[CirrusPilot]

Hi all, 
 
I recently purchased a pair of A2s with the silicone stands. Love the speakers, but I am not a big fan of their sound driven from the 3.5mm jack on my Macbook Air. I bought an Audioengine D1 and thought I could hear a noticeable increase in sound quality (all music FLAC), but am I imagining this? I have read mixed things on this site about whether the A2s actually benefit from a DAC. 
 
Anyway, if I use the RCA outs on the D1, the instant I connect the USB cable to the Air there is feedback from the speakers. I tried 2 different RCA cables and an RCA to 3.5mm, and each time there was feedback. It doesn't happen when I use 3.5mm to 3.5mm, but I don't want to use that because it means I've got a cable running from the front rather than the back. It kind of upsets me that the D1 is doing this. I am probably going to return it. Any thoughts?

 

[obobskivich]

If it does it more or less no matter what from the D1's RCA outputs, I wouldn't even bother troubleshooting a brand new device; make them replace it. If the replacement is still giving you noise, then look at what you might be doing wrong.

 

[CirrusPilot]

I just returned it outright because it was the only unit the store had. I am wondering if it has something to do with the Macbook Air's USB ports? But then I would assume it would also be giving me feedback using the D1's 3.5mm jack as well, which it was not. 
 
Is the D1 good enough to really make a difference in the quality of music coming out of the A2's (everything is FLAC)? I hate to spend that much money if the improvement is only marginal, and unfortunately I didn't really have enough time to test it out because of the defective unit. 

 

[obobskivich]

I doubt it - it was probably just a manufacturing defect in the RCA jacks on the specific D1 you had. If you had a replacement or another device you could try to confirm this, or if you have AppleCare I'm sure you could take the thing into an Apple store and ask them to look it over, but I'm guessing it was the D1 (if the Mac had serious issues with grounding, you'd probably hear it through the TRS jack too).

 

[CirrusPilot]

Would it be worth trying to order another one? I didn't have time to tell if it made a big difference in sound, and the reviews are mixed on here. 

 

[CirrusPilot]

Got the buzzing problem solved. Turns out if the speakers use a 2-prong plug (which A2s do) and you have the computer plugged in with a 3-prong charger, there is a grounding issue. I used the Mac's 2 prong plug, and the buzzing instantly went away. Great success!