Support

Word from Gregor (the designer and maker):

If you already own any of my audio, you will already know that you have my full product support and care as well as my direct number to call. Also, email me with any question related to configuration, software choice, system tweaks etc. to get in depth response to any of your questions about your Veracity audio.

Here are the drivers for any model of Veracity DAC fitted with USB input

By clicking on the link the download will begin for relevant for you file:

Veracity DAC USB Audio drivers for Windows 10

Veracity DAC USB Audio drivers for Windows XP/7/8 

(ASIO driver is also included in this complete package)

If you need just the ASIO drivers please download from below:

Veracity DAC USB Audio ASIO drivers 32bit OS

Veracity DAC USB Audio ASIO drivers 64bit OS

Every Veracity product carries 3 or 5 Year warranty.

 

Download Quick Guide for computer playback with JRiver MC21, 22 pdf
Download Veracity DAC & JRiver MC21, 22 in Windows part 2 pdf

 

Veracity DAC & JRiver in W7; Part 1. -    Set- up Check Sheet

This is a non – tech guide, based on my own experience for those new to computer music playback (PCM & DSD), to get the Veracity DAC

set up with JRiver21-22 /W7 & experience the high quality audio that good digital music file playback can offer.

 After set up, all files from FLAC, DSD, etc should play without changing player options.

Other playback software may be set with similar steps, but this deals only with the JRiver setup.

Remember that support is always available by e-mailing Veracity, but in my experience, problems with USB/DAC playback are nearly always

due to (software) player setup, incorrect driver installation, or both, so acquiring a little basic knowledge will save a lot of frustration.

Steps marked * can be read as optional, depending on what the PC will support.

Assuming the correct driver package is downloaded & installed - https://veracityaudio.com/pages/downloads - in this case the XP/7/8 package only

Ensure the PC, DAC & audio components are connected correctly & powered;

 

Open JRiver, select ‘Tools / Options / Audio’   

 The Amanero drivers will be listed, if correctly installed & the DAC powered.

Select the 384 ASIO.  *The Amanero WASAPI option may be on the list, or appear a few minutes of player use. This may be an indication that the playback

with the Windows-friendly wasapi driver would be more stable; You may find the asio driver plays with periodic clicks due to buffering problems.

This can be dealt with later, but set wasapi for now.

Open ‘Device Settings’ & ensure that these boxes are unchecked (clear).

Buffering; Set at the recommended 50ms for now. (You can experiment with different values later. See Part 2.)

Volume; Choose Amanero, or * leave at Auto.    OK to exit.

Bitstreaming; Select yes DSD 

Check ‘Play files from Memory’.   Set track change preferences* 

Go to ‘File Types’ & ensure that DSD Audio is Yes under file association.  OK to exit. 

In DSP Studio, set output sample rates above 192 kHz to same. X to exit. Ok to exit Options (save changes, if prompted). 

You should now have the basics of a stable playback system which can now be further configured to your preferences.

All supported file types should now play on demand – DSD & PCM will be recognised & switched at the DAC.

 *Remember that if you have a Chrysalis, the oversampling switch needs to be set accordingly to play ‘high-res’ files.

If are happy with everything, pour your self a drink & listen to some nice music for a while. Then go to Part 2.

 

Veracity DAC & JRiver in W7; Part 2.  -   Optimising the PC for USB audio streaming. 

As in part 1, this is a non – tech guide, based on my own experience for those new to computer music players, to get the Veracity DAC set up with JRiver21-22 /W7.

This article follows the basic set up & assumes that music files are now playing ok in JRiver.

If you want to use the PC to also live stream via the internet, watch movies, archive photos, do the tax returns & Skype Uncle Ernie in Australia, you must accept the inevitable compromises of these extra processes interfering with PCM & DSD sound quality.

Having invested in a Mystra, you will be already very fussy about music playback quality (If you have Chrysalis – obsessive), so your PC should be a stand alone music server & do nothing else.

Assuming this, a bit of fine tuning will now almost certainly improve sound quality further…………

Some users may experience random ‘drop – outs’; clicks or stutters in the audio stream during file playback. This is an issue with Windows & PC USB.

(Check, however that the cause is not a corrupted music file, in which case the errors will be repeatable & predictable)

I had this problem & was only getting stable playback by selecting the WASAPI usb driver (See part 1; set up check sheet).

The ASIO driver is the music industry standard & regarded as better sonically at this level. Veracity recommends it as first choice, so it’s worth tracking down the bugs.

 In my case the bitstream to the dac was suffering from ‘buffer under- runs’- very common in Windows based audio.

 It’s a simple thing to ask of a modern powerful computer – just play music? With Windows, not so…………….

The audio latency problem

 ‘Windows is not a real-time operating system. All requests to the operating system are delivered on a best effort basis. There are no guarantees whatsoever that requests are delivered within a certain time frame, which are the characteristics of a real-time operating system. That is not a problem for most devices and tasks but this is bad news for audio applications (which are considered soft real-time) because they need to deliver data to the subsystem and the hardware in buffers several times per second. If one or more buffers miss their deadlines and are not delivered in time it has audible consequences which are recognized as dropouts, clicks and pops’. (- Latencymon)

‘Processing of streaming data in real-time is a very challenging task for Windows based applications and device drivers. This is because by design Windows is not a real-time operating system. There is no guarantee that certain (periodic) actions can be executed in a timely manner’. (- Thesycon)

The WASAPI driver integrates with windows in a way that buffering doesn’t seem to be a problem. But, at a cost to overall sound quality?

Opinions differ - Many USB audio users, most with on-board PC soundcards say the ms drivers have now improved to the extent that they cannot hear any difference between ASIO & WASAPI;  a trawl of the internet forums will get you plenty of advice – mostly inconclusive, inconsistent, or biased.  It is best to decide for yourself – anyway, the basic underlying problem of reliably controlling the data stream without interruption from other processes still exists in all Windows based servers, so getting the ASIO to work with windows is required to properly optimise the PC server.

If you have a source as good as the Chrysalis, every extra drop squeezed from the PC performance will reveal an audible difference. 

Running Fidelizer - http://www.fidelizer-audio.com/ improves the sound by optimising the OS for audio; the free version saves you the tedium of setting profiles & manually deselecting non-essential services in the registry – worth downloading for that alone, but it probably won’t stop all non- audio device drivers from muscling in on the queue, causing audible latency spikes.

Fortunately, Thesycon have a free app., DPC Latency Checker -  http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml which is very useful to find out if your PC has real-time streaming drop-outs & helps to track down the naughty device(s) that are spoiling your music, so you can disable them.

Their accompanying manual clearly explains the topic, so I don’t have to, or claim to understand it all. (PDF file here)

Another is Latencymon - http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon, which gives a more detailed analysis & can pinpoint particular drivers if the going gets tough. I don’t cover it here because I did not need to go that far to sort my problem, but they also explain more thoroughly on the website. Both apps are free to download & easy to use.

In this particular situation, the culprit was simple to find with the DPC Latency Checker.

The audible interruptions appeared to be random, but running the latency checker in real time during audio playback clearly showed the spikes at exactly 60second

intervals – sometimes with an audible drop-out, sometimes not, dependant on the size of the latency spike & the music playing (quiet passages revealing errors more).

 Having a regular event to deal with, rather than the apparent random spike, is clearly a useful step forward in finding the nasty.

Note the advice in the text box under the graph. The Windows Device Manager box is also open, ready to isolate the suspects;

Following the guide on the Thesycon sheet, I checked the obvious suspects in order & soon identified the culprit to be the wireless network driver.

Disconnecting the wireless at the taskbar is not enough – you have to disable the device in control panel /device manager/network adapter.

Running the check as before & all was below 400us - no spikes or audio drops;

The wireless / lan appears to be the most common offender, so it’s not surprising that I found it quickly.

If you are not so lucky, go through the list in the Thesycon sheet in order.

 It also lists drivers you should NOT disable, so keeping you out of deep waters.

If you are happy so far, invest another 10 mins while you are at it –

 Run the latency checker & windows resource monitor (R. click Windows taskbar/Start task manager/resource monitor)

Start music file playback & try different buffer settings.

Some usb drivers, like Luckit, have their own settings box – The Veracity / Amanero buffer sizes are set in JRiver - tools options audio device/device settings buffering.

If you are set at 50ms., try gradually increasing package size & listen/observe any effect on latency & CPU use.

 What you are looking for is a balance between low latency & steady CPU use. It is a very non-tech & crude indicator of what’s going-on

 but, depending on your PC specs, increasing package size might make a difference, especially if you want to play in DSD. Ensure the player is set to

 ‘play from memory instead of disc’; you (should) have plenty of RAM, so you may notice little difference, as the PC is working with plenty of headroom.

If you perceive no difference and / or everything runs ok at the settings, play some music & enjoy.

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