Glitchy/ static-like sound when manually switching songs

Answered

Gavin Wong

• October 11, 2021 03:27
• Edited

I have the NODE 2i and the latest NODE. From time to time, when I manually select a track (or advance to next), there is a cracking sound that occurs within the first 15 seconds or so, maybe 40% of the time. If I immediately replay the track and listen for the glitch at the same point in the song, it’s usually not there.

At first I thought it was an issue with my external SMSL SU-8S, or my newest NODE (2021), but I ruled those possibilities out because the same thing happens when listening to both/either of the NODEs in preamp mode.

I can rule out my preamp and power amp as the culprits because this happens only on the first track. If there is a playlist of 25 songs that I just let play uninterrupted, the cracking sound does not occur on tracks 2-25, only near the beginning of the first track.

This also rules out a flaky network. The unwanted sound itself, to my ears, is digital in nature.

My conclusion would be it’s coming from the NODEs. It occurs with both Tidal and Amazon HD.

Any ideas/fixes?

Thanks

0

• Official comment

  

  Sam R.

  • October 12, 2021 13:13

  If it happens with both the new NODE and the NODE 2i, based on your testing I would test both the Analog out on the NODE to your amps, and I would also swap out the cable you're using with the digital connection (unsure if you are using coax or optical). 

  That the issue happens on the first track only is curious, but I've seen damaged cables cause all sorts of bizarre issues so it would be a good next step. 

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