If you go the USB Route. You can benefit sound further using HDMI shorting plugs on both i2S1 and i2s2. These can be made by connecting pins1 through 12 in a male HDMI plug.
The MK2 is supposed to be able to deactivate these circuits and USB slso. I have found the shorting plugs work better than the sofiin wuieing the unused inputs.
The shorting pins may be a benefit if those inputs are not terminated by a source but I do not believe that there would be any benefit of someone who have those ports used plugging and unplugging sources and shorting pins.
Digital cables make a stark difference from my own experience also. There are many more high-quality USB cables than HDMI cables out there so I tended to think using a great USB cable for MK2 will bring out the best of it.
I am using I2S 2 and USB input from MK2, and when I first inserted the shorting plug at I2S 1 I was surprised to hear an obvious improvement too. It never left MK2 since. I wonder if the final Massive update will eliminate the need for a shorting plug.
Well the beta version of massive supposedly enabled the shut off of unused inputs. My gut feeling theyāre constantly querying to see if a new source is plugged in so they arenāt truly deactivated. This is something only Ted could tell us. But when shorted it sure gets quieter. I didnāt notice until I knocked a shorting plug out accidentally and had to go hunting on what changed to my previous black background. I need to modify my shorting plugs since they are interfering with the button head screws for the i2s connector and donāt fully engage like the tubulus HDMI cord. I will have to get out the dremel and hog out a relief for the fasteners heads so the shorting plugs fully seat. I hope PS audio improved design so feed through connectors fasten in back panel with countersink screws on the non beta units.
Remember that before he left the forum, JK Richards noted that some of the MkIIās heād seen did not have the metal āfingersā aligned properly inside the chassis so that the shorting function would even work. I seem to recall in one case he found at least one that was broken. If you all have already checked inside on this then you already know.
Thatās a good point. I have my shorting plugs wrapped in copper foil and they touch the button head screws thus then short out the i2s circuit to ground. That might be why the software functions donāt seem to work. But JK fixed Donaldās unit and he still hears an improvement with one shorting plug.
Tony,
The Metal fingers you are speaking of are only for EMI reduction to meet European standards and are not involved in any of the grounding options. I made the same mistake and I believe James corrected that misinformation. the shorting pins are only using actual contacts of the HDMI connection.
The Automatic option does turn off the unused inputs. There is no polling to detect a signal as when you change the input the circuit brings the selected input active and disables the unused one. You can easily prove this function by booting up a usb connected computer without having usb selected on the DAC. You will find the computer does not see the driver for the DAC.
Either James or Paul posted this information. I do not recall who and I am unable to locate the post.
So how do you test the auto turn off function for all the other inputs. If USB is your primary input?
Select another input before you boot up the computer. With Windows you will not see the driver active.
I will remove the shorting plug later, and listen to for a day to see if I am having a brain fart.
Wait, Iām supposed to try a different mixing of Puritan and P15 today too. Well, I have three days left before I shut down the system for a couple of weeks (Japanš±).
I think this might be it maybe?
Well done!
Thank you
Thanks for the correction, John. I missed that post.
Well, I still like JKās shorting plug inserted even though I had i2s 1 set to auto shutdown. I cannot pinpoint the improvement, but when it was removed within a few minutes the music no longer had the same smoothness. I almost needed a drink this early in the afternoon. Then I plugged the HDMI shorting plug back, and I saved a drink.
If you had another i2s component connected to that input you would not be playing with shorting pins.
I also own one of JKās HDMI shorting plugs, which I havenāt been using because of the supposed input shut-off feature. Right now my unused I2s input is set to Auto. If I insert the plug, should I change it to āOnā?
In case youāre only monitoring this thread, we just launched the final version of Massive Firmware for the MK2.
This is a huge release so if youāre an MK2 owner (or prospective owner) nowās the time to upgrade to nirvana!