M2TECH HIFACE DAC 384KHZ/32BIT DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER USER MANUAL REV. 1.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz Warning! Changes or modifications not authorized by the manufacturer can invalidate the compliance to CE regulations and cause the unit to be no more suitable to use.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz Dear customer, thank you for purchasing hiFace DAC. What you have is a first-rate USB digital-to-analog converter with many unique features conceived to obtain the best audio performance out of a music file. Even if getting digital music out of a PC, a Mac or a Linux computer is nowadays quite simple, much harder is to obtain the best sonic performance from it, due to intrinsic limits in USB 1.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz INDEX 1. Connections ...................................................................................................................5 2. Connection to the host and the amplifier/headphones ..............................................6 3. True plug’n’play operation with Mac............................................................................7 4. True plug’n’play operation with Linux ..............
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 1. Connections 1 2 Figure 1 1) USB input. Connect directly to the USB 3.0 or 2.0 or 1.1* port of a PC, Mac or Linuxbased computer, or use an USB extender (A male to A female). In the latter, the extender must be compliant with USB 2.0 and less than 3m, otherwise the bus performance will decrease and the correct operation of the interface will not be guaranteed.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 2. Connection to the host and the amplifier/headphones ADVICE: Windows users must install the driver prior to connecting the hiFace to the PC (please refer to section 5). ADVICE: both PC and amplifier/preamplifier should be switched off and disconnected from the mains sockets before connecting the hiFace DAC. DAC Please refer to section 1, “Connections”. Connect the hiFace DAC to the host USB 2.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 3. True plug’n’play operation with Mac Mac computers with OSX 10.6.4 and later have a native support for audio devices compliant with USB Audio Class 2.0. This means that the driver is already included in the operating system and the user needs not to install anything: just connect the hiFace DAC to your Mac and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 4. True plug’n’play operation with Linux Linux has a native support for audio devices compliant with USB Audio Class 2.0 based on ALSA. This means that the driver is already included in the operating system and the user needs not to install anything: just connect the hiFace DAC to your PC with Linux and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use. ALSA version needs to be 1.0.24 or later.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 5. Operation with iPad and Android-based tablets iPad also supports USB Audio Class 2.0. This means that it is possible to connect the hiFace DAC to an iPad through the latter’s camera kit, which exports a high speed host USB port. The limited supply current required by the hiFace DAC makes it possible to power it even by the reduced current capabilities provided by the iPad.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 5. Windows driver installation 5.1. Obtaining the driver The Windows driver for hiFace DAC is available on the M2Tech website, in the download page (www.m2tech.biz/download.asp). Download the exe file containing the driver package and save it to a folder in your PC. This is a self-extracting file which will deliver a folder. Double-click on it to extract the folder.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz Figure 5 Then, the wizard will check for system features. At a certain point, it will ask you to plug the hiFace DAC in one of the USB ports (Figure 6).
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz Follow the indications and plug the device in one port, then click on “Install”. You will be asked to follow the destination folder (Figure 7). Figure 7 The installation process continues showing the progress (Figure 8).
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz At the end of the installation process, the wizard notify the completion (Figure 9). Figure 9 Clock on “Next”: the installation is almost completed (Figure 10). Click on “Finish” to complete the installation.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz At the end of the installation process, the USB Audio Class control panel is running and you can open it by clicking on the red “T” to the bottom right of the desktop (Figure 11) to check and select various operation options. Figure 11 5.2.1. Checking for right installation and trying the interface From Control Panel -> Audio select the hiFace DAC in the “Playback” tab and then choose Properties.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 5.3. Unistalling the driver Sometimes it is necessary to uninstall the driver to roll back to a previous version. Uninstall is a quite simple procedure. Go to the control panel and launch the “Application Installation” utility (Figure 13). Look for the hiFace DAC driver item in the list. Double-click on it to launch uninstalling.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz Figure 14 At this point, the wizard will show up the installation progress (Figure 15), up to the end.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz After the uninstalling of all files related to the driver is complete, the “Next” button will be enabled. Click on it. The final message will appear (Figure 16). Click on “Finish” to complete uninstalling.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 6. Configuring the computer to use hiFace DAC 6.1. Configuring a PC with Windows XP A PC with Windows XP can use hiFace DAC in two different ways: Direct Sound (DS)* and ASIO. The first mode is suitable for most players, such as Windows Media Player and iTunes, or for Internet streaming, while the second can be chosen (for better performance) with players which can operate in ASIO mode.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz Figure 17 Then, select the “Voice” Tab. Again, select “M2Tech Audio 2.0 Output” in the drop-down menu of the Playback area. Click on OK button. Please be adviced that even if the peripheral is listed as “kernel streaming”, it will operate in Direct Sound mode when listed here.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 6.2. Configuring a PC with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 A PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 can use hiFace DAC in four different ways: Direct Sound (DS)*, Kernel Streaming (KS), WASAPI and ASIO.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 6.2.2. Configuring for Kernel Streaming with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 As for Windows XP, Kernel Streaming has no standard setting in Windows Vista and Windows 7. KS must be selected in the specific player you choose to use. For example, when using FooBar, with hiFace DAC connected to the PC, go to the File/Preferences/Playback /Output tab and select “KS: M2Tech Audio 2.0 Output” as output device.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 7. Configuring the player for Kernel Streaming: two examples 7.1. FooBar To use FooBar in KS mode it is necessary to download the DLL for Kernel Streaming from the FooBar2000 website and install it in the Components sub-folder inside FooBar2000 main folder in your hard disk. The DLL can be found at http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_ks (click on Download).
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 7.2. Winamp and MediaMonkey These two players are actually the same player with different skins, so they can share the same plug-ins. A freeware plug-in for Kernel Streaming by Steve Monks is available on the Internet (http://www.stevemonks.com/ksplugin/) that can be used to enable Kernel Streaming operation with these players.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 8. Configuring the player for WASAPI: two examples 8.1. FooBar To use FooBar with WASAPI under Windows 7 or Windows 8 it is necessary to download the DLL for WASAPI from the FooBar2000 website and install it in the Components subfolder inside FooBar2000 main folder in your hard disk. The DLL can be found at http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_wasapi (click on Download).
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 8.2. JRiver From JRiver Option menu, configure the Output Mode to use WASAPI Event style, the configure the output mode settings as in Figure 23. Please refer to the JRiver technical notes for more info. Figure 23 9. Configuring the player for ASIO: an example 9.1.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 10. Interface Special Features 10.1. Precision oscillators hiFace DAC uses two high precision, low phase noise oscillators as time base for data transfer to the DAC. This way, jitter is kept at a minimum, while output transfer is virtually isolated by the USB interface timing low stability. 10.2. Asynchronous transfer mode hiFace DAC uses an asynchronous transfer mode to get data from the computer.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz made for that and available on the computer market. Please use a 5V power supply with 500mA current capability.
hiFace DAC 384kHz/32bit digital-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER REVISION 1.1 – MAY 2013 M2Tech www.m2tech.biz 11. Technical Specifications Sampling frequencies: ...................... 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8, 384kHz Resolution:........................................ 16 to 32 bits USB: ................................................. USB Audio Class 2.0 Compatibility: ....................................
