Beresford Caiman

[spud36]

Hello

Can any of the Caiman user tell me if the unit is suspectable to electrical noise/interference (fridge switching on etc). I am getting a random click (like a scratch on a record) in the right channel every so often (I would say at least once in a single song). It seems unlikely to be a fault due to its randomness but am not sure what it could be. I am reluctant to buy a mains conditioner as this may not fix the issue.

Cheers for any thoughts

[Shanedudddy2]

Sounds like opamp instability, happened to me with certain opamps with 7520 with the caps cut.

[spud36]

If its looking like a possible issue with the unit I will contact the manufacturer

Cheers

[Themis]

Good idea. PM Stan (StanB) he will be helpful, I'm sure.

[sum1]

Hey i got this issue as well. Its an intermittent thing that i want to troubleshoot myself but i havent got the time for it. Did you use yours with a computer as well?

Please share your outcome as i am interested in what is causing it

[spud36]

Hello

I am using a PC. running Windows 7. I am outputing digital coax through a M-Audio 2496 soundcard. Listening is through a naim amp to a little dot IVse headphone amp and sen hd650s. Before emailing the manufacturer I was testing last night. I also borrowed a cd player.

I found that when playing cds last night I was not able to reproduce the problem so if there was any cracking noise it was very quiet. Using the PC I found that at the start of every track there is a very faint crack as soon it started. Then every so often there was a audible crack. I unplugged everything to try my old DAC and nothing. I plugged everything back in and this time it didn't seem to want to replicate the problem after that. I was wondering if this was actually electrical noise coming from the PC as I am using coax and the Caiman is actually picking up every little sound. I must admit I am hearing things in the music which I never heard before (thats a good thing). I have ordered a cheap optical cable to plug into the motherboard just to see if the sound is illiminated.

[sum1]

Yeah i got the same thing as you do. From the brief moments i connected the caiman to the CD player i believe i did not hear this 'tick' sound as well. This is why at first i did not suspect it was the dac's fault and i think its the computer/caiman combo.

Currently i am using my laptop optical out straight to the caiman and i do hear this intermittent 'tick' once every 1-2 tracks. I'm suspecting its my laptop's problem but i've owned 2 dac's before the caiman that did not have this 'tick' problem. I got Vista on my laptop.

I do hope its not a hardware fault and there is some easy fix on this cos otherwise i have to ship it back across the globe.

I am tempted to change the opamp to see how it goes but if i do this then it would void the warranty so i think its best not to do it unless you are sure that dac is not faulty.

[spud36]

I am going to have another play tonight but will wait until the optical cable is used before jumping to any conclussions. If I am still getting the problem will email Stan and ask for some advice.

One thing I did do last night was changed the audio output on the PC. I'm at work at the moment so cannot remember exactly what it was but I had it set I think to 24 bit studio quality in the sound option in Control Panel. I changed that down to 16 bit CD quality. Please bear with me as I am no expert, so I may be highlighting irelevent options .

[twelvebears]

Guys I know from experience that the Beresford will output a sight click when the digital output is interupted briefly.

In my case, I was getting it all the time when scrolling up and down menus on Apple TV because the ATV was sending 'click' for each Item I scrolled past. Unfortunately the digital output switched briefly on and off between each one causing a weird noise via the Beresford.

All I had to do was disable the 'Menu Click' on ATV but this wouldn't help you.

[ZebuTheOxen]

If you're using the ASIO4ALL driver on your PC (a good idea anyway) it is strongly recommended that you turn off all Windows sounds, I imagine they might contribute to a similar problem.

I also had this 'popping' problem when plugged in via USB, since I primarily use Coax / Optical SPDIF, this isn't an issue for me.