Stellar Gain cell DAC -- Clicking/Popping

well does the knob have positions it should stop at? IF not I am not seeing an issue aside it does make sounds as you turn it but that might be normal. Is there a way I can send a video of this to someone trained?

If it helps - Perhaps try different power outlet sources?
I had the same issue with my SGCD - turned out to be the smart switch on my subwoofer power cord. System is
Cocktail Audio ā†’ Bal XLR to
SGCD ā†’ Bal XLR to
DBX PA2 ā†’ Bal XLR to
M1200 and to XLR/RCA adapter ā†’ powered sub.
I could hear very definite clicks in volume change indents.
I took the sub off the smart switch and now the clicks are all but inaudible.
I have the DBX on a smart plug still (no power button on the thing!) and had a sonos smart wifi switch so I could turn everything on/off with Harmony.

Like @Palouse , I use the remote most of the time, but my recollection is that there are no stops or detents in the operation of the knob. But my memory has failed me before. Iā€™ll have to check when I get home tonight to be sure.

I feel slight detents as I rotate the knob but it moves evenly without a sense of damped rotation as I get with Alps pots.

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Iā€™m home and just tried it. It has the most soft and subtle detents Iā€™ve ever felt, but theyā€™re there. Still, it takes almost no effort to turn the knob.

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@mscardina @Craig_Burgess Yup, I just tried it too, and I agree.

Thank you, everyone!

@dlynch34 does this provide you with the information you need?

Hey Guys and @jamesh especially, looks like my SGCD has a problem. When I went to play music through an as usual powered up SGCD and M700ā€™s it sounded like the amps were being overdriven. Volume was on 16 which is not loud in my room, when I first tried to turn the volume down it still sounded overdriven but it got louder as the volume went down past 10 until at 5 it was very loud and I turned it off with the blue button, LOUD pop and I fear for my speakers but weā€™ll see about that if I try it again. I powered the unit off in the back and another pop. When I turned it back on same problem. I turned the amps off and still got a pop when I powered it on and off. Sounds like more of a problem than I can fix here and donā€™t want to blow my speakers playing with it. Suggestions? I will call when itā€™s time after you mountain timers are awake but figured it canā€™t hurt to see if anyone it up. Unit is under warranty (Bought Feb 2020) as are the amps. Thanks in advance for any help. Jim

One other thing I didnā€™t mention is there was an audible sound while turning the volume control knob that I have never heard before that also became louder as the volume turned down past 10 and was too loud to continue at 7 or maybe I got to 6 before a panic stop. I am already getting the boxes ready for shipping it back to the mothership but I am really down because I am having family over for thanksgiving and it looks like I wont have music unless I buy a temporary device during itā€™s round trip. Will be the first time without the system since I got it. Kind of depressing. If anyone has a relatively cheap solution that has a USB in and RCA or Balanced out to the amps , and subs (if possible, although I guess I could live without subs for a couple weeks)

Do you have a set of headphones that you could use to isolate the problem? The one thing I donā€™t understand is you say you have turned the amps off and you still get the problem turning the pre-amp on. If that is true, try really turning off the amps off using the power buttons at the rear of the amps. If that works, then use the headphones on the preamp to see if you can still hear the problem. That might help to determine where the problem is.
Also does the problem occur with all the sources off.
Does it happen with all the inputs?
Good luck. I have that preamp and the Stellar 300 and am curious about your problem, in case it occurs here,
Take care,
Harry

Hey Harry, thanks for your response, Nope doesnā€™t happen with the amps powered off totally, and I disconnected my subs which may have confused me. So with volume set at 20 all seems well if I turn on the SGCD and then power up the amps, but as soon as I turn the volume down itā€™s a mess, turning volume up seems to do very little. Didnā€™t want to try HFā€™s as I donā€™t want to damage them if full power comes thru when I plug them in. I have to go pick up some meds and then will call into mothership. Iā€™ll report back what happens. Thanks Again, Jim

Hey Jim, dang that sounds scary. Sorry it happened when you were about to get settled in and listen to some tunes. Our phones are down right now (rebooting the system soon) but the crew should be ready for you after that. My guess is something on the output board has failed. Should be a super easy and quick fix for our guys.

No worries James, Morris took care of me and the box is waiting for the UPS driver to come pick it up. I have a cheapo pre coming tomorrow to stand in for the couple weeks itā€™s in transit and at the mothership. Was pretty scary but all will be forgotten very soon

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Same thing happened to me. Loud pops and turning the volume down made it worse. I wonder if there was a bad batch of boards or something. I got my SGC back from PS Audio with no explanation of what was changed but it works again. At least for now.

Iā€™ve had mine with no trouble running 24/7 for 20 months and this happened out of blue. The service tech thinks itā€™s an output board as did James so Iā€™ll take them as their word, Shipped it yesterday so itā€™s on the way back, hoping for a fast turn around as my replacement is weak but itā€™ll get me through, barely. Glad yours is back and working

I experienced a pretty fast turnaround. Looks like our units are around the same age. Hopefully they just got a bad batch parts from a supplier and have since figured out the issue. My dog still hasnā€™t recovered from the loud POP. When she sees me reach for the remote sheā€™s gone!

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I had a volume up and down popping issue on my Stellar GCD (Left Channel). It was very loud but no dog trauma:) The popping hit my main speakers 3 or 4 times before I could shut down and change to an old pair of Paradigm Titans for testing. This was a bad move. I blew a woofer from the popping, maybe 6 pops is all it took. Be careful if you experience this issue. I donā€™t know if my main speakers are damaged yet. (Mosaic Acoustic Illumination)
Under warranty PS Audio repaired? the unit impressively quick. Mark Simpson seems good to work with. So, the GCD is back in my system but I have another issue. With the volume set to zero or mute, music still plays at low volume. It use to be dead silent. My music source is Tidal through a Blue Node 2i with Coax to the GCD. So far the popping is gone but Iā€™m afraid to put my main speakers back in my system because something is still not right. Has anyone else had this issue where mute is not mute? Mark sent some suggestions but no fix yet . Hopefully weā€™ll talk again tomorrow. I sent him a video demonstrating the issue. Any suggestions? Thx

my SGCD. (+M700 + pair of 92db efficiency speaker)
Tested with analog line in 1,2 and 3.
Under mute. LCD shows mute. So sound.

Under 0 vol (one click up on vol ctrl). LCD shows 0. Has sound. (This might be the 0.5 Vol, but LCD shows 0)

Thanks Terrence my LCD shows Mute but I still have sound coming through my speakers. I cannot get to absolute silence anymore. My main speakers are also 92+db efficient and are rated at only 32 watts. I connected them but did not touch the volume. On ā€œMuteā€ the audio volume was maybe equal to 2 or 3 clicks before my GCD problems started.

I had a GDAC on my desk for ages just using itā€™s DAC and headphone amp. Going down to 0 still allowed a tiny bit of audio to go through. Pressing the mute button actually triggered a relay which completely cut off the outputs. Do you hear a relay when you go down to 0 or when you press the mute button?