TubeDAC-11 troubleshooting - clicking noise

MrTAD said:

rockyhill,
I'm sorry! I must have misread your earlier post about your experience with the clicking noise. With my Adcom Cd player the clicking happened every time a new cd started. i would get this pulse of multiple clicks (exactly the same every time just like the sound file that I posted). The same thing happens if I skip tracks or CD's.

When I hooked up my Adcom CD to njcanuk's DAC-11 the clicking noise happened on his DAC, so in my mind that meant the Adcom was the problem.

How often do you have that happen with your CD player? Have you done any troubleshooting to figure out what's going on? I know there has to be a number of DAC-11 owners on this forum, so I'm surprised that nobody else has commented about this problem.

I wish I had access to another CD player with SPDIF output.

Click to expand...

No worries!

It's an infrequent symptom so I live with it. Not a lot if trouble shooting to do other than try different cables, which has made no difference. I replaced the stock cable with a Blue Jeans cable to no avail.

This clicking is the dac not recognizing the first few bits of data being sent by the player, most players the td11 has no issues with, a few do this, ditto sampling rates from computers, most don't do it, some do. We decided that instead of buffering digital inputs to avoid this clicking from a few sources, that the sonic benefits of not having extra circuitry in the digital signal chain was the way to go. For computer sources try foobar as your player, it works perfectly with the td11, even going from mp3 to 192/24. Cable swaps aren't going to make a difference except some have had issues with Blue Jean cables making a proper connection to the td11 (coax is fine), no ones fault, just one of those things.

Cheers,
Ian

Thanks Ian. No worries here. I'm happy with the TD11. I use it as a pre, coupled with a passive attenuator. It plays very nicely with foobar too.

Ian,
thanks for the additional information! I too am very pleased with the DAC-11 - it made a big improvement compared to the internal processor in the CD player. You mentioned that you have observed the clicking problem with a few CD players. Do you keep track of specific models or brands that people have brought to your attention? I don't want to get rid of my adcom and purchase, for example, a denon and have the denon exhibit the same behavior. I will admit that my Adcom GCD700 is fairly old so buying a more recent "previously owned" cd changer is an option that I am willing to consider.

MrTAD said:

Ian,
thanks for the additional information! I too am very pleased with the DAC-11 - it made a big improvement compared to the internal processor in the CD player. You mentioned that you have observed the clicking problem with a few CD players. Do you keep track of specific models or brands that people have brought to your attention? I don't want to get rid of my adcom and purchase, for example, a denon and have the denon exhibit the same behavior. I will admit that my Adcom GCD700 is fairly old so buying a more recent "previously owned" cd changer is an option that I am willing to consider.

Click to expand...

Adcom has usually been it, but it is usually older players. The transport in multichangers usually isn't so great, but if convenience is what you are after go for a higher model number offering. Ditto a single source player, which if you go older (within 10 years) top of the line you are getting as high a quality transport as typical 'audiophile' budget players, the next level up of course is things like Phillips drive based transports, but they get pricey and usually perform as well as the td11 anyways if they have a tube output.

As always save a few bucks for tube rolls so that you can dial in your music styles to the rest of your system. I notice some people are getting stuck on specs and details again. Anything a DAC does wrong is nothing compared the mess your speakers/ears and brain is doing to the signal by comparison

Cheers,
Ian

Thanks for the feedback about the CD changers. I consider CD's as the "convenient listening source," so I want to stick with the changers. I found a Denon DCM-290 online that I'm considering (for about $75, so it's cheap). Of course I don't know if this unit will have the same issues as the Adcom, so I haven't pulled the trigger on the purchase as of yet.

As to your second comment, I've already jumped the gun on tube rolling! I've read all the posts in this forum about the different tubes that you and others have tried. I picked up two tubes, a 6DJ8 Amperex Holland (orange globe) and the Voskhod 6N23P Rocket to try out. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time auditioning these.

I have the same problem with my Marantz CD player via the digital connection. I hear a few clicks from the DAC, and then everything seems fine.

A question: does this clicking harm the DAC in any way?

(I've only been able to listen for an hour or so, but I have favourable first impressions--I'm looking forward to hearing how this sounds after a burn-in period.

MusicDoc said:

I have the same problem with my Marantz CD player via the digital connection. I hear a few clicks from the DAC, and then everything seems fine.

A question: does this clicking harm the DAC in any way?

Click to expand...

The clicking won't hurt DAC in any manner. When signal is not locked properly, it will click. Once digital signal is locked in fine, the click will go away.

Best, Rachel @ Grant Fidelity