Installation-of-DOGE-7-on-your-PC
DOGE 7 uses a high-end USB chip called XMOS that allows playing files PCM files up to 384Khz and DSD files up to DSD 128, through the USB port of your PC, whereas most mass-market DACs have a limit of 96Khz.
The entry-level DACs that are only 96Khz compliant use the protocol USB Audio 1.0 which is supported natively in Windows 7, 8, and 10, whereas 192Khz and above USB chips use the USB Audio 2.0 protocol which is NOT natively supported by Window old version.
USB Audio 2.0 is however supported natively in Windows 10 & Apple’s MAC OS. The only requirement is you need to have an updated version of Windows 10. If you never updated your Windows 10 for 1 year it might not be recognized automatically.
In conclusion, due to the fact that the DOGE 7 uses a high-resolution XMOS chip, it is necessary to install an XMOS driver in order to play music from a Windows PC. The driver installation will take less than 5 minutes. The minimum hardware requirements for your PC are listed below.
> If you own a MAC, just check ” The requirements” section and then go directly to “installation part 3 ”
The requirements :
> a PC using Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 or a MAC using Mac OS 10.6.4 or later.
> Instead of writing many technical terms, we prefer to mention that you need to have a PC not too old, not older than 2010, to avoid hardware unmatching.
> You need an available USB 2.0 port or USB 3.0 port.
You need to have a recent and decent USB cable, certified USB 2.0. We strongly recommend using the USB cable supplied inside DOGE 7 carton. The said “audiophile” USB cables, that I call exotic cables, carry more troubles than improvements, in particular in 192Khz streaming. The no-name USB cables at $2.99 might also cause problems.
Personal message: “Mister the manufacturing high-end cables, please stay in your word. You are not IT person, you are analog persons and stop to do audiophiles USB or Ethernet cables. Stay humble. The bitrates in these cables for IT is 1000 time the bit rate of audio. So stay away from USB cables please”.
> The length of USB cable should not exceed 2 meters if you use 192Khz or above audio files. In case you need a longer length, you should buy the highest quality only and we can’t provide support if it fails.
The installation overview :
> If you use a MAC you don’t need it any driver installation, so go directly to “The installation (part 3)”.
> If you use a PC with Microsoft Windows 10, youdon’t need it any driver installation, so go directly to “The installation (part 3)”.
> ONLY IF you don’t have Windows 10, but Windows 7 or lower, please download this XMOS Windows driver for old Windows versions.
The installation process (part 1)
> You need absolutely to plug the DOGE 7 on your USB port through a USB cable during the installation of the driver otherwise it would fail.
> in case you have installed the driver without having plugged DOGE 7, then uninstall the driver through the Windows software installation console. Then plug DOGE 7 and install the driver again.
> the core installation process might last around 3mn as after the driver is installed, the latest version of Windows automatically run Windows update to see if there is a more recent version of the driver.
> at the end of the installation the DOGE 7 will appear in your audio devices under the name of name “XMOS” (who is the german manufacturer or the high speed USB chip we use).
The installation process (part 2 )
> If you use some of the 192Khz compliant players below, they have their own setting to select DOGE 7 as playing devices.
> If you use some “basic” players like Windows Media player, free media players or even more advanced players like iTunes you need to select the “XMOS speakers” in Sound setting on your PC in instead of the computer sound card. You do this in the Windows Control panel, Sound subfolder.
The installation process (part 3) (MAC owners only)
As said above, MAC OS includes natively the support of USB Audio 2.0 protocol that is used by the XMOS chip. So you do not need to install any driver. Just to do settings.
Please just go into you MAC OS Audio Settings and choose the “XMOS USB audio 2.0” as playing device.
Players advised (non-comprehensive list) :
192Khz or less : iTunes. We still think iTunes remains one of the best player for audio.
DSD compliant: JRiver, Audio Nirvana (Mac), Foobar
Please mail us to get DSD settings instructions in JRiver, Audio Nirvana and Foobar if you don’t succeed to choose the DOGE 7 as a playing device.
At Doge we strongly not recommend using DSD or MQA. We think they are a bad format for Audio. MQA because it is just BAD codec to make money and DSD because it has not really interest since less than 1% of Music in the world is available in DSD and it takes too much space and any study in blind A/B test succeeded to prove better quality.
Of course, we are at your service by email if some points remain unclear or if you encounter any problem during the installation process. support@doge.audio