I was plugged into a 3.0 it worked but it did not work right. I moved to the USB 2.0 and all became right the drivers and the Directstream work as expected.
I knew the Directstream was working as I have a PS Audio Memory Transport and had listen to the plastic CD’s if you recall those.
USB 3.0 in general is backwards compatible. On Windows 7 64 bit I can run the DirectStream with an IOGear USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter directly or thru a USB 3.0 hub. The problem with my setup is that the drivers for the IOGear cause huge latencies and I can’t get the bit perfect test to work. I don’t know if I could find some configuration parameters that would make it work, but the IOGear ExpressCard hasn’t been that reliable with USB 3.0 in other ways so I decided to not waste my time on it. I have no reason to believe that the DS is fundamentally not going to work with USB 3.0. But until I can get USB 3.0 to be reliable here for other things I’m not going to assume that the DS is at fault.
USB 3 compatibility has been a problem for a variety of things. In many cases finding the ‘right’ (often recently updated) USB hardware drivers has corrected the problem. The challenge is often finding the right drivers. First try the computer maker’s site and/or motherboard manufacture’s site. If using a card, find its manufacturer site. Sometimes it is necessary to go to the chipset manufacturer to get a set of drivers that work as they should. It is an unfortunate truth that computers and components often ship with old, inadequate and sometimes inappropriate drivers.
This is the downside of using a Windoze PC as opposed to aPple. A nuisance, but rarely insurmountable.
It appears specialty cables try to be cute with the basic specs and requirements of the cable. Unlike analog cables where something will get through as long as the circuit is complete, digital cables must comply with the fundamental standards or they do not work well.