[BrainFood]

Got my Aucharm fuses (5$) from ebay.

Those are ones you linked to a few pages back? I don't see the name Aucharm mentioned by the seller.

 

[FredA]

Those are ones you linked to a few pages back? I don't see the name Aucharm mentioned by the seller.

They are the ones. I ordered a couple more for my monoblocks.

 

[DACLadder]

Got my Aucharm fuses (5$) from ebay

I received my shipment of Aucharm fuses yesterday as well. Did you notice they are directional? On the outside there is a printed diagram of a diode in parallel with a capacitor. I positioned the diode "arrow" shaped direction down in the U16's vertical fuse holder (up) --->|---- (down). Sounds good but haven't experimented with orientation. They were cheap with several Ebay vendors (search Ebay "Aucharm fuse"). Purchased different values for spares and other equipment.

 

[DACLadder]

After using the U16 since November 2018 I notice with Windows 10 and Foobar I can hear clicks and pops in the audio playback when a Web page is opening. And the noise stops when the page has completely loaded in the Web browser. My Windows machine uses the Singxer F1 for soundmapper audio duties. So the U16 is dedicated exclusively for Foobar playback and no other use.

The Singxers (both SU-1 and F1) never have any issue like this with Windows and Foobar. They multitask great with Windows. That just leads me to conclusion that not only the U16 firmware seems buggy but the U16's Windows driver is not optimized for background audio playback.

 

[FredA]

I received my shipment of Aucharm fuses yesterday as well. Did you notice they are directional? On the outside there is a printed diagram of a diode in parallel with a capacitor. I positioned the diode "arrow" shaped direction down in the U16's vertical fuse holder (up) --->|---- (down). Sounds good but haven't experimented with orientation. They were cheap with several Ebay vendors (search Ebay "Aucharm fuse"). Purchased different values for spares and other equipment.

Yes, i know. Stil can't get why it matters but the direction makes a difference in general. Haven't played with it with the u16.

 

[Seegs108]

After using the U16 since November 2018 I notice with Windows 10 and Foobar I can hear clicks and pops in the audio playback when a Web page is opening. And the noise stops when the page has completely loaded in the Web browser. My Windows machine uses the Singxer F1 for soundmapper audio duties. So the U16 is dedicated exclusively for Foobar playback and no other use.

The Singxers (both SU-1 and F1) never have any issue like this with Windows and Foobar. They multitask great with Windows. That just leads me to conclusion that not only the U16 firmware seems buggy but the U16's Windows driver is not optimized for background audio playback.

I'm seeing the same exact issues. I also get issues with instability if I change the Volume control in Windows. Normally I have it set to 100, but on rare occasion I'll use the Windows volume control if sound is all of a sudden too loud. It's odd too, because some days I don't have any issues, but today I'm seeing these issues. So strange...

 

[Sage Encore]

I'm seeing the same exact issues. I also get issues with instability if I change the Volume control in Windows. Normally I have it set to 100, but on rare occasion I'll use the Windows volume control if sound is all of a sudden too loud. It's odd too, because some days I don't have any issues, but today I'm seeing these issues. So strange...

Same here guys, its intermittent. Some days ok, some days got pops and clicks once in a while. Gustard really has to do something. Quite irritating.

 

[Quadman]

I spotted a jumper (J1) inside the U16 near the HDMI connector that is labeled 'DSD Flag' with three jumper positions: Default, Pin 14, and Pin 16

So moving the jumper to match the LKS DSD trigger of Pin 14, did NOT solve the DSD upsampling issue (USB from PC to U16, I2S from U16 to LKS dac). We can upsample to all PCM rates just fine, no issues. The driver, I assume, does not switch over to DSD mode when trying to upsample with HQP or Roon. Yesterday after moving the jumper to pin 14, I uninstalled the U16 driver and then reinstalled the driver, then even reflashed the firmware to 1.4 LKS.

So if the U16 is not connected to a dac, PC only by USB, can someone tell me who uses HQP will HQP switch over to DSD mode? By that I mean in the main HQP screen if SDM is selected as output in the Box below the big volume knob will the filters in the far left box switch to the ones in the SDM Defaults on the settings page (Oversampling and modulator). Right now when we select SDM as output mode the filters in the far left boxes remain PCM filters and as a result upsampling is PCM only.

 

[Seegs108]

Same here guys, its intermittent. Some days ok, some days got pops and clicks once in a while. Gustard really has to do something. Quite irritating.

At this point it's just an annoyance for me. For $300 this thing has no right to sound as good as it does. So I'm willing to put up with some of these quirks. To give you some context, I sold my Sonore Signature Series Rendu last year ($2900 MSRP) and while the sound signature of each of these devices is different, I find the U16 sounds just as good as that device in most ways. The Sonore SSR sounded a bit cleaner than this device (probably due to its overkill power supply), but the U16 sounds smoother and more musical to my ears. I'm hoping they fix the driver issues, but as it stands now I'm definitely going to keep my U16

 

[Zachik]

Got a question to all the U16 fans / experts:
I currently use U12, to feed my Metrum Amethyst DAC (via coax).
Given that my DAC does NOT support AES or I2S, my best option is Coax input - would I benefit at all from upgrade from U12??

I do not have golden ears.
Most my music is FLAC at 44.1 / 16 (have a couple albums at 96/24).
I use headphones (not 2 channel speaker setup) connected to Schiit Lyr 3 and Monoprice LP headphone amps.

what are the chances I would hear noticeable difference? and is it worth fighting the FW and driver issues people have been reporting?? My setup with the U12 works great and reliably!

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[DACLadder]

@Zachik Hard to say whether you would get enough sonic benefit with coax. Never know though until you give it a try. With all of the U16’s operational issues I say save your money for another 3-6 months and see what’s ahead in the near future.

 

[DACLadder]

Has anyone compared sound qualities against a modded Singxer SU-1 (like Kitsune or Magna Hifi)? I did recent comparisons with the regular SU-1 and F1 and the U16 still has the edge in the sound department. Nothing stood out as way better but in generally a little bit better everywhere and definitely noticeable.

Anyway just wondering how the U16 compares in the sound department to the modded SU-1.

 

[Chopin75]

Got a question to all the U16 fans / experts:
I currently use U12, to feed my Metrum Amethyst DAC (via coax).
Given that my DAC does NOT support AES or I2S, my best option is Coax input - would I benefit at all from upgrade from U12??

I do not have golden ears.
Most my music is FLAC at 44.1 / 16 (have a couple albums at 96/24).
I use headphones (not 2 channel speaker setup) connected to Schiit Lyr 3 and Monoprice LP headphone amps.

what are the chances I would hear noticeable difference? and is it worth fighting the FW and driver issues people have been reporting?? My setup with the U12 works great and reliably!

Thoughts? Opinions?

Have you tried the Schiit -https://www.schiit.com/products/eitr

It can only do PCM up to 24/192, more than what you need. Dedicated to PCM only. Only has Coax but it seems that is all you will need. Won't need to deal with the firmware crap.

 

[Chopin75]

Has anyone compared sound qualities against a modded Singxer SU-1 (like Kitsune or Magna Hifi)? I did recent comparisons with the regular SU-1 and F1 and the U16 still has the edge in the sound department. Nothing stood out as way better but in generally a little bit better everywhere and definitely noticeable.

Anyway just wondering how the U16 compares in the sound department to the modded SU-1.

Is it really worth upgrading to this U16 to replace my F-1 board, given all the firmware crap there is? I need it to do all PCM to DXD/DSD256 but it appears this device can only do some of this with specific firmwares only.

 

[rocky500]

I'm holding off in the hope they may bring out a revised hardware version that just works or another company brings one out like eg. topping.
I have a modded Singxer SU-1 that I plugged in and never gave it another thought.
Always open to try new things but will wait to see how this one develops as currently it looks a bit glitchy.