Odd behavior in XMC-2 with headphones

[ramx]

Hi there. 

Most days, I like to plug in my headphones late at nigh, and other than wishing you guys would have built this processor with a 1/4 inch TRS connector, or better yet, a 4-pin balanced XLR, it works pretty well. I love the fact that all other triggers are set to off, and that regardless of the content, conversion to PCM 2.0 is automatic.

However, I'm seeing some pretty odd behavior when I power off the system via remote control while leaving the headphones connected to the unit.
Every time I do that, the next day I naturally unplug the headphones first, turn on the XMC-2 for normal listening, and I've completely lost sound in the center channel, even if I go to settings -> speaker levels I get no sound output. The trigger does turn on the respective monoblock, so it's not the amp. Furthermore, a few times, I hear some minor crackling noise coming from the mains when this happens.

The only way I've been able to restore sound is by switching source to some Atmos content and manually setup to DTS Neural:X, and then I can go back to my original programming.

I keep the system on 'video remains on', but the turn on process the next day when this happens is very slow, like a boot from cold. All this can be reproduced every time. If I remember to unplug the headphones, wait 5 seconds for the amps to turn on, and then turn off the processor, none of this happens and everything is normal.

I'm using firmware 2.0 in the XMC-2, with Dirac in a 5.1.2 setup. Triggers 1 and 2 in use for surround amp and center channel monoblock (the L/R mains are powered Stealth 8).

I wonder if anyone else is seeing this, or it's something you are tracking already.

Cheers.

[novisnick]

Do you have your system set up to turn on to last source?

[ramx]

Yes, last source. I only have one video source anyways, an NVIDIA Shield device. The only other one is USB from my Roon endpoint.

[novisnick]

Try turning your system on before unplugging your HPs. First check if there’s sound coming from them. There may be a hiccup. May be an issue. Let see what happens.

[ramx]

Thanks for the suggestion. When turning on the system with the HP on, the behavior seems normal, with sound coming up from the headphones just like the night before. Unplugging them at that point returns the system to its normal behavior. I've tried this only once for now, but it makes sense.

The workaround is acceptable if I'm the only operator and I remember to follow the process, but to be fair, it's somewhat of an annoyance when my wife has to deal with it and she gets no audio in the center channel, and I'm not around. I'll assist the Emo team in anything they need me to troubleshoot, or even test an alternative firmware if they ask me to. The idea is to iron out these kinds of kinks.