[earnmyturns]

Can someone describe what electrical noise sounds like. I guess I haven't heard (or noticed) any type of electrical interference before. Maybe I have this problem and ignorantly don't realize that I do.

Unless it's really bad, like with a ground loop, it does not stand out by itself, but instead it distorts what your DAC puts out. It may be noticed as silences that are not quite silences. In my systems, what I've heard as I upgraded from the first sources I used to my current ones is increased accuracy in rendering of transients, overtones and spatial placement of instruments, getting them closer to the live sound I'm familiar with from frequent live music events
 
For example, just listening to a drum solo by Eric Harland on Charles Lloyd's "Rabo de Nube" live recording, and I can place where the different beats come from in his drum set, the cymbal strokes are so real. I've seen him play live many times, so I know what to expect and I that could affect my perception, but what I've heard as I upgraded the system is that the sound became less "artificial," more involving because it does not distract with perceived reproduction artifacts. Now I'm listening to Lloyd's sax, and having listened to him so many times from a few feet away, I can recognize his breath as he blows into the instrument. I can even hear the spatial separation between Jason Moran's right-hand melody and left-hand rhythm. And this is with a Bimby, just writing it tempts me to get a second Yggy, for my headphone system

 

[earnmyturns]

My Bimby works beautifully almost always, but I just had to power cycle it to remove a funny distortion, one of a few times this happened. Unlike in the few previous (Few) occasions, in this case the distortion was not overwhelming, but just a not-so-loud high-pitch ringing accompanying louder mid-to-high frequency passages. My guess is that this happened after I re-sat the (very short) USB cable that connects it to the microRendu. Just posting here in case it helps others who find their Bimby delivering distorted sound.

 

[ericr]

Back in the early months after Bimby's release a good number of users (including me) experienced similar. IIRC, it was associated with the mechanical relays involved when changing bit-rates. I believe in almost all cases it resolved fairly quickly as the relays settled in (with maybe a handful being sent in for repair). With the bimby I had, simply cycling through the inputs would set it straight (no need to power cycle.

 

[earnmyturns]

Back in the early months after Bimby's release a good number of users (including me) experienced similar. IIRC, it was associated with the mechanical relays involved when changing bit-rates. I believe in almost all cases it resolved fairly quickly as the relays settled in (with maybe a handful being sent in for repair). With the bimby I had, simply cycling through the inputs would set it straight (no need to power cycle.

This is a well-burned-in Bimby, there was no rate change. I think it was the electrical transient when reseating the USB wire.

 

[MarkF786]

I've been listening to my Mojo the past few days.  It's impressive how good it sounds, holding it's own against my Jotunheim and Bimby - and with no USB problems!
 
I'll get back to troubleshooting my Bimby USB issues sometime soon. I've been considering getting a Wyrd to see if it would help, but I'm not sure that the intermittent clicking or pops are a power problem.  Any thoughts?

 

[theveterans]

I've been listening to my Mojo the past few days.  It's impressive how good it sounds, holding it's own against my Jotunheim and Bimby - and with no USB problems!

I'll get back to troubleshooting my Bimby USB issues sometime soon. I've been considering getting a Wyrd to see if it would help, but I'm not sure that the intermittent clicking or pops are a power problem.  Any thoughts?

Own both, but IMO Bimby's coax input pulls ahead of Mojo

 

[MarkF786]

Own both, but IMO Bimby's coax input pulls ahead of Mojo

I hadn't done a good head-to-head comparison until now.  I got out an old RCA switch I had, connected both DACs to go through the Jot, and volume matched them.  To sync the music, I used separate Macs, both running Audirvana Plus.  For headphones, I used my Focal Elear and Sennheiser Amiron.
 
Granted, I've only compared about ten tracks or so, but I can't really hear a difference.  At first I was running them both through their USB interface, then I switched the Bimby to it's optical interface - and I still couldn't hear a difference.  I was listening to specific frequency ranges and instruments, trying to hear differences in timbre or micro-details, but the only place I thought I could hear a difference was in the drum reverb on one track, with the mojo having a little more energy in the upper treble.  Maybe if I spent more time, I could hear more of a difference, but they're close enough that I wouldn't be able to tell them apart in a double-blind test.
 
I'm a little surprised at how much they sound the same to me.  Previously I compared the Mojo to the Jot's internal DAC and could hear a difference, and then later I compared the Bimby to the Jot's internal DAC and could hear a big difference.  And I've compared the Mojo to other DACs (DragonFly Black and Apogee Groove) and could hear a difference. 
 
Anyways, I'm not trying to knock either the Bimby or the Mojo; I think it's a complement to both of them, since they're both great DACs, with form factors suited for different purposes.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

I want to get a quality CD player that has coax out (and aes/ebu for the inevitable Yggy purchase), because optical, while clearly superior to USB, is not a total revelation by any means. However, because it can plug into your Mac's headphone jack with a $6 cable, it's about the cheapest upgrade possible, and I am very happy to have left USB behind.

 

[cherrypepsi]

Old RCA switch could potentially degrade the sound of both DACs. That may be the reason you couldn't hear much difference.

 

[bigro]

  This is a well-burned-in Bimby, there was no rate change. I think it was the electrical transient when reseating the USB wire.

I get that from time to time as well. Actually had it once while Using Coax a While Back which surprised me as I thought it was only happening with using USB.Not Detrimental but yes A good thing to note for others.Happened once in the past 6-8 months. It was more frequent the first month or so when I was using USB.

 

[thefitz]

Man, is there any advantage to USB other than availability? I thought my iBasso setup was ghetto, but it looks like my coax choice was a good one.

 

[MarkF786]

Old RCA switch could potentially degrade the sound of both DACs. That may be the reason you couldn't hear much difference.

Nothing that a bit of Deoxit didn't fix.

 

[artur9]

Man, is there any advantage to USB other than availability? I thought my iBasso setup was ghetto, but it looks like my coax choice was a good one.

I just switched from a USB-sourced chain to an XLR-sourced one.  The difference is astonishing.  In particular, my vinyl rig can no longer keep up.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

I don't buy burn in. Obviously warmed up bimby will be better than cold, but I haven't heard a change in the sound in the year it's been multibit.

 

[thefitz]

I don't buy burn in. Obviously warmed up bimby will be better than cold, but I haven't heard a change in the sound in the year it's been multibit.

Yes, yes, yes. Yes.
 
I don't buy cables either, but I definitely don't buy cable burn in.