[thecrow]

I have been having a white noise issue coming out of my setup and i’m hoping someone might help

I have my imac running the latest software (sierra 10.12.6) connected to my metrum hex connect via usb.
i am spasmodically getting very loud white noise/static coming through. I can’t hear any music as this statics very loud.
The music is still showing as playing. If i pause the music and restart the noise goes away but quite often comes back again shortly.

I sometimes close the app/music player and sometimes restart the computer. This sometimes stops the problem however i don’t think it is completely connected to (or solved by) that as i can do that a number of times and there is no change but after a number of times (or me giving up) the static may stop coming up and not occur for an hour, or a few days or even a week or two and then it occurs again

I have tried various music app /players in case that was the problem but again that does not change anything and this has occurred in a number of options i’ve used.
These include:
Tidal app;
Tidal via google chrome;
Audirvana 2+ - streaming tidal and playing music from my connected external hard drive (iTunes library);
my secondary iTunes library on my internal hard drive.

This also occurs when listening to music on my connected amp (woo audio wa2 connected via RCA) and also when listening through my jbl monitors (via balanced connections)

as i’ve tried various options here i’m assuming i have an issue with an internal part of my hex dac or at least the connection it has with my imac

I also just recently updated my usb to a premium usb cabe (audience au24 se) but again that has had no change

what can i do and/or what is it likely to be?

thanks in advance

 

[castleofargh]

have you've tried separating the DAC and the IMAC to find out if the issue can be clearly identified as coming from only one device?
I'm MAC illiterate so I can't suggest much when it comes to settings to experiment with.

 

[thecrow]

have you've tried separating the DAC and the IMAC to find out if the issue can be clearly identified as coming from only one device?
I'm MAC illiterate so I can't suggest much when it comes to settings to experiment with.

No i haven't. I'll keep that up my sleeve.

It only happens now and then. Over the last few days i probably ran the music for about 30 hours (burning in cable) with no issue and last noght was the first time in a few weeks

It did stop after a while last night and was good for the rest of the night (about 2 hours)

 

[castleofargh]

can't say I've experienced anything like that. the noise is way louder than the music or does it seem like it could be 0dB signal and something the Mac could send to the DAC? are you at 100% on the digital volume(general settings and music player)?
I'm thinking about maybe something as simple as another app trying to make a sound and creating that mess because of some conflict with sample rates being different or something not fun like that(wild guess as again I don't know how MAC audio works).
the other easy idea would be a damaged DAC. beyond that I really don't know what could be happening. something barely stable that for some reason end up getting out of hand on rare occasions, but what and why?.... try to remove whatever app or upgrade you've installed around the time you think it first started, get some old cables you never had issues with, etc. just to reduce the field of potential causes.
proper diagnose of issues can really be a PITA sometimes.

 

[thecrow]

I had itunes at 100% last night and previously tidal at about 50%

Im pretty sure last night no other app was open

No issues tonight (2 hours in)

Ive emailed metrum to see what they think so i shall wait and see