DAC issue with popping and clicking noises when playing music

I've had my new sound system for a month now and It's been driving me mad with the non stop popping and clicking noises it makes when playing any sounds from my computer.

I have a Cambridge audio CXA80 connected to my laptop with a USB cable to its internal DAC.

I've installed the USB drivers for the device and tried all the USB streaming mode settings from minimum latency to extra safe and the problem still persists.

Not being able to enjoy my new system is extremely frustrating and I need to find a solution ASAP.

What to do?
 

expat_mike

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It sounds like you may be suffering with RF interference. This can be annoying whether using a laptop, or a phone as a source.

We live in a RF interference rich environment, which can easily be picked up by cables acting as aerials, and then providing an easy route into your system. If your usb cable does not feature a ferrite core, the first step would be to add one to your cable (cost about £2).

People are also reporting that a lot of electrical noise can get generated by the cheapish external power supplies used to power many laptops, and some hifi equipment. This noise then finds a circuit route through the laptop, and then via the usb cable to your system. Using your laptop on battery power, and unplugged from the mains charger, should remove virtually all this electrical noise, out of the equation.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

It doesnt seem to be any of those reasons since I decided to uninstall the DAC driver and switch my DAC to class 1 mode so now I can only play up to 96 KHz instead of 192 KHz but now at least the popping and clicking seems to have gone.

I will try re-installing the drivers again and try it in class 2 once more.

What could be the problem then? Corrupt drivers?
 

bonenut

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I had a very annoying experience with my new marantz hd dac.very noisy clicking noise when changing songs on the computer,it turned out to be just noisy loud relays in the dac.i have had to just get used to it,as every one else had the same problem.i also had interference,that turned out to be usb cable lying on the aerials on the back of the computer.
 

BigH

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Dimitri Stephan said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

It doesnt seem to be any of those reasons since I decided to uninstall the DAC driver and switch my DAC to class 1 mode so now I can only play up to 96 KHz instead of 192 KHz but now at least the popping and clicking seems to have gone.

I will try re-installing the drivers again and try it in class 2 once more.

What could be the problem then? Corrupt drivers?

You won't be able to a hear the difference between 96 and 192 anyway so why worry.
 

BigH

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Dec 29, 2012
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Dimitri Stephan said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

It doesnt seem to be any of those reasons since I decided to uninstall the DAC driver and switch my DAC to class 1 mode so now I can only play up to 96 KHz instead of 192 KHz but now at least the popping and clicking seems to have gone.

I will try re-installing the drivers again and try it in class 2 once more.

What could be the problem then? Corrupt drivers?

You won't be able to a hear the difference between 96 and 192 anyway so why worry. It could be your Dac is having problems processing 192 Khzs.
 
BigH said:
Dimitri Stephan said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

It doesnt seem to be any of those reasons since I decided to uninstall the DAC driver and switch my DAC to class 1 mode so now I can only play up to 96 KHz instead of 192 KHz but now at least the popping and clicking seems to have gone.

I will try re-installing the drivers again and try it in class 2 once more.

What could be the problem then? Corrupt drivers?

You won't be able to a hear the difference between 96 and 192 anyway so why worry. It could be your Dac is having problems processing 192 Khzs.

I know so far it's been great. I have no 192 KHz files to play with any way so this can't be the issue.
 

BigH

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Dec 29, 2012
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Dimitri Stephan said:
BigH said:
Dimitri Stephan said:
Thanks for the replies guys.

It doesnt seem to be any of those reasons since I decided to uninstall the DAC driver and switch my DAC to class 1 mode so now I can only play up to 96 KHz instead of 192 KHz but now at least the popping and clicking seems to have gone.

I will try re-installing the drivers again and try it in class 2 once more.

What could be the problem then? Corrupt drivers?

You won't be able to a hear the difference between 96 and 192 anyway so why worry. It could be your Dac is having problems processing 192 Khzs.

I know so far it's been great. I have no 192 KHz files to play with any way so this can't be the issue.

So what is your problem?
 

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