Reddit:Using a DAC/Amp via USB on a computer? You may want to check this setting in the USB driver's control panel

[rwnano]

https://www.reddit.com/r/BudgetAudiophile/
So this has taken some time of putting up with, but with the help of a member of another forum (thanks Timber!) we narrowed down the cause of this quirk, and now the solution.

The issue is that when the OS (doesn't t matter if Linux, Windows etc) plays a sound, like for example the bong sound when taking a Windows Screenshot, the very first fraction of the sound is not heard because the DAC employs a delay which means by the time the audio is streamed through, the first section of the sound is clipped off. If you do a screenshot again immediately, or do another screenshot right after some other audio plays, then there is no delay and the bong sound plays fully.

It's like as if there's a delay causing that first part to clip off any sound the OS plays, but if another audio played a couple of seconds prior, then the delay isn't there, only comes back if the no audio plays for several seconds, so some kind of sleep/wake/buffer it seemed.

Anyway here is a video demo of the issue:

And in order to fix it you will need to check this Streaming tab setting is set to Always On instead of the default On when Needed:

 

[rwnano]

You can see that the FiiO driver control panel has the tab whereas my Eversolo driver panel does not, during investigations I found that the Luxsin X9 never had the delay, which based on the fix, means the Eversolo driver always uses streaming mode hence the tab not being there to select an option.

If the tab is missing for your driver and you have the delay, then you may need to get the latest version of the driver. If you don't have the delay and you don't have the tab, then your driver defaults to it on anyway so nothing needs changing.

For reference, every single USB DAC I have used on my PC has had this delay and in the past I never really bothered to install the USB driver until more recently. I just thought the delay was normal under Windows, but tonight's investigation revealed that's not the case.

So yeah, install your DAC USB driver and check that setting if your device exhibits the same delay as shown in my video.

Enjoy your delay-free audio!