LG Gram powerful Laptop with windows 10, Fiio Olimpus E10 , Dorico 5 updated.
In Audio Device setup, Audo Driver: the only choice when using the Fiio is the Built in Steinberg ASIO DRIVER . In Stereo Output, the only choice that produces sound is SPDIF OUT (2-Fiio USB DAC-E1). I have tried all possible Sample rates and no difference is heard, the crackling and distortion persists. Strangely enough, last summer I used the same hardware combination without problems. I am seriously considering buying a Sound Interface to better drive my low impedance headphones and to hopefully solve this problem. Please advice. Thank you.
I’m not an expert on Windows sound driver issues, but instead of changing the sample rate, try changing the buffer size: a larger buffer size will increase latency, but should give your system more breathing space to ensure the audio can be processed without drop-outs.
1 Like
Thank you , unfortunately I am more confused, In Windows Playback devices the Fiio is set as default playback device. However in the Fiio control panel it always appears as not activated and I do not see how to activate it. I suppose it must be working since I have my headphones plugged into the Fiio. The un activated Fiio sound panel is set at the highest buffer rate possible. the Steinberg default ASIO Driver panel does not have Buffer size settings.
I9gVmjpO2N7A.jpeg)
Can you please post another screen shot of this situation, because I don’t quite get what you mean with that sentence. Thanks
And what if you change the sample rate to 44100Hz in the Device Edit dialog? Does then in the Steinberg Driver Panel at least one more item in the output port list appear?
Thanks for the additional screenshots.
But if the FiiO is now at 44100Hz and the Steinberg built-in ASIO Driver is chosen and if you then go to the Steinberg Control Panel, how does that then look like? Is there in the output port list some headphone device?
Sorry, I did not expect you to reply so quickly, so I was working on a composition.
I believe that the Steinberg Control Panel was and it as shown on a screen shot on my second writing on this post.
There, in output port list, one can see SPDIF OUT (2-FiiO USB DAC-E10)
My headphones are connected to the Fiio.
I saw your screenshot, but my intention was slightly different. Depending on the currently selected sample rate, the control panel of a device may show more or less items in the output ports list. That’s why I was asking to check the sample rate and at the same time the output ports. Did you get my point?
Yes, I understand, thank you so much, I really appreciate your help, however in this case no extra fields have appeared in the control panel of the the device. I had a similar problem with my Desktop PC, I decided to buy an EXTERNAL Audio Interface. This did solve the problem. My Desktop pc is however in another country, so I am considering doing the same here, I have one ready to buy, it is also said to drive low impedance headphones well. I realize this to be a rather exaggerated solution, but if I can not solve this any other way…
Have you actually tried also other generic ASIO drivers?
The Steinberg Built-in ASIO driver is just a driver but does not claim to be the driver.
I would try out the FlexASIO driver, which is also a generic driver. You can download it from here.
Another generic driver is ASIO4All which is also quite popular
Mmmm, the Steinberg Built-in Asio Driver solved all my issues with previous Generic Drivers… I start wondering if I’m the only one… 
I have the asio4all, I have not been able to make it work with the Fiio.
I don’t suppose you have something connected to the SPDIF jack that you shouldn’t? (The RCA jack) It is weird to me that it is mentioned as SPDIF 2 USB Fiio, like it’s expecting that it is connected to another device on that jack and it is expecting to sync with that device’s clock. Dunno…
I bought a new Interface, to try to control Buffer size and Sample rate better, and so get rid of crackling and distortion. I’m sending it back. Not only did the crackling and distortion not go away, but for the first time the PC started to crash in the middle of using DORICO, sometimes it just freezes, sometimes just DORICO shuts down. I used the EXPLODE function which I like and though it functions, it keeps exploding the cord before! More annoying anomalies keep happening. Like the sound of a certain Instrument suddenly sounds terrible. The strange thing is I have no new software and this never happened before in my life, not on this PC or any other. One thing did just happen that points to PC trouble, Sibelius also suddenly shut down once. Or perhaps something that both Sibelius and Dorico use is not working properly. The PC works beautifully otherwise.
(Superfluous comment removed after thread merging.)
(I’ve moved your new post to the existing thread, since this is a continuation of the existing discussion.)
1 Like
The Fiio is tinny, but it has worked very well so far. USB in on Fiio to laptop. Headphones to only headphone jack on Fiio. that is all. Thank you.
Gotcha - and I wasn’t disrespecting the interface. I was just try to think of something and SPDIF stood out to me. On mine when I have a second interface connected by SPDIF, it matters which one is used as the clock/sample rate and I have to be sure any hardware switches are set compatibly. But you don’t seem to have anything else connected like that.
I noticed that the problem is when using Vienna Instruments , so I wrote to them, they have asked me to send them a Doric Crash report. Please tell me where and how in my PC do I find Dorico Crash Reports, Thank you.