Audio from displayport

[ikonix360]

I discovered an interesting issue.

With a second monitor connected to the VGA port if I start playing music in Apple music online the display connected to the audio extractor goes blank until I unplug the HDMI cable from the extractor output and plug it back in. Once I do that it's fine.

Not sure the issue there.

 

[ikonix360]

So I did a measurement.

Here's a sinewave at 16KHz from the built in DAC of the extractor.



Here's the same signal from the FiiO.

I do see the slight increase in output that was mentioned at the higher frequencies.



The computer is set to put out 24 bit 48KHz to the extractor.

 

[ikonix360]

Ok looks like I need a better DAC capable of more than 24/48KHz.

There any HDMI audio extractors capable of more than 24/48KHz for a reasonable cost that have an analog and digital audio output?

By reasonable I mean under $100

 

[Joe C]

They do make HDMI DACs but they are very few and far between and they are not $$$ cheap
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...rements-of-essence-hdacc-ii-4k-hdmi-dac.7171/

 

[ikonix360]

At one point I may have wanted something like that, but I actually use the HDMI out of the extractor to connect to a second monitor using a HDMI to DVI cable.

Amazon has a plethora of HDMI audio extractors, but few list the bit rate they support in 2 channel mode.

Still looking on there.

As can be seen by the pictures, a sinewave at 16KHz (higher end of human hearing) doesn't look so good.

EDIT:

According to this

https://www.hifiplus.com/articles/the-truth-about-highresolution-audio/

the upper frequency limit of 24 bit 48 KHz is 24KHz so it looks like all I may need is a better DAC instead of a better audio extractor.

 

[Joe C]

looks like all I may need is a better DAC instead of a better audio extractor.

There is a huge variety of several types of DACs with a huge variety of prices to match. Read on line reviews and do your homework.

 

[ikonix360]

So far I've found these.

https://www.amazon.com/Micca-OriGen...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Schiit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NXST14...=2phBo&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_1_title

https://www.amazon.com/Topping-E30-...?dchild=1&keywords=DAC&qid=1630614231&sr=8-92

From what I understand Schiit makes great products so I may go with them unless I find something better at a lower cost or one of the other two listed here are better.

Now if IT wasn't so restrictive as to what could be plugged into the USB ports (security reasons) I have an M-Audio Fast Track pro USB sound card that would work just fine.

Looking at reviews of the Schiit, I may be leaning towards that one.

Plus that would give me the capability to add a CD player with coax or optical DAC out.

EDIT:

The Topping has the same brand of DAC chip in it as the Schiit does so they may sound similar although the Schiit is a little lower in cost so that's what I may go with.

EDIT:

I just ordered the Schitt. Should be here the 8th-9th and I will report back with the listening results.

 

[Joe C]

Sounds like good schitt

 

[ikonix360]

From what I understand in looking up their stuff a few months ago helping someone on Facebook select components for a stereo they make high quality stuff that can be quite expensive so this DAC should be very good.

The Fiio was fine, but someone mentioned it had a slight increase in output in the upper treble which I did measure and maybe can hear it slightly as music seems ever so slightly brighter.

I could live with that, however I cannot live with the sinewave at 16KHz not looking like it should.

I could not access my online audio generator of choice as that site is blocked so I took a regular audio generator and fed it into the line in of the PC so the signal had to first be made digital then back to analog so I don't rightly know if that analog to digital process caused any alteration of the sinewave, although looking at the picture of the output from the extractor's DAC output it is clear that maybe the Fiio is causing the output to look like that and that the ADC in the computer's sound card is fine.

The site I normally use to generate audio frequencies is this one

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

as it's easy to use and produces nice clean sinewaves from the output of a quality sound card.

 

[Joe C]

The site I normally use to generate audio frequencies is this one

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

as it's easy to use and produces nice clean sinewaves from the output of a quality sound card.

Check out this web site too
https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_index.php
Personally I do not care much about sound waves on a graph. I just set it up to what I like the best and enjoy that, I've tried several different receivers and I still like the sound from an old 27watt Modular Component Systems brand receiver. They just don't make them sound like that any more.