Lynx PCIe AES interfaces: AES16 and E22

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=03836555693956544087

For reference this is the type of distortion I'm getting when waking from sleep on Windows 7. To resolve it, I have to stop every piece of software that has a grip on the Lynx (JRiver paused music has to be stopped, the tabs on paused YouTube videos have to be closed, etc.), then switch the default device to another playback device, then switch back to the Lynx (this is from right clicking the Windows sound icon in the taskbar, then clicking Playback Devices).

Weird, eh? Is anyone else experiencing this?

 

solved the issue by moving to another pci e slot on the mobo, didn't really have much time to listen but sounds more spatial and smoother via lynx AES vs usb. Will spend the next week to get used to the sound and do some a/b with mutec 3+ in chain.

 

Sounds like you're using the Lynx as your default sound device, so windows mixer also has its grip on things. I recommend using something else as the default and then allowing exclusive mode for the Lynx so JRiver has full control via ASIO. Then it will only be JRiver that you need to cycle. You'll get full SQ via ASIO that way.

 

Has anyone got an external PCIe enclosure (thunderbolt most likely) that works with Windows? It seems like most claim support for Macs. I've seen some anecdotal evidence around that folks have them working in Windows (or even linux), but it'd be great if someone in this community had direct experience.

 

You'd probably need a thunderbolt 3 enclosure like the Akitio Thunder3.
Should work with certified thunderbolt 3 PCs on Windows 10 (maybe other?).

 

Cool, thanks Clemmaster. That was the enclosure I saw some folks saying they had working in Windows.

-edit- I take it back, it was the Thunder2 I was looking at.

 

The Thunder 2 is the one I had with the Mac Mini.
Thunderbolt 1&2 are natively supported on Apple products, so everything is rock solid.

Windows didn't officially support it, so compatibility would be hit or miss (and require an expansion card - no motherboards would come with a TB2 port).

With TB3, the situation is different: both Microsoft and Intel support it. It is a native interface in Windows 10 and comes standard on some motherboards (or laptops). It should just work.

 

Got Digigram vx222e in my pc...aes into gamma 3 is legit. Obvious in seconds.

 

Theres also the question of vendor support for the card in that configuration (Windows tb3 plus cage). I dont believe any do have support yet...I may be wrong.

 

Just something I noted. When I look at the Lynx mixer and my foobar/spotify/volume is 100% the mixer shows the volume clipping (going into the yellow). I have to turn my volume down to about 75% to keep it all in the green. I have fiddled with amp volume, software volume and lynx volume and found that lynx max is best with media player at 75% and pushing my amp a little harder than normal (3 o'clock on rag). Noise floor is virtually 0 on raggy anyway.

 

Yeah, unfortunately due to the "Loudness Wars" most music is mixed too DAMN HOT and on top of that some music streaming services have their own compression algorithms that further push the volume thereby clipping. It's best to turn down the volume at the source so that the clipping isn't present in your player and interface, dac, amp etc.

 

I could be wrong, but I doubt that it is actually clipping... Lynx manual says "Meters turn red when the output level is within 16dB of clipping". I think it's just that this is a pro audio card. Running with that much headroom would be normal in a mixing context, but isn't necessary for playback. IOW I think you can run at 100% output from your media player and should be fine. If it actually clips the overload indicator will go on.

 

Fair enough, but so far this has sorted some sporadic distortion I have been having since getting the Lynx. I did get some red meters with some songs, all i know is things do sound better now that I dropped source volume. I dropped it almost by 16db exactly.
However my issue is sporadic so I will give it a few more hours..

Edit: Still something strange going on.
Maybe some sort of re-sampling issue? my Dac is only capable of 16bit at 44.1k

 

Well, ordered the Thunder3. I'll report back if it works with my Digigram vx222e on Windows. If not, it will go back and I will be a very sad panda. Maybe buy a cheapo pc with a pcie slot to use instead of the thunder3...can't go back to usb now.

 

So, Thunder3 + vx222e is a no go. Now that I took a little time to read about tb3 I understand why. It sucks, though...guess I'll need to build a super cheap pc with a pcie slot. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

Budget?

 

Well, I wouldn't want to spend more than the thunder3, so $300. Really, I'd like to get away with doing it as frugally as possible without impacting possible sound quality in any real way (powerful enough for dsp's if I throw some in the path).

 

Why didn't it work?

 

Basically the card and its drivers need to be designed to be hot-pluggable and enabled for tb3. It's actually spelled out pretty well on Akitio's product page for the thunder3...derp for not checking.