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ZH3 cuts off first bit of audio (Less than 1 sec)

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FawzyS

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The ZH3 is connected to my MacBook Pro via thunderbolt and playing through Sennheiser HD598's. It cuts off the first few tenths of a second of sounds that it is beginning to play. I am CERTAINLY willing to concede that I may not have everything connected properly.

I really like the sound (once it starts playing) and don't want to send this back. Any advice on things to try?

Fawzy
 
This actually seems to be a common issue with most modern DACs and it has to do with how they handle audio streams and going to sleep when there is no signal.

When using the ASIO driver, there is a hidden setting in the driver that you can enable, which prevents sleep and is known as always-on streaming.
Not sure how that works for Mac.

For Windows, you can use https://github.com/vrubleg/soundkeeper to output a continuous but silent stream to the DAC, preventing this issue from occurring.

This fixed my problem on Windows with the ZH3 but I'm not sure if there is something similar for Mac.
 
When I'm editing, I add a track to my recording to send a stream of tone at something like -60dB to the device, and that helped. I'll see if there's something similar to the ASIO driver for the Mac. Thanks Cap.
 
im having the same issue, using asio driver hidden setting on always-on doesnt fix it, neither turning off power saving on usb, im thinking about returning the unit.
 
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I have this also connected on a windows 10 machine, via USB, but do not have this issue at all. I had no need to install a driver, just connected the device and it worked.
I have tried using headphones & speakers, different apps for audio & video playback, did not notice it at all.
 
大家好，我们测试了市面上不同供应商的数十款解码设备后发现，它们都存在同样的问题；
经过多次尝试，我们终于解决了Windows系统上的这个问题。具体解决方案已附上，请下载并按照说明操作；
我们仍在对Mac系统进行试验，目前还没有很好的解决方案；
如果您有好的解决方案，请随时与我们联系，我们将给予您一定的奖励。非常感谢！
crztech said:
Where i can download and install the new firmware? Im having the same problem, ZH3 is clipping discord audio when someone starts talking.
Click to expand...
koron393 said:
I inquired to Fosi Audio Support.
Support team replies to try to new firmware.
(My firmware is 1.14, new firmware is 1.15)

ZH3 | Welcome to our Support

support.fosiaudio.com support.fosiaudio.com
Click to expand...
anyangpiggy said:
I do have same problem with pc and mobile device connect with usb
Click to expand...
Shadow said:
I am having the same issue on Windows 10 connected with usb-c cable it is really annoying
Click to expand...
Elvomi said:
im having the same issue, using asio driver hidden setting on always-on doesnt fix it, neither turning off power saving on usb, im thinking about returning the unit.
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

I think the support staff doesn't understand English at all. SoundKeeper does work indeed. It doesn't have a GUI, you just start the exe and after the 1st sound plays it keeps working. If you don't want to start it every time, place the unarchived files in a folder of your choice and make a shortcut of "SoundKeeper64.exe" (or whatever your CPU architecture is) by right clicking and selecting "Send to Desktop". After that just move the shortcut to your startup folder, you can open it by pressing "Win + R" and executing "shell:startup". Now you don't have to think about this anymore, unless you delete the program or the shortcut.

I can also confirm that the "Always On" option in the XMOS ASIO driver does NOT work!
 
Mitko0111 said:
SoundKeeper does work indeed. It doesn't have a GUI, you just start the exe and after the 1st sound plays it keeps working. If you don't want to start it every time, place the unarchived files in a folder of your choice and make a shortcut of "SoundKeeper64.exe" (or whatever your CPU architecture is) by right clicking and selecting "Send to Desktop". After that just move the shortcut to your startup folder, you can open it by pressing "Win + R" and executing "shell:startup". Now you don't have to think about this anymore, unless you delete the program or the shortcut.

I can also confirm that the "Always On" option in the XMOS ASIO driver does NOT work!
Click to expand...
Are you a computer with a MAC system?
We have tested that Windows based computers can solve this problem.
 
Charles said:
Are you a computer with a MAC system?
We have tested that Windows based computers can solve this problem.
Click to expand...
I'm a human using a Windows 11 pc. The driver with your XML config DOES NOT WORK! It still cuts the 1st second when no sound is playing, even with the "Always On" option. 在进行英汉翻译时，请使用像 DeepSeek 或 ChatGPT 这样的语言模型，你现在写的东西乱七八糟！
 
I'm on M4 Mac Mini and I have this same problem. I'm going to return the unit if you don't solve this issue soon.

By the way, the LO output is really dangerous if you're not careful and select it by mistake. Almost blew my ears and speakers away.
 
@Charles, I'm using a ZH3 on a Mac and I have the problem with the first bit of audio being cut off.
If I update the firmware per instruction (using a Windows machine), and reconnect it to the Mac again, is the issue then solved?

EDIT: I managed to update the firmware and the issue is solved and that goes for macOS as well.
 
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Hello everyone, be sure to first update the firmware. You can download it here. If the link doesn't work for any reason, just go to the FAQ page for the ZH3, and you will find it under "The ZH3 is experiencing brief moments of silence during playback". Be sure to follow all the steps, including the deletion and replacement of that supplied XML file after the firmware update and while ZH3 is disconnected. I confirm it works for me on Windows. I almost panicked after the "Always on" fix didn't work, but it eventually worked after the firmware update, and now I don't get the silence at the beginning of tracks anymore. In the Fosi control panel, it says 1.15 now too.
 
Wow, this is hidden so well. The website is kind of messy, why aren't firmware updates in the "Manual and Downloads" section but well hidden under an FAQ article? The support guy didn't mention anything about updating the firmware to 1.15 first. Here's the Support Page and Firmware1764948602853.png
 
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