Help with setup of Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB

[GeeBog]

I'm trying to demo the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB from my Win 10 PC running JRiver, it looks like this should be easy to setup, but no luck at all.

The light on the Alpha USB is glowing Green, I have the switch set to AES, using an AES/EBU Digital cable into my Expert Pro 220.

I've tried both a default configuration and trying to config AES/EBU using: Balanced Digital Input (AES/EBU).

In JRiver I set Alpha USB Digital Output (WASAPI) or the Direct Sound option.

JRiver will play tracks but my Devialet Remote App shows AES/EBU in Red and turning on the Meter using the physical Remote, I do not see any activity, yet in JRiver I see data flowing.

Any config or setup ideas ?

GeoB

[ogs]

AES/EBU in Red

This normally means no sync (or not connected). Any chance you could try if SPDIF coax works?

[thumb5]

As you said, it looks as though it "should just work".  Some questions which might help narrow down the cause of the problem:

• what sample rate are you using?  can you try lower, e.g. 44.1 or 48 kHz?
  
• is the AES/EBU cable particularly long (more than a couple of metres)?
  
• can you try a different cable?
  
• can you verify that the Alpha is producing output on the AES/EBU (e.g. by connecting to a different amp or pre-amp, if you have one)?
  

[GeeBog]

I just ordered a real cheap BNC to SPDIF cable to test, so far I've tested

Win10 PC running JRiver -> Alpha USB -> Devialet XP220    Music plays on the JRiver display, but Remote shows no activity
Win10 PC Sound Test -> Alpha USB -> Devialet XP220         Sound shows on Test Meter, but again no sound on Devialet
Nuc Rock -> Alpha USB -> Devialet XP220                          Zone shows up, shows activity but no sound on Devialet
IMac -> Alpha USB -> Devialet XP220                                Play YouTube, no sound on Devialet

what sample rate are you using?  can you try lower, e.g. 44.1 or 48 kHz?

•    I was using 48K but it gave me an error msg and told me to use 44.1, which I tried
  
•    Also I tried to play sound outside of JRiver, via Win Direct Sound plus the Tidal app
  

is the AES/EBU cable particularly long (more than a couple of metres)?

• 1 ft
  

can you try a different cable?

• I ordered a BNC to SPDIF, will get it in on Thursday
  

[*]can you verify that the Alpha is producing output on the AES/EBU (e.g. by connecting to a different amp or pre-amp, if you have one)?

• I have an xtra amp, but it has 2 XLR connectors  L+R, whereas the Devialet has only 1, how does this work, I thought I had to hook it to a Pre-amp / Dac to process the signal?
  

Here's a sample Pic, not my config, I'm plugging a single cable into the AES/EBU port
[*]

[thumb5]

what sample rate are you using?  can you try lower, e.g. 44.1 or 48 kHz?

•    I was using 48K but it gave me an error msg and told me to use 44.1, which I tried
  
•    Also I tried to play sound outside of JRiver, via Win Direct Sound plus the Tidal app
  

is the AES/EBU cable particularly long (more than a couple of metres)?

• 1 ft
  

That all sounds fine.  (I wondered whether there might be signal integrity problems, but it sounds unlikely.)

can you try a different cable?

• I ordered a BNC to SPDIF, will get it in on Thursday
  

That will be a good test.

[*]can you verify that the Alpha is producing output on the AES/EBU (e.g. by connecting to a different amp or pre-amp, if you have one)?

• I have an xtra amp, but it has 2 XLR connectors  L+R, whereas the Devialet has only 1, how does this work, I thought I had to hook it to a Pre-amp / Dac to process the signal?
  

[*]
Sounds like your other amp might have balanced analog (stereo) inputs, rather than a digital input.

[GeeBog]

I was reviewing the Berkeley Alpha USB interface to ensure that my streaming from my Win10 PC to my Devialet XP 220 received the best quality input, I never could get the AES/EBU connection to work so I thought I'd try an S/PDIF connection, I ordered a cheap BNC to S/PDIF cable to test, but it never came in in time and I had to return the Alpha USB to the dealer.  While at the Dealers, I tested a couple of T+A products, which I really liked, hmmm, I may switch teams and go with something new. 

Thanks for the help.

[ogs]

Devialet XP 220 received the best quality input

How about streaming directly from JRiver to your 220 over ethernet with DLNA (UPnP)? It's worth a try. Might be just as good as conversion from USB to SPDIF.