Hey,
I recently moved to SPDIF input instead of USB and I get a small delay before audio starts playing. Everything is in sync and quality fine, but I think my soundcard(ASUS Xonar SE) cuts out the signal after some time. Is there a way to fix this?
That sounds like it’s taking your DAC a beat to figure out the sampling rate. If your sound card is putting out a different sampling rate than the last one used there can be a moment for the DAC to switch over. Are you using a music app with exclusive audio output?
are you Windows or Mac OS? I’m SPDIF out on my Mac Mini and I had to boost my sample rate for a similar problem, not drop it.
No mostly YT and VLC and so fourth. Haven’t tried Rekordbox yet, but on foobar it’s still there.
I’m using Windows.
mmm. well, try setting your sample rate to CD quality, since that’s all SPDIF can do.
I’ve tried changing the sample rate between 16 bit and 24 bit, but it changes nothing.
SPDIF can go up to 24/192
16 or 24 is the bit depth. The sampling rate is 44.1KHz or higher. The sound card may be defaulting to one output that the DAC doesn’t “expect”? What dac are you using?
I’m using SMSL M3
Have you tried going into windows device settings? I recommend setting it for 24 bits and 96khz.
Maybe it’s the M3’s problem? Since I can see that on 96kHz and 24 bits and I have tried changing the most settings I know of. I can see that the sample rate is 96kHz, but after like 20 seconds the communication just cuts off and like there wasn’t anything connecting to it.
Ok, you said you switched from USB. I assume you didn’t have this issue with USB? It might be the M3’s optical input is buggy. Do you have coax out on the sound card and in on the M3 to try?
Unfortunately there isn’t.
Well, probably either go back to USB or try a new dac. The M3 is an older model IIRC. Might just be its time 
Honestly even the SMSL SU-8 does that – or used to?
I know it’s common. Also happens to me sometimes because of my weird setup (computer -> sound through HDMI -> AVR). Have you installed Asio4all ? Maybe this will always keep the connection “active” so you’ll never have this one-second silence.
Otherwise, you’re… asking a sound card to send data to another sound card. If you want a cheap fix, sell your sound card and buy a 10$ PCI-e USB card. 
I found a few apps.
SPDIF-KA (Keep-alive – never disconnect spdif):
Sound keeper: “Prevents SPDIF/HDMI digital playback devices from falling asleep.”
https://veg.by/en/projects/soundkeeper/
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That works for now, thanks. Honestly, I don’t want to go back to USB because before I had ground loop issues and toslink fixes that 
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Perfect, enjoy!
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