Weird "Popping" Sound Coming from Cd's - My Player?

[WulfmanJax]

I just bought my first really good system a few months back, but about a month ago i experienced the first case of what i call the "popping" sound. I'm not sure how to describe it... Imagine if you went made a "ch" sound real fast - kinda like that. Well, anyway, i had had this problem with my old system before with cd-r's but never with regular cd's. But i've recently bought 3 new cd's that all have this "popping" sound and also noticed it on a few of my older albums. It's usually only noticable when the music's not so loud. Like where you should hear a silent background, you hear this "popping" sound. But even when the music's loud i can often hear it.

I'm wondering if it's the player. Maybe it needs cleaning out? It just seems weird to me that if it's the player why it's only certain cd's that do this. It seems about 98% of my collection is unaffected, but the few that it has happened with it totally ruins the album. And if it is the player that needs cleaning out, the guy i bought my player (Rega Jupiter) from said not to use one of those disc cleaners. He recommended a "soft component brush" since the Rega's a top-loader but i haven't been able to find one any anywhere (he recommended Radioshack but they didn't have any).

Any advice is welcome as this is really starting to bother me.

 

[dvw]

Popping noise usually comes from bit error. CDR having popping noise is not surprising. A bad burn or low quality CDR sometime will show this problem.

Pressed CD is not common. Either your CD is really bad or your CD player is having problem doing error correction. Check your CD with EAC and see if you have execessive error. If not, return the player and get a different one.

 

[WulfmanJax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvw Pressed CD is not common. Either your CD is really bad or your CD player is having problem doing error correction. Check your CD with EAC and see if you have execessive error. If not, return the player and get a different one.

I can't imagine it being the CD's because i've had three do this brand new, right out of the cases. How do you check a cd with EAC? And i can't "return the player", i bought it used.

Is there any way to "test" the player to see if it's indeed having error correction problems? And Is there a way to fix the player if indeed it is having a problem doing error corrections? I think it's still under warranty.

 

[dvw]

EAC alows you to look at a song and look at the checksum error. Or if you rip a disc, the light onnthe screen will light up when there's error.

Even if the disc are brandnew there still could be error on it. The error correction is supposed to correct it.

There could be another possibility. The internal DAC could have problem. But that would mean you would be hearing pop on every CD or randomly on some CD.

There is one more way you can confirm this, take the audio out and connect that to a sound card and capture the music in wav file. After that use a wave editor, (cool edit or nero) to view the wave form. At the part where popping sound appears, you'll see there will be discontious signal. And that's error. If this only happen with the Rega, then the Rega got a problem.

If it is under warranty then, sent it back to the factory.

 

[WulfmanJax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvw There is one more way you can confirm this, take the audio out and connect that to a sound card and capture the music in wav file. After that use a wave editor, (cool edit or nero) to view the wave form. At the part where popping sound appears, you'll see there will be discontious signal. And that's error. If this only happen with the Rega, then the Rega got a problem.

Ok, i'm sure this is probably more simple than it sounds, but i'm really ignorant when it comes to this kind of stuff... You'd probably have to walk me through this step by step for me to figure out exactly how to do it. I'm thinking a better idea might be to contact Rega and ask them. I'll have to check the warranty card but i'm 90% sure it's still under warranty. If they'd be willing to fix it or replace it, that'd be ideal.

 

[dvw]

Contacting Rega might be your best bet.

Here's the step to capture an audio stream.
1. Connect output of the player to sound card. You'll need an RCA to minplug connector.
2. Open a recording software and set the appropriate recording level. (you can use MS's sound recorder) A low level is prefered. Clipping also sound like pop so you don't want to have a high recording level.
3. Just hit record like you are using a casset deck.
4. Save the file when you're done.
5. Use wave editor of Nero or Cool edit to view the file.
6. The wave should look like a whole bunch of signal
7. Listen to the wave file and take note of where the pop occurs. (there's a pointer moving when the file is playing)
8. Zoom to that area and you sgould see missing signal in that area. That's what's causing the pop.

 

[WulfmanJax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvw Contacting Rega might be your best bet. Here's the step to capture an audio stream. 1. Connect output of the player to sound card. You'll need an RCA to minplug connector. 2. Open a recording software and set the appropriate recording level. (you can use MS's sound recorder) A low level is prefered. Clipping also sound like pop so you don't want to have a high recording level. 3. Just hit record like you are using a casset deck. 4. Save the file when you're done. 5. Use wave editor of Nero or Cool edit to view the file. 6. The wave should look like a whole bunch of signal 7. Listen to the wave file and take note of where the pop occurs. (there's a pointer moving when the file is playing) 8. Zoom to that area and you sgould see missing signal in that area. That's what's causing the pop.

Ok, i'll attempt to do this either tomorrow or in a few days. Doesn't sound TOO complicated.