Advice on popping noise from Audio Aero Prestige

Finally getting somewhere. After lots of trouble shooting (change power cords, swap line filters, test ics, check voltage, lift grounds, etc.) the pops simply continued. This was not a grounding issue.

I took the player back to the dealer for another test and test his own player (also prestige se) in my system:
- In dealers system using my player, pops were more noticeable than before but still very soft and acceptable.
- With dealer's player in my system, I have no pops at all!

It seems there is a difference between the 2 players with the dealer's unit having older software. There also may be differences between the phillips transports.

We're going to run the players for a while in both systems to be sure. It may just be that in dealer's system, preamp is doing some additional buffering/muting when music signal is interrupted (i.e. stop, next, prev). Nonetheless fault seems to be with the player.

Thank you for keeping us up to date. I was thinking along the lines of a small DC spike when making input/volume changes. This would be noticeable with amps that do not block incoming DC.
With the buzzing, the culprit could be one (or both) of the new cryo treated tubes. Can your dealer re-solder in new tubes to try that out?

Very interesting-i'll follow-up on whether the 33h deals with dc spikes. I think its worth noting the player comes with a stern warning on switching off power amp or turning vol down on preamp whenever player is powered on or off. When you press stop it also mutes output for a few secs. It does this to prevent a spike through the system. I've heard this spike on 2 occasions (power on & off) before the upgrade (at low volume) and what is interesting is the pops i'm hearing now are similar to those spikes.

On changing tubes, AA insists that it's done by the factory otherwise they won't warranty it. The buzzing problem is not as consistent as the pops though.

Change out the tubes, bet that fixes it.

Problem has been resolved! AA sent a replacement mother board which elliminated the issues.

Looks like a transportation problem where some damage occurred but definitely not visible to the naked eye. Damaged board has gone back for analysis.

After a few days, its hit the sweetspot! I'm wondering whether the board has been burnt-in at the factory... but i'm not complaining.

David - just curious, what is your experience on the player?