nDAC audible digital glitch.

I don;t know what a bridge is, but I would be looking at the leads first, you can get some odd noises if the connections in particular are not bob on.

Everyday   I get that . But switching the Sky box and flatscrean Tv out of the loop stops the clicks For me.

cheers

In my case it might be from having two "set to ground devises" connected to the Ndac with the ground switch set to chassis" - what with the sky box having its own hard drive.

I've been getting an intermittent crackling static sound with my HDX->nDAC setup.  It's increased since I followed Chris West's advice to put the HDX on a different spur.  The sound is better, except when the crackling occurs--strangely, it's more common in the evening hours.  I've tried fiddling with the ground settings, with no success.

It does sound like some sort of grounding issue, perhaps from double insulated grounded sources. However does this happen on TOSLINK as well as SPDIF or only SPDIF?

Simon

Thanks Guys.

I connected a CD player via coax a few weeks back with no ill effects but the static/glitch has only just appeared... Which is why I didn't think it was a ground issue.

However I switched the DAC to floating and it looks like the problem has been fixed. Fingers crossed.

Toby, can you connect your DAC to the AV stuff via optical? This should take away any grounding issues.

Have changed to optical .turned off amp and Ndac and can still hear some glitch noise coming from tv and sky box occasionally.

i have super sensitive hearing and think I am hearing some discharge of static within the Panasonic tv (which is getting old now) or within the Sky box. Don't think it's something to get too worried about, can hear no glitches whilst listening proper

In a nDAC XPS2 DR config with valve amps fed by a Weiss INT202 i get no crack in " normal" replay.

if a play HD files i do get a crack, fart, or whatever you want to call it after about 3 mins.  Before that and after that its fine.  I wonder if its a buffer thing or something similar.  Never happens on 16 bit material, which is 95 percent of the time, particularly as no one will let Austrialians buy HD Music. You have to steal it instead. I.e. I gave up on HD tracks.when HD tracks stopped us downloading..

As reported earlier, I was getting static in an HDX -> nDAC setup, each on a separate spur.  Before trying toslink, I substituted a V1 for the DAC, also using coax.  Still had the static, until I reconfigured the HDX to floating ground, V1 to chassis ground.  So far, so good.  Next I'll try going back to the nDAC, wth chassis ground.  Thought I had tried all possible grounding combinations earlier, but maybe not.

Olek,

what was the transport? How was the signal ground switch set on the NAC-N272?   

hi, I'm using TEAC  pd-501hr. I tried both settings of the ground switch - no diff.

But I got rid of the static (and sound problems) when I used the rca to bnc adapter and connected to the bnc input. Anyway I only had this xps for two evenings.

Also the static was gone with toslink.

I have unplugged every conceivable thing I can think of yet I can still hear this crackle in the mix..

i have ultimately put it down to outside influences out of my control, like the boiler heating the Water and radiator pipes, God knows what's going to happen when  Christmas lights go on

Switching to float" has worked with me now this time.

Funny that "chassis " works summertime and "float" is better wintertime - crazy - Must be some thing about local earthing and precipitation.

I think you may be right about the effect of atmospheric conditions.  Often I have experienced static only at night, not during the day, perhaps due to more moisture in the air.

Could some one out there give me a definitive answer over this situation with the switch Belonging to "chassis or float "

I don't have a Naim pre amp or integrated. I have every thing in my system connected to and from the Ndac -.including Unitiserve and Sky box.

cheers

I read Naim is using the source as its star grounding point, that said the nDAC being considered as a source itself can be the point for grounding (chassis). But if you have another Naim transport then the transport will become the point for grounding so nDAC ground switch should be set to "floating" to avoid ground loop. IMO regardless of each setting, it should not cause very audible static noise unless the house has some grounding issue.

Tobyjug, chases connects the signal ground to mains earth, and floating lift the signal ground away from mains earth.

Naim usually sounds best with at least one and only one audio source set to mains earth ground. This with Naim is usually the CD player. If you don't have a CD player you need to use another source to do this.. Hence the ground earth switch.

Now if you are hearing a SQ issue when setting earth ground in winter, but sounding better in summer, it suggests to me you have an appliance or even neighbourhood that has a significantly noisy mains earth in winter. Now yoy can check in your house for any culprits.. like poor electronic ( LED)  lighting, hearing pump etc

If your mains is PME (pretty much the norm these days) then this noise could be coming from a neighbour however.. and if so the extreme solution could be to get an electrician change your house to true earth ( I have done this) or get some sort of mains filter / conditioner for your audio equipment.

As far as the digital inputs on Naim, I believe they are galvanically isolated which stops DC loops, but RFI will couple across this. This will be noticeable if the digital source is electrically noisy. I always use TOSLINK for any digital source that is mass produced consumer grade quality.

Simon

Simon thanks for that.

i believe the culprit in this case is a failing timer switch for my heating /water, since most interference coincides with the start of when it goes on. A few times it hasn't fired up the boiler. Shall see after getting a replacement if it's cured this issue.

I have never even considered the chassis or floating switch. I've had it on default setting from beginning. But actually I do have another source component in the chain. External USB to S/PDIF converter (not made by Naim obviously) which is connected to Naim DAC by DC1 BNC-BNC cable. Should I use chassis or floating setting? 

Patu, that depends...  Easiest way to decide is to use your ears and go with what sounds best.  Choose a couple of piece of music you know well and perhaps one you don't.  Play them each all the way through on each setting.