Pop/click in transporter playback with recent firmware

[Soulkeeper]

The correct experiment to try first is not to revert the firmware, but to remove the DAC from the signal path.

Agreed. This is the rational approach, from a troubleshooting perspective. As far as it is possible, remove non-mandatory components, one by one, until the problem goes away. Then you can reasonably infer that the last component you removed, is involved in creating the problem. This should be the first course of action, and with luck, the only one necessary.

If it sounds like I'm simplifying things, well, that's rule number one of troubleshooting.

[ghostrider]

Agreed. This is the rational approach, from a troubleshooting perspective. As far as it is possible, remove non-mandatory components, one by one, until the problem goes away. Then you can reasonably infer that the last component you removed, is involved in creating the problem. This should be the first course of action, and with luck, the only one necessary.

If it sounds like I'm simplifying things, well, that's rule number one of troubleshooting.

This assumes he has a digital connection capability on his preamp. If not, you're changing two things at once...taking the outboard DAC out of the loop and switching to the TP's DAC.

[cliveb]

This assumes he has a digital connection capability on his preamp. If not, you're changing two things at once...taking the outboard DAC out of the loop and switching to the TP's DAC.

Except that we know there is no possible clock drift issue with the TP's internal DAC, and a free-running clock in an external DAC drifting out of sync matches the described symptoms very well.

[michel]

I experience the same here. Occasional low noise pops at least once a day . I am running TP directly into power amp (ps audio trio) usig XLR connection .
A friend with similar setup has occasional pops too.

[Ron Olsen]

I have two Transporters: one with XLR input to a Parasound Halo A23 amp, and another with analog input to a Denon AVR 3808CI receiver.

Both are served by SBS 7.6.1 on a VortexBox Appliance.

I hear no clicks or pops on either setup, playing music from my local library or from the Internet.

Whatever problems I had with the Transporters in the past were always cured by a Xilinx reset.

I suggest that those experiencing problems with their Transporter do a Xilinx reset if they have not already done so.

[czhang]

Also try lower the brightness level of the display. My Transporter feeding to my Emm Labs DCC2SE produces the pops/clicks if the display brightness is above level 2 on wireless and wired. The phenomenon is less pronounced on wired but definitely out of control on wireless. This only occurs if I set the Transporter as slave and the DAC as master using clock input/output.

[Lefatshe]

I had pops and clicks too from my Transporter (wired with 7.6.1). They were very random. I discovered it was the Transporter when I realized that in Polarity Inversion I had chosen "inverted polarity". When I switched back to "normal polarity" the pops and clicks disappeared.

Today I also experienced some soft crackling. They were happening right at the end of tracks, just before going to the next. In my explorations today of going from the Transporter to an external DAC (Levinson 360s) -- and whether to use AES/EBU cable or S/PDIF for the digital signal (audiophile game), whether to have the Digital Output Encoding in AES/EBU or S/PDIF, and what choices there are for the word clock -- I created the sound of a small rodent running in my speaker wires. ;-)

The crackling is gone now because I've reverted to having the Transporter as the master for the clock choices (although I don't have anything connected to the BNC word clock output). Both the Transporter and the Levinson DAC reclock, but I don't think I can create a master/slave relationship between them. But I will continue to try to understand "word clock" options with the Transporter and whether there is a possibility to use synchronous or asychronous clocking.

[NigelD]

I had pops and clicks too from my Transporter (wired with 7.6.1). They were very random. I discovered it was the Transporter when I realized that in Polarity Inversion I had chosen "inverted polarity". When I switched back to "normal polarity" the pops and clicks disappeared.

Today I also experienced some soft crackling. They were happening right at the end of tracks, just before going to the next. In my explorations today of going from the Transporter to an external DAC (Levinson 360s) -- and whether to use AES/EBU cable or S/PDIF for the digital signal (audiophile game), whether to have the Digital Output Encoding in AES/EBU or S/PDIF, and what choices there are for the word clock -- I created the sound of a small rodent running in my speaker wires. ;-)

The crackling is gone now because I've reverted to having the Transporter as the master for the clock choices (although I don't have anything connected to the BNC word clock output). Both the Transporter and the Levinson DAC reclock, but I don't think I can create a master/slave relationship between them. But I will continue to try to understand "word clock" options with the Transporter and whether there is a possibility to use synchronous or asychronous clocking.

I also have the problem of crackling between tracks and am distributing from a Synology NAS to a receiver and then on to a Benchmark DAC1. For me this issues has only started happening since using the NAS. Never had the issue with music stored on Mac.

Any ideas?


Nigel