What is causing these strange THD vs Frequency results at 96k and 192?

Chuck Zwicky

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REW 5.30 Beta 4
MacOS 14.1.1
Mac Mini Intel 6-core i7

I've been frustrated by these strange THD vs Frequency results when testing a variety of interfaces at 96kHz and 192kHz sample rates.

I've experimented with different buffer settings in the I/O device settings in the preferences, and with different sweep lengths and repetitions, but I cannot get a consistent reading.

I suspect that this is a synch error somewhere, I'm using a standard setup - 2 channels to the DAC output, looped into the ADC inputs using the loopback as the timing reference.

REW 96k Timing Anomaly sweep 3.jpg
REW 96k Timing Anomaly sweep 2.jpg
REW 96k Timing Anomaly sweep 1.jpg
REW 96k Timing Anomaly sweep 4.jpg
REW 96k Timing Anomaly sweep 5.jpg
REW 96k Timing Anomaly sweep 6.jpg


At lower sample rates with the same settings, no anomalies:

REW 96k Timing sans anomaly sweep 8.jpg
REW 96k Timing sans anomaly sweep 7.jpg
 
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John Mulcahy

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Probably dropouts or buffer overruns from other activity pushing REW into the background too long. Try fewer, shorter sweeps.
 

Chuck Zwicky

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I had tried different sweep lengths, but no improvement - interesting that it's only happening above 88.2kHz
 

John Mulcahy

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Are you setting the sample rate in the Audio Midi Setup utility to match the REW rate?
 

Chuck Zwicky

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Yes, I'm checking the sample rates in REW, in Audio MIDI setup and at the interface driver software.
Normally I set the interface first (Audio MIDI setup automatically follows) then I set the sample rate in REW

Note: in REW after changing the sample rate, sometimes you need to toggle the I/O buffer setting (switch to a different setting and back again) before it will pass signal.
 

BSL8068

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Chuck
Did you ever figure this out? I've been seeing the same thing, but it seems random. Some measurements are good, and some have this issue. At 96k or 88.2
Thanks
Brad
 

Chuck Zwicky

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Hi Brad,

Johns suggestions seem sound, though nothing definitive was ever discovered. I haven't run any sweeps at those x2 or x4 sample rates in a while, probably a good time to re-test.
 
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