XPS Desktops

[billyjk]

In week three of ownership of an XPS 8950 (i7, 32GB, 3060i, 750w) and it's been a good experience. From the start, I noticed that the Tidal PC app would disconnect during music playback about every 3-5 minutes, and remain in a disconnected state. My audio pipeline is XPS 8950, Yamaha/Steinberg ASIO driver, USB out, USB in on Yamaha DAC/amp - home WiFi network. This combo of audio hardware/software/network, and their settings, worked perfectly with my previous laptop since joining Tidal last January.

At first, I faulted the Tidal PC app, as it actually disconnects, and throws an error "Chosen audio output has been disconnected". Nothing is disconnected as far as I can tell. I have been working with the Tidal tech team to diagnose this problem - no fixes yet.

But, over the past few weeks, I've tried other audio apps, such as FooBar 2000, Tidal Web App, and Tidal Android app (running on Win11) and while these apps don't "disconnect", there is a noticeable audio dropout of about 1-2 seconds on the same cadence - about every 3-5 minutes. Maybe these other apps "handle" the dropout better than the Tidal PC app?  They have a dropout, but then keep playing - the Tidal PC app remains disconnected.

This leads me to think that there's something happening with the XPS 8950 that is causing the audio disconnects/dropouts. So now I am looking into every setting that could cause a sleep or similar-type state in the XPS 8950 USB ports, interfaces, everywhere. A quick look into online posts, and I see a history of XPS 8950/XPS 8940 issues with audio, and people talking about the GPU drivers causing similar issues.

First, I am going to exhaust all possible settings that could lead to an idle or sleep state, causing the disconnect. After that, I am up to whatever you folks suggest. Maybe this has been resolved already?

I really need to be able to listen to audio for more than just a few minutes without dropouts. I've been able to do this for decades, on far less capable/expensive hardware. If I can't make this happen, I'll be returning this machine.

TIA for any help you can provide!

[Tesla1856]

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@billyjk wrote:

The Yamaha/Steinberg driver has a checkered reputation, 

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I think just because:

a. it's high-end (so not that mainstream)

b. might only run 100% properly on Low-Latency systems. 

Not that low-latency is that hard (as my Aurora-R6 appears to be without even trying that hard) but apparently some systems have issues with it in general.

I know my Aurora-R6 recently got Windows-11 (as a clean-install because I wished it) and I certainly don't load a lot of stuff I don't need onto it. Also, no programs and apps with those non-sense background Processes and Services.

[billyjk]

I think LatencyMon is my next step.

I'll start tomorrow.  Burnt-out ATM!

[RoHe · Accepted solution]

@billyjk   - You'd only need the NVidia driver if you're using audio over HDMI/DP to speakers in the monitor, but don't uninstall it.

Have you looked for an updated Y/S driver?

What "junk" is running in the background?

You can try this: Go to Start>Run>services.msc and disable all "Dell" services and all "Killer" (Ethernet/WiFi) and xTend services too.  You don't need any Killer/xTend stuff running and IMO Killer internet works better without any of those Killer/xTend services.  Also go to Startup tab in Task Manager and disable Killer entries there too.

[billyjk]

@RoHe 

Yes - I not only have the latest Yamaha/Steinberg driver, but I tried the previous version as well - no dice.

Prior to running LatencyMon, I am going to take your advice and disable more services.

Question: if I am never going to use the speakers in my monitor, why do you suggest to keep the Nvidia audio driver?  Just curious.

[Tesla1856]

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@billyjk wrote:

1. Prior to running LatencyMon, I am going to take your advice and disable more services.

2. Question: if I am never going to use the speakers in my monitor, why do you suggest to keep the Nvidia audio driver?  Just curious.

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1. I would just run it now. If it shows bad, at least you will know you are on the right track.

2. I know this question was not directed to me but I can't help myself. I see yall talking about Nvidia drivers. AFAIK, when you have a nice (current model)  dedicated Nvidia card, you install the WHQL-DCH drivers from nvidia.com. If you don't want the Gaming-Drivers, you can install the Studio-Drivers.

[billyjk]

Success!

Thanks to everyone that chipped in here with advice.

@RoHe  -  if you lived in my zipcode I'd buy you a beer!  I've tried so many things to get my rig to play audio without dropouts - including disabling specific services/drivers.  Nothing worked.  It was the recommendation to disable all Dell and Killer services that did the trick.  I have been listening to music for over 4 hours now with not a single dropout.  I even shut down and started back up to see if I was just lucky.  It works!

So, I think it's the Yamaha/Steinberg USB driver incompatibility with the standard setup on a Dell desktop - the Dell and/or Killer services specifically.  Prior to disabling those services/drivers, I carefully configured all USB ports to not sleep, hibernate, or have any involvement with managing power.  I completely removed all Wave Maxx stuff, only to find that it comes back at some point.  I removed all Realtek stuff as well.  I tried many settings in the Yamaha Steinberg driver in a hidden panel that is exposed with a special keystroke.  I dug deep.

My plan now is to run the machine this way for a few days to ensure that the problem is really resolved, then I'll try to re-enable those things I disabled.  That said, are any of the Dell and Killer services/drivers that I should prioritize due to their value/usefulness?

Thanks again folks!

[RoHe]

@billyjk  YEA!  Glad you got your sound problems resolved. 

If you uninstall the NVidia driver, it's likely to come back again next time you get an NVidia GPU driver update, so leave well enough alone. It won't hurt anything. You might also get Realtek and Waves again via Windows Update.

IMO, you don't want/need any of those Dell or Killer/xTend Services.  YOMV.

You can manually look for driver updates from time to time, using your Service Tag at Dell's support site. So do you need SupportAssist/Dell Update looking over your shoulder and pestering you? And you certainly do not want SupportAssist managing a BIOS update for you.

Look at the functions of all those Killer/xTend services shown in left panel in services.msc... Do you want Intel/Killer harvesting Analytical data from your PC, managing internet bandwidth usage (which I suspect is the culprit in your audio lags) etc, etc?  And as I said, on my XPS 8930, Killer internet works better without their junk getting in the way.

Suggest you image your boot drive and save the image on external media, to be safe, before you start re-enabling the junk. Macrium Reflect (free) is a good choice, but you can use any imaging app you prefer. Regardless of what imaging app you use, be sure to have the app create a bootable USB stick that you'd need to re-image the boot drive, if that's ever necessary. Just keep in mind the image you create today is only up-to-date today...

BTW: How do you know we don't live in same zip code? Guess you could just drink the (extra) beers in my honor...

[RoHe]

@billyjk  Keep in mind it's not quite so simple..

Next time Windows Update force-installs an "Intel Corporation - Extension" chances are it may be a Killer software update (Intel owns Killer now).

And every time one of those Extensions gets installed on my XPS 8930, all the Killer/xTend services I previously disabled in services.msc magically get reset to Automatic startup. Windows Reliability Monitor shows that Killer software and drivers were installed on same date that "Extension" was installed.

The last go round only fixed a bug in Killer Intelligence Center, but Device Manager says the same Killer Ethernet driver that was already installed here (v9.0.0.50) got (re)installed on the same date that Extension was installed.

So if your audio starts acting up again, check to see if all that Killer stuff is still disabled or not. It's an endless game of whack-a-mole...

[mixmkr]

None of this has worked for me.  It seems the 3060ti seems a common component in all theses cases 

[RoHe]

@mixmkr  Unless you're using sound over HDMI (or DP), it seems hard to explain how the GPU is causing the audio to drop out...

If you physically remove the NVidia card from the motherboard and connect your monitor to the onboard Intel Graphics port, do you still have the same problem?