[holsen]

I'd like to broach (breach?) a matter concerning Atom amp that thus far i have not seen mentioned anywhere. Has anyone else experienced this?

I know these things can be perplexing, frustrating and maddening even but man it feels good when we solve them! I'm sure you've been up and down this thread - I Don't recall seeing any other report of such issue, I certainly haven't experienced it with my set up. Sounds like JDS has attempted to be thorough with you and your gear going so far as to send a 2nd unit which now exhibits the same issue. Given the fact that JDS couldn't reproduce the problem and none of us have a problem and now you've got 2 units with the same problem.... Deductive reason tells me the problem is somewhere in your audio chain. What are you using to feed your DAC? What is your DAC?

You mentioned something that's curious to me. You said "
I then discovered my main DAC can do the same thing, when used alone."
So why aren't you looking at the DAC as the problem?
Have you tried cable swapping the RCAs? DAC settings?
With all the info you supplied, I'm fairly certain the problem isn't the Atom

Not trying to be critical or *smart* here, I'm just trying to help.

 

[holsen]

Oops, didn't mean to post... Was still writing

 

[cel4145]

I'd like to broach (breach?) a matter concerning Atom amp that thus far i have not seen mentioned anywhere. Has anyone else experienced this? When a passage in whatever music greatly increases in volume, or starts loudly and suddenly, the amp just basically explodes? That is to say, the sound just turns to 'static' so vicious and violent you swear your earphones must be destroyed? You have to kill the music FAST, for it is extreeemely unpleasant.

I exchanged with JDS (John) about this a year or so back and he told me to return the unit for testing. This i did and he ran it for days and nothing. Now i have two units (one 'B' stock he was kind enough to send) but they both still do it

I then discovered my main DAC can do the same thing, when used alone. I have eliminated all possibility that this could bs a problem elsewhere in the audio chain. It *definitely* happens inside the amp.


Yes i love to listen very loud. JDS assures me they have heard of this problem from nobody else.


Nobody else!


Today i am finally getting round to asking Head-Fiers.

I've never heard of anybody having that problem. That is weird.

Did you also exchange the power supply?

 

[bboris77]

I've never heard of anybody having that problem. That is weird.

Did you also exchange the power supply?

I’ve never had that type of issue with my Atom. I’m thinking there is some kind of DC offset that is coming from your DAC.

 

[eldus]

I suppose I mean the power in the house. Voltage fluctuations from other things taking a spike of power like appliances, HVAC heating and cooling, vacuum cleaners et cetera. Perhaps a bad circuit breaker IDK. I'm no electrician. I suppose I would see what outlets and rooms are on which breakers. See if you still have the same issue in a different part of the house especially if you can try your equipment on a different circuit. Older houses can have bad wiring.

 

[warbles]

I know these things can be perplexing, frustrating and maddening even but man it feels good when we solve them! I'm sure you've been up and down this thread - I Don't recall seeing any other report of such issue, I certainly haven't experienced it with my set up. Sounds like JDS has attempted to be thorough with you and your gear going so far as to send a 2nd unit which now exhibits the same issue. Given the fact that JDS couldn't reproduce the problem and none of us have a problem and now you've got 2 units with the same problem.... Deductive reason tells me the problem is somewhere in your audio chain. What are you using to feed your DAC? What is your DAC?

You mentioned something that's curious to me. You said "
I then discovered my main DAC can do the same thing, when used alone."
So why aren't you looking at the DAC as the problem?
Have you tried cable swapping the RCAs? DAC settings?
With all the info you supplied, I'm fairly certain the problem isn't the Atom

Not trying to be critical or *smart* here, I'm just trying to help.

Thankyou very much for responding. May i apologise for the lack of clarity regarding my set-up in parts of my OP.

I am using the Atom.amp and Atom DAC together as stack.

But when i refer to 'DAC alone' i mean when i disconnect the JDS stack and use my Sabaj DA3 by itself.

I have to wonder how loud JDS set the amp when trying to reproduce the problem. I quite often have it above 9'oclock position. Yes, i do like to be maximally moved and *stirred*.

But the Sabaj DAC, used alone with its own USB connector and.of course the Sabaj drivers in my laptop, does exactly the same thing.

I am not sure what you mean me to do exactly by "swapping the RCAs"

I hope this additional clarification is of help to you!

 

[warbles]

I’ve never had that type of issue with my Atom. I’m thinking there is some kind of DC offset that is coming from your DAC.

As an avowed techcompoop (!) I do not really understand what "some kind of DC offset.... "refers to, i"m sorry!

 

[holsen]

But the Sabaj DAC, used alone with its own USB connector and.of course the Sabaj drivers in my laptop, does exactly the same thing.

If the Sabaj behaves the same way, it's not the Atom

I am not sure what you mean me to do exactly by "swapping the RCAs"

I was suggesting that maybe you have faulty RCA cables. You must connect the Atom DAC to the Atom AMP somehow, I'm assuming you're using RCA Cables to do that.

Anyway, let's see if we can help you figure it out. What is your audio chain? I'll describe mine so you know exactly what I mean.

PC > JRiver Media Center > Topping D50s DAC vis USB > Atom AMP via RCA
Ive got the output from Jriver to Topping DAC set to WASAPI drivers

1. What is your source that feeds your DAC(s)
2. What driver output setting do you have that source set to
3. How do you connect your source to your DAC?
4. How do you connect your DAC to your AMP?

Let's start with this and see what we come up with

 

[warbles]

I was suggesting that maybe you have faulty RCA cables. You must connect the Atom DAC to the Atom AMP somehow, I'm assuming you're using RCA Cables to do that.

Anyway, let's see if we can help you figure it out. What is your audio chain? I'll describe mine so you know exactly what I mean.

PC > JRiver Media Center > Topping D50s DAC vis USB > Atom AMP via RCA
Ive got the output from Jriver to Topping DAC set to WASAPI drivers

1. What is your source that feeds your DAC(s)
2. What driver output setting do you have that source set to
3. How do you connect your source to your DAC?
4. How do you connect your DAC to your AMP?

Let's start with this and see what we come up with

Hiya...i will get back to you as soon as i have time, and i think i've got satisfactory answers to all the above for you..

 

[megabigeye]

I've only had my Atom stack since Christmas, but I've never had the problem you've described. Every now and again it'll make a brief digital hash sound, but I don't think that's what you're talking about

But the Sabaj DAC, used alone with its own USB connector and.of course the Sabaj drivers in my laptop, does exactly the same thing.

Do you mean that the Sabaj makes the same noise as the Atom stack? If so, it's obviously not the amp or the DAC that is the problem.

EDIT: Sorry, maybe I misunderstood. Do you mean you use the Sabaj with the Atom amp?

 

[megabigeye]

Also, what headphones/IEMs are you using? If it's very loud at 9 o'clock, it indicates that they're either very sensitive or have low impedance (or else your idea of loud is very different from mine). If the impedance is very low, it could drawing too much current and potentially cause the amp to go into clipping. Maybe?

 

[schmalgausen]

IMO it would be more logic to put RCAs on both amp and dac in one line to use as short cables as possible. Maybe even 3.5 output. That strange that you must use RCA cable heavier that amp and dac. Isn't it?

 

[warbles]

Hi again to all who answered. Will endeavour to answer in detail this weekend. Just brieflly before respinding to the

 

[warbles]

..specific interrogations of head-fier holsen. What happens on both Sabaj DAC (used alone with USB and Sabaj drivers) and the Atom amp/DAC stack (used with what came with the units, nothing else) is almost the audio equivalent of a lightning tsunami. The sound very briefly goes faint, really seems to get sucked into the distance, then comes back KKKKCCCCHHHHH, everything turms to total noise so vicious and mega-loud in its attack it is truly, truly shocking. Just now for example, using the Atom stack, i set about streaming Deerhoof's "Dog on the Sidewalk" from Spotify. My system *erupted* at the very beginning.of the song and did so three times in a row (i of course stop the stream, wait a few minutes then try again). It's highly distressing, i can tell you!


To the person who enquired about which iems, well i have about thirty five or forty different sets now, 'covering a lot of bases', and as i'm sure you're all aware already, these are pretty much without exception low . impedance earphones.. I don't know how much louder you could ever go than a bit more than 10 o'clock on the Atom without wild distortion. What does loud mean to you?

 

[warbles]

IMO it would be more logic to put RCAs on both amp and dac in one line to use as short cables as possible. Maybe even 3.5 output. That strange that you must use RCA cable heavier that amp and dac. Isn't it?

I am sorry but i do not really understand what you are getting at here..