Lab12 DAC1 Reference Problem


Guys, got this DAC a few days back, and having a problem connecting it to my Electrocompaniet ecm1 UP cd player via rca digital out. The signal is not stable, goes on and off. The Bluesound streamer works fine with it. Connecting cable is Nordost Silver Shadow. Already talked to the dealer, while he didn’t know the answer he offered either to replace it or refund my money. Going to return it, but I really like its sound.

 What could be the cause of this glitch? Ideas?

Thanks.

128x128hasmarto

The Electro has nothing to adjust sadly. The Bluesound is not connected, and now I get signal dropping on #1 as well, although much less than on #2. The Electro does upsampling, but it’s within the DAC’s range.

Do you by any chance have CAT 8 ethernet cable?   I had a different problem, not sure it was limited to the DAC where I had dropouts and noise.  Went back to cat 6 and problem solved.   I took that advice from a member here , not to use cat 8 for audio as it can cause issues

Sorry to hear you are having problems.    Anything SPL makes is good in my experience with their headphone/dacs.   A friend has the BP and he is a big analog guy.  

 

@oddiofyl, I’m using wi-fi at the moment. The streamer works great with it. No dropouts or anything like that. Also the VU meters  move almost unnoticeable then they suddenly they come alive and work as they should. I think it’s a glitchy unit, nothing like their demo piece.

@hasmarto 

Sorry to hear of your troubles with your new dac. The advice @oddiofyl has provided is the same general concept I’ve had to use with my dacs and sources as well. Please read the following which is taken from the Lab 12 manual with particular attention to the last sentence.

Connect a Digital SPDIF Output Source

Make sure that your digital source has a SPDIF 75ohm coaxial or optical Toslink digital output. Connect the digital interconnect cable (or fibre optical) from the source output to the correspondence input of dac1 reference. Turn on your dac1 reference and then your digital source unit and activate the digital audio output on it (if needed). Select the desirable input with input select push button on dac1 reference. Dac1 reference can accept resolutions up to 192KHz and up to 24 Bit Depth on any digital input.

Use an audio grade digital 75-ohm digital interconnect cable to ensure the best transfer of your digital signal.

* Please note that Coaxial 2 must be always locked in lower sampling rate frequency than Coaxial 1.