topic Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work in Desktop (Windows)

Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

Bisli — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 15:35:48 GMT

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Desktop version

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

At the PC a USB sound card of the model "Creative Sound BlasterX G6" is used.
If you start the Spotify desktop application and in Windows the Sound Blaster is specified as output source, the playback of any title is not possible.
The message "Spotify cannot play this at the moment ..." appears.
As workarround only the restart of Spotify after changing the output source to the onboardsoundcard works. If you select the USB DAC while Spotify is running, everything works as expected.

Will there be a fix for this problem?

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

Ver — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 14:55:08 GMT

Hey @Bisli,

Thanks for getting in touch with us and welcome to the Community 🙂

If the issue occurs while using an external sound card, we'd suggest you get in touch with the sound card's manufacturer to report this. Maybe a fix can be added to future driver updates.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll be happy to help.

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

CesarVA — Sun, 13 Dec 2020 22:40:59 GMT

I have the same problem... Will there be a fix for this problem?

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

CarlosE — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 19:25:24 GMT

Hey there @CesarVA,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community and welcome!

Although we currently don't have any more info on this, as @Ver mentioned above, we recommend getting in touch with the sound card's manufacturer so they can look into it and hopefully add a fix in the future.

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, give us a shout.

Cheers!

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

Bisli — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 08:10:48 GMT

The cause of the problem has been identified by Creative. Spotify has a problem with a sampling rate higher than 192 kHz. If the sampling rate is set to a higher value on the sound card, Spotify refuses to play any songs.

If the sampling rate is set to 192 kHz, Spotify works without restrictions. In my opinion, it should be in the interest of Creative and Spotify to find a different solution here. The user does not get any clues about the cause of the problem from Spotify's behavior.

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

Bronko73 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:32:19 GMT

I can confirm that this error is related to the sampling rate defined in your DAC / Soundcard.

Yesterday I bought a new DAC allowing me to use 32 bit / 384khz.

Since then I experience the error, that my music cannot played anymore (one or two songs are started for zero seconds and afterwards nothing / no sound at all).

When I change to 16 bit / 192khz the spotify desktop app works fine.

This happens ONLY in the Windows desktop app and is apperently not related to the soundcard/dac.

When using The Web Player on the same PC with 32 bit / 384khz in audio device settings it works fine.

--> The Windows 10 app is bugged.

I saw several posts by spotify support about this problem which where posted during the last years. Apparently they did not understand the problem until today.

Seeing the above posts and answers refering to "contact the soundcards manufacturer" makes me angry due to obvious incompetence ...or worse due to their ignorance.

Regards

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

Qboool — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 20:46:51 GMT

Hi any update about this case? We have 2024 and issue still persist.

Re: Playback with Sound BlasterX G6 (External USB DAC and Amp) does not work

LAP87 — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 19:36:34 GMT

Spotify really needs to fix the windows app.. jesus, why is this still an issue? i had just dusted off my G6 because i wanted to listen to some new IEM's i bought and been tearing my hair out all weekend over this!!!
Quickfix is to switch playback device to something so spotify starts playing, then switch back to the DAC and it should keep going from there.