M1 Mac Mini USB audio crackling
New M1 Mac Mini - USB 2.0 audio out into DAC has horrible crackling sound. It's utterly unusable.
It's definitely the Mac, and definitely the USB.
Headphone output is fine.
The DAC is fine, since it's happy with the iPhone, a tablet, and even the older (2012) mac mini. They sound great. No crackling whatever.
I've tried every option of the Midi audio setup's choices of bit rate / frequency, it makes no difference.
I'm concerned this is basically going to render my new Mac useless for enjoying quality audio. Do not want rice krispies in my music! Thanks if anyone knows what's causing the problem / how to fix.
Mac mini, macOS 10.15