Schiit DAC Crashes Audirvana

Sounds like you’re not new to computers and DAC’s, but I’ll ask anyway
- have you made sure the latest versions/updates of the MAC OS and Audirvana are installed?
- this was the bulk of the issues I had with my Bifrost

I ran the Bifrost for couple of years and it uses the same USB interface card as the Gungnir.
Only problems I had were software related.

Does it play for a little while and then crash
- or does Audirvana crash immediately when you turn the DAC on?
- is it related to sample rate of the track?
- or do all rates cause it to crash?

Have you tried playing music straight from iTunes - i.e. without Audirvana in the mix?
- if it does not play just using only iTunes - it may be the USB interface card at fault

Have you tried emailing ...
- Damien at Audirvana
- he’s very helpful - and wil walk you through how get diagnostics from Audirvana

- Support at Schiit - maybe it’s the USB interface having an issue?

The above will assist in debugging your issue - thanks

The Gungnir is a very good DAC, but sometimes manufacturing issues creep into even the best of products.

It's also been very well "proven" in both Windows and MAC environments using many different interface programs similar to Audirvana, so I would not give up on it just yet. It is a keeper once you get over this problem

Regards... 

@cdc2 - I am so glad a solution was forthcoming. Now you will be able to enjoy extraordinary sound quality from the gungnir.

Having said that - IF you are using the Gungnir's  USB interface I would recommend you at least employ the following in order to maximize SQ

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-supply-and-USB-cable-separate-audio-signal-cable-/251589388236

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/ENERCELL-1-5A-MICRO-USB-BLACK-5V-AC-ADAPTER-CHARGER-SMARTPHONES-MP3-RARE/3225...

The dual cables provides more complete signal transfer because the signal line is separate and the power supply provides a more stable voltage fpr the DAC's USB interface to work with.

One problem in using the 5V supply on the computer is that it becomes less stable each the computers hard drive is accessed - not to mention all of the other circuitry inside.

There are other similar cables & adapters on the market, but these two provide excellent improvements in sound quality for a reasonable outlay

I tried several different cables and I think the Doukmall cable provided the best sound. I've also tried different power supplies and found the Enercell to be just as effective as a good batter power supply.

To improve my sound quality even further I invested in a V-link192 USB-SPDIF converter - it proved to be the icing on the cake

There are many more similar USB devices designed to improve the performance of  your computers USB port, but the cost rises as their technology gets more complex.

Personally, I finally decided that using Ethernet was a better solution for accessing music files on my NAS drive - so I opted to replace the v-link192 & Bifrost with a Bluesound Node-2
- life has actually got a lot simpler now the computer has been removed from the mix.
- the sound quality of the Node-2's on-board DAC and associated analogue output stage also improved - beyond my expectations
- The V-link192 and Bifrost are no longer in my system

Hope this helps