[Blagnoth]

Not sure if this belongs in this thread or the general discussion thread, but both threads seem to have the same posters
 
I received my D1 a few days ago. I've been using it for two things so far: as a sound card replacement over USB, and as an amp/volume control device for using headphones with my PS3. For the former, paired with my AKG K-702s, I was pleased. Detail and soundstage were both markedly better than what I had experienced with my Total Bithead (which died due to me being a clutz).
 
For gaming, I prefer closed headphones. I plugged my PS3 into the RCA analog inputs and hooked up my ATH-A900s. Immediately, I was overwhelmed with hissing, crackling, beeping, and a constant high-pitched whine. Some of this noise is coming from the USB input. Unplugging that removed a bit of the beeping and crackling, but all the interference and/or feedback is present even with nothing hooked up at all. Just having the unit on and the headphones plugged in is tremendously noisy, regardless of the volume setting. I can also hear the high-frequency whine regardless of the input setting. Perhaps it's because the ATH-A900s only have 40 ohms of impedance?
 
The K-702s, with their 62 ohms of impedance, aren't nearly as noisy. But there still IS noise, especially when the USB input is enabled. For my computer, I have ordered some optical and coaxial cables to try because the USB function is very disappointing. Bypassing it should eliminate some of the issues.
 
For reference, both the D1 and my computer are hooked up to a high-end UPS with power conditioning. I don't think the issues are due to grounding. I briefly used the tube preamp output with a Y-adapter and some cheapo headphones to see if the noise was present there (I know the preamp output is "hot" so I didn't want to use anything worth more than 50 bucks). I couldn't hear any noise, but this is probably only because the preamp output is so much weaker.
 
So, is my unit defective, or am I wrong for using this with such low-impedance headphones? I'm not even going to try some of my in-ear monitors. I'd likely go deaf from the noise.

 

[Tequilasunriser]

Well, I'm using a pair of 32 Ohm Grado SR60is right now and the background noise is dead quiet. I have to crank it past 12 o'clock (way past comfortable listening volumes) to faintly hear a hiss.
 
I'm hooked up to my PC from my soundcard to the D1 via Toslink though. Not sure if that makes a difference.

 

[Blagnoth]

Thanks for the reply, Tequila. Ryan has already responded to me. Here's what's gone on so far. Seems to me like I just have too much junk in my man cave...
 
 
Quote:

Hi,

I want you to do a small test:

- Take the D1 to another room, find a standalone wall power outlet, plug the power of D1 (don't plug any audio source to the D1), then use your A900s with the D1, to see if there is any noise from it.

Let me know the result and I will help you further.

Cheers,

Ryan

 
My response:
Quote:

I was going to do the same thing. Just now I took the D1 into another room. No noise at all. However, out of curiosity I tried it again with no inputs connected using the same outlet as before. This time, there was no noise until I plugged something in. Both the analog and USB inputs introduce noise. The analog input introduces the most noise by far.

Then, I tried hooking up two RCA cables to the analog input, but not connecting them to anything. No noise then either. (No surprise.)

Next, I took a laptop into another room, plugged the D1 in there, and used the USB interface with the laptop. No noise beyond normal white noise when the amp was turned way up.

Finally, I tried another plug in my A/V room. No noise until I hooked something up. Then the noise was back.

I have a TON of equipment in my A/V room (man cave): 3 computers, 3 monitors, a 42" TV, ventilation, game consoles, network equipment, a phone... Something is probably attenuating with the input cables. There's a ferrite core on the USB cable and the RCA cables are supposedly shielded, but it's probably not enough. Either that or there's a power issue in this room.

I can't exactly move to another room. That'd kind of defeat the purpose. Is there some way I can protect the D1 from all this interference? I will switch to an optical TOSLINK cable sometime this week. That'll eliminate one source of noise. Can't do much about the analog PS3 connection (I can't use optical with the PS3 because I output HDMI and analog simultaneously, using the HDMI for capture purposes. The PS3 cannot output HDMI and optical audio simultaneously).

Sorry for the long email. Trying to eliminate all possibilities.

 

 

[B-Dawk20]

The USB has been known to be a bit noisy and from my AD700s and M50s, with USB enabled, they give an audible hiss when they are cranked past 12 and the hiss gets louder further up but like someone else said, volume in that area is way too loud.
 
 
When not on USB, the hiss is barely audible at max. For me at least.

 

[Blagnoth]

Thanks to Ryan's excellent help and this Japanese power cable I had from when I lived over there, I've eliminated most of the noise. Without the USB hooked up, there's no noise until what would be deafening volumes. So once I get that optical cable, things should be just fine, I'm hoping!
 
Very impressed with the support Ryan provided.
 

 

[_Spanky_]

 
Quote:

Thanks to Ryan's excellent help and this Japanese power cable I had from when I lived over there, I've eliminated most of the noise. Without the USB hooked up, there's no noise until what would be deafening volumes. So once I get that optical cable, things should be just fine, I'm hoping!
 
Very impressed with the support Ryan provided.

Yea, the USB is not that great. I had all kinds of weird noises via USB on my unit, even analog in from my computer. Even if you have power conditioning, you can still get grounding loops between the computer and the D1. Why don't you use optical with your PS3 as well? Don't they have that kind of output?

 

[B-Dawk20]

Eh, the noises are actually only present for me when im not playing music, its dead silent otherwise. Ita really weird too because the noise change when you alternate pressing the play and pause button. Like itll be a high pitch frequency and then a mid range, then just silent, and sometimes a hiss. Then weirdly enough, once I play music, you can mute or turn the volume all the way down in the player and see the noise is completely gone.

 

[Blagnoth]

I don't use optical with the PS3 -- I have a strange setup where I need to output HDMI and analog at the same time. I do video capture from my PS3 for gameplay videos, etc. The PS3 cannot output HDMI and optical simultaneously, and I need the HDMI for capturing purposes. That leaves me with the analog output.

 

[_Spanky_]

Not sure how to help about not getting audio. Try updating the driver to the latest one (likely Realtek onboard, they release drivers quite often).
 
For the PS3, you might be able to get a splitter and extract the SPDIF from the HDMI and split it into the D1's coaxial input. Might be too complicated but I'm sure it's possible.

 

[Blagnoth]

Just got optical working. I have no idea how, but a large piece of dirt got into the D1's optical jack in the short time between when I took off the cover and when I inserted the cable... Compressed air saves the day. Kind of hilarious.
 
 

 

[eos500n]

How come all the links doesnt' work, it just come back to the same page. help..
 

 

[uelover]

Quote:

How come all the links doesnt' work, it just come back to the same page. help..
 

Who are you speaking to and what are you speaking about.

 

[Ultrainferno]

Quote:

Who are you speaking to and what are you speaking about.

Spanky and the hidden links in the 1st page of the FAQ?

 

[Flagellin]

Yeah, I'm looking into getting this dac/amp, can someone explain the broken links? 

 

[mtwill54]

I'm also interested in this dac and I would love to read up, but all the links are broken.