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What is going on here? Streamer or DAC?

I’ve got an old (2016) streamer DAC that is beginning to show some instability. I do not believe it is my signal strength—240+ mps, no problems streaming video, occurs wired or WiFi. Opinions? Here are the symptoms:

1. Maybe one track in four, starts with a skip or stutter.  If I restart the track, it starts fine. 
2. Maybe one every few weeks/months, gets stuck repeating one note sort of like a damaged record. When this happens, no control via remote or the unit itself. Have to unplug to get it to stop. Sometimes it self corrects when plugging back in, sometimes have to hard reset.

3. Maybe once every few weeks, will locate tracks on Qobuz but will not load and play them.  Works fine from NAS or internet radio. When this happens, sometimes can correct by re-acquiring WiFi, sometimes needs a hard reset. This might be associated with momentary power outages. 
 

4. maybe once in three-six months, just shuts down and restarts while playing. 
 

Comments?

 

tomaswv
carlsbad2's avatar
carlsbad2
1,379 posts
 

@soix thanks for pointing out my poor reading effort.

 

testrun
218 posts
 

Are you using Roon or native Qobuz?  I had a simular problem Roon my Roon database on my laptop which was the only wireless component in my music stream.  I went to a dedicated music server (SGC i5) feeding my streamer/DAC combo.  The Roon database (metadata) ran on the music server and the Roon application runs on my MacBook, iPad and iPhone.  All interrupts, lags, delays went away.  You might have a similar issue. The problems I was having came and went, songs would stop/start etc.  It is a buffering Internet latency issue. What type of streamer are you using?  

testrun
218 posts
 

Are you using Roon or native Qobuz?  I had a simular problem Roon my Roon database on my laptop which was the only wireless component in my music stream.  I went to a dedicated music server (SGC i5) feeding my streamer/DAC combo.  The Roon database (metadata) ran on the music server and the Roon application runs on my MacBook, iPad and iPhone.  All interrupts, lags, delays went away.  You might have a similar issue. The problems I was having came and went, songs would stop/start etc.  It is a buffering Internet latency issue. What type of streamer are you using?  

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,174 posts
 

Streamers are basically computers and need to be rebooted once in a while. About once a week, I reboot my modem, router, tv, streamer and dac and haven’t had a problem in years.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,286 posts
 

@tomaswv

Maybe one every few weeks/months, gets stuck repeating one note sort of like a damaged record. When this happens, no control via remote or the unit itself. Have to unplug to get it to stop. Sometimes it self corrects when plugging back in, sometimes have to hard reset.

based solely on the above, assuming your network isn’t an issue, the problem you’re describing is a streamer issue. Most likely the processor is on its way out.

Is there a digital input on the unit…coax or optical? If so, my suggestion would be to order a WiiM pro from Amazon and using it as streamer only, test it out by driving the DAC section via coax or toslink. You can send back the WiiM when done. But this test will rule out the DAC…or highlight it as a culprit.

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