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Denafrips Pontus II Clicks Or Static?

There have been some who have reported clicks or static occasionally with their Denafrips Pontus II DAC units.  And there is a test measurement review of the Pontus II 12th on the golden sound website talking about the following:

"When DACs oversample, they can sometimes encounter a situation where the reconstructed/interpolated waveform goes above 0dBfs (the maximum possible digital value)."

"The Pontus 2 is susceptible to intersample overs, and unfortunately, in a particularly bad way."

"The Pontus 2 does not clip, but instead when a sample value reaches above the maximum, it ‘wraps around’ to the minimum negative value, causing a huge sudden transient which will be very audible and may appear as crackling/popping."

Has anyone with a Pontus II encountered this anomaly when playing CDs?  If so, can you elaborate about that?  I am aware that the Pontus II can be firmware upgraded, so if this is an occasional issue, it could be eliminated with an upgrade.

 

 

fastcat95
audiofilo123
58 posts
 

I have those reported issues with my Pontus II when using aes/ebu or coaxial front all my cd transports, but none ever through usb with the Auralic Aries.

I have been talking with Alvin Lee and trying all updates he recommended but the problem is still here.

Because I really like the Pontus II sound and build quality I will wait for promised firmware fix.

fastcat95 OP
36 posts
 

audiofilo123:

I received my Pontus II 12th on Monday, and it is currently burning in via the BNC coaxial digital input.  So far I have not heard any clicks or pops during operation. I am wondering if this problem could have a connection to particular digital sources. Hopefully, something will arrive as a solution to all this.  I second you on the build quality and sound of the Pontus II; even somewhat still raw at this point, it shows some very fine sonic qualities.

 

atp001
14 posts
 

I am happy to report, to my surprise to be honest, that the firmware update appears to have fixed the problem with my Ares II.  I have listened to about ten hours of music since the update and have not heard any pops/ticks.  Although I feel it may be a little early to make any definitive conclusions, what I can say is that before the update i was invariably getting 1-2 pops/ticks per hour of playback.  So for now, the pops/ticks are no longer present.  

As whipsaw and fastcat95 had elaborated, I also thought the issue would be hardware related.  However, no pops/ticks are emitted when the dacs are idle nor when playing a low level test tone, suggesting the issue is signal dependent to some degree.  So maybe a firmware fix makes some sense?

I should get from Vinshine a firmware update for the Pontus II soon.  Let's see what happens in this case.

fastcat95 OP
36 posts
 

Good!   Keep us updated on the Pontus II firmware update, and also if it makes any change in the sound.

designsfx
787 posts
 

@fastcat95 

In reading this I find it hard to believe that a reported issue like this has not been resolved by the manufacturer- I’m really sorry to hear about this. When you say “pops and clicks” are these similar to the sounds a dac makes when syncing up to a source or the sound sometimes heard when the incoming sample rate/frequency has changed from the playback source?

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