I have been enjoying my ds dac since October and must say it is the best dac I have yet heard. But ever since day one I have had this “static click” over my speakers that accompanies each push of the remote volume control. Does anyone else have this issue?
Thanks.
John
Welcome, John
I have not experienced this. Is it possible another piece of equipment (anything in the area with a remote control) is responding and putting a little noise on the line or otherwise responding?
I have reported these tics too.
Thanks Elk and Frode.
My son has a ds dac also and his is dead quiet in his system. Logistics has thus far prevented us from swapping units for testing, but hopefully we can do this in the near future.
Is this a normal occurance then for some users
My concern, of course, is that this characteristic implies some problem or deficiency in my unit. But I have not heard any obvious other problems.
John
From past experience, this is usually due to improper grounding somewhere. Ground current is traveling to the amp and getting amplified.
Thanks coli.
I’m not sure where to begin to track down a ground issue. Right now I use my preamp to drive my amp, but I did try direct from the ds dac and still got the clicking. I had used two other amps also and still had the clicking. I tried anslogue out from my cd player and still had the clicking.
I am going to arrange to swap with my son and see if it is a system or dac issue. That should guide me to the proper next step.
I meant to say digital out from my cd player (using coax) to the ds dac.
Paul posted this in Support last year, might help,
powerfreq said Thanks coli.Post your entire system setup, including what connections and types are between them.I’m not sure where to begin to track down a ground issue. Right now I use my preamp to drive my amp, but I did try direct from the ds dac and still got the clicking. I had used two other amps also and still had the clicking. I tried anslogue out from my cd player and still had the clicking.
I am going to arrange to swap with my son and see if it is a system or dac issue. That should guide me to the proper next step.
Also, how are the power cables connected, are they all on the same strip, and do they all have 3 prong plugs.
I had this issue before, it was due to the linear power supply for the PC not grounding the PC so the HDMI cable became the grounding conductor… I could hear CPU noise!
Yours is different of course. One of the possibility is the cable shield/ground is broken.
Your issue is not a ground loop, those are easy to solve.
Coli,
My present setup consists of a MB Pro connected via MIT usb cable to my ds dac. I use audirvana plus as my player on the mbp. The ds dac is connected using balanced PAD Aqueous Aureous praesto revision ic’s to my Cary SLP05 preamp. Output from preamp to balanced inputs on Cambridge 851w power amp using Acoustic Zen matrix refII cables. Speakers are currently Goldenear Triton Sevens connected via Acoustic Zen Satori cables with spades both ends.
All power cables are three-pronged with ground pins except for my mbp, (2) usb drives and a clamp-on light which are all two-pronged. I use two Porter power port wall outlets. Both outlets on same 20a circuit. My power amp is the only device plugged into outlet 1. My PS Audio Quintette is the only item plugged into outlet 2. Four of the Quintette outlets only have one input, consisting of the ds dac, mbp, usb drive 1 or 2 (I only connected a single drive at any one time) and Cary preamp. The last Quintette outlet is shared by my marantz SACD player and Woo GES headphone amp (for my Stax 009 phones). The Woo GES is never turned on when I am listening over my speaker and the SACD player is normally off also. My power cord inventory is as follows: Acoustic Zen Tsunami III to the amp, ESP Essence Reference to the preamp, PSA plus SC to the ds dac, JPS digital AC+ to the SACD player and PSA plus to the Woo. Another PSA plus conects the Quintette to wall outlet 2.
I never really though about this before, but your request makes consider what else I have on the other two outlets in the the room which are on the same 20a circuit. Could they be the transmitters of the remote noise? OK, so I also have a PSA noise harvester plugged into a third outlet in the room. In the fourth outlet I have a generic power strip and table lamp plugged in. Into to the power strip are plugged my cell phone charger, Apple airport extreme wireless router, panasonic home phone charger and the power cord for my internet/phone service cable modem box that connects to the panasonic phone base station and my router. Is it possible that one of these latter devices is receiving/transmitting the remote clicking into my system? I guess I could run an extesion cord from another room/circuit and plug the generic power strip into that and see what happens. I will do so later today.
Whew, I hope I got it all and that this gives you some idea as to what the most likely cause could be. Thanks so much for your time and suggestions.
John
powerfreq said Into to the power strip are plugged my cell phone charger, Apple airport extreme wireless router, panasonic home phone charger and the power cord for my internet/phone service cable modem box that connects to the panasonic phone base station and my router. Is it possible that one of these latter devices is receiving/transmitting the remote clicking into my system?It is possible. A simple test is to unplug and disconnect them and see.
I enjoy "Aqueous Aureus- Praesto " as a name. It sounds like it should be the nom de plume of a Mediterranean poet.
Alrighty, first do the swap with your son 
Then if it’s your system, try the following
Replace PS Audio Quintette with a basic strip (no surge protection, no other features).
Run the MBP on battery.
Disconnect the USB drive.
Disconnect power cord of the other devices, marantz SACD player ,Woo GES headphone amp, etc.
Do you have network cable or wireless? If ethernet disconnect it from MBP. To be safe, I would disconnect internet lines from modem and power cord as well. Disconnect PSA noise harvester .
Check if your house grounding has solid connection to earth. (You may also want to check the outlet using something like http://www.tasco-usa.com/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7 , but you can skip this for now)
See if you still got that noise. And is it quieter or not.
Coli,
I disconnected EVERYTHING on the circuit except for preamp, ds dac and power amp. Noise still present. I connected to an integrated amp and disconnected the preamp and the noise was still present. Connected direct from ds dac to power amp and noise still present.
So I guess the final check will be swapping of ds dacs with my son. Maybe i can arrange that by next weekend. I’m sure gonna try.
So if it is found to be my ds dac, I guess I would have to contact PS Audio for warranty support assistance.
Frode, did you resolve your clicking issue and if so, how?
Thanks.
John
No it is not solved.
It is 1 tick for each volume increment on the DS display.
The most problematic is DSD source material (dff).
If I turn up the preamp volume the clicks get louder, so the clicks are superimposed on the signal.
I may do a new test and compare it with my previous notes.
I am using the DS I2s input.
Sounds like it’s the DS then, keep us updated.
Two things, unless I missed this earlier.
1)Try reloading the OS (because, well, just because)
2)If your son’s DS is quiet, keep it!
The ticks are not OS dependent. I have had it on several of the latest firmwares.
I’ve been trying to figure out what might be causing it, but to no avail. When John gets to try his son’s we might get more info.
That’s fine.
In the mean time I will do some more research to be absolutely certain that what I am saying is consistent. I am currently at work now.
wglenn/Frode,
I too had the noise with 1.2.1. And the level is directly related to my preamp’s output setting.
I had described the sound as a click, but it is really more like a staccato electronic “pfffftt”.
Doing some additional checking and paying close attention to EXACTLY what happens, I have discovered that the noise is actually not constant in its behavior. In fact there are times when it doesn’t even occur (maybe 1 out of 5-7) and it may also fade after many up volume presses. Furthermore,I have observed that it normally DOES NOT occur during down volume presses. And when it does occur it is normally very faint.
Just to give you a reference to the level of the clicks, when my preamp is set so that normal music is in the 75-78 db range at my listening position 9-10’ from the speakers, I can just make out the noise. But my son with his better ears easily heard it from that listening position. Of course within a couple feet of the speaker it is quite obvious to anyone.
Because I have a second identical remote that I had previously ordered when I had my PWD, I also tried that one hoping that it was a remote-related issue, but it isn’t. Exact same behavior.
So I guess the fact that this is not a consistant, repeatable issue really complicates the problem. I hope to get my son’s dac in for a try later this week.
Thanks again for your interest and suggestions.
John