[thread]

Have any of you ever had the Predator suddenly lose its connection to the computer? On two Mac laptops (one MBP, one G4) the sound suddenly goes to an unorganized mess of static & noise. It seems OSX then switches over to the internal sound device. On my linux PC, the sound goes silent, and gnome tells me the device is disconnected. In either case, all that's needed is to unplug the usb connection, and reconnect.

When does this happen? It happens maybe once or twice a day if I'm using it for longer periods of time. Usually less. I can't do it intentionally, but every tenth or twentieth ish time I touch it, I lose the Predator. I'm fairly convinced it has something to do with an electrical discharge. (e.g. it seems to happen mostly when I'm moving around and touch it. also, it's dry winter time here in MI.)

I've also tried wiggling both ends of the USB connection. They're quite secure. Two different cables have been used.

So darnit, I'm about to send my Predator off to Ray to have the DAC part switched out. Hopefully this funny issue will vanish.

I'd be curious to do a quick poll before I do, though, has this EVER happened to ANYONE but me?

Also, Ray has never heard of this from anybody, so please don't take my testimonial here as being representative. I absolutely adore this amp (SQ, battery life, size...)

 

[Dorito123]

I have seen behavior like this when switching between programs that use audio. Lets say I am listening to music on Foobar and I play a movie clip in IE7 and pause Foobar. Sometimes this will cause my USB connection to crap out till I close all the programs (IE 7 and Foobar) and restart Foobar. One thing that might help is to Set the Priority of your music player to High in the task manager. Another thing I like to do is to set the default audio device (in audio properties in the control panel) to Realtek Speakers (yours may be different) and not USB. After that just make sure your music player is set to use your USB (Predator). This way you can surf the web and click anything and it will not interrupt your USB device for anything (Like music on a website or a movie clip). Another tip is to Make a shortcut for your audio properties so it can be accessed from your desktop, and you wont have to futz around with opening the control panel. Good Luck and I hope this has been some help. Sorry I just realized you have Mac's, but some of this may apply, like setting the default audio device to something other than USB.

 

[thread]

Thanks for the response, Dorito123, but yeah... it really doesn't seem to be a priority/software thing at all. I've never had any reason to believe they might be at fault. It always happens for no other reason than I just made skin-to-metal contact with the unit... never with any warning.

 

[Dorito123]

That is strange, maybe its time to call Ray and ask him whats up. I know you gave the cable a wiggle but I would try a different cable too.

 

[jamato8]

I have a Mac but have never experienced the problem you mention or any problem at all with the USB.

 

[thread]

I did mention that I've tried different cables and also that Ray tells me he's never heard of this.

I guess the general consensus is that I've got a first of this issue, so hopefully a little dac-swap will resolve it.

 

[kamal007]

im having the same problem with my foobar2000 via emu 0404usb after a reinstall of windows (XP) a couple days ago. ill try and reinstall the driver and etc

 

[Jalo]

From what you describe, moving around then skin to metal contact, extreme dry and cold weather, static electricity discharge is the first suspect that comes to mind. As with any electronic component, make sure you get yourself fully discharged before making skin to metal contact. When you move around you are building up static. I also have a predator that connect to the computer but never have this happened to me.

 

[thread]

So since nobody has ever reported anything like this, and it happens to me with some frequency... I guess that should make me feel optimistic about swaping for a new dac part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jalo /img/forum/go_quote.gif From what you describe, moving around then skin to metal contact, extreme dry and cold weather, static electricity discharge is the first suspect that comes to mind. As with any electronic component, make sure you get yourself fully discharged before making skin to metal contact. When you move around you are building up static. I also have a predator that connect to the computer but never have this happened to me.

 

[OptionTrader]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a Mac but have never experienced the problem you mention or any problem at all with the USB.

No issues here either.

 

[Manny Calavera]

As I said in the sale thread,my wifes Predator has had no issues,nor mine.I am sure that yours is an isolated incident.

Luckily the lifetime warranty will cover you.(one of a few reasons I choose it over other options)

 

[thread]

True that. Gotta love a man that stands by his work. The Predator goes out today.

 

[warrior05]

Though I don't have a Predator, I've experienced the same type of symptoms with my MiniDAC. I run Windows XP and I've had it drop the USB connection without touching a thing. I once had it drop in the middle of a song playing. Now I can't say for certain if I was doing something on the computer - highly possible. But it typically happens if I switch to a different program sometimes even site with sound. Annoying.

 

[kamal007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warrior05 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Though I don't have a Predator, I've experienced the same type of symptoms with my MiniDAC. I run Windows XP and I've had it drop the USB connection without touching a thing. I once had it drop in the middle of a song playing. Now I can't say for certain if I was doing something on the computer - highly possible. But it typically happens if I switch to a different program sometimes even site with sound. Annoying.

exactly the same problem as mine. I dont think my pc is the bottleneck since im running E6600+2GB of RAM.

 

[jchristensenlovesaudio]

Have had no issues with my Predator, I would send it to Ray, he will have it back for you very quickly. It is so hard to have to send off something new that you like, I have had to do it with certain audio toys I have bought, it sucks but I don't see it getting fixed otherwise, this way Ray can give him a little check-up too.