Gabeh765
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2016
- Posts
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- 10
I recently made my first leap into enjoyable audio with my purchase of my ath-ad900x's and an smsl sd793-ii dac/amp which both worked fabulously the first few days. However, after a week of moderate use (2-5 hours/day) I started to hear faint (and gradually increasing) vinyl pop/static buzzing. A quiet yet noticeable noise which never increased when I cranked up the amp's knob. I immediately thought it was some electrical issue so I'll do my best to list my current situation. I'm using optical to my mobo from the unit. Great cables, not worried.
Side notes: I have a medium-high grade power strip with almost, if not all, sockets used (Computer running around 350W max I believe, 2: 60 hz 1080p monitors, 48V phantom psu for mic, and that's about it). Not sure if any of that helps and I highly doubt it's affecting anything but just throwing it out there.
My discovery - I figured out how to get the noises to recur which was to just have the smsl unit on for a few hours (perhaps 5 or more, never kept track over the course of the evening). After long enough, the sound would arise until after a few minutes of its appearance, it becomes much louder and constantly bombarding opposed to its initial faint and sparse noises. I turn it off unplug the 9V pin from the unit for a few minutes and then plug back in, turn on...and its gone... only to return a few, if not just one, minute later. This seems like some sort of build up inside the unit or perhaps the power adapter, as it gets warm (as all small power adapters do, who knows). Beyond that, I have no guesses as to what could be affecting it.
Things I've tried/narrowed down - I tried some older, yet seemingly harder to drive, audiotechnicas (ath-m30's). I was hoping the same case would replicate itself with these headphones but something different happened which opened up a whole other branch of annoying possibilities for inconsistencies and problems. While listening to a song I know fairly well, the m30's had a scratchy cut off in the bass during certain areas of a somewhat low end. Strangely enough I didn't find the same noise as I found in my ad900x's. At last I tried my Klipsch center speaker (iHome sort of thing, surprisingly good sounding for how old it is) and the noise from the ad900x's refuses to replicate itself, just some noticeable distortion with medium volume. Now I'm worried it's with my headphones which will be pretty dissapointing but the smsl unit has had more fingers pointing to it for quality concerns, maybe its some coincidental consequence from the pairing of the two, just throwing anything out there at this point.
Headphones work with other devices like smart phones and on-board. A friend suggested that it was unclean ports.
EDIT now crackle starts within 10 minutes of listening with ad900x's after a day of no use. Then used Klipsch center in dac, no noise, left dac alone for a few and plugged ad900x's in and no noise after 30 minutes
Interesting Observations - Noise in ad900x's hasn't came back after 45 mins of listening so length between listening and noise has become inconsistent. Build up of some sort now seems unlikely.
I'm thinking about trying a new 9V adapter as a cheap way to possibly fix/eliminate one variable with any power-electrical based issues (yes, all issues can be labeled electrical, hopefully my point is made).
If anybody is at all curious as to how this is happening or have any idea why, I value your thoughts and suggestions more than you may think. I'm a little lost in these odd, everlasting issues.
Side notes: I have a medium-high grade power strip with almost, if not all, sockets used (Computer running around 350W max I believe, 2: 60 hz 1080p monitors, 48V phantom psu for mic, and that's about it). Not sure if any of that helps and I highly doubt it's affecting anything but just throwing it out there.
My discovery - I figured out how to get the noises to recur which was to just have the smsl unit on for a few hours (perhaps 5 or more, never kept track over the course of the evening). After long enough, the sound would arise until after a few minutes of its appearance, it becomes much louder and constantly bombarding opposed to its initial faint and sparse noises. I turn it off unplug the 9V pin from the unit for a few minutes and then plug back in, turn on...and its gone... only to return a few, if not just one, minute later. This seems like some sort of build up inside the unit or perhaps the power adapter, as it gets warm (as all small power adapters do, who knows). Beyond that, I have no guesses as to what could be affecting it.
Things I've tried/narrowed down - I tried some older, yet seemingly harder to drive, audiotechnicas (ath-m30's). I was hoping the same case would replicate itself with these headphones but something different happened which opened up a whole other branch of annoying possibilities for inconsistencies and problems. While listening to a song I know fairly well, the m30's had a scratchy cut off in the bass during certain areas of a somewhat low end. Strangely enough I didn't find the same noise as I found in my ad900x's. At last I tried my Klipsch center speaker (iHome sort of thing, surprisingly good sounding for how old it is) and the noise from the ad900x's refuses to replicate itself, just some noticeable distortion with medium volume. Now I'm worried it's with my headphones which will be pretty dissapointing but the smsl unit has had more fingers pointing to it for quality concerns, maybe its some coincidental consequence from the pairing of the two, just throwing anything out there at this point.
Headphones work with other devices like smart phones and on-board. A friend suggested that it was unclean ports.
EDIT now crackle starts within 10 minutes of listening with ad900x's after a day of no use. Then used Klipsch center in dac, no noise, left dac alone for a few and plugged ad900x's in and no noise after 30 minutes
Interesting Observations - Noise in ad900x's hasn't came back after 45 mins of listening so length between listening and noise has become inconsistent. Build up of some sort now seems unlikely.
I'm thinking about trying a new 9V adapter as a cheap way to possibly fix/eliminate one variable with any power-electrical based issues (yes, all issues can be labeled electrical, hopefully my point is made).
If anybody is at all curious as to how this is happening or have any idea why, I value your thoughts and suggestions more than you may think. I'm a little lost in these odd, everlasting issues.
