Greetings,

I continue to bother you all with my questions given how helpful you've all been thus far

Now I recently purchased an Echo Indigo PCMCIA sound card for my notebook PC and Sennheiser HD497 headphones. For those interested: the sound out of the Indigo is wonderful: clean, clear (no hissing or background noise of -any- kind) and noticeably more "punchy" than my on-board sound-card.

The Indigo comes with a console application [I'm running drivers version 6.10 downloaded off the net] that allows you to adjust the driver's sample rate.

My options range from 32,000 to 96,000. Furthermore, an option is present to have the sample rate "unlocked" (each application will simply get its preference, as I understand it).

The problem is this: the console application defaults to "unlocked" upon installation... this seemed to be working fine for around a week or so. 3 days ago, I was watching a DVD [using the Indigo as my default Windows sound card; Power DVD 5] and the audio was full of clicking and popping. Eventually (after about 30 minutes through the film) - the audio died out completely... requiring a reboot to restore.

This happened again after a reboot. And it happened each time I tried any dvd.

Turns out what was causing hassle was the "unlocked" sample rate; forcing the sample rate to run at 44,100 removed all clicking.

Now I was suspicious, however.

I started testing the card more thouroughly and it seems... running the card on "unlocked" mode causes my Windows sounds [simple .wav beeps, etc.] to crackle, pop and eventually mute the card entirely.

This doesn't seem normal to me for the "default" mode.


I've tried reinstalling the drivers to no avail. I've tried playing a 96khz/24bit wav file through WinAmp 2 with the sample rate in the Indigo console locked to 96,000 and I get the same problem: clicking and eventually cutting out.

How exactly would I be able to test if something is wrong with my Indigo? It seems to run fine when locked to 44,100... but the card continually dies whenever I try switch to 96,000 or "unlocked" mode.

Is this normal? I would have pictured running at 96, 000 would simply have no effect on non-96,000 sources... I didn't imagine it would affect the card so badly.


I don't know anything about audio or audio devices: it just seems to me that I'm experiencing an unexpected amount of audio "hassles"... I'd never heard of the Indigo being temperamental.

Would someone let me know if there is any easy way to just test if the card is fully functional in all its "modes"? I wouldn't know where to begin. Surely there is software out there that could do this? All I want is to play -something-, -somewhere- at 96,000 without audio crackling... just to know that it works and that its been my software [eg. Windows, Winamp, PowerDVD] having the problems.

Please note that the Indigo has no "input" for recording... not sure if this limits the range of testing software?


Please advise. Thanks for your efforts.

eshylay
eshylay@hotmail.com

Hmmm...Just checked my Indigo console, and I keep my sample rate unlocked, and Synchronize wave devices is checked. My system sounds have always been fine, and I've played 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96kHz samples without anything close to "crackling". I'm running the v6.10 drivers, just as you are.

udial.wav does produce a very slight "siren effect" at 88.2kHz and 96kHz, but I can only hear it with the volume turned up significantly.

The Echo Indigo is supposed to give true 24bit/96kHz playback, meaning if you feed it a 96kHz signal, it will play it without resampling to another sample rate, unless you set a specific rate in the console and "lock" it.

The only thing I can think of is to unlock your sample rate and turn on "synchronize wave devices" in the console (if these are not already set) and see if you have the same problems. If you do, try to confirm that it's a problem at the level of the sound card and not something else, like audio source or a loose speaker wire. I have Klipsch speakers with notoriously crappy cable connectors that will crackle if I move them at all, so this has been a problem for me a few times. Try wiggling a speaker wire where they connect at the back of each speaker, and then at the sound card to see if you have a bad connection. 3.5mm mini jacks generally stink for decent connectivity, and a wiggle on them can sometimes either cause or fix a "crackling" problem.

If I can think of anything else to try, I'll post it. Let me know if any of these things work for you.

Hi there,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have, however, tried running the card with sample rate unlocked and with Synchronize Wave Devices checked... this was, in fact, the default card setting upon installation.

Also, you can rule out [pretty much with certainty] that its not a cabling or speaker problem... I'm running a pair of headphones directly from the Indigo headphone jack. I use the headphones -constantly- and never have any problems with them on any other device or when my sampling rate is locked at 44,100.


With my lack of technical knowledge in this area I have to conclude one of two possibilities: 1) The soundcard is somehow faulty [I don't even know if such a possibility would exist to produce my symptoms], or 2) My software/drivers/installation/etc. is somehow faulty or incorrectly setup.

I'm guessing that scenario 2 is more likely... certainly hope it's the case


I will spend some more time today uninstalling and reinstalling all audio drivers for my Indigo and onboard card and will see if it makes any difference. If it does not - I'm back to square one: anyone know of any way of testing semi-conclusively if my Indigo is faulty at 96,000?


Thanks for your time already

eshylay
eshylay@hotmail.com

I haven't experienced any problems with my Echo Indigo, but I would advise you to contact Echo Technical Support for help in resolving this matter.

I've been playing with it a good deal more;

I'm pleased to say the problem has... gone (tentatively). It would seem, in fact, that my last re-install of the drivers was what resolved this finally [again... assuming the symptoms don't return].

Sorry to waste your time like this - I've no idea what the difference was between my very last re-install and the 3 that came before it. It's possible, I guess, that something else [software-wise] was causing a problem and is now, by chance, absent.

Ooh well - I won't complain if it means my card is fine.

If anything else crops up - I'll contact Echo's support.


Thanks for your efforts.

eshylay
eshylay@hotmail.com

Just an update:

Still experiencing intermittent clicking/popping and cut-outs.

This with both the 6.10 drivers and the drivers supplied with the card on cd.

Identical results (problems) are seen on my brother's notebook - identical in spec. to mine... though the Indigo was a fresh install on his pc.

I've contacted Indigo support. *Really* hope they can help me with this... starting to feel rather anxious.


Anyhoo, thought perhaps someone might want to know

cheers,

eshylay
eshylay@hotmail.com

P.S I'll update here when/if Echo get back to me.

If it doesn't work as advertised, then return it under the terms of the guarantee. In most countries the people who sold it you you are required to take it back and give you a full cash refund if it never worked as advertised. If it did once, then you should be able to get a new one under the guarantee.

Seriously, hardware shoudn't require multiple driver installs. If it doesn't work, get your money back and buy something else.

Hardware doesn't.. but windows does.

Thought maybe someone might be interested here in an update:

-Still- have not heard back from Echo support. I guess they're away for the festive season.


Have discovered the following on my own however: the card appears to be alright. I tested it on a friend's notebook and it worked flawlessly - no hiss/cracking/popping/cut-outs.

These symptoms still plague me endlessly. My audio seldom plays for more than 10 seconds now before cutting out completely.

Just yesterday - I formatted my machine and re-installed XP from scratch. I installed *no* extra software besides the Echo Indigo (the very first thing I setup post-install).

I disabled *all* onboard lan, modem, soundcard. I disabled my cdrom, my usb interface - the works.

My machine environment doesn't get any more "controlled" than this.

And yet - the Indigo still crackles, pops and cuts-out within seconds of audio starting.


I've updated my motherboard bios. I've updated my chipset drivers. No improvement.

I have tried playing audio with the ASIO output plugin for Winamp; I have tried adjusting the size of the ASIO sound buffers. Eventually - the audio cuts out (usually after several minutes of playing and the occasional audio click/pop).


Completely out of ideas now. Apparently there is some kind of major conflict between my notebook and the Indigo. My machine's specs are far in excess of the requirements and my chipset is apparently well liked by the Indigo (as told by their information web page). Heck knows what's wrong.


Again, I will update here if Echo ever gets back to me.


eshylay
eshylay@hotmail.com

Full system configuration info available at
http://home.mweb.co.za/mw/mwpooch/SysInfo.zip

heya

i've been having similar problems with an indigo. my friend has been using it on his dell inspiron 5100 for a while without any problems. i just got a refurb. ibm thinkpad 600e and sennheiser hd-580's so i tried the indigo. it sounds beautiful but when i turn up the volume it starts to crackle at a certain point, and eventually cut out until the card was reset. i could listen to it at a lower volume than i would prefer, although yesterday the card locked up the system as long as it was in the computer, so i've given up my efforts with this one.

i don't know if maybe the indigo is not getting enough power from my older laptop, or if this particular card is damaged somehow (although it worked fine in my buddy's laptop) i sent an e-mail to indigo tech support a few days ago, but haven't recieved a response. very sad, i like this card alot. i'm looking into usb options now.

Did you ever find a solution? Was it all fixed by you locking things at 44,100? I understand it's not ideal, esp as it's the default, but was that a satisfactory workaround?

I'm considering an echo, and have had similar problems with USB solutions, so I'm wondering if the echo has the same problems...