Short version: had a powersurge and dac went on. Got a loud pop from my speakers when I turned it off. Unplugged everything and then plugged it back in. Now, I get a small pop when inputs change and a small crackle when raising/lowering the volume. I don’t recall any noise prior. Has this always been there and I never noticed or has my dac been damaged?
Thanks in advance.
I’d send it in for a check up. Under warranty?
No longer. September will mark 4 years.
Ouch!
Down the road you may want to consider adding whole house power surge suppression at your service drop coming ito the main distribution panel. Siemens and Eaton offer credible devices. Installation should be by a qualified electrician.
Still might be worth having it checked and repaired. Especially now while parts are available. Or trade in for a DSD.
I had one installed when I had a new service panel (200A) installed last year. The power company also ran new cable from the street transformer to my house. I’d already installed two dedicated lines. A stranded 10 AWG line inside an Armoured Cable run into my living room (for all my audio crap) and another 12AWG Romex Armoured Cable run also into my living room for the TV and Computer crap.
I wish I had all that before my BAT VK50-SE Preamp wouldn’t power on after after a surge. However, all the other gear including my PS Audio DAC were fine.
There were a few other issues with the Preamp. After repairs at the BAT factory. It’s been awesome ever since.
When we upgraded our electrical distribution box and service drop I had a surge suppressor installed. With a good one you never will know if it is working.
File a claim with your home owners insurance. Or if the surge was the fault of the power company, file a claim with them.
That can be a bit tricky, as you need to demonstrate that the sureg was due to faulty components, poor regulation, or poor fault protection. Acts of god, acts of animals, or faults induced by vehicle(s) impingig on their equipment are likely not covered. Trying to collect on a widespread brown-out or restoration from a black-out can be dicey. Not saying one shouldn’t atempt to collect, but it will be tricky. For example consider the impact of the First Energy brown-out/black-out and its impact on the grid. I’m not aware of consumers collecting, even though the cause was First Energy’s poor vegetation maintenance (tree trimming). When it occurred my first comment to my wife, betcha it was First Energy.
Home owners’ coverage is the most likely source of recovery.