Strange noise during song transitions

[MeSue]

I came back from vacation on 9/25 and installed the latest 6.2 nightly. I use the SB2 in my bedroom with PC speakers plugged into the headphone jack. After updating, I found that I had to turn the PC speakers volume up to the max in order to get the same volume that I had before (that's not the issue, just a side comment). The issue is that, since then, I've noticed a strange noise during song transitions when the SB volume is set low (about 12 or less).

The best way I can describe the noise is that it is similar to the "churning" sounds of some hard drives when they are working, or the sound when you used to put a playing card into your bicycle spokes as a kid. It happens during the last 5-10 seconds of a song and for about 5-10 seconds into the beginning of a song. If I completely mute the volume and put my ear right up to the speaker, I can still hear a faint clicking noise, but it gets louder and faster at the beginning and ending of songs. I get the same thing using headphones. The noise also gets louder and faster when using FF and REW on the remote.

I installed the most recent beta (9/30) and it still happens.

Any ideas what could be going on here?

Edit/Update:
I just tried it in the other room, hooking up to the receiver with the RCA jacks. I get the same thing, only with a slightly different noise — more of a buzz than a churning noise. I have it connected through a ground loop isolator.

I never noticed this before 9/25 with the exact same hookups both in the bedroom and the living room.

[dean]

Hi Sue,

On Sep 30, 2005, at 12:32 PM, MeSue wrote:
> I came back from vacation on 9/25 and installed the latest 6.2
> nightly.
> I use the SB2 in my bedroom with PC speakers plugged into the
> headphone
> jack. After updating, I found that I had to turn the PC speakers
> volume
> up to the max in order to get the same volume that I had before
> (that's
> not the issue, just a side comment).
Right, we adjusted the scale for volume to dB, which gives us a lot
more resolution in the lower volumes at the expense of reducing the
overall volume in some cases. It shouldn't change again.

> The issue is that, since then, I've
> noticed a strange noise during song transitions when the SB volume is
> set low (about 12 or less).
>
> The best way I can describe the noise is that it is similar to the
> "churning" sounds of some hard drives when they are working, or the
> sound when you used to put a playing card into your bicycle spokes
> as a
> kid. It happens during the last 5-10 seconds of a song and for about
> 5-10 seconds into the beginning of a song. If I completely mute the
> volume and put my ear right up to the speaker, I can still hear a
> faint
> clicking noise, but it gets louder and faster at the beginning and
> ending of songs. I get the same thing using headphones. The noise also
> gets louder and faster when using FF and REW on the remote.
This may be interference from the wireless network getting into your
audio cable, although there have been no changes to the software that
would cause this to happen. Is it possible that you just noticed it?
This problem affects some Squeezebox2 units and can be fixed here if
you send your player in (there's a small passive part that needs to
be added to the board.) Contact support (AT) slimdevices (DOT) com for details
on returning.

-dean

[MeSue]

I'm guessing the reason I never noticed it until now is because I had to turn the volume knob on the speakers to the max to accommodate the software change that adjusted the volume scale.

This will be the second SB2 I'm having to return. The first one also had an interference problem but only on the headphone jack. At least I thought it was only the headphone jack, but maybe I just didn't notice it on the other connection because of the volume difference.

[dean]

On Sep 30, 2005, at 6:44 PM, MeSue wrote:
> I'm guessing the reason I never noticed it until now is because I
> had to
> turn the volume knob on the speakers to the max to accommodate the
> software change that adjusted the volume scale.
>
> This will be the second SB2 I'm having to return. The first one also
> had an interference problem but only on the headphone jack. At least I
> thought it was only the headphone jack, but maybe I just didn't notice
> it on the other connection because of the volume difference.
Ok, if you already exchanged your player then the one you have has
the fix that I described. Please contact support (AT) slimdevices (DOT) com,
we'll figure out what's going ont.