[eladioc]

I'm getting static at some upper and lower frequencies through my DAC-AH -- OM -- K81 setup. I'm living in a very old house; i'm wondering if the power from the house could be giving me the static. Anyone know if that could be the source?

 

[Herandu]

What do you mean by static? CAn we get a better breakdown of what exactly it is that you are hearing, and when?

Based on the liitle info, my 1st guess would be that it is your CD player, and in particular the CD pick up. If your deck is a year or two old, it is going to start skipping digital bits, and this gets decoded as a noise pulse that sounds like static.

 

[eladioc]

Sorry about the lack of information. I am using my revo 7.1 --> DAC-AH --> OM. The static I am hearing is sometimes subtle- more like background fuzz- and sometimes very noticeable. On certain high notes I hear a soft crackling. It also happens in the low bass. The bass notes are unclear and tainted by a crackling sound. I keep saying crackling because that is the best word I can think of to describe this PAINFULLY ANNOYING sound. I'm really frustrated! Today I just got some new Blue Jeans cables and the sound persists. I've burnt in the dac and amp for about 60 hrs each and there hasn't been a change in the static. I changed sources and the sound was still there (I used the optical out on my laptop).

 

[Melchior]

Sounds like it might be clipping, possibly in the decoding stage, what music player are you using? With foobar I tend to set a couple dsps, one of which is volume control, set to -6 to -12db, without doing so foobar's clipping indicator appears at times, and audible distortion like you mentioned can be heard. Also try turning down the revo's main volume control, as it could also be outputting levels too high for the amp.

 

[Wodgy]

Bad power has nothing to do with it. The previous poster has the most likely explanation (digital clipping because your Revo is not configured properly), but it's also possible your DAC is just broken. Try it with a CDP's digital out to see if it works properly or not.

 

[eladioc]

Ugh I really hope my dac isn't broken... where could I get it fixed??? They shipped from HK... in case all else fails, any one know where I could get it fixed?

 

[eladioc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melchior Sounds like it might be clipping, possibly in the decoding stage, what music player are you using? With foobar I tend to set a couple dsps, one of which is volume control, set to -6 to -12db, without doing so foobar's clipping indicator appears at times, and audible distortion like you mentioned can be heard. Also try turning down the revo's main volume control, as it could also be outputting levels too high for the amp.

I'm using the digital out on the revo and that disables the volume control. My windows system volume control does nothing either. I lowered the volume to -12 db and that definitely made a difference on the two songs that I have been listening to over and over to detect the static. However, the static isn't totally gone... and on some songs it is nearly still as noticeable as before. I freaked out and bought a power conditioner (pretty cheap though). I want to eliminate as many variables as I can. I really don't want to find out in the end that my dac or my amp is broken.

EDIT: MUCH improved upon some further listening. Thanks for the help... I went out and bought coax cable, IC's, and a power conditioner just to fix a software problem. Sigh.