Problems with PMG 512 DAC?

They are being slow and not sure why. I’ll find out more at our Monday morning engineering meeting.

@Paul Tried to call for support but am getting “closed for holidays” voicemail. Saw you posting.

Always start with the good, state the bad, close on the good…

The PMG DAC and Pre are fabulous paired w/the BHK 250! Have had both for several weeks, DAC was first…led to buying the pre. Neither planned purchases but very glad I did.

The bad. Having sporadic whack–a-mole issues with network connection/streamer in the PMG DAC. To date, hoping it was/is a firmware issue. Updated the DAC FW to current when it was last released, followed by the streamer FW as it’s appeared with the latest, Sunday. I’m using Roon and can stream w/no issues when the streamer’s working.

Called a few minutes ago as I prefer to talk to someone at this point. All this to ask if you know of the service/programming teams know of intermittent network issues and the streamer? Too many variables and hours whacking the mole to troubleshoot on the forum. As an aside, is Roon certification and moving to the RAAT protocol a possible variable (more stable vs AirPlay2)?

End on the good. I love the Pre and DAC. Moved from the BHK pre and Mark II. BHK I kept for a second rig as I bring back to life a set of speakers; I’m the guy you connected the dots to road trip and get the Genesis Gen II speakers in New Mexico a few years ago. Eventually, the PMG gear will drive the Gen II’s.

I did the same pre/dac move as you and oddly with speakers the VMPS RV60 mains and Genesis II sub system (but not the panels). Recently moved to FR30’s and the jump in performance was similar to the move with pre/dac. And a few years ago I lived in New Mexico. Now live in Missouri (similar jump in performance).

That’s good to know re. the FR30’s. The Gen II’s were free with the knowledge some work on the accelerometer(s) in the bass towers is needed. The servo amp hadn’t been used in a while and I was seriously advised to get it serviced/rebuilt (primarily power section w/new caps) before powering up and avoiding it going nuclear. An expensive proposition to replace w/current offerings by Genesis (or similar).

I hand delivered the amp to George Meyer AV in CA (I live in WA State). They’re the only know repair place. They’ve worked on a few of the amps and have hand drawn schematics b/c the originals no longer exist.

It’s a labor of love to get the speakers working again. Long story but my first experience w/great sound started w/Infinity in the 80’s. The history w/Arnie Nudell, BHK and Paul have an uber nostalgia factor that defies the practicality of having such massive speakers. To your point and long term…once the Gen II’s are up and running, I get some quality time with them and I’m ready to look at something more reasonable, size wise, the FR Series is on my short list. My biggest hurdle is I’m renovating a 115 year old house (free time) and proper setup.

All this feeds into the history and lineage that culminates w/Paul and PS Audio. I like the brand, the products and the story that is McGowan’s.

Thanks for this note and we’re here if you want to chat! We’re missing to but two still here. Look for another release for the 512 this week.

The Gen II’s I have do work but a couple times there were loud thumps so I stopped using them. Looking online I found the recommendation to recap the amp (before failure). The code for the operational circuits no longer exists and a misstep could make it nonfunctional (your repair person likely knew this). Anyway I got a pair of Rel 212-sx now used with the FR30’s.

I also started with Infinity Beta’s in the 80’s. There was a certain magic to their sound even with the well known shortcomings.

You’re absolutely right re. 80’s Infinity. I’m really hoping the FR’s have that magic and more. My hope is to make it to Boulder in the next year and tour HQ.

Yeah, I called and chatted w/Gary Koh before I set off on the adventure to get them. He said, “I’d like to sell you a new amp but I’d strongly advise having the old one serviced.” I appreciated that. Looks like you’re on the path to sonic bliss. Congrats.

Just installing my new PMG DAC, its working fine with my Airlense but when I connect it to the LAN the pmg does not show up. I use Minimserver / JPLAY IOS or mConnect.

The PMG LAN connection is ok incl Internet. But it is not visible in the apps.

FW 2.5.4, NMS 2.4.d2261a. Avg ping response time is 5.4 ms. Restarted router and switch and DAC but that doesn.t help. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Shut the whole network down all the way back to and including the router and modem. Give it a few minutes then reboot one piece at a time from the modem forward. Make sure to shut down all the PS Audio gear too.

I did a complete shutdown as you suggested, also tried another switch but unfortunately no result. The Airlens shows up immediately when I plug in the LAN cable.

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

Stupid question but did you initialize the streamer? Get the green light?

Yes, non-blinking green dot (not a stupid question, after all it may very well be something stupid…)

Hi, Herman. You have outdated firmware and should be on 2.7.2. Go here: Downloads – PS Audio and download the PMG 512 firmware. It’s a zip file and the update instructions are in the file you’ll download. Once you have the firmware updated to 2.7.2, you’ll need to update the streamer firmware via the settings on the DAC.

This is a quick post and I’m not able to reply in real-time…but will later to see if this helps. I used Minimserver years ago and now use Roon, but I believe the latest streamer firmware update may address your problems.

Don’t forget to power cycle the DAC after each update. Also, won’t hurt to reboot your network, too.

Thanks for all suggestions but nothing worked. I set the PMG to a fixed IP address, did a factory reset and reinstalled 2.7.2 and streamer FW. Did various network reboots. Fing and router dashboards display the PMG and don’t reveal any problem. Airlens works fine, PMG (with the same LAN cable) remains invisible. Hope for some more suggestions… Thanks!

Have you tried wifi?

Yes I did, good wifi connection but still not visible.

Just noticed that Qobuz app works ok, JPLAY and mConnect don’t see the DAC.

Weird. JPlay and mConnect both work seamlessly with UPnP/DLNA compliant streamers.

Do you mean that you can use Qobuz Connect from the same device(s) you use for JPlay, but JPlay doesn’t see the DAC?

Yes correct.

Airlens working correctly with JPLAY, PMG working correctly with Qobuz app, all from the same iPad. But no UPnP-based apps like JPLAY or mConnect work on PMG.

So I conclude that my network is ok. Digging a bit deeper (with the Fing networking tool) I found that Airlens supports DHCP, UPnP and Spotify / Tidal protocols. However PMG DAC supports only DHCP and Qobuz / Spotify / Tidal protocols, no UPnP. At least in my FW version 2.7.2 and latest Streamer FW.

So how do I enable UPnP? Is that a config setting or is it a bug that needs a fix?