DC-1

[GreenKiwi]

Yeah. The only reason to connect another Dac up to the dc-1 is to compare them.

I actually find that this is an awesome function of the analog inputs

[pegg]

Jul 4, 2014 9:57:35 GMT -5 novisnick said:

pegg,
I don't understand?
Why would you go from DAC to DAC??? I'm not sure anything good could come of that,,,,,,,

I only use 1 dac the dc1.

but previously I had the xda1 and I remember the bass being much fuller, had great low-end even on low volume.

now with the dc1 that is gone and its also very bright

current setup is foobar (wasapi\asio) -> coax -> dc1 -> xlr -> 2x xpa1 (gen2) -> klipsch rf-7 mark2

[novisnick]

Ok, it was a comparison and not a chain as I read it. Cool, I have not found this with my DC-1 even though I've never heard the XDA-1 I get it. My Yamaha AVR has a Burr Brown DAC in it and can say that it does sound warmer then the DC-1. By warmer, I mean a little more mid to bass sound and not as detailed in the mid to upper register of sound. But, to me, I do not find the DC-1 to be bright to my ears.
I have a choice of 3 DAC s and do prefer the sound of the DC-1, but as you know, sound that we like is just a personnel preference and is our rooms, ears and speakers as well.

Peace,
Nick

[garbulky]

Jul 4, 2014 11:19:37 GMT -5 pegg said:

Jul 4, 2014 9:57:35 GMT -5 novisnick said:

pegg,
I don't understand?
Why would you go from DAC to DAC??? I'm not sure anything good could come of that,,,,,,,

I only use 1 dac the dc1.

but previously I had the xda1 and I remember the bass being much fuller, had great low-end even on low volume.

now with the dc1 that is gone and its also very bright

current setup is foobar (wasapi\asio) -> coax -> dc1 -> xlr -> 2x xpa1 (gen2) -> klipsch rf-7 mark2

At the very beginning it sounded a little wierd but not too much. It settles down quickly. Within a day of playback all that should be sorted out.
As for brightness.
I don't know my XDA-1 felt "glary" on the treble compared to the DC-1.
Try playing the DC-1 at a slightly lower volume and also adjust the placement of your speakers as the sound IS different from the XDA-1 and may need some more optimization

[novisnick]

pegg,
One other thing.
Welcome to the forum, so happy your here!

[GreenKiwi]

You're...

[davidvanderbilt]

Jul 4, 2014 11:19:37 GMT -5 pegg said:

Jul 4, 2014 9:57:35 GMT -5 novisnick said:

pegg,
I don't understand?
Why would you go from DAC to DAC??? I'm not sure anything good could come of that,,,,,,,

I only use 1 dac the dc1.

but previously I had the xda1 and I remember the bass being much fuller, had great low-end even on low volume.

now with the dc1 that is gone and its also very bright

current setup is foobar (wasapi\asio) -> coax -> dc1 -> xlr -> 2x xpa1 (gen2) -> klipsch rf-7 mark2

I would just give the DC-1 some time. The sound really changed after the first few days of burn in. Especially with your speakers, you should have no problem at all getting great bass from the DC-1. In fact, the bass,fullness, and smooth sound signature were a few of the many things I enjoyed about the DC-1. I have had the Klipsch F-3 floorstanding speakers before and I know they can be on the bright side to begin with. I would just give it some time and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

[zoom25]

As previously mentioned a few pages ago, I'm also getting some noise through all the inputs in asynchronous mode. It goes away completely in synchronous mode. Am I missing anything in asynchronous vs. synchronous mode?

My system is: Digital Output (TV, PS3, Macbook Pro) >> DC-1 >> Mackie HR 824.

I got noise even when connected to headphones directly to the DC-1's headphone output.

I'm wondering if I should bother with getting a replacement or just continue using it in synchronous mode. I really want to know if there is a benefit in using asynch mode?

[zoom25]

A member suggested to unplug the DC-1 from the wall manually and then connect it again. That didn't work. I also changed the power cable that came with the DC-1. That didn't work. For USB, I connected the USB of the DC-1 to a USB hub and then the hub to the macbook pro, as well as connecting the DC-1 directly to macbook pro. I figured with the hub there would be a separate supply. Neither of them worked. I tried plugging them in to the wall vs. a surge protector. It still didn't work. Regardless of cables and whichever input I've used with various power supply, I'm still getting noise when in Asynchronous mode.

My house is built in a new place and everything is clean power wise. The Emotiva DC-1 in asynchronous mode is the only equipment that gives me this noise. The DM Source works fine. Emotiva in synchronous mode works fine. I'm just confused as to why it won't work properly without static in asynchronous.

I have tried the wall directly, surge protectors. I don't currently have a power conditioner to plug it in as I have never ran into a problem like this. I doubt if even connecting it to a power conditioner will work. Even if it does work somehow, I'd like to know why the power supply matters in async vs. sync.

EDIT: I tried to run my macbook pro off battery vs. wall wart and it made no difference. 

EDIT2: The noise/static on both the headphones and speakers is on the left channel. With headphones directly off the DC-1, it is less noticeable as to if it is in both channels or just one. Although with speakers, it's clearly the left one each time, regardless of input.

EDIT3: The software screen of the DC-1 shows I'm on Version 3…if that matters.

[sahmen]

Jul 8, 2014 17:24:25 GMT -5 zoom25 said:

I'm wondering if I should bother with getting a replacement or just continue using it in synchronous mode. I really want to know if there is a benefit in using asynch mode?

You're asking two different questions: 1. Should the asynch mode on your unit be producing that noise?  2..  Is the asynch mode even beneficial, or more beneficial than the synch mode?

I think the asynch mode should not be producing that noise, and if it is, then there is something wrong either in the unit, the power line connections, or the signal chain that needs to be corrected, even if you're not using the asynch mode.  So if you have not called Emo support, I think you should go ahead and do so.  The issue of whether the asynch mode sounds better or worse than the synch mode is a separate one which should not have any bearing on the first question.  If the asynch mode is not working well because of a technical issue, then it needs to be looked at because it is not normal, and if the problem is being caused by a technical defect, it could get worse over time and even affect the synch mode too.  Just my 2 cents.

[zoom25]

Thanks. Contacting Emotiva very shortly. I actually bought mines used from Emotiva directly with full warranty. They didn't ship it out for a few days because they apparently test it out fully before sending out international orders. Anyways, I'll update with what happens.

[d1sturb3d]

Jun 30, 2014 10:57:32 GMT -5 KeithL said:

The Toslink and Coax inputs on the DC-1 share much of the same circuitry - so it is very unlikely that the Coax input would fail while the Toslink input works fine.

Odds are that either the Coax output isn't configured to be active at all, or it isn't configured for STEREO PCM ONLY output. Unlike the USB output (which is controlled "directly" by the operating system), the Coax output is part of the sound card, and so is controlled by its drivers and settings.

Jun 29, 2014 23:56:14 GMT -5 garbulky said:

If it's a blu ray player or a game console or PC motherboard coax output, sometimes you have to to specifically tell the device to route the digital output through the coax. Also any RCA cable you have lying around will work so that may help you to pinpoint the issue.

Hi Keith,

Can you please help me on this, the support ask me to confirm this to you.


Can you check with Emotiva if the DAC supports left-justified PCM (as opposed to Right-justified PCM)? we could not find it on their website (https://emotiva.com/products/electronics/stealth-dc-1). This might be the problem that your DAC does not recognize anything as we provide left-justified through digital out, which is the most common format (we can also add right-justified PCM via software).

[KeithL]

According to our engineering folks, while PCM can be either left or right justified, there is only one standard justification used for S/PDIF (I believe it is left), and we support this standard one.
In other words, we don't require any special signal (S/PDIF Coax or Toslink) than anybody else.

[d1sturb3d]

Jul 10, 2014 16:56:03 GMT -5 KeithL said:

According to our engineering folks, while PCM can be either left or right justified, there is only one standard justification used for S/PDIF (I believe it is left), and we support this standard one.
In other words, we don't require any special signal (S/PDIF Coax or Toslink) than anybody else.

Thanks keith for the quick reply, another follow up question from support.

sorry, can you also please ask the Emotiva support if their DAC is compatible with the following S/PDIF data format:

Signed 16 and 24-bit little Endian sample format. Due to S/PDIF SDMA feature, the 24-bit output sample file must have 32-bits in each channel per frame. Only the 24 LSBs are valid

Also, another update, I tried this source in question with another DAC (benchmark dac-1) and apparently, it works! Now I am not sure if I am happy or not, since my source is working with the benchmark but not with the DC-1

[jherbert]

I received my DC-1 this week and have noticed a buzzing noise, mainly on the left channel. Support suggested setting SRC to synchronous which fixed the buzzing but disables functionality I wanted to use.

I tried on two different machines, both showing the same problem. On my notebook I tried with and without mains power, makes no difference.

Also the buzz is present no matter what input I use. I should not be a mains related problem, as it appears with an optical connection, too.

The buzz is more present when there is no music playing, but it makes listening to music unbearable anyway.

Any ideas?

[KeithL]

Ideas....

What you're talking about sounds like low level noise "leaking" into the analog signal path. Since enabling the ASRC does change the overall signal path, it could make this more or less likely to happen in a specific case. We've had a few cases where this happened to a customer, but we were unable to replicate the problem here at all - presumably because our "associated equipment" is different.

My first suggestion would be to try treating it like any other ground noise problem.... try things like grounding the DC-1 to your other equipment (by connecting a stripped wire from the ground shield on one of the unbalanced RCA output or input jacks to a similar ground on your other equipment). If the noise goes away, or changes, then it is probably a ground problem.

The other possibility would be some sort of actual ground fault with your DC-1 - but one that is very specific to certain situations and associated equipment. Since we haven't been able to replicate the problem here, at this point we doubt that this is the case, but we are looking into it.

Jul 11, 2014 8:38:10 GMT -5 jherbert said:

I received my DC-1 this week and have noticed a buzzing noise, mainly on the left channel. Support suggested setting SRC to synchronous which fixed the buzzing but disables functionality I wanted to use.

I tried on two different machines, both showing the same problem. On my notebook I tried with and without mains power, makes no difference.

Also the buzz is present no matter what input I use. I should not be a mains related problem, as it appears with an optical connection, too.

The buzz is more present when there is no music playing, but it makes listening to music unbearable anyway.

Any ideas?

[KeithL]

As far as our engineering department knows (and this coincides with everything I've been able to find out), the S/PDIF hardware interface can carry either 20 bits or 24 bits of audio data (the S/PDIF data frame contains 32 bits, 8 of which are not for audio data). The engineer I spoke to was not aware of any options in terms of byte order - as there appears to be only one specific format called out by the standard (since the API handles it, he wasn't aware offhand of the actual byte order). The S/PDIF interface has been around, in very wide use, for a very long time... so the standard is pretty well "set in stone" at this point (other than specific deliberate "variations" like DOP.)

SDMA appears to relate to the communications between the computer/software and the sound card - and has nothing to do with the HARDWARE interface between S/PDIF devices.

It is true that, since the PCM format (and the S/PDIF interface) carry DATA, you CAN send other non-standard data over them. One example would be DOP (DSD over PCM), which some DACs now support (but not many). We support "plain vanilla S/PDIF" only... which is what should be coming from any S/PDIF output unless otherwise specified. I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility that their software might send non-standard data to their sound card, which might in turn send it out as non-standard S/PDIF data... and that the Benchmark DAC might even be able to play such data... but I'm afraid I can't provide any specific insight on the subject.

I can honestly tell you that we have NEVER had a report of any device being unable to "talk" to one of our DACs because of any "discrepancy" in data format. (I can tell you that, if you were to send DOP to our DACs, since it is encoded in a format they don't "understand, they would almost certainly treat it as "audio made up of random numbers" - which would result in the output being some form of random noise).

If your DC-1 refused to play S/PDIF data on any input from multiple STANDARD sources, I would say that it almost certainly "has a problem". But, if it just has a problem with one source device, I am forced to conclude that it is their output that is non-standard, but I'm afraid I can't help you much with the specifics.

I would definitely be interested to know more details about your "standalone music player".... things like what hardware, and what operating system, it runs on....

Jul 10, 2014 20:25:13 GMT -5 d1sturb3d said:

Jul 10, 2014 16:56:03 GMT -5 KeithL said:

According to our engineering folks, while PCM can be either left or right justified, there is only one standard justification used for S/PDIF (I believe it is left), and we support this standard one.
In other words, we don't require any special signal (S/PDIF Coax or Toslink) than anybody else.

Thanks keith for the quick reply, another follow up question from support.

sorry, can you also please ask the Emotiva support if their DAC is compatible with the following S/PDIF data format:

Signed 16 and 24-bit little Endian sample format. Due to S/PDIF SDMA feature, the 24-bit output sample file must have 32-bits in each channel per frame. Only the 24 LSBs are valid

Also, another update, I tried this source in question with another DAC (benchmark dac-1) and apparently, it works! Now I am not sure if I am happy or not, since my source is working with the benchmark but not with the DC-1

[davidvanderbilt]

Jul 11, 2014 8:38:10 GMT -5 jherbert said:

I received my DC-1 this week and have noticed a buzzing noise, mainly on the left channel. Support suggested setting SRC to synchronous which fixed the buzzing but disables functionality I wanted to use.

I tried on two different machines, both showing the same problem. On my notebook I tried with and without mains power, makes no difference.

Also the buzz is present no matter what input I use. I should not be a mains related problem, as it appears with an optical connection, too.

The buzz is more present when there is no music playing, but it makes listening to music unbearable anyway.

Any ideas?

I had the exact same issue. Nothing I did helped it and it was even more apparent when using speakers. I was emailing customer service back and forth but they stopped answering so I returned it. Ultimately it seemed like a hardware issue anyways. It's starting to sound like a bad batch went out or something. Having said that, I would definitely consider ordering it again if it didn't have this issue.

[d1sturb3d]

Thank you keith for taking time on answering the questions, I will surely give them your feedback regarding this, I will let you know if there us an update.

Jul 11, 2014 10:05:15 GMT -5 KeithL said:

As far as our engineering department knows (and this coincides with everything I've been able to find out), the S/PDIF hardware interface can carry either 20 bits or 24 bits of audio data (the S/PDIF data frame contains 32 bits, 8 of which are not for audio data). The engineer I spoke to was not aware of any options in terms of byte order - as there appears to be only one specific format called out by the standard (since the API handles it, he wasn't aware offhand of the actual byte order). The S/PDIF interface has been around, in very wide use, for a very long time... so the standard is pretty well "set in stone" at this point (other than specific deliberate "variations" like DOP.)

SDMA appears to relate to the communications between the computer/software and the sound card - and has nothing to do with the HARDWARE interface between S/PDIF devices.

It is true that, since the PCM format (and the S/PDIF interface) carry DATA, you CAN send other non-standard data over them. One example would be DOP (DSD over PCM), which some DACs now support (but not many). We support "plain vanilla S/PDIF" only... which is what should be coming from any S/PDIF output unless otherwise specified. I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility that their software might send non-standard data to their sound card, which might in turn send it out as non-standard S/PDIF data... and that the Benchmark DAC might even be able to play such data... but I'm afraid I can't provide any specific insight on the subject.

I can honestly tell you that we have NEVER had a report of any device being unable to "talk" to one of our DACs because of any "discrepancy" in data format. (I can tell you that, if you were to send DOP to our DACs, since it is encoded in a format they don't "understand, they would almost certainly treat it as "audio made up of random numbers" - which would result in the output being some form of random noise).

If your DC-1 refused to play S/PDIF data on any input from multiple STANDARD sources, I would say that it almost certainly "has a problem". But, if it just has a problem with one source device, I am forced to conclude that it is their output that is non-standard, but I'm afraid I can't help you much with the specifics.

I would definitely be interested to know more details about your "standalone music player".... things like what hardware, and what operating system, it runs on....

Jul 10, 2014 20:25:13 GMT -5 d1sturb3d said:

Thanks keith for the quick reply, another follow up question from support.


Also, another update, I tried this source in question with another DAC (benchmark dac-1) and apparently, it works! Now I am not sure if I am happy or not, since my source is working with the benchmark but not with the DC-1

[zoom25]

Jul 11, 2014 8:38:10 GMT -5 jherbert said:

I received my DC-1 this week and have noticed a buzzing noise, mainly on the left channel. Support suggested setting SRC to synchronous which fixed the buzzing but disables functionality I wanted to use.

I tried on two different machines, both showing the same problem. On my notebook I tried with and without mains power, makes no difference.

Also the buzz is present no matter what input I use. I should not be a mains related problem, as it appears with an optical connection, too.

The buzz is more present when there is no music playing, but it makes listening to music unbearable anyway.

Any ideas?

Exact same problem - only left channel, Unbearable with it even when the music is playing. I have yet to get any kind of reply and it's been a few days. All my sources are standard, no fancy format output or messing with bits.

I doubt this is a ground issue. I have tried every possible connection of connection in terms of analog. Surge protectors, off the wall directly. This is the only equipment that has been suffering from this. Everything else in my entire house is dead quiet. For this reason, I haven't tried power conditioner/strips.