When running 192khz through my HEDD192 it creates a horrible digital distortion...can't tell if its the sound card (RME HDSPe) or the HEDD....any ideas? Unfortunately the HEDD is the only converter I own so cant test anything else. Output of card is fine when music is played in the box at 192.

It's probably a clock issue. Make sure the SOURCE of the sound is on its internal clock and whatever's down line from that should be slaved.

That's what it sounds like, but the clock mode on the HDSPe is set to master as opposed to slave, and the HEDD to 192khz

How old is the HEDD? It's possible it needs a converter upgrade, a firmware upgrade or both. I haven't so far needed to work at that rate, but I don't think my 6+ year old HEDD will pass 192 in spite of having had the converter upgrade.

Well it is an HEDD 192 so thought it would already be upgraded, but you could be right. I bought it second hand so jot entirely sure of the age. Will check for a firmware update to see if that helps, this is the first time ive tried to use it at this samplerate

In spite of the name the HEDD 192 was not capable of working at the 192Khz sample rate for some years after first coming out, the plan being to make it 192-compatible later. A few years ago a converter upgrade appeared, but even though it was 192-ready it still didn't work at that rate and required a later firmware update to function properly at 192 (which I haven't had done). AFAIK all HEDD 192s made in the last couple of years or so are OK and work fully.

To further complicate things, there have been a number of revisions and main board versions over the years, you'll probably only get to the bottom of where your particular unit is at by contacting Crane Song, who may ask you to remove the lid and read off board numbers as they did with me. There is, or used to be, some info. about this on their website.

Crane Song aficionados/company staff please check my facts and correct where necessary :-)

Thanks for the in depth answer, really appreciated. For now I'm going to stick with 96khz I think, when I get time I'll get on the blower to Cranesong and see where my unit is at!

You're welcome. Of course, despite the 192 thing the HEDD is a great set of converters at a reasonable price - it's as if you get the processing (Triode etc.) thrown in for free. I love mine, and would be quite lost without it - in spite of the fact that the best converters are supposed to be neutral and so on, there's just something about the sound of the HEDD's conversion which really does it for me. Clips gracefully too - whoops, I didn't say that...

I love my HEDD 192 BUT...

I had mine upgraded to 192 last year. Drove up to Superior (only a couple hours away) and got the grand tour, etc. Dave and co are great guys. Their shop it a trip, but that's another story...

Got back to my shop and discovered a strange issue. There seems to be digital crosstalk within the box if the incoming clock and internal clock are not in sync. I ran through all possible combinations and captured the output. In every case, if the clock rates were different, there was some sort of digital hash. Sometimes very very low level. Sometimes completely unusable.

I contacted Crane Song since this was a new mod for them and it had just been done. They sent a new unit for me to test. The new unit had the same issue.

SO, I would strongly recommend against running the AD and DA at different rates. It works great when I set the ADC as my master clock and run the same rate in and out.


GR

I'm really struggling with trying to get used to 4x, on pretty much anything digital!

I'm not convinced it's the way forward?

Dan Lavry is right on that one, in my opinion!

I found this too, although the few times I tried a pitcher/catcher arrangement with two computers at different sample rates via the HEDD it sounded like additional unwanted brightness in my case, as if I'd added a +2 shelf at 8k-ish. If I cycled the power on the HEDD I think (it's a few years ago now) I could get it to go away sometimes, but it wasn't reliable enough for work. I therefore went over to using software SRC and was happy with that workflow so stayed with it.

I suppose if I wanted to pitch/catch now I'd use a separate DAC, no biggie. The magic really happens for me with the sound of the HEDD's ADC plus using it as the master clock as Greg says, although its DAC is excellent and the two work together like champs at the same sample rate.

I agree.