2. pc-audio
  3. 1101741686

USB Soundcards - faint popping/clicks

I am currently using a G4 iBook 933 MHz and have my new Waveterminal U24 connected to a DAC and Headphone Amplifier. The sound is really fantastic. I do notice every minute or so, I get a very faint pop or click sound. Sometimes I go longer without hearing it, but it occurs often enough that I notice it. I have tried to research this and there seems to be an opinion that this is just a USB audio problem and nothing can be done. I have experimented with settings. I have more than enough RAM than I know what to do with. I am using iTunes and so there really aren't any settings to adjust there except turning off all of the enhancements.

Anyway, anybody have any suggestions for USB audio pops?
dshea_32665
dshea_32665 OP
28 posts
 
Thanks for the info. I am actually using iTunes and I don't have the ability to adjust the buffer, at least I haven't seen it anywhere. My hard drive is almost maxed out and somebody suggested maybe I need to clear more space for the computer to use its virtual memory. I am still pretty far under my maximum RAM memory, but if the computer uses the hard drive for buffering/caching, could this be the issue?

When I used my Transit I didn't notice any of these faint clicks, however, the sound was not as detailed. I also had the ability to control latency with that driver. The ESI Waveterminal card I am using now, does not have any controls for latency on the Mac.
drobbins
20 posts
 
DShea,

You want to have at least 20% free on your hard drive. Otherwise you will have the potential for major file fragmentation that will result in low performance and the problem you describe above.

Specifically, I'm pretty sure the problem is the fragmentation. When you have only 1 or 2% (or 10%) space free on a drive, the maximum *contiguous* space on the drive could only be, say, 400K in size. Then if you download or rip a 30MB file, it will need to store parts of it in around 8-10 different places. Then, to read it back, the drive needs to jump from place to place, and when this happens you can have buffering problems. This problem also compounds itself when *other* files on your hard drive are fragmented. It results in lousy IO performance.

Regards,

Daniel
dshea_32665 OP
28 posts
 
Daniel,

Wow thanks for the information. I have my audio collection on a firewire drive anyway, I will just clear a bunch of files from the hard drive.

Is there a way to clean up fragmantation on a hard drive? Is there a good utiltiy for this? Or, if I get rid of the extra files will I be fine then?
Thanks
hifying
49 posts
 
Go to START> Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Defrag. If this sytem has never been done it may take a while. I would run disk clean up first then a scan disk second then the defrag.. Make sure when you run the defrag not have any programs open, also if you use a screen saver you should go into your screen saver settings and switch it to none so it wont start up in the middle of the defrag . If your running XP or 2000 you will have to select the scandisk in tools and then reboot the pc so it can run before it goes into windows.
hbrandt
272 posts
 
I have a similar setup with Powerbook G4 feeding a Waveterminal U24 feeding my dac. I've had no clicks or problems. Likely a settings issue.

harry
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