Do other DACs do this? Auralic Vega


I have borrowed an Auralic Vega to demo with a view to buy.  However 90% of the time when I first start to use it I get a very brief crackle before the music starts. 

I'm unsure if this is just a DAC thing, or a known issue with this model (although I can't find anything searching), or more to do with how I am feeding it. 

Most music is coming from Apple Music using Firefox Browser on a NUC and fed to the Auralic via USB.

I get the same when first using the Tidal App but seems to be less frequent.

It doesn't do this between tracks, but if I move between Apple Music and the Tidal app it has a good chance of doing it again.

Ultimately I want to upgrade to a streamer, such as the Innuos Pulse Mini, so now wondering if a better source would resolve the issue or whether it could be a better option to give back the Auralic and use the internal DAC on the Innuos.

Any and all advice would be very much appreciated

incoming

Nothing to do with cables . You got a defective unit Ask your dealer for a new one

@lapera it may come to that.  I have upgraded network and USB on order so will give it a shot anyway, then if this fix https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/wmmrum/audio_crackling_pop_on_windows_11/ also doesn't work a new DAC would be the goal 

The innuos I was not aware make dacs ,just streamers ,

Vs  the Vega you can do Much better ,how much is this?  . the Vega is a dac- streamer. Isn’t it ,a Delta sigma sabre dac I believe , the New Denafrip Pontus -15

is their New Generations of dacs not like their past minor upgrade like the 12th .since finally by wife is on board i Audio I am running this R2R dac in and have found nothing That is better under $3k on par maybe but around $3k ,for $3200 you can get the model 15 with the excellent Hermes 12  reclocker using a I2S cable,this puts this combo way beyond anything in this price class .it is on par with their Venus -12th dac ,without the reclocker.a New venus15 is coming out shortly .Their new Digital engineer is building dacs far better .then in past efforts.