What I2S cable are you using? Just a suggestion Maybe try a different one.
TBH - your experience feels like a faulty unit in some way. I literally plugged my Onix into the PMG512 using the default Pin (1) out via a Veritas Cable Optimus 100 I2S cable and had to do nothing else. I have heard no clicks or pops, no issue reading SACDs vs CDs etc. The unit may be faulty?
Iām sure they want to do that, problem is there arenāt any available. The very limited number of SACD drives still in production are, per Paul, not available for third party use.
Oh, exactly! SACD discs can be read only with a 650nm red laser, which is to say, the same laser as a DVD but not CD and not Blu Ray. And we all know what has happened to the DVD market. I was at AXPONA earlier this month and Harmon International (Marantz, Denon) told me that they are still making them for their own systems. There is also Shanling, and my transport is an Onix which is owned by Shanling. There may be others. Whichever way you go, the drives in these systems are probably of Chinese manufacturer and intended for their own product. I imagine that is what Paul is finding out. So PS Audio has few to no choices here. The only other thing that PS Audio can do is cede the SACD transport market to other brands and make their DACs compatible with them (ie, in my case, design an Onix Zenith compatibility mode into their DACS) which understandably would be a hard pill for PS Audio to swallow and would lead to a number of support problems and headaches, not to mention cost.
Your suggestion is a valid one. My cable is a new HDMI 2.1-compatible cable said to be high bandwidth, etc for 8k television. HDMI defines all 19 pins in the connector so I am fairly sure they are all interconnected, and the specs make it more than compatible with I2S requirements. So the only question in my mind is whether it is defective; it is made in China and their quality can be spotty. I am now trying an older cable and will see if it makes a difference.
You have the same DAC as msaladino22 and same results! I do have the StellarGold DAC so maybe a trade-up to the PMG would be helpful here. My Onix Zenith could be faulty but if so it is a very subtle and difficult defect to pin down.Iāve spent many hours trying to understand it. Ha! I wish I had a bus data analyzer so I could see what is going on when the two units are talking to each other!
I should add here that my Onix Zenith-to-StellarGold DAC mashup is 90% working perfectly and the music coming from the combination is very listenable, so it is very far from being unmitigated disaster. Some of the problems are clearly shortcomings in the Onix, and some are incompatibility issues where neither is wrong just not working together like they should.
I would try AudioQuest I2S cable that is what PS Audio useās. I am using the AudioQuest Dragon but you can try one of there lower cost oneās just to see if that fixās it, if not then you know itās the Onix thats not working right.
This is rather specific and technical in content, but as follow-up to my posting, I thought I should dive deep and share what I know about the I2S interface on the Onix Zenith XST20 transport and which of the ten āmodeā pinout configurations seem to match the best with the PS Audio StellarGold DAC. This information is specifically for the Onix Zenith XST20; other transports may have different results, and I am considering only playback via the I2S connector (not coax, optical, usb, or AES). Playback of redbook CDs as well as Super Audio CDs was considered (and yes, the Onix I2S bus will send redbook PCM from a CD to the DAC as well). Also, this may only apply to the StellarGold DAC because users of the PMG Signature DAC have reported different results.
For the first 12 pins in the connector, the differences are most apparent in whether playback of the left and right channels is correct. Of those, only modes 5 and 9 seem to play back both SACD and CD with the proper left and right channel assignments. To dive a little deeper, the commonality seems to be with pin 1 being defined as āDATA/DSDL-ā and pin 7 being defined as LRCLK/DSDR-" With any variation from that the left and right channels are reversed for either CD or SACD or both. The other pins are defined as being a bit clock and a master clock and for those polarity, etc, doesnāt vary among the modes. All of these are differential signals so two pins are used for the signal, and each pair has a third pin associated with it as a shield ground. The data signal, for example, is on pins 1 & 3, with the ground on pin 2. All of that seems to be compatible between the two components.
As for pins 13-19, many of those are not connected or are connected but not actually used by the receiving DAC. Many of the rest of them are tied to ground. The Onix Zenith assigns two of the pins (the specific one varying with the pin configuration mode) to something called āDSD Flagā and āMuteā. As far as I can tell, the StellarGold DAC ignores both of these regardless of which pins they may be on. I assume the DAC has no need to know the transport is muting, and it also does not need to have a DSD/PCM flag asserted because the DAC does its own determination of the nature of the incoming data.
With either mode 5 or 9, the ā+5volt / GNDā selection option for the mute pin in the Onix menu does not seem to have any effect so I have left mine set to +5 v. With 5 and 9 the mute pin appears to be on pin 16 which is not connected on the DAC side.
I wish I could dig into this further because I find it a fascinating topic but just knowing modes 5 and 9 are the best will get me 90% of the way. Configured this way, the remaining problems are an occasional audible click when the transport is busy reading a newly loaded disc and at random times a weird burst of noise lasting several seconds if the components are not powered up in the right sequence.
I hope Onix owners or those considering an Onix transport will find this information helpful. Thanks to all who have left comments.
Very informative, Thanks!
I was considering the Onix because I like the look and as an alternative to the PST, thinking I could sell the PST and put some money in my pocket, plus the fact that PS Audio might run out of the drives, but I have heard they have enough to service the PSTās that are still around I hope.
I was using the SGD but I wanted to try thr new PMG preamp and they sent the PMG DAC uh-oh, now I am keeping the PMG DAC what was different with my Eversolo T8 the L&R channels are reversed compared to the SGD, easy fix on the T8 and the built in streamer on the PMG DAC is very competitive I only wish it had music services like radio paradise so I have to figure that out if I get rid of the T8, first world problems I know.
Lucky accident, getting that PMG DAC! I looked at the Eversolo T8 when I was at AXPONA a few weeks ago. The choice of pinouts looked to be very similar to that of the Onix Zenith transport, but 8 instead of the 10 in the Onix. I would assume the L&R channels are the correct way on the PST and you just need to pick a different pinout mode on the Eversolo T8 to get them set up right. Perhaps that is what you did.