Loud 'crack' before song plays
Answered
I have a pair of Magnepan MMG's and a Magnepan bass panel connected to a pair of Emotiva mono blocks and an Emotiva DAC.
I have the Blusound Node to stream music from Tidal.
The issue I am having is that before a song I select starts playing there is an extremely loud cracking noise, much like the crack of a whip. Sometimes it is more like a popping noise.
If I play an entire album, the noise only occurs before the very first song and not on subsequent songs.
However, if I play the "Related artists radio", the noise will occur before each song.
It is very distracting and annoying.
I have been told it is some kind of "handshake process" between the components.
Can anyone tell me what this noise is and is it possible to eliminate it?
Thanks!
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Official comment
Hi Kevin,
I will escalate your request to a support ticket. A member of your support team will reach out to you soon.
Thanks for #LivingHiFi -
I also get this - it's very annoying. Did you get any help on the issue?
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Hi Matthew,
Yes I did get get some help with this issue and I have finally resolved the problem thanks to the wonderful support team at Bluesound, in-particular Siedrick S.
The solution was so surprisingly easy I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before.
It was my DAC that was causing the noise as it switched between different song formats, say from CD quality to an MQA song (I use Tidal).
The support team had me plug in headphones to the Node to see if I heard the noise, which I didn't.
Next I removed the DAC I was using and plugged the Node straight into the monoblocks and used the DAC in the Node (I was not aware at that time the Node had a DAC built in).
Once I started using the Node's built in DAC the noise disappeared!
I had put up with the noise for years and suddenly it was gone and a new era of music listening pleasure was ushered in. Amazing.
Hope this helps.
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Yeah I am having to do the same, I was aware the Node had a DAC and am now forced to use that. Not that there is anything wrong with the Node's built in DAC, I was just more frustrated that the Rega Elicit MK5 I bought has digital inputs but I can't use them with the Node because of the terrible crackle/hiss. Rega have been made aware of it. I am using RCA inputs into my AMP from the Node and it sounds fine. Glad you got it sorted and that cleared your years of frustrated pops and crackles!!!
Matt.
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I'm experiencing the same cracking noise with my Node connected to an external DAC. What can be done about this?
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I have a Rega Elicit MK5 with the issue - logged under a different support ticket and I was told it was an issue with the DAC not the Node and to contact the DAC manufacturer. Hmmm. Seems a lot of people have this issue with the Node though. Can all the reports of such a crackle/hiss be the DACs and not the Node? Seems odd. The internal DAC on the Node outputs over RCA ok - but I didn't want to use that and no I seem stuck with it. It's ok if I am listening to an album as all tracks are same sample rate in the most part. For playlists I make - not so. So I use the Rega for albums (it's DAC makes a wider, clearer sound) and for playlists I swap inputs on the Rega to use the RCA out of the Node.
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My DAC is also a WiSA streamer to my active speakers so I have option but to use it.
How are Bluesound so sure it's the external DAC's fault?
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They said it "is related to signal muting when switching resolutions" and was something the DAC was not handling correctly. The shop I bought my Rega from have since tested the Node with other amplifiers with DACs and they said only the Rega Elicit MK5 (the one I have) did it. So it seems fair enough that Node say it isn't an issue they cause/can solve. On the plus side - maybe your streamer can get a software update that might fix it if you let them know? My Elicit is not network connected so I'd be looking at a replacement - or just living with the Node's DAC for playlists - which is ok.
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Thanks Matthew that's really helpful.
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I turned off the Node dac and used the external dac in my Rega MK5. Issue disappeared.
But i will say the hiss/pop was only an issue for me between MQA and CD. Listening to Quobuz thru my Bluesound app I had no hissing or popping at all. (Poor MQA, everyone hates you :(0 -
Alexander - so you were having the issue when you used the Node's DAC and output via RCA to the Elicit Mk5 are you saying? I have the opposite. By the way I have a Node 3 (N130). The Node's own DAC outputting over RCA into an RCA input on the MK5 is fine and there's no crackle etc. It's when I use the digital out of the Node into the digital in of the MK5 I get the issue - but only on streaming sample rate change - so let's say a playlist where the sample rate of the tracks change between songs. Using the digital out of the Node and digital in of the MK5 (and therefore th eMK5's DAC) for an album where all tracks are the same sample rate it is fine. I use amazon Music (HD and Ultra HD - which is basically CD and 'hi-res'). I tried MQA via Tidal and wasn't that fussed - sounded the same as Amazon Ultra HD or thereabouts.
Part of the reason I buy albums I like on Vinyl is you don't get these kind of issues ;-) (listen on amazon to try new music out, if I like it... buy on Vinyl).
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Sorry there. I wasn’t clear. I had no issue connecting via rca. But….I turned off the Node dac and now am able to use digital coax, no issues at all. Only the mk5 dac is used. Although I no longer know if I’m getting mqa format.
Guessing the mk5 no likey mqa???0 -
How did you turn the Node DAC off? As far as I understand if you output from the Nodes RCA it is using the Node's DAC. The only time the Node's DAC is used it when you output using the RCA - as it's analogue. If you output using either of the Node's digital outputs the DAC on the Node is bypassed as there's no conversion to analogue needed, it's just digital in to digital out, maybe with some equaliser changes if you use that option.
If you output from the optical or coax output (both digital) on the Node it's just passing the digital stream to the MK5. That's the only time I get the issue - when the Node passes digital (either over coax or optical) to the MK5 and the MK5's DAC apparently can't handle the transition between sample rates. Sorry this is going back and forth Alexander but I am interested. Do you have the new Node (now just called the "Node" but it's basically the Node generation 3 - code "N130") or a previous Node? And yep - the MK5's DAC doesn't fully 'unfold' MQA whereas the Node does. There's a few settings in the Node 3 that allow you to try and fix issues between the Node's digital output and your external DAC - like turning the "Audio clock trim" off and using "Output fixed level" - but none stop the issue with mine.
Sounds like you might have an issue when you use the Node's DAC whereas I get the issue when I use the Rega's. Confusing!
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I also have a Rega Elicit MK5 with a Node (2021) and also have this issue. I've had the Node since last summer and hooked to my previous amp, a Rega Elex-R which had no internal dac, so I was using the Node's internal dac and had no issue. I've been on a trial with Tidal for the past month and just upgraded to the Elicit Mk5 this weekend and have had the popping/digital noise problem since. Like Matthew, it will happen mainly when there is a change in songs of different resolution (mainly when listening to playlists). I still have my Spotify subscription and have had no issue there. So it really seems to point to switching between songs of different resolutions. I wasn't planning on subscribing to Tidal anyway, and will have a go at Qobuz instead. It's too bad Amazon Music HD's integration in BluOS is non-existant because I really liked how it sounded. Much better than Spotify.
One more thing I witnessed is when I power the Elicit "ON" for the first time, the D1 input (coax) light will blink as if it doesn't recognize the incoming digital signal from the Node. I have to power the amp OFF and then ON again to get the light to stay ON. At first I thought there was an issue with the Elicit's dac. But now that I've read more than one person have had compatibility issues with the Elicit's dac and the Node, I'm not sure if I have a faulty dac or not. The Node is my only streamer, so I can't test my dac (the one in the Elicit) at the moment.0
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