The Multiwave is magic on Strata. 
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@jamesh Just tried it again tonight, and it did it again. This time I plugged the Strata into the wall, so itās definitely not the SP3. I wonder if it has something to do with the amp being cold?
Upon startup, there is a small boom from the sub (REL clone, black wire grounded onto the Strata) and larger boom upon shutdown.
I tried it again about 2h later and it worked the first time. I have to let more hours pass before being able to replicate the problem. Hope that helps.
Does your REL clone have a Class D or AB amp? How are you grounding it to the Strata?
I should know the answer to this but donāt. Do all inputs on the Strata, analog and digital, go through the Strata DAC?
No, there is no ADC. Analog goes into the Preamp / GainCell.
Got it. Thanks.
Best,
Jim
Itās a clone of a class A/B REL. Grounding it with the black wire to the ground lug. Thatās the way it was on my Exposure amp and I never had the boom.
Can anybody tell me why I shouldnāt volume trim all my inputs to the max? Wouldnāt that give me the maximum gain for the amp? Does distortion set in or what? Feels like having trim at zero is leaving either voltage or current (Iām not an engineer) on the table.
Do you mean the speaker negative or is there a ground lug on the amp thatās not shown in the photoās on the website. Your Exposure was a Class AB amp and the Strata has a Class D Ice module in it which handles ground differently. The negative speaker terminals are not true ground but floating. You can try running a SE cable from an unused input on the Strata to the LFE input and see if adding that extra ground point solves the problem or run another piece of wire from the ground wire of the sub to another grounding point.
Did your Schiit Mani arrive? What have you thought of it so far? I ordered one also, and mine just arrived today. I am really happy with it. I should mention that I purchased a Bellari SE560 Sonic Exciter about 2 months ago. I had been using it as a phono preamp for the Sprout100. The Bellari adds just over 19 db of gain and has bass and treble controls. I have it running along with the Schiit Mani and they are really a fantastic combination? The Bellari sells for about $100 and is really worth the investment. Just thought Iād mention that to you.
Stu (YellowMustang)
Aphex make a range of Aural Exciters (they add controlled amount of harmonic distortion, amongst other things). I wonder if this is in that sort of area?
Yes, I used the lug badbeef shows. The photos on the website are not the final product.
@jamesh, the plot thickens. The engineers are going to like this oneā¦
This morning I go back down there to see if enough time as passed I can replicate the headphone problem once again. I play a CD and before I have a chance to power the strata, I hear music out the speakers. I am 100% certain of this as I sat there for a few minutes listening to it.
- Strata was plugged into PS3 which had been on all night
- Strata was idle (rocker switch ON but blue logo off)
- CD player playing music while Strata still on idle
- I hear James Brown through the speakers at low level - iād say unamplified, maybe what youād get @ vol 0-2 if Strata was ON
- Pressed the blue logo and speakers came to life amplified (correct behavior).
- Plug in headphone and speakers mute right away (correct behavior).
- Idle Strata with CD still playing and no music at all through speakers (correct behavior).
- Tried it all again but Strata now behaved normally.
Iāll try to film it all next time. Meanwhile Iād be curious if the other beta tester can replicate the problem:
- plug in a source, ideally CD, into inputs 1 RCA and 5 coax. (I think itās the RCA input doing this as I cannot see the DAC functioning on idle power but iāll have to test that later)
- leave Strata alone on idle (blue logo off) for a while (iād say overnight)
- play CD first, leave Strata idle
- does sound come out of speakers?
So in total I have:
- Strata plays sound @ zero volume (reported by others)
- Strata plays sound (unamplified iād say) even on idle
- After long period on idle, headphones require plug/unplug/replug to mute the speakers
- Subwoofer booms on startup (less) and idling down (more) and rocker switch off (big boom)
I think a relay or something inside the Strata is not turning itself on/off properly. Sounds great though. You could turn it into marketing copy (marketing guy speaking):
āStrata, the amp so musical it sounds musical even when itās offā
āThere are no bugs, only features.ā - Microsoft.
Hey Stu @YellowMustang , I did receive the Mani. Iām very happy with it as well! I had been waiting for a second AQ Evergreen RCA cable to arrive to better evaluate, and it just arrived yesterday. I did a bunch of late night listening with it last night and Iām very impressed. The speakers just disappear and at low volume levels there was still body. Iād like to do some A/B comparisons to the Sprout100ās phono preamp this weekend to confirm. Iām not sure I feel a need right now for something like the Bellari you mention but you never know. 
Similar experience: switching between CD on input 1 and input 5. For a while coax stopped working. Back to normal after reboot.
I was messing with the volume trimming last night and the unit randomly goes quiet and requires a reboot.
Weāre on it. Programmingās figured it out. Expect a code update shortly.
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Thanks for these Yann. Iāve been in touch with Barry and team quite a bit regrading these various features ( 
). Iāve talked with Bob about the sub pop as well. Heās looking into it now.
Can you add more trim to the volume trimming? Or will this degrade SQā¦ asking for a friend @J_Scott