jv3jd
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2015
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Disappointing problems.
Received my Fulla yesterday. Ear-splitting snap, crackles and pops on plugin and during volume adjustment. Fear of destroying my headphones (Sennheiser Momentums, HD 598s) will force me to return this if I can't find a solution. I am by no means an expert. Suggestions welcome.
Here's my experience on a new Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 running Windows 8:
1. Device would not detect when plugged into USB 2.0 port. Nada, zip. Swapped out the included USB cable for another -- that solved the detection problem so it looks like the device shipped with a dead cable.
2. With a new USB cable I had to fiddle with the Fulla volume control but finally the device was detected. Then I got an immediate "Malfunction error". The device was drawing too much power. This is extremely disappointing as I'm running a laptop, not a mobile player. There's no reason why a standard USB 2.0 port should not be able to deliver sufficient juice. (This error occurred when the laptop was powered, so it shouldn't be a battery-saver issue).
The device became immediately hot to the touch and I removed it quickly.
3. I went out and bought an overpriced powered (5v) USB 3.0 hub (backward compatible) to solve the problem. With the device plugged in to the hub, it was detected by the laptop with no error. Fulla software downloaded and music was then output through the device. (Now I was streaming music through Spotify and there was a sync issue with the Fulla where the music was played at a higher speed and everything sounded high-pitched. This appears to be caused by the fact that data is cached whenever Spotify is paused for any significant time. I relaunched the app and problem solved).
4. Fulla sounded decent. Then I tried to adjust the volume and boom!!! A huge pop in my left ear cup. After a few minuets of terror I got brave enough to try to turn the volume down and ... boom, snap, crackle!!!. I unplugged my headphones which resulted in an electrical buzzing noise. Thinking it was a compatibility problem with my headphones, I tried a second pair ... same issue.
I've been in touch with the nice customer service folks at Schiit (they were very responsive) but we haven't solved the problem. Here's what I've done without improvement:
- Changed wall outlets in case I wasn't getting clean/consistent power.
- Unplugged the Fulla and turned the volume control a few dozen times to clear any dust or debris in the volume pot that might cause an audio problem.
- Tried the Fulla in different ports on the hub.
- Tried the laptop plugged in and on battery power.
- Tried my laptop with other USB devices. No issues with the ports.
- Removed the Fulla from laptop and hub and plugged it into the USB 2.0 input on my TV soundbar. Obviously, I wasn't going to get audio from an input but I wanted to hear whether there would be any popping when the device was plugged into another USB 2.0 charging source -- there was. There was the same popping and snapping through the headphones when plugging/unplugging or adjusting volume. Thus, it appears the problem is electrical.
I think I can rule out a USB port problem on my laptop and the hub. And I believe I'm hearing electrical surges through the Fulla audio jack. It doesn't appear that the Fulla is properly managing the power input from standard USB ports.
Any help ... or is it time to junk this Fulla?
Received my Fulla yesterday. Ear-splitting snap, crackles and pops on plugin and during volume adjustment. Fear of destroying my headphones (Sennheiser Momentums, HD 598s) will force me to return this if I can't find a solution. I am by no means an expert. Suggestions welcome.
Here's my experience on a new Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 running Windows 8:
1. Device would not detect when plugged into USB 2.0 port. Nada, zip. Swapped out the included USB cable for another -- that solved the detection problem so it looks like the device shipped with a dead cable.
2. With a new USB cable I had to fiddle with the Fulla volume control but finally the device was detected. Then I got an immediate "Malfunction error". The device was drawing too much power. This is extremely disappointing as I'm running a laptop, not a mobile player. There's no reason why a standard USB 2.0 port should not be able to deliver sufficient juice. (This error occurred when the laptop was powered, so it shouldn't be a battery-saver issue).
The device became immediately hot to the touch and I removed it quickly.
3. I went out and bought an overpriced powered (5v) USB 3.0 hub (backward compatible) to solve the problem. With the device plugged in to the hub, it was detected by the laptop with no error. Fulla software downloaded and music was then output through the device. (Now I was streaming music through Spotify and there was a sync issue with the Fulla where the music was played at a higher speed and everything sounded high-pitched. This appears to be caused by the fact that data is cached whenever Spotify is paused for any significant time. I relaunched the app and problem solved).
4. Fulla sounded decent. Then I tried to adjust the volume and boom!!! A huge pop in my left ear cup. After a few minuets of terror I got brave enough to try to turn the volume down and ... boom, snap, crackle!!!. I unplugged my headphones which resulted in an electrical buzzing noise. Thinking it was a compatibility problem with my headphones, I tried a second pair ... same issue.
I've been in touch with the nice customer service folks at Schiit (they were very responsive) but we haven't solved the problem. Here's what I've done without improvement:
- Changed wall outlets in case I wasn't getting clean/consistent power.
- Unplugged the Fulla and turned the volume control a few dozen times to clear any dust or debris in the volume pot that might cause an audio problem.
- Tried the Fulla in different ports on the hub.
- Tried the laptop plugged in and on battery power.
- Tried my laptop with other USB devices. No issues with the ports.
- Removed the Fulla from laptop and hub and plugged it into the USB 2.0 input on my TV soundbar. Obviously, I wasn't going to get audio from an input but I wanted to hear whether there would be any popping when the device was plugged into another USB 2.0 charging source -- there was. There was the same popping and snapping through the headphones when plugging/unplugging or adjusting volume. Thus, it appears the problem is electrical.
I think I can rule out a USB port problem on my laptop and the hub. And I believe I'm hearing electrical surges through the Fulla audio jack. It doesn't appear that the Fulla is properly managing the power input from standard USB ports.
Any help ... or is it time to junk this Fulla?