Gator aid. Or how to get the most from your Gator.

[Ikemen]

I think I have the same problem.

I use my Gatorised Caiman for cable TV, CDs, and a DVD/Blu-ray player.

I remember a music TV channel had to be turned over due to constant treble distortion.

Also, on CDs, certain tracks distort in the treble, consistently.

However, Blu-rays sound incredible and they should considering the money Hollywood can pour into recording quality. I never hear distortion on the movies, which makes me think recording/output quality could be at fault on the cable box and the CDs.

I've only had the Gator a couple of weeks so will continue to survey the problem.

[Gazjam]

Hey Gary,

Can you get similar issues to come up on those same tracks with a different DAC? See if you could borrow a different DAC from a buddy, and let us know. Or are you absolutely certain it is only specific to the Gatorized Caiman?

I've had no other problems with my Gator, but that pesky distorted bass is driving me nuts. I have no other explanation but to chalk it up to the faulty master.

Other than that, everything else plays divinely. And I've been upgrading my system like crazy in the past month or so, meaning that even with various components in and out of the chain, Gatorized DAC keeps playing nicely.

Sorry bud, I ran out of reasonable options here. Best of luck with taming the Gator, I know how much you love squeezing the last atom of stellar performance out of your gear

Thanks for that Alex.
Not got a different Dac as such, but on taking the Gator out and replacing the film caps/passive mod the problem vanishes.
Kinda narrows it down I'd say.

The more I think about it I reckon its an issue with the Gator output into my amp - its just too much.
The"Gain Mod" that has been done on Gators elsewhere might just be the solution?

Stan, would you be able to comment on this?


Thanks.

[Trumpetman]

Maybe its a faulty part or something. In high school we had to make a basic radio, and one of the transistor types used had a construction fault. So every one, except 1 of the radios gave only a whine when turned on. And all of them was correctly made... We found the faulty transistor the next day, replaced it next week, as we got a new order of them, and all worked...

Espen

[chapter three]

Thanks for that Alex.
Not got a different Dac as such, but on taking the Gator out and replacing the film caps/passive mod the problem vanishes.
Kinda narrows it down I'd say.

The more I think about it I reckon its an issue with the Gator output into my amp - its just too much.
The"Gain Mod" that has been done on Gators elsewhere might just be the solution?

Stan, would you be able to comment on this?


Thanks.

My transport is a Pioneer Stable Platter. I've tried switching between the digital output to the Caiman and the analogue output which obviously is fed straight to the amp. This is just a matter of swiching the input selector on my amp as I have both sources cabled up. There is no distortion present when using the Pioneer as a stand alone CD player, only when I use the Caiman/Gator is there a problem.

I'll reinstall version 2 of the Gator this evening and check that again.

[Gazjam]

Maybe its a faulty part or something. In high school we had to make a basic radio, and one of the transistor types used had a construction fault. So every one, except 1 of the radios gave only a whine when turned on. And all of them was correctly made... We found the faulty transistor the next day, replaced it next week, as we got a new order of them, and all worked...

Espen

Oh if it was that simple
The Gator board works fine on a friends Dac!

Lead suspect I think is the Gator output being too much for my amp input, as others have had a similar problem which was fixed on reducing the Gator output level.

But I could be wrong...

[magiccarpetride]

Thanks for that Alex.
Not got a different Dac as such, but on taking the Gator out and replacing the film caps/passive mod the problem vanishes.
Kinda narrows it down I'd say.

The more I think about it I reckon its an issue with the Gator output into my amp - its just too much.
The"Gain Mod" that has been done on Gators elsewhere might just be the solution?

Stan, would you be able to comment on this?


Thanks.

But if that's the case, shouldn't you be getting the distortion on pretty much all tracks you listen to?

[Gazjam]

But if that's the case, shouldn't you be getting the distortion on pretty much all tracks you listen to?

Which is the odd thing...
its only on certain "sounds" that the distortion comes in...higher frequency dynamic swings usually, female vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, that kind of thing.

This makes me think its maybe not JUST a gain issue but somehow related to frequency too.

Whilst I know whats wrong, the solution is out of my expertise so I'm just guessing at this point,
Looking for similar problems other folks have had.

Which to be fair is hardly any - 99.9% of Gator owners seem delighted, its just my luck I have this problem in my system!

[chapter three]

One of the CDs that now gives me distortion is Madeleine Peyroux's "Bare Bones", Stina Nordenstam's "This is" is also a problem.

[Werner Berghofer]

One of the CDs that now gives me distortion is Madeleine Peyroux's "Bare Bones"

In this moment I hear ”Bare bones“ in ALAC file format, streamed wirelessly from a MacBook Pro to an Airport Express which is connected via optical cable to a gatorized Caiman. The Caiman’s fixed line-out feeds my ancient Yahama AX-592 amplifier with Triangle Esprit floor-standing loudspeakers. Everything sounds just fine, I cannot hear any distortion.

However, two weeks ago I noticed an incredible level of distortion on any track of ”Feels like home“ from Norah Jones, again when played through a gatorized Caiman. I even re-ripped the whole CD, but this didn’t change anything. The distortion is stronger with headphones directly connected to the DAC, but it also can be heard from the loudspeakers.

The distortion also is there when listening via a gatorized TC-7520, although not that strong as in the Caiman. Before my DACs were gatorized (using Gator Mk1), I didn’t notice any distortion.

[chapter three]

"Feels Like Home" is also distorted on my system. Add that one to my list.