Norbert de Jong
New Head-Fier
So... like I said in my intro post, I just purchased a IFI signature DAC/CAN HD6XX set.
(full disclosure I am posting this sbuject also on the Apple forums since it is as much about that as any of the other components in the rig).
I searched the site, found info on static and DAC (in combo) but not the exact issue I seem to be having,.
I come from a Fiio K3, so wanted an upgrade in terms of clarity, power (!) and soundstage. After some consideration I purchased the set, it was delivered, and I plugged it in.
The source for all this is an Imac from 2019 and I am using the USB port (well one of them anyway) and run mostly Swinsian as the player to listen to FLAC or high res files.
Here's the thing: from the start (this is just a few days ago) I am experiencing what I would describe is minor pops in playback of music that sound like static, but very faintly so. It is not a loud POP! All of a sudden, but subtle or gentle ticks that remind me a little of something we had many years ago (I am 52) when I was into tape/cd trading of live shows. Back then when burning a CD on your computer there was an issue with buffering which caused a tick or pop due to a package of data being incomplete. That is the closest I could describe it to. But not nearly as loud.
It is distracting enough to make me want to solve this, especially since I was looking for an upgrade of sound and when going back to the K3 it didn’t seem to be present. Now I am fully aware that this is a slippery slope: the further I go in, the more I will find most likely and it is not unthinkable that it WAS there with the K3 and I just never noticed it because it was buried in the mix of things I heard, the K3 simply being less sophisticated and less demanding, there was a reason I wanted to upgrade and one of them was power.
So far I have tried to exclude a lot of things:
What I did that worked:
What is left in my mind is to get an USB isolator and see if that works. In theory it should get rid of any left unwanted signal coming from the USB port, but at this point I don’t know whether this is the right move. If it really is the USB port(s) then well, I just don't know.
So, anyone has any clue, most appreciated.
(full disclosure I am posting this sbuject also on the Apple forums since it is as much about that as any of the other components in the rig).
I searched the site, found info on static and DAC (in combo) but not the exact issue I seem to be having,.
I come from a Fiio K3, so wanted an upgrade in terms of clarity, power (!) and soundstage. After some consideration I purchased the set, it was delivered, and I plugged it in.
The source for all this is an Imac from 2019 and I am using the USB port (well one of them anyway) and run mostly Swinsian as the player to listen to FLAC or high res files.
Here's the thing: from the start (this is just a few days ago) I am experiencing what I would describe is minor pops in playback of music that sound like static, but very faintly so. It is not a loud POP! All of a sudden, but subtle or gentle ticks that remind me a little of something we had many years ago (I am 52) when I was into tape/cd trading of live shows. Back then when burning a CD on your computer there was an issue with buffering which caused a tick or pop due to a package of data being incomplete. That is the closest I could describe it to. But not nearly as loud.
It is distracting enough to make me want to solve this, especially since I was looking for an upgrade of sound and when going back to the K3 it didn’t seem to be present. Now I am fully aware that this is a slippery slope: the further I go in, the more I will find most likely and it is not unthinkable that it WAS there with the K3 and I just never noticed it because it was buried in the mix of things I heard, the K3 simply being less sophisticated and less demanding, there was a reason I wanted to upgrade and one of them was power.
So far I have tried to exclude a lot of things:
- Apps, I tried Swinsian, Pine player, Spotify and YouTube as sources for playback, all give me the same issue.
- Headphones, I changed those as well, tired 3 of them, same issue
- Balanced connection between DAC & CAN, tried RCA, same issue
- Both the balanced and 6.3 input, same issue
- I have changed the USB cable to a higher end one (not opening a debate o cables, please!) just wanted to see if a different cable did anything – same issue
- Put in a iSilencer to get rid of it – same issue.
- Powerplugs itself, plugged them into a different outlet – same issue
- Wiggled knobs, checked everything for damage – same issue
- Installed SoundSource to control the output volume. Apple does not allow you to control the output volume on your machine once an external output source has been selected, this app overrides that and lets you do that. In doing so I tried to exclude distortion due to a ‘too’ hot outgoing signal. Must say I really like the app, so that’s a bonus.
- Tried all the USB ports (4 of them) – same issue - Troed all USB ports with all the other ports free, no interference coming from them that way
What I did that worked:
- Plugged my phone (Android) into the IFI – issue gone, so eliminating any other source apart from the Imac and in doing so determining it is not the IFI that is at fault here.
- Tried a different output port – headphones via the 3.5 jack cable to the 3.5 signal line input in the IFI – issue gone but this is the analog version of a digital problem so making use of the Imac built in DAC, that’s not an option if I have the external DAC of course
What is left in my mind is to get an USB isolator and see if that works. In theory it should get rid of any left unwanted signal coming from the USB port, but at this point I don’t know whether this is the right move. If it really is the USB port(s) then well, I just don't know.
So, anyone has any clue, most appreciated.
