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New system with periodic sound dropouts

Within the last 2 months I've gotten new speakers (Monitor Audio Gold 300), pre-amp (Primare Pre32) and power amp (Primare A32).  Since setting it up, there are times when my DAC loses the signal and no music plays for 1 - 2 seconds.  Other times music plays flawlessly with no dropouts.  I just tested the outlet where my gear is plugged in and got voltage readings between 123.5 - 125.9 (but I only had one drop out and that was earlier in the day).  My subdivision is less than 5 years old and all of our utilities are underground.  I've been considering an AC conditioner or regenerator. Do I really need one?  If power isn't the problem does anyone have an idea as to why my DAC sometimes loses the music signal?
mewsickbuff
mewsickbuff OP
237 posts
 
Thanks for the advice, Erik.  I have no other USB devices connected and I've told the AV software not to scan any of my music files.  But am I correct in understanding that you're advising me to disconnect from my home network (so as not to be able to access the internet)?
erik_squires
16,234 posts
 
yes, that's right.  Just as a test.

Network drivers used to be able to make all sorts of things stutter when there was a lag. They'd get exclusive access to the CPU while trying to reconnect, or re-authenticate and nothing else could run.

Of course, I always hope (and hope and hope) that Windows got better about this, but it's trying for a couple of hours. :)

Best

Erik
erik_squires
16,234 posts
 
On some laptops there's actually a physical switch disabling networking.
erik_squires
16,234 posts
 
Another thing to test is to make sure all your power saving options are off.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
My computer is a Dell Inspiron 3847 desktop connected wirelessly to AT&T’s network. The Microsoft Windows Update came through 9/30/2016. All music is stored on the internal hard drive.
It looks like your computer probably has a 1 TB 7200 rpm mechanical hard drive. One thing that may be worth checking is the fragmentation status of the drive, and if Windows has been automatically defragmenting it on a scheduled basis.

Type "disk defragmenter" into the search box at the lower left corner of the screen, and then click "defragment and optimize drives," to open the defragmenter program that is built into Windows. Given especially that your computer has probably had at least two major Windows updates (from Windows 8 or 8.1 to Windows 10, and the Windows 10 Anniversary Update), as well as the usual updates that are issued each month, if the defragmenter program isn’t set to run on a scheduled basis the files on your hard drive could be highly fragmented (meaning that individual files would be broken up into many different physical locations on the drive), which could be contributing to the problem.

Also, it looks like your computer has both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports. It might be worth trying whichever of them you haven’t been using to connect to the DAC.

Also, your computer was apparently offered with a choice of various amounts of RAM. If it has only the minimum 2 gB installed I would definitely suggest replacing or adding RAM to increase the total to at least 4 gB and preferably 8 gB.

Regards,
-- Al


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