DENAFRIPS DAC ---- Owner Impressions, Feedback, General Discussion, Questions and more....

Wanted to find out if anyone else has had any audio drop out issues with the Termy.  I bought one used a couple months back.  I have occassionally had issues with drop out, and it seems to have gotten worse last night when listening to a Fleeetwood Mac playlist from Tidal Masters.  Here's my chain:

Blusound Node 2 (using ethernet, not wifi) > Wireworld Gold Starlight 0.5m Digital Coax cable > Termy > BAT VK33SE > Amp > Revel Salon 2

I mainly stream from Tidal.  I do have some stored files on a HD attached to my Node 2 via USB.

The playlist last night being from Tidal Masters was MQA.  I know Termy doesn't support MQA, but could there be some issue there?  The Node 2 will do the first unfold and send the signal to the Termy.

I will try to do some additional troubleshooting today playing from my stored files, which I have on a drive attached via USB to the Node 2.  Will also try streaming regular Tiday, not Masters.  See if I can narrow down when the drop out is happening.

But in the meantime, curious if any other Termy owners have experienced any audio drop out issues.

I have noticed more dropouts with tidal in the past few weeks. I suspect, with so many people sheltering at home, that their servers are much more heavily loaded than normal. Have you noticed dropouts from local content instead of streaming?

@snafujg  In my experience dropouts for Tidal are almost always upstream of the DAC. 

However, just in case, make sure your Terminator is up to date with it's firmware.

Logging out of Tidal and logging back in may help. Make sure you are up to date on Tidal software and push an update if necessary.

After that, powering off your server and reiniating / rebooting may help. You can also look at updating the software for the your server.

Since I'm not familiar with BlueSound I can't address it, specifically.

Updating my Router firmware has also fixed dropouts, and it is the first place I now go to start troubleshooting.

@jaytor , I will be trying with my own files today and will report back later tonight.

@david_ten , thanks for all your hints so far.  I've checked my router and it's on the latest firware.  Same thing with my Blusound Node 2 that serves as my streamer to the Termy.  My Termy was purchased new June 4, 2019.  I did get it used but was told it had the latest DSP board in it.  Is there a way I can check on the current FW installed?  I tried searching around for it but can't find the procedure to see what FW I'm currently on.  

Perhaps @alvin1118 can comment.

I don't have the unit so I can't actively check. My advice would be to go through the firmware update anyways, that way you will be sure to have the most current version. 

However, I'll repeat what I stated above...Tidal dropouts are more likely being caused by something other than the DAC.