[djpelisek]

So my Bithead just came in the mail on Thursday and I've been using it with my laptop, but I'm about ready to just throw it at my wall because I am getting unreasonable amounts of feedback from my laptop. If i put the bithead as far away from my computer as the cord will allow, I can listen on low volumes but anything above that and my headphones turn into a bowl of rice krispies (snap, crackle, pop!). I was just wondering if this is something that will go away as the amp is broken in, or if I need to do something to ground my amp/laptop, or if this is a manufacturing thing. It has gotten a little better over time leading me to believe its just a matter of getting it broken in, but this is the first real amp i've ever owned so I figured it would be worth it to ask for a little help. I bought the amp/dac so I wouldn't have to deal with the terrible contributions from my laptop's headphone jack, but this snap, crackle, pop is just as bad if not worse.

Thanks

p.s. I'm using sennheiser HD595's

 

[bdr529]

That sounds like it is broken. I would contact headroom.

 

[FraGGleR]

I have a Total Bithead that is second hand and a year old. I have zero issues with noise near my laptop. Yours might be broken or you laptop could have a power issue. Have you tried different usb ports?

 

[Justin Uthadude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FraGGleR /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a Total Bithead that is second hand and a year old. I have zero issues with noise near my laptop. Yours might be broken or you laptop could have a power issue. Have you tried different usb ports?

Ditto.
Especially the switching ports parts.

 

[wiisus]

Yeah, mine has always worked perfectly. Probably a manufacture fault or something.

 

[djpelisek]

Alright, for you guys who say you have one, if the Bithead is on (connected through USB) but no music is playing,and you plug in your headphones and turn the volume up to max (either high or low gain), is there any kind of crackling or popping going on in your headphones? Because with mine, especially on high gain, there is a constant popping/crackling going on. I feel like the whole point of a USB sound device is for it to be completely silent when no music is playing.

The volume is obviously lower than music when music is playing, but every few seconds a pop comes through and throws me off, and now I can't enjoy my music anymore because all I do is listen for the next pop/crack.

I tried every USB port on my laptop, and I even tried a different set of headphones. Tomorrow, I'll try another computer, but if someone with a good could answer my question I'd really appreciate it.

 

[djpelisek]

A new development:

I tried my Bithead with my roomate's (HP) laptop, and at first glance it was perfectly fine. I plugged it into all 3 USB ports, and everything was dandy. However, then I picked the device up and did a sweep over the body of the computer, and found one spot near the touchpad where it went bananas, just like it did with mine. The only difference was, the radius for the feedback with his laptop was only about 2 inches centered on that one spot, whereas with mine the radius is about 12 inches from the edges of my entire (IBM/Lenovo T60p) laptop.

This leads me to two questions:

1. Is the feedback the result of a flaw in the Bithead or a flaw with my computer?
2. Any idea how to make it go away?

 

[FraGGleR]

Mine is about as silent as I can imagine plugged in and turned up with no music playing. No crackling or popping. My laptop is a fantastic Fujitsu T2010 tablet. The build quality is stellar so I don't know if maybe better shielding is involved or what. I don't understand enough about the inner workings of electronics and circuits so I can't really help you out. Headroom is reputed to have excellent customer service so you could contact them about it and see if they can take a look at it for you. If they say it is fine, I have no idea what you could do about your laptop.

 

[djpelisek]

Fraggler, that's exactly what I did last night. I contacted Headroom and they said that since the Bithead has a plastic enclosure, it's been known to get feedback from certain network cards on certain frequencies, apparently including mine. They've offered to fully refund my money, and recommended I get a new DAC/Amp with a metal case.

I've actually made a new thread here asking for some advice in picking a new one:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/iba...cement-451471/

 

[jopagi]

Kudos once again to Headroom for their great customer service. I've had a Total Bithead for years, but haven't run into the problem that you mentioned. I also have the D10, which does have a metal case. I don't get interference from the laptop, but my cell phone will induce some noise at times when it's within a foot or so of either one of them.

 

[TedGamble]

I had a Total Bithead for about a week. I experienced noise in one USB port on my computer but not on others. It had nothing to do with the Bithead being close to the computer, but more with the cable used. I got a better cable and the noise went away. Realize that it is possible for one USB port to be noisier (due to interference internal to the computer) that another USB port on the same computer.

I also sent the Bithead back for a refund and replaced it with a Predator. With the Predator, I have not encountered any noise on any port on any computer with any USB cable that I have connected it to.

It may seem that my post is self-contradicting because I stated that a port can be noisier than another, yet the Predator didn't exhibit that behavior. Go figure.