Apple Silicon and Oppo DAC

[Silvestru Hosszu]

There all,

Although I use Mac for a long time, my audiophile gear ran until now exclusively from my pc desktop.
Last week I tried to connect my Oppo HA-1 DAC to a M1 Mac Mini.
It worked somewhat in a sense that I could play my Apple Music playlist but, although lossless was selected, the bitrate was fixed at 48khz/16bit, which is clearly wrong.
I have no experience related to DAC on Mac setup and any advice on troubleshooting is most welcome.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Exactly how are you connecting the Mini to the Oppo (describe all ports, cables, adapters etc used)?

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

It is a usb connection.
I use a good usb cable starting from the mini's usb a port to oppo's usb b port.
I do not use any adapter.

 

[BrianBaughn]

When you open the Audio MIDI Setup app…the highest sample rate/bit rate you can set for the Oppo is 48,000/16?

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

If I remember correctly, yes that is what is says.
The setup is at my office so I'll go tomorrow to double check it and I'll write back.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't think it could be the cable…probably the same one you've always used?

This issue is probably a question for Oppo. My Presonus USB device is working as expected with my M1 Mac Studio.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Thanks for the response. TBH I don't know if its the original usb cable, i have more than one for audio so I'll try others cables also.
Sadly the audio subsidiary of Oppo went out of business a few years ago so I am on my own.
I'll report back after trying out multiple cables.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Hello, I changed some cables and right now the highest sample rate is 384/32.
If I set that, the dac shows everything as 384/32 even if it is a standard RedBook.
Is there anyway to set it up to choose the actual sampling rate of the source material?

 

[BrianBaughn]

So it was a cable thing…I guess.

There isn't a way via macOS to switch the sample rate of the audio device based on the source material in Apple Music.

There is an app at GitHub (LosslessSwitcher) that does this. I gave it a shot myself and it works…but the developer says this:

Do also note that:

• There may be short interuptions to your audio playback, during the time where the app attempts to switch the sample rates.
• Prolonged use on MacBooks may accelerate battery usages, due to the frequent querying of the latest sample rate.

That first one ruins it for me. How much of a stutter may depend on the audio device you're using or maybe even what sample rate switching is occurring between songs.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Thank you very much. I'll give it a shot.