Bad crackling on digital outs

[redeye]

Connected to a Advance Paris X-i75 amp, any digital out to the amp (coax, optical or usb) produces bad crackling on quiet parts i.e. start/end of tracks or quiet sections. Whether streaming Tidal, HDD through usb, or cd player.
Switching to line out it disappears, it only happens with digital outs.
l've tried every setting l can find, voltage out down to 500mv, resolution, fixed volume, swapped cables........please advise. Ultra is only 3 months old

 

[hgo58]

Connected to a Advance Paris X-i75 amp, any digital out to the amp (coax, optical or usb) produces bad crackling on quiet parts i.e. start/end of tracks or quiet sections. Whether streaming Tidal, HDD through usb, or cd player.
Switching to line out it disappears, it only happens with digital outs.
l've tried every setting l can find, voltage out down to 500mv, resolution, fixed volume, swapped cables........please advise. Ultra is only 3 months old

Did you check the Advance Paris X-i75 with other digital inputs? I could be an Amp issue.

PS: Voltage out is for analog output only. It's not related to the digital out.

 

[Wiimer]

Connected to a Advance Paris X-i75 amp, any digital out to the amp (coax, optical or usb) produces bad crackling on quiet parts i.e. start/end of tracks or quiet sections. Whether streaming Tidal, HDD through usb, or cd player.
Switching to line out it disappears, it only happens with digital outs.
l've tried every setting l can find, voltage out down to 500mv, resolution, fixed volume, swapped cables........please advise. Ultra is only 3 months old

Did this problem start recently, or has it been happening for the past three months?

If it started recently, the issue might be with either the Ultra or the amplifier. Do you hear any noise when you connect the CD player directly to the amplifier?

 

[Burnside]

Is this perhaps akin to the issue some DACs have with sample rate changes? I'd try the fixed resolution and/or fade in/fade out settings under audio settings in the WiiM app

 

[goodmore]

Something going on with DAC in your amp. I would try something besides a WiiM device before making a decision. Like optical out from the TV. If it crackles then you know the Amp needs repaired. Or just use the DAC in the WiiMs.

 

[redeye]

Dropped the resolution down to 96/32 after receiving advice from Wiim support, fixed it. This is what they said in part ......

"Thank you for contacting us, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you’ve experienced.

Since the crackling occurs across Coaxial, Optical, and USB outputs while the Line Out works normally — and because the issue mainly appears during quiet passages or track transitions — this does not appear to indicate a hardware defect with the WiiM Ultra itself.

Instead, the behavior is more consistent with DAC lock/re-lock behavior, sample rate switching transitions, digital mute/unmute handling, or a compatibility/handshake issue between the WiiM Ultra’s digital output stream and the internal DAC implementation of your Advance Paris X-i75 amplifier."

l would still like to be able to access the full 192/32 but won't lose sleep over it if not possible

l have also contacted Advance Paris and explained what is happening

 

[redeye]

Turns out that the (new) amp is faulty

 

[harkpabst]

Turns out that the (new) amp is faulty

Thanks for coming back and letting us know!

From time to time some criticism arises on this forum, stating that "certain members" would try everything to "defend" WiiM products like clueless "fanboys". The truth is, that there are a quite number of experienced users here, trying to help others in finding the root cause of their technical problems and they're trying their best to guess the most likely reason based on the information provided.

If a WiiM product is defective from the factory it needs to be replaced, no question. A replacement that doesn't fix the issue (because there was something else faulty) is of no help to anybody, though.

For this reason I'm really thankful for nice people like you who not only start a thread when there's a problem but take the time to confirm what's been causing it. No matter if it's a personal misconception, other hardware components failing, a configuration issue or a faulty WiiM device.