TubeDAC-11 troubleshooting - clicking noise

M

MrTAD

New Member
Need help! I don't know if the "noise" I'm getting from the DAC is normal or not.

First off, the Grant TubeDAC-11 is the first DAC I've ever owned or even seen in operation (I don't get out much!). I have it hooked up via an SPDIF cable from the digital out of an Adcom CD player - this is my primary use. I will say this - the sound of the CD through the DAC is a world of difference BETTER then the analog out from the Adcom! So that's a HUGE plus. And I've spent hours going back and forth between the tube and solid state out, and I prefer the tube out. It's the stock tube, BUT I already jumped the gun and bought several tubes to switch and test.

HOWEVER - I have a problem - or at least I think it's a problem. When I hit play on my CD, I get a clicking noise that lasts for several seconds (reminds me of grinding gears in a stick shift car). The attached mp3 file has that clicking noise, followed by 2 seconds of music. When I hit stop there is a quiet click that is emitted from the DAC. *** please note the sound file is very small, BUT I had to add it as a zip file since mp3's didn't seem to upload for some reason.

What bothers me is that ?I hear this grinding/clicking sound when I start the first CD, then when the CD ends and the changer starts to play the next CD, the clicking sound is repeated.

Is this normal? If so, I will have this DAC listed for sale, along with the tubes, and I will look for another brand that does not have this behavior.

I'm begging for help!!!!!!

Thanks
 
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I believe I read some time ago that this is usually the CD player passing the clicking to the dac. Not all CD players do it though. You should be able to check by connecting a different source to the dac.
 
njcanuck,
I thought about the CD player being the cause, but at the moment I only have that one digital source available. I don't know if any stores would be willing to loan or rent me a CD player for a couple of days, but it might be worth a try. I feel funny walking into an audio store with the DAC and asking then to hook it up.
 
Did you listen to the mp3 file I included with my posts? It was my first attempt at zipping and uploading a file.
 
Just to clarify the clicking noise from my DAC-11 - the actual noise comes out of the DAC itself - not through the speakers. The sound (clicking that is in the sound file) was recorded at the front panel and it sounds like it comes from behind the led's on the left side of the unit.
 
MrTAD said:
Just to clarify the clicking noise from my DAC-11 - the actual noise comes out of the DAC itself - not through the speakers. The sound (clicking that is in the sound file) was recorded at the front panel and it sounds like it comes from behind the led's on the left side of the unit.
Click to expand...

Certainly not supposed to do that. Mine doesn't.
 
njcanuck,
odd question for you - just wondering where in NJ do you live? I'm in the Pennington area...
 
I'm just up the road in Flemington. You are more than welcome to bring your dac over to compare to mine. Do you know Andy (njpheonix)? He's in Pennington, too.
 
I checked with the factory and Ian on this matter - both confirmed that the issue is highly likely related to the CD player sending out signal not recognized by the DAC-11 hence the un-locking click from DAC-11 itself. Please try a different source of digital signal.
 
I have NuForce U192S connecting computer to DAC. If I set sample rate wrong I would get noises like you describe.
 
Problem diagnosed - CD changer is the source

With help from Audio Karma member njcanuck we were able to confirm that the problem was the CD player! THANKS FOR THE HELP njcauck! I enjoyed listening to your mix of vintage and modern gear, and it was a pleasure hanging out with you!

Of course now I have to decide if I want to replace the Adcom CD changer with something else! I'm too "old school" to get rid of the CD player. Of course if I hit the powerball tonight then getting rid of the adcom won't be too much of a problem! :)
 
On occasion I notice a similar clicking when playing a Marantz SACD/CD player to my DAC-11. It's connected via S/PDIF AND analog (because it's SACD). My conclusion is the DAC has some deficiency recognizing the signal but because it's infrequent I live with it... and switch to analog out as this player has it's own pretty good DAC.
 
Rockyhill said:
MrTAD said:
With help from Audio Karma member njcanuck we were able to confirm that the problem was the CD player
Curious to know how that was determined.
Click to expand...

We connected MrTAD's CD player to my TubeDac-11 via SPDIF. As soon as 'Play' was pressed, a relay inside the dac clicked rapidly approx. three times just prior to the sound passing through. The 'Digital' LED flashed in conjunction with the relay. (If you listen carefully, you can hear this relay click when you switch the dac in and out of SPDIF mode).

It appeared to me that some signal from the CD player was causing the dac to drop out of digital mode. When the music started to play, it was able to lock on and play normally. I primarily use the SPDIF input on this dac and to date, this is the only source component to cause this behavior.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
njcanuck said:
Rockyhill said:
MrTAD said:
With help from Audio Karma member njcanuck we were able to confirm that the problem was the CD player

We connected MrTAD's CD player to my TubeDac-11 via SPDIF. As soon as 'Play' was pressed, a relay inside the dac clicked rapidly approx. three times just prior to the sound passing through. The 'Digital' LED flashed in conjunction with the relay. (If you listen carefully, you can hear this relay click when you switch the dac in and out of SPDIF mode).

It appeared to me that some signal from the CD player was causing the dac to drop out of digital mode. When the music started to play, it was able to lock on and play normally. I primarily use the SPDIF input on this dac and to date, this is the only source component to cause this behavior.
Click to expand...


Indeed, I have a similar experience. So we have to determine if two different input devices have inadequacies with their digital signal or if the DAC has an inadequacy with respect to handling the coax input.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I guess I'll live with my CD for the time being! I'm "usually" listen to vinyl and have never been totally satisfied with the sound of the CD player, but with the digital output through the TubeDAC-11 the CD sound so much better! Still to my ear not quite up to vinyl, but much better then it was. So, I'm happy. The clicking does annoy me, but since I want a CD changer and my budget is really really small, I'll look for something used. I saw a Denon DCM-290 for around $50 - $75 so if the clicking bothers me too much I'll try that route.

I don't have any other gear to run through the DAC - at least not until my son gets back from college and runs his Macbook pro. Then I'll try the optical and usb.
 
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.
 
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