[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowlevelowl /img/forum/go_quote.gif So looks like I got a defective Compass. It runs for about 25 minutes and then the sound starts breaking up, almost like the sound of a record skipping. Left running, eventually the sound cuts out all together and all you hear are popping noises. I have reseated both HDAMs (moon and earth), looked all over the interior of the unit and haven't seen anything abnormal. It really is almost like it is overheating, if I let it cool off for about 5 minutes and turn it back on, it plays fine for another 25 minutes. Now this could be shipping damage, but the unit is in pristine condition inside an out. Not even any cosmetic damage. Even the box made it from China to the US with no dented corners etc. Frankly I think it was a dud at the factory. If so, I question Audio-gd burning these in for 100 hours as this is something that would have come to their attention pretty fast. Given the cost to ship it back to China, I'm certainly not going to ship it back for repair or replacement. The 25 minutes prior to the "defect" sound really good though, so I'm sure a working unit is a good product. I'll email Cherry and see what they can do for me, but I'm not hopeful that anything can be done without me incurring more expense. I think I'll stick to US manufacturers from now on just for the convenience factor. Live and learn...

Can you hit the super button and see if it's just the DAC or the Headamp section.

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[Starguard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can you hit the super button and see if it's just the DAC or the Headamp section. .

The sound continues when the super-button is hit. Also something I noticed: when the super button is pressed in, I can turn the volume all the way up and hear the music faintly. Don't know if that's bad or not.

When I turn the knob to Coax/Opt I still hear the sound.

Short story to explain what it sounds like: when you unplug an electric guitar from an amp that is turned on (which you shouldn't do) and you touch the plug head to your hand it makes a almost buzzing noise. That's the noise I'm hearing (be it faint).

 

[lowlevelowl]

An update..

It would appear that only the optical input is defective. I switched to USB and the issue hasn't returned. I don't have any devices that use coax so I can't test it. I'll continue to burn it in and see if the issue comes up again on USB. I'd prefer optical but I'll be satisfied with USB if it means I can at least use the device.

 

[lowlevelowl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starguard /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sound continues when the super-button is hit. Also something I noticed: when the super button is pressed in, I can turn the volume all the way up and hear the music faintly. Don't know if that's bad or not. When I turn the knob to Coax/Opt I still hear the sound. Short story to explain what it sounds like: when you unplug an electric guitar from an amp that is turned on (which you shouldn't do) and you touch the plug head to your hand it makes a almost buzzing noise. That's the noise I'm hearing (be it faint).

I have no buzzing or humming at all from my unit. I just have the other issue I've written about...

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starguard /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sound continues when the super-button is hit. Also something I noticed: when the super button is pressed in, I can turn the volume all the way up and hear the music faintly. Don't know if that's bad or not. When I turn the knob to Coax/Opt I still hear the sound. Short story to explain what it sounds like: when you unplug an electric guitar from an amp that is turned on (which you shouldn't do) and you touch the plug head to your hand it makes a almost buzzing noise. That's the noise I'm hearing (be it faint).

You actually quoted me, answering someone else. You need to see if you have bad ground to the wall, if there is a loop to your source, etc. Try another entry like Toslink, or USB. Toslink would be nice because it is optical and electrically isolated. Move to another plug. Turn off the AC, unplug the Fridge, etc. You have a lot of places to look. You could run an Ipod in via a cable with the Super button engaged to see if if comes thru the dac section. To hear the sound, just start a source and pause it. You should be able to here it clearly. Look for dimmer switches also.

Ohhh, and have FUN!

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[Starguard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif You actually quoted me, answering someone else. You need to see if you have bad ground to the wall, if there is a loop to your source, etc. Try another entry like Toslink, or USB. Toslink would be nice because it is optical and electrically isolated. Move to another plug. Turn off the AC, unplug the Fridge, etc. You have a lot of places to look. You could run an Ipod in via a cable with the Super button engaged to see if if comes thru the dac section. To hear the sound, just start a source and pause it. You should be able to here it clearly. Look for dimmer switches also. Ohhh, and have FUN! .

Now this is crazy.

Seems the problem has fixed itself. Seriously. I don't hear it anymore (I just noticed after a song stopped playing that it was gone) and everything is sounding good.

Side note: The build quality of this thing is just awesome.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowlevelowl /img/forum/go_quote.gif An update.. It would appear that only the optical input is defective. I switched to USB and the issue hasn't returned. I don't have any devices that use coax so I can't test it. I'll continue to burn it in and see if the issue comes up again on USB. I'd prefer optical but I'll be satisfied with USB if it means I can at least use the device.

That sux! I would find a COAX source to test it. Probably doesn't matter, but you should get another DAC board sent to you it sounds like. Then think about a convenient time to get someone to swap it out for you.

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[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starguard /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now this is crazy. Seems the problem has fixed itself. Seriously. I don't hear it anymore (I just noticed after a song stopped playing that it was gone) and everything is sounding good. Side note: The build quality of this thing is just awesome.

Some residual out of Phase Chinese Electrons!

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[j2kei]

all this stories about defective and etc is making me nervous.

 

[sandchak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowlevelowl /img/forum/go_quote.gif An update.. It would appear that only the optical input is defective. I switched to USB and the issue hasn't returned. I don't have any devices that use coax so I can't test it. I'll continue to burn it in and see if the issue comes up again on USB. I'd prefer optical but I'll be satisfied with USB if it means I can at least use the device.

Do you have any spare optical cable? usually optical cables are very fragile and must have been damaged during shipment.

Quote:

The sound continues when the super-button is hit. Also something I noticed: when the super button is pressed in, I can turn the volume all the way up and hear the music faintly. Don't know if that's bad or not. When I turn the knob to Coax/Opt I still hear the sound.

This is nothing abnormal or bad, this is due to high input impendence, this will not happen if you use a source into the line in of Compass and activate super.
You can check that.

The Audio GD website says:

Quote:

Why Compass has some noise while using "Super" mode when it is not being fed with signal to HP amp?: While using “Super” mode in Compass, if users don't connect any source feeding the HP amp input, and turn the volume to maximum, they will hear some noise from the headphone. This is normal, because when HP amp is turned to max volume, input impedance is 47K ohms, with such high input impedance it will very easily pick up FR and other disturbances, which will then go through the HP amp (gain 13/19db) and finally reach the headphones. But If connected to source gears, the source output impedance is usually at 10-470 ohms, in this case it is difficult to pick up any noise or disturbances, in this case it will have high S/N ratio. If we design the HP amp with low input impedance, and in effect, when it is not connected to source gears, the noise will be a bit lower, but we took into consideration: 1, high input impedance SQ is better than low input impedance. 2, Who will enjoy listening to the noise while it is not connected source gears?

 

[sarathcpt]

I connected the DAC out to my speakers and I can hear the music faintly when the Super button is NOT pressed, when I thought I shouldnt be hearing anything out of the DAC out. When I press the Super Button volume jumps up to normal levels. Something to do with the way the Super button switch is wired in the circuit ? Anyone knows?

 

[Chu]

After two days with this thing, and the heartbreaking bagging incident, I am seriously considering buying a second one if the price is going to jump soon.

This thing is just amazing for $300. I don't have that much experience with gear as other head-fi'ers but I can't think of anything SS that would beat it for twice the price.

I also discovered, to my chagrin, that a solo-z modded X-Fi, kernel streamed, is an incredibly poor source. It's astounding how much better ASIO is sounding.

 

[moodyrn]

This compass is really something special. It's not the best dac I ever own. And it's certainly not the best amp I ever own. There are combos out the that has better amps, like the corda opera(that's debatable). There are combos that have better dacs, like the benchmark(that's also debatable). I don't know of many combos, or any that I have heard, that do both so well. It kind of reminds me of my sextetts. They don't really blow me away at doing anything. They just sound good. And throw in an excellent preamp, wow. All of this for about 320.00 shipped. That's ridicules. I wish I had the buget to put on in every room in the house. A true on box solution. Just plug it up, run a digital cable of your choice, and bam. You are set.

 

[Currawong]

Toslink optical connectors are unfortunately, crap. They were designed by Toshiba, hence the name. On some older DACs you can still find the better optical connectors that locked in properly. From my experimentation, I'd say choose coax, then USB, then optical in that order if you can. Optical is best used if you are getting a lot of electrical noise from your computer, but otherwise is usually the worst connection.

 

[jamato8]

I don't agree. I have not found USB to be better than a good optical in Toslink and having built a dac that could use both optical and coax, I found they both worked well, when correctly implemented. Also the fiber used for many of the better made toslinks does and excellent job in low loss and transmitting the data.

I have found that blanket statements, which are absolutes, disprove themselves by the mere fact that it is an absolute. There is plenty of variation in all the types of data transmission. That USB may be better in some cases does not mean it is always better and the same goes for coax. There are many white papers on all of this.