M2TECH HiFace TWO User manual

M2TECH
HI FACE Two
192 K H Z /24BIT DIGITAL AUDIO INTERFACE
USER MANUAL
REV. 1.0 – /2013

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
Copyright © 2013, M2Tech Srl
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M2Tech
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Warning!
Changes or modifications not authorized by the manufacturer can invalidate the
compliance to CE regulations and cause the unit to be no more suitable to use. The
manufacturer refuses every responsibility regarding damages to people or things
due to the use of a unit which has been subject to unauthorized modifications or to
misuse or to malfunction of a unit which has been subject to unauthorized
modifications.
This unit is compliant with the following CE regulations when an US cable less than 3m is used: CEI EN
55022:2009 Class (Radiated Emissions), CEI EN 55024:1999, CEI EN 55024:A2/2003, CEI EN
55024:IS1/2008 (Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, 50Hz Magnetic Field Immunity Test and
Electrostatic Discharges – ESD).
Recycling
The label above, printed on the product case, indicates that the product, when no more usable, can’t be
treated as generic garbage, but must be disposed of at a collection point for recycling of electrical and
electronic equipment, in compliance with the WEEE regulation (Waste of Electrical and Electronic
Equipment).
y making sure that this unit is correctly recycled, you will help preventing potential damages to environment
and human health, which could be caused by a wrong treatment of this product as generic garbage.
Materials recycling helps saving natural resources. For more in-depth information about recycling this
product, please contact M2Tech Srl.
WARNING: the information contained in this manual are considered to be reliable and accurate.
2Tech reserves the right to change or modify the information any time, without prior advice. It’s up
to the customer to ensure that the manual being consulted is the latest version.

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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Dear customer,
thank you for purchasing hi F ace T wo. What you have is a first-rate US -to-S/PDIF
converter with many unique features conceived to obtain the best audio performance out
of a music file.
Even if getting digital music out of a PC, a Mac or a Linux computer is nowadays quite
simple, much harder is to obtain the best sonic performance from it, due to intrinsic limits
in US 1.1 audio standard and the implementation of digital audio interfaces in computers.
Please visit M2Tech website (www.m2tech.biz) to find extensive literature about this topic.
hi F ace T wo overcomes all the limits of usual US -to-audio interfaces by exploiting the
powerful performance allowed by US 2.0 Audio class and by using asynchronous data
transfer, along with a sophisticated electronic design.
hi F ace T wo is available with either RCA or true 75 Ohms output connector which suites
virtually all DAC’s and A/V receivers around.
We feel that your expectations will be fulfilled by hi F ace T wo: you’ll hear your DAC and
your music files in a way like never before, prepare for a whole new experience!
Nadia Marino, CEO
Please annotate here your hi F ace T wo serial number and purchase date for future
reference:
Serial number: ___________________________
Date of purchase: _________________________

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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INDEX
1. Connections ...................................................................................................................5
2. Connection to the host..................................................................................................6
3. True plug’n’play operation with ac............................................................................7
4. True plug’n’play operation with Linux .........................................................................9
5. Operation with iPad and Android-based tablets .......................................................10
5. Windows driver installation ........................................................................................11
5.1. Obtaining the driver .................................................................................................11
5.2. Installing the driver on a Windows-based PC (XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows
8, 32 & 64 bits) ...............................................................................................................11
5.2.1. Checking for right installation and trying the interface ......................................15
5.3. Unistalling the driver................................................................................................17
6. Configuring the computer to use hi
hihi
hiF
FF
Face
aceace
ace T
TT
Two
wowo
wo ...........................................................20
6.1. Configuring a PC with Windows XP ........................................................................20
6.1.1. Configuring for Direct Sound with Windows XP................................................20
6.1.2. Configuring for ASIO with Windows XP ............................................................21
6.2. Configuring a PC with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 ...........................22
6.2.1. Configuring for Direct Sound with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8...22
6.2.2. Configuring for Kernel Streaming with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
....................................................................................................................................23
6.2.3. Configuring for WASAPI with Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 .........23
6.2.4. Configuring for ASIO with Windows Vista, Windows 7or Windows 8................23
7. Configuring the player for Kernel Streaming: two examples...................................24
7.1. Foo ar ....................................................................................................................24
7.2. Winamp and MediaMonkey.....................................................................................25
8. Configuring the player for WASAPI: two examples..................................................27
8.1. Foo ar ....................................................................................................................27
8.2. JRiver ......................................................................................................................28
9. Configuring the player for ASIO: an example ...........................................................28
9.1. Foo ar ....................................................................................................................28
10. Interface Special Features ........................................................................................30
10.1. Precision oscillators...............................................................................................30
10.2. Asynchronous transfer mode ................................................................................30
10.3. Output connector choice .......................................................................................30
10.4. Powering the hiFace Two with an external power supply .....................................30
11. Technical Specifications ...........................................................................................31

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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1. Connections
Figure 1
1) USB input. Connect directly to the US 3.0 or 2.0 or 1.1* port of a PC, Mac or Linux-
based computer, or use an US extender (A male to A female). In the latter, the extender
must be compliant with US 2.0 and less than 3m, otherwise the bus performance will
decrease and the correct operation of the interface will not be guaranteed. US type A
male connector
2) S/PDIF output. Connect to the DAC input with a 75 Ohms digital cable. RCA male
connector or NC 75 Ohms male connector.
* hi F ace T wo performance on US 1.1 are limited to 96kHz. Please note that 1.0 ports
won’t work.
1
2

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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2. Connection to the host
ADVICE: Windows users must install the driver prior to connecting the hiFace to the
PC (please refer to section 5).
Please refer to section 1, “Connections”.
Connect the hi F ace T wo to the host US 2.0 port by inserting its US plug (Figure 1, 1)
into the host socket. If straight insertion is difficult or when in need of avoiding straight
insertion, an US 2.0 extender cable (A male to A female) can be used. Please avoid
using extenders more than 4m, to avoid invalidating the bus performance.
If your computer has a Windows operating system and a driver hasn’t been installed prior
connecting the hi F ace T wo, an error message may appear and you may need to
disconnect the hi F ace T wo and install the driver (see section 5.3).

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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3. True plug’n’play operation with ac
Mac computers with OSX 10.6.4 and later have a native support for audio devices
compliant with US Audio Class 2.0. This means that the driver is already included in the
operating system and the user needs not to install anything: just connect the hi F ace T wo
to your Mac and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use. Macs with
older OS need update to use the hi F ace T wo.
To use hi F ace T wo as output device for your Mac, you need to select it as default output
device from the Audio Control Panel (Preferences -> Sound) as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2
After selecting hi F ace T wo, please check settings, particularly the output sampling
frequency (Figure 3): that setting forces the sampling frequency for the hi F ace T wo,
regardless the native sampling frequency of the various tracks being played back (to get
rid of such unease operation mode, you may want to use a player which automatically
changes this setting based on each track’s native sampling frequency, Like Sonic Studio’s
Amarra or PureMusic).

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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M2Tech
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Figure 3

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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4. True plug’n’play operation with Linux
Linux has a native support for audio devices compliant with US Audio Class 2.0 based on
ALSA. This means that the driver is already included in the operating system and the user
needs not to install anything: just connect the hi F ace T wo to your PC with Linux and it will
be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use. ALSA version needs to be 1.0.24
or later.
To use hi F ace T wo as output device, select it as default output device for the system or
for the player you’re using.

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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5. Operation with iPad and Android-based tablets
iPad also supports US Audio Class 2.0. This means that it is possible to connect the
hi F ace T wo to an iPad through the latter’s camera kit, which exports a high speed host
US port. The limited supply current required by the hi F ace T wo makes it possible to
power it even by the reduced current capabilities provided by the iPad.
Once the hi F ace T wo is connected, the iPad automatically set it as default output device.
Android tablets may potentially use the hi F ace T wo, provided they have a 2.0 or 1.1 US
host port capable of at least 100mA output current and ALSA or any other audio
management module compliant with US Audio Class 2.0. Please refer to the tablet’s
specification chart.

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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M2Tech
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5. Windows driver installation
5.1. Obtaining the driver
The Windows driver for hi F ace T wo is available on the M2Tech website, in the download
page (www.m2tech.biz/download.asp). Download the exe file containing the driver
package and save it to a folder in your PC. This is a self-extracting file which will deliver a
folder. Double-click on it to extract the folder. Please pay attention to the location where
the folder will be extracted to avoid losing it into the hard disk (Figure 4).
Figure 4
5.2. Installing the driver on a Windows-based PC (XP, Vista, Windows 7
and Windows 8, 32 & 64 bits)
Uninstall older driver version if already installed (see section 5.3). Then follow the
instruction to successfully install the driver. Please note that the pictures in this Section are
taken from installation process for either Window 7 and Windows 8: the process is
basically the same and also applies to Windows XP and Vista.
Open the folder produced by the self-extracting exe file. Double-click on “setup.exe” and
follow the indications provided by the setup program. First, the installation wizard will ask
for authorization to start installation (Figure 5). Accept.

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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Figure 5
Then, the wizard will check for system features. At a certain point, it will ask you to plug
the hi F ace T wo in one of the US ports (Figure 6).
Figure 6

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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Follow the indications and plug the device in one port, then click on “Install”. You will be
asked to follow the destination folder (Figure 7).
Figure 7
The installation process continues showing the progress (Figure 8).
Figure 8

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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At the end of the installation process, the wizard notify the completion (Figure 9).
Figure 9
Clock on “Next”: the installation is almost completed (Figure 10). Click on “Finish” to
complete the installation.
Figure 10

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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At the end of the installation process, the US Audio Class control panel is running and
you can open it by clicking on the red “T” to the bottom right of the desktop (Figure 11) to
check and select various operation options.
Figure 11
5.2.1. Checking for right installation and trying the interface
From Control Panel -> Audio select the hi F ace T wo in the “Playback” tab and then choose
Properties. This windows also allows you to set hi F ace T wo as default output device,
which is mandatory when user needs to use hi F ace T wo to listen to Youtube files audio
and other streaming sources (Figure 12).
Select the Advanced tab, from the drop down window choose the desired audio sample
rate and then try it out: you should hear a bell ringing in your system’s speakers.
Also check the Exclusive Mode acces boxes. In this way the running player will take the
exclusive access to the device, ensuring high end performance. Warning: this modality is
not appropriate for the shared access, for instance when user sets hi F ace T wo as the
default output audio device: in this case, multiple access would be desirable.

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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Figure 12

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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5.3. Unistalling the driver
Sometimes it is necessary to uninstall the driver to roll back to a previous version. Uninstall
is a quite simple procedure.
Go to the control panel and launch the “Application Installation” utility (Figure 13).
Look for the hi F ace T wo driver item in the list. Double-click on it to launch uninstalling.
Figure 13
The installation wizard, which also handles uninstalling, will show up (Figure 14 on next
page). Click on “Uninstall” to start uninstalling.

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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Figure 14
At this point, the wizard will show up the installation progress (Figure 15), up to the end.
Figure 15

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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After the uninstalling of all files related to the driver is complete, the “Next” button will be
enabled. Click on it. The final message will appear (Figure 16). Click on “Finish” to
complete uninstalling.
Figure 16

hi F ace T wo
192 k H z /24bit digital audio interface
REVISION 1.0 – MAY 2013
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6. Configuring the computer to use hi
hihi
hi F
FF
F ace
aceace
ace T
TT
T wo
wowo
wo
6.1. Configuring a PC with Windows XP
A PC with Windows XP can use hi F ace T wo in two different ways: Direct Sound (DS)*
and ASIO. The first mode is suitable for most players, such as Windows Media Player and
iTunes, or for Internet streaming, while the second can be chosen (for better performance)
with players which can operate in ASIO mode. ASIO is widely used by professional audio
software tools and ensures bit-perfect performance.
*Please note that DS mode doesn’t allow for hi-end performance, as the various audio
streams from various sources (OS synthetizer, Windows sounds, audio player…) are
mixed together. This mode is nevertheless mandatory when enjoying streaming material,
such as Youtube videos or Spotify programmes.
6.1.1. Configuring for Direct Sound with Windows XP
Connect hi F ace T wo to your PC. Then, go to the Control Panel and launch the Sound and
Audio Peripherals utility.
Select the Audio tab. In the Predefined Peripheral drop-down menu of the Playback area,
select “M2Tech Audio 2.0 Output” (see figure 17).