Baffled and Frustrated: Streaming/DAC Sound Issues

Hoping to find some guidance here regarding a significant noise issue. Running Quboz through Roon. Relevant Gear is an Auralic Aries G2.1 > Morrow USB cable >Aavik D280 DAC > Wywires Platinum RCA >Anthem STR.

Previously had some issues with the Aries but that’s hammered out and sounding great. Now, when running many songs through the DAC, I’m hearing terrible “crunching” distortion. There’s very little consistency in the problem (loud Pink Floyd sounds great, loud Motley Crue sounds like garbage) except most hard rock/metal, which i started putting on per Morrow Audio’s recommendation for burning in their USB cable, is always terrible. Volume is irrelevant, I’m getting the noise at sub-30db. The 4 DAC settings: upsampling/ non upsampling/fast/slow don’t change anything. USB cable isn’t likely the problem, it sounds great from streamer to amp without the DAC. I’m running out of settings to change around. Anyone have an educated guess or experience with either the output settings from the Aries or D280 setup that can provide any guidance? Dealer wasn’t very helpful.

Thanks much,

Peter

brewerslaw01-14-2023 3:01am

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strawj Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 73 posts 01-15-2023 at 01:20am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I have the exact problem I know the sound of which you speak. I use RP or Amazon with an optical cable and BluOS. That little crunch will drive you crazy and it appears out of nowhere when your set up is working fine so…nbad wire maybe…just today I tore everything down and changed power cords mostly..for now it is gone. I think it might be the wi fi service tho…this one sux my friend..
audioguy85 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 2,004 posts 01-15-2023 at 01:20am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I don’t have any of these problems when using my lp's, cd’s, and cassette tapes....😁
phastm3 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 88 posts 01-15-2023 at 01:46am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Are you running room correction with the Anthem? Maybe the anthem is converting the signal to digital again to perform it’s room correction, then using it’s inferior dac to convert it again to analog.
audioman58 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 3,878 posts 01-15-2023 at 02:26am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Try putting in another higher quality usb cable . Borrow one if possible . i willnot use wifi for digital I use from theNewer 3.1 Docsis Motorola 8702 modem - router its 4x faster then 3.0, much bigger buffer and use a LPS on it much better sound and smoother ,i use Sonore Deluxe Ethernet to fiber optic much lower noise floor.
anotherbob Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 331 posts 01-15-2023 at 03:40am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete audioguy85 - you also have inferior sound quality right from the start, from both lp’s and cassettes. CD is not up to the same quality as High-Res streaming, but I can’t tell a difference when listening to both.