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Just purchased a microstack of my own - Age question - Page 2

post #16 of 25
2/26/09 at 12:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by limin View Post
So I have been listening to my micro stack, I've been noticing that occasionally, my music... hiccups. It's almost like a CD skipping or does a micro seek of 1/10th of a second and a song will jump a little bit. Is there something wrong with the DAC?

I am running them on AC, playing mp3's and alac from itunes connected by usb with k701's. Everything else sounds good, but this skipping just awful.

Edit: it is almost like the headphones are clipping, but I know for a fact they are not because I cannot reliably reproduce the phenomenon, and it doesn't happen when I have the amp connected to my ipod nano's headphone out.

Does this happen when running on battery power? I had a very similar problem when I had the 'Stack and it was due to low battery power in the MicroDAC.
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post #17 of 25
2/26/09 at 5:28pm
I would say ditch USB, get a pci sound card and use its optical out if you have to.

Dave
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post #18 of 25
2/26/09 at 11:07pm
AH HA! Fixed it!

On vista right click on your sound icon in the task bar, click playback devices. Select the USB Audio CODEC hit properties then select the advanced tab. DE-SELECT both options in exclusive mode.

Doing testing right now. Everything that used to cause the crackling does not anymore!
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post #19 of 25
2/26/09 at 11:40pm
Well, here's to hoping that you don't give an update that it's back again!!
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post #20 of 25
2/27/09 at 12:18am
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Kevin
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post #21 of 25
2/27/09 at 4:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Monkey View Post
Does this happen when running on battery power? I had a very similar problem when I had the 'Stack and it was due to low battery power in the MicroDAC.
This is on AC power, unfortunately running 4 9v's every 8-9 hours while burning in my k701's would leave me in worse shape than bear stearns, lehman brothers and iceland combined!

Quote:
Originally Posted by myinitialsaredac View Post
I would say ditch USB, get a pci sound card and use its optical out if you have to.

Dave
I'd would but I am using a laptop and no

Quote:
Originally Posted by mbliss View Post
AH HA! Fixed it!

On vista right click on your sound icon in the task bar, click playback devices. Select the USB Audio CODEC hit properties then select the advanced tab. DE-SELECT both options in exclusive mode.

Doing testing right now. Everything that used to cause the crackling does not anymore!
As am I, does not seem to be a complete cure, does seem to reduce the occurrence of crackling but does not eliminate it completely, i.e. if I use the USB out that's close to the CPU/Video card, I still get crackling, but if I use the far side one, the problem is mostly solved.

P.S. I have gotten to the point in burning in these k701's (maybe at 220 hours?) when it no longer feels like they're going to make spinal fluid leak out of my ears.
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post #22 of 25
2/27/09 at 9:42am
Is your USB cable shielded?

EDIT: Also, I hear you on the batteries, but are there any in the DAC anyway, even though you're using wall power?
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post #23 of 25
2/27/09 at 12:09pm
Thread Starter 
I tried an old as bones shielded cable i found and that was when i first noticed the crackling (the connectors looked pretty worn, even corroded) but oddly only after a few days of using it. Also, there are no batteries in it.
I am pretty sure the problem is with my laptop as the "calmer" it is, the more consistent the sound.
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post #24 of 25
2/27/09 at 12:37pm
I use a brand new usb cable, also I have it plugged into the usb slot the furthest away from the video card and cpu. I tested last night for 4 hours doing something that before caused me to have to unplug the dac (full video/cpu load). Still a complete working solution for me.

Good luck to you limin!
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post #25 of 25
3/4/09 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
mbliss, been trying your method in the last week, everything is working out great, thanks for the great tip, I wish there was a faq that it could be added to... headroom?
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